The FBI raided an office and a cannabis dispensary connected to Virginia Democratic State Senate leader Louise Lucas, a key figure in the congressional redistricting battle.
The raid, which took place on Wednesday morning, was related to a public corruption investigation, a source familiar with the search told The Daily Wire. Fox News correspondent Alex Hogan told Fox News host Harris Faulkner that federal agents were executing &#8220;court-authorized criminal search warrants&#8221; at Lucas&#8217;s office in Portsmouth, Virginia — and a dispensary next door.
WATCH:
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NOW: An FBI raid is unfolding at the office of Virginia Democratic State Sen. Louise Lucas — and it’s already drawing serious attention.
Multiple people on the scene are reportedly being taken into custody as agents move through the area.
The office sits near several cannabis… <a href="https://t.co/WIcn9xrzOy">pic.twitter.com/WIcn9xrzOy</a>
— Fox News (@FoxNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/2052047300961182188?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The FBI is currently carrying out a raid at the office of Senator Louise Lucas in Portsmouth, VA. Here at this nearby cannabis dispensary, at least three people were taken into custody. Federal law enforcement say they’re conducting “court authorized criminal search warrants”. <a href="https://t.co/UL2c7yAk0L">pic.twitter.com/UL2c7yAk0L</a>
— Alex Hogan (@AlexHoganTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexHoganTV/status/2052049720147640820?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;All of the staffers inside this building were told to come outside, I could hear them saying that they were not allowed back in the building,&#8221; Hogan said, reporting from the street in front of Lucas&#8217;s office. &#8220;Throughout the last hour, we&#8217;ve been seeing the FBI come and go, carrying boxes out of the building.&#8221;
&#8220;Just across the parking lot, next to where I am, there&#8217;s a cannabis dispensary, we know that the state senator is associated with several cannabis locations and dispensaries, and what we&#8217;re seeing is there a completely different scene with SWAT teams arrived with guns drawn, telling anyone in the building to come out of the building with their hands up.&#8221;
Hogan said that she&#8217;d also seen three people taken, put on the ground, cuffed, and taken into custody as the events of the morning had played out.
Lucas herself appeared on the scene at one point during the raid, and when Hogan asked for her reaction to the law enforcement action, she said that she had &#8220;no idea&#8221; what the FBI was doing there. Hogan confirmed that at least ten locations were being &#8220;looked at&#8221; by federal agents in connection with the same case.
The probe, Fox News congressional correspondent Bill Melugin reported, was launched during former President Joe Biden&#8217;s <a href="https://x.com/BillMelugin_/status/2052089902561476706">administration</a>.
Lucas, the President Pro Tempore of the Virginia Senate, was a key player in her party&#8217;s efforts to gerrymander a dramatic Democratic advantage in Virginia&#8217;s congressional map. She has often jabbed at newly elected Governor Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), claiming that she has a &#8220;credibility problem.&#8221;
Wednesday&#8217;s raid was not Lucas&#8217;s first <a href="https://www.whro.org/local-news/2020-11-16/judge-dismisses-charges-against-sen-louise-lucas">brush with the law</a>, as she was previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/virginia-democrat-charged-with-multiple-felonies-for-her-alleged-role-in-destroying-statue">charged</a> with felony conspiracy and <span data-subtree="aimfl,mfl" data-processed="true" data-copy-service-computed-style="font-family: &quot;Google Sans&quot;, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-color: rgb(10, 10, 10);">injury to a monument exceeding $1,000 after she took part in a 2020 protest where a Confederate monument was vandalized.
Her Democrat allies in the state, from then-Governor Ralph Northam to former-Governor Terry McAuliffe, suggested that Lucas was only charged because she was black. Portsmouth <a href="https://www.whro.org/local-news/2020-11-16/portsmouth-police-chief-angela-greene-fired">Police Chief Angela Greene</a>, who charged Lucas and 18 others who participated in the protest, was also black. Greene was fired before Lucas&#8217;s case was even heard, and the city officials responsible for her termination would only say that it was &#8220;a personnel matter&#8221; and that she could be fired at any time because she was an &#8220;at-will&#8221; employee. The charges against Lucas were dropped later that same year.
She also made headlines during the 2025 Virginia election cycle when she backed Attorney General Jay Jones (D-VA) after text messages surfaced in which he&#8217;d fantasized about shooting a Republican lawmaker. Posting an image that said &#8220;Virginia is for lovers, not snitches,&#8221; Lucas made it clear that her anger was directed at the people who&#8217;d exposed Jones rather than the candidate himself, who&#8217;d advocated for political violence.
As The Daily Wire&#8217;s Luke Rosiak <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-virginia-dem-depicts-jay-jones-assaulting-opponent-lashes-out-at-snitch">reported</a>, Lucas announced her plan to push ahead with her extra-legal redistricting efforts even then.
<blockquote>Lucas also reposted a comment calling her “ruthless,” and said she intends to redistrict the state (where Republican candidates received 43%, 45%, and 47% of the vote on Tuesday) has only a <a href="https://x.com/SenLouiseLucas/status/1985946539311702233" target="_blank" rel="noopener">single Republican</a> in Congress.
That would involve a similarly ruthless move. Democrats enacted a 45-day early voting period, which caused some people to vote before learning about Jones’ support for violence. But for purposes of amending the Constitution to get rid of nonpartisan redistricting – which requires giving voters the chance to punish politicians at the ballot box for trying such a move – they ignored the fact that many had already cast ballots before they initiated the controversial move, counting only Tuesday as the “election.”
Outgoing Attorney General Miyares issued an opinion saying that it would be illegal, but Lucas <a href="https://x.com/SenLouiseLucas/status/1983333834138759316" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said,</a> “Your opinions are sh*t. They’re f*cking sh*t.”</blockquote>
The newly drawn <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-legal-fight-over-virginias-redistricting-has-just-begun">Virginia map</a> passed in an April election, but legal challenges have put the measure on hold.

Investiture Held For Cleo Powell, First Black Chief Justice Of Virginia’s Supreme Court

A Dem Power Broker’s Wild Morning As FBI Raids Hit Her Cannabis Dispensary

Feds Raid Office And Dispensary Tied To High-Powered Democrat

abigail spanberger

Confederacy

Redistricting

Statues

Virginia

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that a Civil War monument removed under the Biden administration from Arlington National Cemetery will be restored to its original location. 
The monument, known as the Reconciliation Monument or the Confederate Memorial, was removed by the Pentagon in December 2023 under President Joe Biden because of its links to the Confederacy. First erected in 1914, the monument sat in a section of the cemetery where around 400 Confederate soldiers were buried. 
“I’m proud to announce that Moses Ezekiel’s beautiful and historic sculpture — often referred to as ‘The Reconciliation Monument’ — will be rightfully be returned to Arlington National Cemetery near his burial site,” Hegseth announced on X. “It never should have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike the Left, we don’t believe in erasing American history—we honor it.”
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I’m proud to announce that Moses Ezekiel’s beautiful and historic sculpture — often referred to as “The Reconciliation Monument” — will be rightfully be returned to Arlington National Cemetery near his burial site.
It never should have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike…
— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecDef/status/1952851480643359156?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The news was first reported by The Blaze. 
In 1906, Secretary of War and future president William Howard Taft <a href="https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/Monuments-and-Memorials/Confederate-Memorial">approved</a> plans to construct a memorial near the Confederate graves. The monument was created by prominent Jewish American sculptor Moses Ezekiel, who fought for Virginia during the Civil War. 
Featured on the monument are 14 shields referencing the 11 official Confederate states, and the border states of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. There are also figures of southern soldiers and civilians alongside mythical gods. 
The monument references Isaiah 2:4, a passage in the Bible that talks about turning swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, a powerful message for a nation recovering from the trauma of war and the deaths of 600,000 Americans. Many presidents, including Barack Obama, have sent flowers to the monument on Memorial Day.
After the removal by the Biden administration, the monument was moved to a Defense Department storage facility in Virginia. 
“At the request of Moses Ezekiel’s family and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Moses Ezekiel&#8217;s sculpture will be returned to Arlington National Cemetery,” Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/columns/opinion/exclusive-moses-ezekiels-historic-sculpture-finally-set-for-installation-in-arlington-cemetery-by-the-southern-graves-it-once-marked">told</a> the Blaze’s Beltway Brief, “where he is buried and where his legacy as a renowned American artist and decorated veteran can be honored.”
Youngkin added that the monument would be refurbished and would be back on display in Arlington by 2027.
The announcement from Hegseth came after the National Park Service <a href="https://www.nps.gov/nama/learn/news/pike.htm">said</a> Monday that it would be returning the statue of former Confederate General Albert Pike to Washington, D.C. The statue was torn down during a riot in June 2020 and never went back on display.

US-CEMETERY-CONFEDERATE-MEMORIAL

Hegseth Returning Civil War Memorial Removed By Biden To Arlington National Cemetery

American Civil War

American History

Department of Defense

Glenn Youngkin

Pete Hegseth

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&#8217;s no time to change. And I’m superstitious, I like to keep it going.” 
After Trump’s announcement, the Army <a href="https://www.army.mil/article/286223/army_to_change_names_of_seven_installations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> 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:
<ul>
<li>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.</li>
<li>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. </li>
<li>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&#8217;s original namesake was Confederate Major General John Brown Gordon, who served under Robert E. Lee and later became governor and senator for Georgia. </li>
<li>Fort Gregg-Adams in Virginia will return to Fort Lee to be named after Spanish-American War hero <a href="https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/fitz-lee">Pvt. Fitz Lee</a>, 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.</li>
<li>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. </li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>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&#8217;s sake was Confederate Lt. General A.P. Hill, a Virginian who was killed during the battle of Petersburg in 1865. </li>
</ul>
The forts&#8217; 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 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-stops-removal-of-civil-war-memorial-from-arlington-national-cemetery" target="_blank" rel="noopener">removal</a> of the Confederate Reconciliation Monument in Arlington National Cemetery.

President Trump Holds Military Celebration At Fort Bragg

Trump Restores Names Of Army Forts Changed By Biden

Biden Administration

Donald Trump

Executive

Military

Military Bases

Politics

U.S. Army

On December 13, 1862, during the U.S. Civil War, the Union Army suffered its most calamitous and tragic defeat to date at the hands of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia on the frozen fields south of Fredericksburg, Virginia.
After taking over for the paradoxically arrogant yet timid Maj. Gen. George McClellan following the blood-letting at Antietam in September, the new Union Army commander Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside was tasked by President Lincoln to vigorously pursue and destroy CSA Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army now encamped in the Shenandoah Valley in that state. Despite harboring doubts about his own abilities as an army commander, the affable and dapper Burnside concocted a plan to dash due south and lay a pontoon bridge over the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg. His aim was to get ahead of Lee’s army farther to the west and race for Richmond, the Southern Confederacy’s capital.
<div id="attachment_843789" style="width: 597px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-843789" class="size-large wp-image-843789" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-90001933-587x576.jpg" alt="UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1863: Warrenton, Virginia. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside and staff officers (Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty Images)" width="587" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-90001933-587x576.jpg 587w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-90001933-300x294.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-90001933-768x754.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-90001933.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 587px) 100vw, 587px" />UNITED STATES &#8211; CIRCA 1863: Warrenton, Virginia. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside and staff officers (Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty Images)</div>
But Burnside&#8217;s plan that relied on speed and surprise almost immediately went awry. The pontoon bridges needed to affect the river crossing were delayed by ten days. By the time they arrived and construction began, Lee had marched his army to Fredericksburg. The Rebels took up a nearly impregnable position south of the town on a rise called Marye’s Heights that presented the defenders with a commanding view of the city and open ground before them.
<div id="attachment_843801" style="width: 837px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-843801" class="size-large wp-image-843801" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090033-827x576.jpg" alt="13th December 1862: Union troops attempting to cross the Rappahannock river during the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)" width="827" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090033-827x576.jpg 827w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090033-300x209.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090033-768x535.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090033.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 827px) 100vw, 827px" />13th December 1862: Union troops attempting to cross the Rappahannock river during the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)</div>
Despite his plan being foiled — his anxious engineers found themselves laying the pontoon bridges under fire from Rebel snipers who occupied the town along the river bank — the unimaginative Burnside pressed forward anyway. Following a bombardment that all but destroyed the little town, Yankee troops marched over the bridges and fought their way through the streets, whereupon many shamelessly looted the abandoned homes and shops until officers could corral them back into their ranks. The Yankees then formed up for the doomed assault against Lee’s lines.
What the Union troops faced was the suicidal prospect of crossing a half-mile of open, sloping ground to assault a solid line of veteran Rebel troops massed behind the protection of both a sunken road and high stone wall backed by artillery lined hub-to-hub along the crest of the hill before them. While watching the lines of Union blue forming up to make their attack, Lee’s First Corps commander on the Marye’s Heights sector of the line, Gen. James Longstreet, asked his young artillerist, Col. E.P. Alexander, if he thought the position was defensible. Alexander assured him: “General, a chicken can’t live in that field when we open up on it!”
<div id="attachment_843811" style="width: 765px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-843811" class="size-large wp-image-843811" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-103011593-755x576.jpg" alt="A Union Army battery makes final preparations on the day before the Battle of Fredericksburg, on Marye's Heights, Virginia, USA, December 1862. (Photo by Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images)" width="755" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-103011593-755x576.jpg 755w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-103011593-300x229.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-103011593-768x586.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-103011593.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 755px) 100vw, 755px" />A Union Army battery makes final preparations on the day before the Battle of Fredericksburg, on Marye&#8217;s Heights, Virginia, USA, December 1862. (Photo by Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images)</div>
And so began a series of ill-advised charges up the slopes of Marye’s Heights by a Union Army that proved itself to be as brave as any army in any field; but they were doomed nonetheless. The Confederate lines were so concentrated that for every man at the wall shooting down into the slowly approaching Union lines, two stood behind them with loaded and rammed rifles at the ready to hand the marksman one weapon after another, giving the stone wall’s rate of fire the effect of a machine gun — with the same grisly efficiency. As Alexander predicted, whirring, bouncing projectiles fired from his overheating guns tore into the compact blue formations, killing and maiming groups of men with each round. Thousands of Union troops totaling six divisions were fed into the Rebel meat grinder, one brigade at a time.
Watching the slaughter from his vantage point above the fighting, Gen. Lee, his stirred warrior blood struggling for equilibrium with his humanitarian nature, offered somberly: “It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.”
<div id="attachment_843805" style="width: 468px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-843805" class="size-large wp-image-843805" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090032-458x576.jpg" alt="7th November 1862: Confederate General Robert E Lee (1807 - 1870) at the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Lee was offered the command of the Union Army but although personally opposed to both slavery and secession, his loyalty to Virginia led to his taking command of the Confederate forces. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)" width="458" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090032-458x576.jpg 458w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090032-239x300.jpg 239w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090032-768x965.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-3090032.jpg 815w" sizes=" (max-width: 458px) 100vw, 458px" />7th November 1862: Confederate General Robert E Lee (1807 &#8211; 1870) at the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)</div>
After fourteen assaults some 13,300 Union dead and wounded lay strewn in a veritable carpet of blue before the smoke-obscured Confederate lines (to the South&#8217;s 4,500, many of whom listed as &#8220;missing&#8221; had just slipped away to nearby homesteads for Christmas). Although he contemplated continuing the forlorn attack, Burnside was convinced by his corps commanders that any new assaults would be just as fruitless and bloody so he called the battle off. (Burnside actually wanted to lead a final charge himself, so distraught was he over the carnage he’d unnecessarily inflicted on an army he sincerely loved).
The Union attack against 2nd Corps Commander &#8220;Stonewall&#8221; Jackson&#8217;s more exposed lines east of Marye&#8217;s Heights situated in lower swampland on Lee&#8217;s right did actually make some progress, but this attack too was repulsed.
For two days in the bitter December cold, the shivering Union survivors trapped in the no-man&#8217;s land between the heights and the town, hunkered down on the frozen ground. Many shielded themselves from Rebels taking shots at them from behind the stone wall by piling up the bodies of their fallen comrades to act as macabre breastworks. Soldiers would always remember the sound of .566 rounds thudding into the stiff cadavers. At night the eerie lights of a rare Southern aurora borealis flashed overhead in the starry sky, which the Confederates took as a sign that God Himself was celebrating their astounding one-sided victory.
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The surviving Union troops eventually withdrew from the corpse-laden field and made it back through the town and across the Rappahannock to safety.
Col. Joshua Chamberlain of the 20th Maine recounted the retreat under the shroud of night. &#8220;We had to pick our way over a field strewn with incongruous ruin; men born and broken and cut to pieces in every indescribable way, cannon dismounted, gun carriages smashed or overturned, ammunition chests flung wildly about, horses dead and half-dead still held in harness, accoutrements of every sort scattered as by whirlwinds. It was not good for the nerves, that ghastly march, in the lowering night!&#8221;
After one more botched offensive in late January, during which his plans were foiled by a torrential rainstorm rather than Rebel bullets (forever remembered to history as the &#8220;Mud March&#8221;) Gen. Burnside resigned as army commander. He was replaced by Gen. Joe Hooker — Lincoln’s fifth new commanding general in two years.
When the Confederates re-occupied the shattered and ransacked Virginia town, Lee asked Jackson how they could put an end to this terrible war and all its needless desolation. “Kill them,” Jackson said coldly while surveying the ruins. “Kill them all!”
* * *
Brad Schaeffer is a fund manager and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07MQJBJSD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three books</a>. His articles have appeared on the pages of Daily Wire, The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, New York Daily News, National Review, The Hill, The Federalist, The Blaze, Breitbart, Zerohedge and other outlets.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

The Mud March

‘It Is Well That War Is So Terrible’: The Battle Of Fredericksburg

'It Is Well That War Is So Terrible': The Battle Of Fredericksburg

Abraham Lincoln

American General

Civil War

Robert E. Lee

U.S. Military

A Virginia school district became the first in the United States to restore the school names associated with the Confederacy after they had been changed.
In 2020, the Shenandoah County School Board voted to change the names of Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby-Lee Elementary School to Mountain View High School and Honey Run Elementary School. However, local residents felt that the board had voted to change the names without consulting the public. On May 9, the board held a public hearing to discuss changing the names back, and in a 5-1 vote, approved changing the names back to their original names.
The board members in favor of restoring the previous names contended that the 2020 school board had taken shortcuts in order to achieve their goal. “This was not an innocent mistake by some inexperienced school board,” District 2 School Board member Gloria Carlineo said, as reported by <a href="https://www.whsv.com/2024/05/10/shenandoah-county-school-board-votes-restore-confederate-names-schools/">WHSV</a>. “No, this was a carefully choreographed advance of a school board alluding to ignore the people they represented.”
“People in the Shenandoah Valley say that only the confederates are the ones who did nasty things, or did nasty things to black people,” school board chairman Dennis Barlow, school board chair stated.“You just stopped reading your history, and you’re not being realistic. War’s hell.”
“I’m fed up on people lying about how our schools were named,” one resident who supported changing the names back said. “I think it’s really rich that people lecture me about morality but excuse the actions of the 2020 school board.”
Kyle Gutshall, the only dissenting vote declared, “We’ve talked about the right way, the wrong way to do it. The right thing to do, the wrong thing to do. Things like this really come down to perspective and how you view things.”
“If you vote to restore the name ‘Stonewall Jackson’ in 2024, you will be resurrecting an act in 1959 that is forever rooted in mass resistance and Jim Crow segregation,” another resident argued.
Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson is considered one of the greatest generals in the American Civil War. A devout Presbyterian, before the war he organized Sunday schools for blacks at his church. He was inadvertently shot by one of his own troops in 1863, had his left arm amputated as a result, and died eight days later.
“Jackson neither apologized for nor spoke in favor of the practice of slavery. He probably opposed the institution. Yet in his mind the Creator had sanctioned slavery, and man had no moral right to challenge its existence. The good Christian slaveholder was one who treated his servants fairly and humanely at all times,” historian James Robertson wrote in Stonewall Jackson: The Man, the Soldier, the Legend.
Ashby-Lee is a reference to General Robert E. Lee, the leader of the Confederate army, and Turner Ashby, a Confederate cavalry officer who served under Jackson and was killed in 1862. Lee, who was initially offered the rank of Major General in the Union army that was to fight the Confederacy, at first opposed the secession of the Southern States. His loyalty to Virginia overrode that sentiment; he stated, “I shall never bear arms against the Union, but it may be necessary for me to carry a musket in the defense of my native state, Virginia, in which case I shall not prove recreant to my duty.”

Confederate Statues Removed In Charlottesville, Virginia

Virginia School District Restores Names Of Confederate Generals To Public Schools

Public Schools

“Star Trek” actor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">LeVar Burton</a> was shocked to discover that one of his ancestors was a white <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/confederacy">Confederate</a> soldier.
The 66-year-old TV star was told the surprising fact about his lineage during an episode of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pbs">PBS</a> series “Finding Your Roots.” The former &#8220;Reading Rainbow&#8221; star told show host Henry Louis Gates Jr. that he didn’t know much about his family tree as he was estranged from his father, Levardis Robert Martyn Burton, since he was 11. Burton also mentioned that his mother, Erma Gene Christian, wasn’t forthcoming about the family’s background, <a href="https://people.com/finding-your-roots-recap-levar-burton-journey-made-him-feel-closer-to-father-he-hadnt-seen-8430586">according</a> to People.
“You grow up with just blanks, right? No information, no clue and no real way to overcome that blind spot,&#8221; Burton said of his family history, per the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2024-01-17/levar-burton-descendant-confederate-soldier-white-america-finding-your-roots">Los Angeles Times</a>. &#8220;This information is stuff that we need in order to feel whole.&#8221;
Gates told Burton that the team used a combination of a genealogist and DNA experts to come up with their findings about the actor’s past.
The “Star Trek: The Next Generation” alum had no idea one of his ancestors was a white man. Gates <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/levar-burton-discovers-hes-descended-024715272.html">told</a> Burton that his great-grandmother on his mother&#8217;s side, Mary Sills, was not related to the man she listed as her father on a Social Security application in 1940.
Her biological father was, in fact, a man named James Henry Dixon, a white farmer who was married with several children. &#8220;So Granny was half-white,&#8221; Burton said in surprise, per <a href="https://www.today.com/popculture/tv/levar-burton-white-confederate-ancestor-finding-your-roots-rcna133422">Today</a>.
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What’s more, Dixon, who was living in North Carolina, joined the Confederate Army after he turned 17, serving in the junior reserves.
“Are you kidding me? Oh my God, oh my God. I did not see this coming,” Burton said upon hearing the news. While Gates said it was likely that Sills never went into battle, the fact remained that he was aligned with the pro-slavery side of the Civil War. He later had a child with a woman born into <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/slavery">slavery</a>.
“I often wonder about white men of the period and how they justify to themselves their relations with black women, especially those in an unbalanced power dynamic. There has to be a powerful disconnect created emotionally and mentally,” Burton replied.
&#8220;The two major commercial DNA tests almost never have tested an African American who was 100% sub-Saharan African,&#8221; Gates told Burton. &#8220;We all have white ancestors.&#8221;
&#8220;There&#8217;s some conflict roiling inside of me right now,&#8221; Burton continued, per Today. &#8220;But oddly enough, I feel a pathway opening up. &#8230;Knowing what I know about the history of this nation, I&#8217;ve wanted, especially in this current time frame, I believe that as Americans we need to have this conversation about who we are and how we got here.&#8221;

LeVar Burton

LeVar Burton Reacts To Discovery That His Ancestor Was A Confederate Soldier

Celebrities

Entertainment

U.S.

President Joe Biden continued his attacks on his chief political rival Donald Trump and his supporters Monday, likening them to “defeated Confederates.” 
Biden spoke at a campaign event at Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, the site of the 2015 race-fueled shooting that killed nine black members of the church. During his speech, Biden added to his criticism of Trump and his supporters, again suggesting that the former president poses a threat to “democracy” as the 2024 race for the White House heats up.
“After the Civil War, the defeated Confederates couldn’t accept the verdict of the war, they lost. So they say they embraced what is known as the lost cause, the self-serving lie that the Civil War was not about slavery but about states’ rights. They call that the noble cause. That was a lie,” Biden told the crowd of his supporters, adding, &#8220;So let me be clear, slavery was the cause of the Civil War. There is no negation about that.&#8221; 
“Now, we’re living in an era of a second lost cause,” the president added. “Once again, there are some in this country trying to turn a loss into a lie. A lie which if allowed to live will once again bring terrible damage to this country. This time the lie is about the 2020 election.”
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Speaking from Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, Biden draws a line through the &quot;lost cause&quot; campaign of post-Civil War confederates and the lies spread by MAGA Republicans following January 6th. <a href="https://t.co/2AckmSBdf1">pic.twitter.com/2AckmSBdf1</a>
&mdash; CAP Action (@CAPAction) <a href="https://twitter.com/CAPAction/status/1744422057922769062?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Biden then discussed the January 6, 2021, Capitol Riot, accusing Trump of “whipp[ing] up lies” for a “violent mob” that descended on the Capitol building. 
“Let me say what others cannot: We must reject political violence in America. Always, not sometimes, always. It is never appropriate. The violence of January 6 was the extension of an old playbook from the threats of violence and intimidation,” Biden continued.
Biden&#8217;s South Carolina speech was attended by Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), a Biden campaign co-chair, who helped the president win the state in the 2020 Democratic primary and is playing a significant role in the president&#8217;s re-election campaign in the state. Clyburn <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/07/clyburn-concerned-biden-standing-black-voters-00134192" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> CNN&#8217;s &#8220;State of the Union&#8221; on Sunday that he is &#8220;very concerned&#8221; about the president&#8217;s current standing with black voters.
“I have no problem with the Biden administration and what it has done,” Clyburn said. “My problem is that we have not been able to break through that MAGA wall in order to get to people exactly what this president has done. If you took the little simple thing [that is] student loan debt relief, he promised to relieve student loan debt, and he has done that.”
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During his speech on Monday, Biden also addressed conservative efforts across the country to remove books centered on LGBTQ issues and Critical Race Theory from public school shelves, telling the crowd that Trump supporters are “trying to determine to erase history and your future” and “destroying diversity, equality, and inclusion all across America,” as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/08/politics/biden-south-carolina-black-voters-2024/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> by CNN.  
At one point during his speech, Biden was interrupted by anti-Israel protesters who began shouting, “Ceasefire now!” as the president spoke. 
“I understand their passion,” Biden said in response to the demonstrators. “And I&#8217;ve been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza.&#8221;
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&quot;Ceasefire now!&quot;
Protesters interrupt President Biden’s speech at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC.
The audience chants: &quot;Four more years!&quot;
President Biden: &quot;I understand their passion. I&#39;ve been quietly working with the Israeli government&#8230;&quot; <a href="https://t.co/Vq3U01UhjW">pic.twitter.com/Vq3U01UhjW</a>
&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1744420401516626018?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Last Friday, Biden <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-celebrates-hundreds-of-prison-sentences-for-trump-supporters-3-years-after-january-6-capitol-storming">addressed</a> a crowd near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, focusing on the third anniversary of the January 6 Capitol storming and celebrating the convictions of hundreds of Trump supporters. Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-slams-bidens-speech-on-january-6-calls-it-a-pathetic-fearmongering-campaign-event">slammed</a> the president’s speech last week, calling it a “pathetic fearmongering campaign event.”
“Joe Biden is the worst president in the history of the United States — he is incompetent, he is crooked, and in many respects, he is Benedict Arnold,” Trump said. “He is destroying our country like no one else has done before.”

Joe Biden

Biden Compares Trump And His Supporters To ‘Defeated Confederates’ In South Carolina Speech

Biden Compares Trump And His Supporters To 'Defeated Confederates' In South Carolina Speech

2024 Election

South Carolina

A federal judge has blocked the removal of a Civil War memorial from Arlington National Cemetery over a lawsuit that says that its removal would damage the graves of the Confederate soldiers buried around the memorial. 
U.S. District Judge Rossie Alston <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arlington-cemetery-confederate-memorial-removal-blocked-for-now/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> a temporary restraining order on Monday stopping the Pentagon’s removal of the Reconciliation Monument, also known as the Confederate Memorial, after the Defend Arlington group sued to stop the memorial’s removal. The memorial was ordered to be removed after Congress created a commission in 2021 to evaluate links to the Confederacy on any federal property. 
Alston&#8217;s <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/confederate-memorial-spared-takedown-judges-order" target="_blank" rel="noopener">order</a> blocks &#8220;any acts to deconstruct, tear down, remove, or alter the object of this case.&#8221;
Defend Arlington has opposed the removal of the memorial, saying that taking it down would be illegal. The memorial was first erected in 1914 in a section of the cemetery meant for Confederate soldiers. 
&#8220;The removal will desecrate, damage, and likely destroy the Memorial longstanding at ANC as a grave marker and impede the Memorial&#8217;s eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places,&#8221; the lawsuit said. 
The monument, which was <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesfarrell/2023/12/18/judge-halts-takedown-of-arlington-cemetery-confederate-memorial-report-says/?sh=78ff0de7334f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">designed</a> by a prominent Jewish American sculptor named Moses Ezekiel, is at the center of the graves of Confederate soldiers. It was widely seen as a <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/01/18/removing-the-confederate-memorial-from-arlington-cemetery-what-would-lincoln-and-grant-think/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">symbol of reconciliation</a> in a war that took the lives of over 600,000 Americans on both sides and left the South in ruins.
The monument references Isaiah 2:4, which talks about turning swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, a powerful message for a nation recovering from the trauma of war. Up to the present day, many presidents, <a href="https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/Monuments-and-Memorials/Confederate-Memorial">including Barack Obama</a>, have sent flowers to the monument on Memorial Day.
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A group of House Republicans wrote a letter last week to the Pentagon <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-lawmakers-demand-pentagon-stop-removal-confederate-memorial-arlington-national-cemetery" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a> that the removal was unnecessary and needlessly divisive. 
“Despite bipartisan support for this monument, the Naming Commission, established by the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, clearly overstepped its legislative authority when it recommended that the Department of the Army remove the Reconciliation Monument from Arlington National Cemetery,&#8221; 44 Republicans, led by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), wrote.
&#8220;[T]he Reconciliation Monument does not honor nor commemorate the Confederacy; the memorial commemorates reconciliation and national unity.”

Judge Blocks Removal Of Confederate Monument From Arlington National Cemetery

Judge Stops Removal Of Civil War Memorial From Arlington National Cemetery

monuments

Pentagon

A man recently made the discovery of a lifetime when he unearthed a massive cache of rare Civil War-era coins — the majority of them gold — on his Kentucky farm earlier this year. 
The incredible find, <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/07/11/man-discovers-700-civil-war-coins-worth-millions-buried-at-kentucky-farm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dubbed</a> the “Great Kentucky Hoard,” could be worth millions of dollars. The unidentified man who found the coins recorded himself as he sifted through the dirt, pointing out the different types of gold coins he had discovered. The location of the discovery has not been revealed. 
“This is the most insane thing ever,” the man said in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JDUdmp-L3Q&amp;t=19s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a>. “These are all $1 gold coins, $20 gold coins, $10 gold coins and, look, I’m still diggin’ them out.”
The rare coins date between 1840 and 1863 and include eighteen 1863-P $20 Gold Liberty coins, which is the rarest year for that specific coin, <a href="https://www.govmint.com/great-kentucky-hoard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to GovMint, a coin dealer. These reportedly often fetch six figures. 
Additionally, “hundreds” of American gold dollars from 1850 to 1862 were discovered, as reported by the Numismatic Guaranty Company, a coin grading service. Roughly 95% of the hoard is made up of gold dollars, and some silver coins were also discovered. 
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A man from Kentucky unearthed a Civil War-era fortune of over 700 gold coins in his cornfield.
Now that’s a good day on the farm. <a href="https://t.co/Ayvkvxh4rH">pic.twitter.com/Ayvkvxh4rH</a>
&mdash; Gold Telegraph ⚡ (@GoldTelegraph_) <a href="https://twitter.com/GoldTelegraph_/status/1678548367897493505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 10, 2023</a></blockquote>
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“The importance of this discovery cannot be overstated, as the stunning number of over 700 gold dollars represents a virtual time capsule of Civil War-era coinage, including coins from the elusive Dahlonega Mint,” rare coin dealer Jeff Garrett <a href="https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/11795/kentucky-hoard-civil-war-coins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> of the hoard.
The story behind the hoard is also interesting, as it’s often reported that wealthy Kentuckians buried much of their wealth to prevent it from being stolen from bootleggers and outlaws, the Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12287423/Kentucky-man-digs-700-rare-coins-worth-MILLIONS-know-youre-sitting-fortune.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notes</a>. Georgia Southern University archeologist Ryan McNutt <a href="https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/kentucky-man-finds-over-700-civil-war-era-coins-buried-in-his-cornfield" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Live Science, &#8220;given the time period and the location in Kentucky, which was neutral at the time, it is entirely possible this was buried in advance of Confederate John Hunt Morgan&#8217;s June to July 1863 raid.&#8221; 
Just a month after the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in 1861, Kentucky Democratic Governor Beriah Magoffin officially <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/house-divided-civil-war-kentucky" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> the state neutral, making Kentucky one of four slave states <a href="https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-war-glass-negatives/articles-and-essays/time-line-of-the-civil-war/1861/#:~:text=Four%20Slave%20States%20Stay%20in,kept%20these%20states%20from%20seceding." target="_blank" rel="noopener">not to secede</a> from the Union, despite divided loyalties among the citizenry. Two years later, after numerous successful raids of the Bluegrass State, Morgan and his men set out from Sparta, Tennessee, and made their way into Kentucky. His attack would go into Indiana and end in Ohio, and it cost the Union hundreds of thousands of dollars in both military and civilian property damages, <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/morgans-great-raid-1863" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the American Battlefield Trust. 
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McNutt told Live Science that because the coins discovered in the hoard were federal currency, it would “be wise to conceal from a Confederate raiding party.&#8221; He also said during this time period, many Americans &#8220;became experienced with hiding goods and valuables.”
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="The Great Kentucky Hoard Unearthing!" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0JDUdmp-L3Q?start=19&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Gold Coins

Man Discovers ‘Great Kentucky Hoard’ Of 700 Civil War-Era Coins

Archaeology

Gold

Kentucky

Money

The U.S. Army base Fort Bragg in North Carolina is being renamed to Fort Liberty in accordance with the Biden Defense Department’s <a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-government-and-politics-2c635453129124a462ea79691e634ce9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">push</a> to scrub the military of Confederate memorabilia, garnering harsh pushback from some veterans.
The renaming occurred in a small ceremony on Friday at the base, with signs being changed and the fort’s website <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/army-renames-fort-bragg-fort-liberty" target="_blank" rel="noopener">edited</a> to reflect the new name “Fort Liberty,” which was chosen out of 188 names by the Naming Commission. The base has been named after Confederate General Braxton Bragg since 1918.
The removal and/or replacement of Confederate statues and memorabilia, such as the name &#8220;Fort Bragg,&#8221; has been the subject of debate for decades. The Fort’s website attempts to assuage the concerns that many veterans have that their heritage is being erased by the renaming, <a href="https://home.army.mil/liberty/index.php/fortbragg-renaming" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explaining</a> to veterans:
&#8220;No act can take away from the heritage this installation’s service members created while stationed here or anywhere else, serving our nation. We understand the original name’s prestige in the eyes of some of the Soldiers, Families, and our nation, was built upon the bravery and dedication of those who served here, not because of an obscure, incompetent, ill-tempered Confederate general’s legacy. Nevertheless, our nation’s representatives felt a need to move on from that name and put the redesignation into law, and we are abiding by that law.&#8221;
Despite the fort’s reassurances, many soldiers who serve at the fort or have served previously are heavily critical of this decision, as many see it as a part of their history, with many feeling their service has been dishonored as the Fort where they served is being erased by bureaucrats in Washington.
This sentiment is shared by soldiers of all races, as black Army veteran George Postell Jr., who served at the base for more than four years, explains, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/army-base-renaming-fort-bragg-liberty-dcfe8bd9eeaa8373d2338bf99a4cac69" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per</a> the AP, “I shared my blood, and I know a lot of my other brothers that did the same for the namesake of Fort Bragg,” Postell said. “To me, it will always be Fort Bragg, no matter what they call it.”
U.S. Army veteran and president of the Fayetteville chapter of the NAACP James Buxton Jr. agrees with the renaming, but calls the replacement name “Liberty” an “off the wall” decision. Buxton had a creative solution: To keep the original name of Fort Bragg and instead dedicate the fort to Union General and accomplished U.S. representative Edward Bragg as a compromise that both retains the historical significance of Fort Bragg while acknowledging the suffering that that name might have caused to many African Americans.
This is just the first base to be rebranded by the Naming Commission appointed by Congress with the ultimate goal of renaming nine military bases across the country featuring Confederate soldiers and generals as part of their titles. The project is estimated to cost about $62.4 million, according vice chairman of the Commission and retired Army Brigadier General Ty Seidule.
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According to The American Battlefield Trust, Braxton Bragg was a <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/braxton-bragg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">key figure</a> in the Confederate war effort in the Deep South, scoring minor victories in the early war against the Union in battles such as Chickamauga and Stones River, but rarely scoring a decisive blow against the Union. Bragg resigned as a general in the Confederate army as he suffered a crippling defeat in the Battle of Chattanooga, removing any possibility for Confederate control in Tennessee and losing thousands of men. Bragg served the rest of the war as a military advisor and plantation owner, where he owned over 100 slaves.
The renaming process is set to be completed by December 31.

Fort Bragg Sign

Fort Bragg Renamed As Biden DOD Pushes To Remove Confederate Memorabilia

Race

Slavery

The U.S. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-navy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Navy</a> announced this week that it would be renaming a ship named for oceanographic pioneer Matthew Fontaine Maury because of Maury’s ties to the Confederacy during the later years of his life. 
Maury, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/cable-matthew-fontaine-maury-1806-1873/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">known</a> as the “Pathfinder of the Seas,” was a Navy officer and accomplished oceanographer who helped come up with the idea for a transatlantic cable. The USNS Maury will be renamed after Marie Tharp, an oceanographer cartographer and geologist who lived in the 20th century. 
“As the history of our great nation evolves, we must put forth the effort to recognize figures who positively influenced our society,” Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro <a href="https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2023/03/08/confederates-name-removed-from-navy-survey-ship/#:~:text=The%20Navy%20announced%20Wednesday%20that%20it%20was%20renaming%20an%20oceanographic,will%20be%20renamed%20Marie%20Tharp." target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a>. “This renaming honors just one of the many historic women who have made a significant impact on not only our Navy, but our nation.”
The oceanographic survey ship was renamed as part of a congressionally mandated commission that recommended purging any names or entities associated with the Confederacy from military property, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/29/arlington-cemetery-confederate-memorial/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">including</a> the historic Confederate Memorial which sits surrounded by the graves of Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. 
Maury was born in Virginia in 1806 before his family moved to Tennessee and he joined the U.S. Navy in 1825. During his time in the Navy, he was aboard the first Navy ship to circumnavigate the globe and released a book on navigation at the age of 30. 
After an injury rendered him unable to sail, Maury became heavily involved in charting the ocean for the Navy. He was placed in charge of the Navy’s Depot of Charts and Instruments before rising to lead the U.S. Naval Observatory from 1844-1861. 
He was an effective navigator and sailors were able to cut almost 50 days off of travel time for ships going from New York to San Francisco. His influential books on the ocean <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Matthew-Fontaine-Maury" target="_blank" rel="noopener">included</a> “The Physical Geography of the Sea,” and “Sailing Directions,” both originally published in 1855. 
When the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/american-civil-war" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Civil War</a> broke out, he chose to side with the Confederacy as he was from Virginia. During the war, he tried to create an electric torpedo and went to England as a Confederate agent. After the war, he worked for a short time with Mexico’s emperor to see if they could establish a Confederate colony before he became a meteorology professor at Virginia Military Institute. 
A monument of Maury, who died in 1873, was also removed from Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, in 2020. 
Another Navy ship, a missile-guided cruiser named after the Civil War battle of Chancellorsville, was recently renamed. The Navy chose to the ship to be named in honor of Robert Smalls, a former slave who commandeered a Confederate ship during the war.

The Research Ship USNS Maury During Sea Trials

Navy Removes Name of Oceanographic Pioneer From Ship Over Confederate Ties

History

U.S. Navy

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/department-of-defense">The Department of Defense</a> said last week that Pentagon officials began working on renaming military infrastructure tied to the Confederate States of America by the start of 2024.
Officials announced plans to rename nine U.S. Army bases, two U.S. Navy ships, and more than 1,000 items on American military installations.
&#8220;Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante, today directed all DOD organizations to begin full implementation of the Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense, a.k.a. the Naming Commission and those recommendations,&#8221; Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters on Thursday, according to <a href="https://taskandpurpose.com/news/renaming-confederate-bases-ships-starts/">Task and Purpose</a>.
Crews have already begun disassembling the 108-year-old monument of Southern troops marching to war with enslaved people following along at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
&#8220;I think we are confident, you know, each of the services has clear instructions in terms of what it is that they need to focus on, and where the secretary is confident that the services are and will continue to take that seriously,&#8221; Ryder said as reported by <a href="https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/01/06/get-ready-fort-liberty-pentagon-begins-changing-confederate-base-names.html">Military.com</a>.
Ryder did not disclose the total cost of the project. However, the Naming Commission&#8217;s <a href="https://www.thenamingcommission.gov/report">final report</a> calculated the amount to be approximately $62.5 million.
About $21 million of the funding would be directed toward renaming the nine Army bases located in Southern states named after Confederate figures, including forts Benning, Gordon, Bragg, Hood, Rucker, Polk, A.P. Hill, Pickett, and Lee.
The commission will recommend new names for the bases, such as renaming Fort Bragg to Fort Liberty.
Commission officials have reportedly recommended Benning be renamed Fort Moore, after Lt. Gen. Hal Moore, who served during the Vietnam War.
Although commission officials did not provide new names yet for the two Navy ships set to receive a new title, commission officials identified the USS Chancellorsville and the the USNS Maury.
The USS Chancellorsville received its name after the Confederate army won a Civil War battle, while the USNS Maury was named after Matthew Fontaine Maury, who left the Navy to sail for the Confederacy, Military.com reported.
Approximately $41 million of the funding will be designated for various roads, signs, buildings, and street names.
The announcement comes after West Point Academy officials removed monuments and references last month that &#8220;commemorate or memorialize the Confederacy.&#8221;
The 220-year-old U.S. military academy <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/west-point-begins-removing-confederate-monuments-from-campus-robert-e-lee-portrait-and-bust-cleared-out">said</a> it had begun a &#8220;multi-phase&#8221; process over the holiday break to remove all 13 references and monuments that West Point says honor the Confederacy, including a portrait and bust of former West Point Superintendent Gen. Robert E. Lee.
The removal is in response to an October order from the Department of Defense (DOD) mandated in the National Defense Authorization Act.
A massive outcry against Confederate monuments hit the nation following the death of George Floyd in May of 2020, resulting in numerous statues being taken down. In September of 2021, the largest Confederate monument on display in the U.S., a statue of Lee, was taken down in Richmond, Virginia.
Zach Jewell contributed to this report.

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