‘The time has come’: Which US bases may lose their Confederate namesakes?

As the protests around the killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd gained momentum, so, too, has a long-standing push in the United States to remove the icons and symbols of the Confederacy. Towns are tearing down statues, and the Confederate flag is increasingly being banned as a symbol of hostility, not heritage.

Now a Senate committee has voted to force the Pentagon to strip 10 U.S. military posts of their Confederate names within three years – a move that the Defense Department has resisted for years.

Given the side they chose, many of these bases’ namesakes were vocal advocates for slavery, fighting to defend a morally reprehensible institution. Also problematic from a military standpoint, critics point out, these bases were all named for traitors to their country. Some

1. FORT A.P. HILL, Virginia2. FORT LEE, Virginia3. FORT PICKETT, Virginia4. FORT BRAGG, North Carolina5. FORT GORDON, Georgia6. FORT BENNING, Georgia7. FORT RUCKER, Alabama8. CAMP BEAUREGARD, Louisiana9. FORT POLK, Louisiana10. FORT HOOD, Texas