In a speech that addressed several topics – including the ongoing LA ICE riots – President Donald Trump announced that he would restore the names of certain military forts that were renamed in 2023 due to them previously bearing the names of Confederate military figures.
The President’s speech took place at Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Tuesday.
“For a little breaking news, we are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort A.P. Hill, and Fort Robert E. Lee,” Trump declared.
He then mentioned his rationale for the name restorations. “We won a lot of battles out of those forts, it’s no time to change. And I’m superstitious, I like to keep it going.”
The controversy stemming from these name restorations is due to the names being those of Confederate military figures from the US Civil War. In 2023, they were changed by the previous administration to the names of non-Confederate US military figures.
However, instead of reinstating the names to the exact personage whose namesake the fort once had, only the surnames will be restored, with the personage being a totally different and non-Confederate one. For instance, Fort Lee, once named after Confederate General Robert E. Lee, will now be named after Private Fitz Lee, who fought in the Spanish-American War and received a Medal of Honor for his efforts in that conflict.
Prior to being renamed Fort Lee, the fort was named after Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams (Fort Gregg-Adams) in an effort by the Biden administration to change the names of forts bearing Confederate namesakes.
The US Army mentioned in detail that the new namesakes for the forts which will “honor of heroic Soldiers who served in conflicts ranging from the Civil War to the Battle of Mogadishu. Five of them received the Medal of Honor, three received the Distinguished Service Cross and one received the Silver Star.”
