Trump Restores Names Of Army Forts Changed By Biden

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he was restoring the names of Army forts changed during the Biden administration because of their connections to Confederate military leaders. 

Trump made the announcement during a speech at Fort Bragg in North Carolina during a celebration of the 250th birthday of the Army. Like the Trump administration’s previous moves to restore the names of Fort Bragg and Fort Benning, the forts will now be linked to different soldiers with the same last names as the original Confederate namesakes. 

“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 said during his speech. “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.” 

After Trump’s announcement, the Army said it would “take all necessary actions to change the names of seven Army installations in honor of heroic Soldiers who served in conflicts ranging from the Civil War to the Battle of Mogadishu.”

The Army added that five of the forts would be renamed for soldiers who received the Medal of Honor, three who earned the Distinguished Service Cross, and one who was awarded the Silver Star. 

In a release, the Army laid out the restoration of the original names and the new soldiers they were honoring:

• Fort Barfoot in Virginia will revert to Fort Pickett and be named after 1st Lt. Vernon W. Pickett, a World War II soldier who received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions to destroy two enemy positions with grenades after crawling through enemy fire. The fort’s original namesake was Confederate Major General George Pickett, a veteran of the Mexican-American War who is most known for his bloody charge at Gettysburg.
• Fort Cavazos in Texas will revert to Fort Hood and be named for Col. Robert B. Hood, a World War I soldier who earned the Distinguished Service Cross for actions in France. It was originally named after Confederate Lt. General John Bell Hood, who fought at a number of major Civil War battles, including Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Atlanta, and Nashville. 
• Fort Eisenhower in Georgia will revert to Fort Gordon and will be named after Master Sgt. Gary I. Gordon, who won the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993. The fort’s original namesake was Confederate Major General John Brown Gordon, who served under Robert E. Lee and later became governor and senator for Georgia. 
• Fort Gregg-Adams in Virginia will return to Fort Lee to be named after Spanish-American War hero Pvt. Fitz Lee, who earned the Medal of Honor after rescuing wounded comrades from the battlefield under fire. The fort was previously named after Robert E. Lee, the legendary commander of the Army of Northern Virginia who won major victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.
• In Louisiana, Fort Johnson will revert to Fort Polk to be named in honor of World War II hero and Silver Star recipient Gen. James H. Polk. The fort was first named after Confederate Lt. General Leonidas Polk, an Episcopal bishop who was killed in 1864 during fighting at Pine Mountain outside Atlanta. 
• Fort Novosel in Alabama will revert to Fort Rucker in honor of World War I aviator Capt. Edward W. Rucker, a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross. The original namesake was Confederate Colonel Edmund Rucker, who fought throughout Tennessee and Alabama.
• Finally, Fort Walker will be restored to Fort A.P. Hill to be named after three Civil War soldiers —  Lt. Col. Edward Hill, 1st Sgt. Robert A. Pinn and Pvt. Bruce Anderson. The original name’s sake was Confederate Lt. General A.P. Hill, a Virginian who was killed during the battle of Petersburg in 1865. 

The forts’ names had been changed thanks to a naming commission authorized by Congress that directed any references to the Confederacy be removed from federal property. In addition to changing the names of forts, this also led to the removal of the Confederate Reconciliation Monument in Arlington National Cemetery.