“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

Civil War

Confederacy

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

Donald Trump

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

Virginia

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" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Gold Coins

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

American Civil War

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

Biden Administration

Military

Race

Slavery

U.S. Army

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.

Fort Bragg Home To U.S. Army Airborne

U.S. Military Begins Multi-Million Project Renaming Army Bases, Navy Ships Linked To Confederacy

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/west-point" target="_blank" rel="noopener">West Point</a> has begun to remove monuments and references that “commemorate or memorialize the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/confederacy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Confederacy</a>,” the academy announced last week. 
The 220-year-old U.S. military academy said it had begun a “multi-phase” 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, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/25/politics/west-point-to-remove-confederate-monuments/index.html">reported</a>. The removal is in response to an October order from the Department of Defense (DOD) mandated in the National Defense Authorization Act. 
“During the holiday break, we will begin a multi-phased process, in accordance with Department of Defense (DoD) directives, to remove, rename or modify assets and real property at the United States Military Academy (USMA) and West Point installation that commemorate or memorialize the Confederacy or those who voluntarily served with the Confederacy,” Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland <a href="https://www.westpoint.edu/naming-commission-report/superintendents-message">wrote</a> in a letter to the West Point community. 
Along with Lee’s portrait and bust, West Point is also replacing a quote from the southern general that is displayed at the campus’ Honor Plaza. Gilland wrote that a committee will determine a new quote that will replace Lee’s quote by the spring of 2023. 
At least three roads and three buildings on campus named after those who fought for the Confederacy will also be renamed by the spring of next year.
Lee’s portrait that was on display in the library will be moved to storage at the West Point Museum, while Lee’s bust is being moved to other storage, the general explained. A bronze triptych that <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/19nhxKfBungsgL1d157vjDUdAlk4V-8g8/view" target="_blank" rel="noopener">includes</a> Lee and other Confederate soldiers along with the words “Ku Klux Klan” will also be sent to storage “until a more suitable location is determined.”
“We will conduct these actions with dignity and respect,” Gilland wrote. 
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 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/largest-confederate-statue-in-u-s-comes-down-in-virginia">taken down</a> in Richmond, Virginia. 
Earlier this month, the city of Richmond <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/city-digs-up-remains-of-confederate-general-after-taking-down-statue">dug up</a> the remains of Confederate General A.P. Hill as it continues to purge Confederate symbols and monuments from public spaces.

Portrait of Robert E. Lee

West Point Begins Removing Confederate Monuments From Campus; Robert E. Lee Portrait And Bust Cleared Out

West Point Begins Removing Confederate Monuments From Campus, Including Robert E. Lee Portrait

Robert E. Lee

U.S. Military

West Point

This article is a companion piece to today’s Morning Wire Afternoon Update. To listen to the podcast version, click <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
Future Fusion Energy?
A new report <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/prospect-of-fusion-energy-breakthrough-creates-excitement-ahead-of-big-announcement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indicates</a> that U.S. scientists have found a “breakthrough” in viable nuclear fusion.
In the past two weeks, scientists at a federal facility in California were able to produce more energy than the amount of energy put into the experiment using lasers to ignite a fusion reaction with a small amount of hydrogen plasma, according to insiders. A full report from the government is expected this week.
Lockerbie Bomber In Custody, Reports Say
The Libyan man <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/alleged-lockerbie-bombmaker-in-u-s-hands-three-decades-after-terror-attack">suspected</a> of making the bomb that took down a commercial flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 270 people, including 190 Americans, is in U.S. custody after more than three decades, authorities said Sunday. The suspected bomber is due to appear in the U.S. District Court of Columbia as early as this week. Family members of the victims have waited 34 years for justice.
Biden Admin Can&#8217;t Force Religious Hospitals To Pay For Sex-Change Surgeries
A federal appeals court has <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/federal-court-blocks-biden-mandate-forcing-religious-hospitals-to-facilitate-gender-transitions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ruled</a> that the Biden administration cannot force religious health care providers to perform or pay for sex-change surgeries.
House GOP Pledges To Subpoena 51 Intelligence Veterans Behind Discrediting Hunter Biden Laptop
House Republicans will <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kevin-mccarthy-vows-subpoenas-for-51-intel-veterans-in-hunter-biden-probe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">subpoena</a> the 51 intelligence veterans who signed a letter suggesting the Hunter Biden laptop story could be part of a Russian disinformation operation, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) pledged over the weekend.
John Fetterman: Movie Star
Senator-Elect John Fetterman will have a cameo in a Netflix film titled “The Pale Blue Eye,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/yes-thats-john-fetterman-in-christian-bales-new-movie-thats-a-face-that-fits-in-the-1830s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directed</a> by Scott Cooper. The film stars Christian Bale as a detective who attempts to solve the murder of a West Point Cadet. The film was shot entirely in Braddock, Pennsylvania, when Fetterman was the mayor, and the makers of the movie became friends with the Democrat. But it was his unique mug that sealed the deal.
“John’s got this fantastic face. And so I said to Scott, ‘We’ve got to have him in the tavern. You got to have that face. That’s a face that fits in the 1830s, because a lot of faces don’t fit in the 1830s,’” Bale said.
Gigantic Caravan Crosses Border
A caravan of about 1,000 migrants <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-more-than-1000-migrants-cross-border-into-el-paso-overnight" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crossed</a> illegally into El Passo, Texas, Sunday night. A video posted by Fox News reporter Bill Melugin shows scores of migrants walking across the shallow river into the U.S. Melugin reports that prior to the mass crossing, Mexican police escorted nearly 20 buses of migrants to Juarez, where they were given to NGOs and then released to cross the border.
U.S. Kills Two ISIS Leaders
U.S. Central Command forces <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-central-command-forces-kill-two-isis-officials-in-syria" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conducted</a> a helicopter raid in Syria on Sunday that killed two officials of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
Confederate Statue Comes Down
The city of Richmond, Virginia, removed the final city-owned Confederate monument, a statue of Confederate General A.P. Hill, in Old Dominion’s capital Monday morning. Since 2020 and the George Floyd riots, more than a dozen Confederate memorials have been removed from the city.
Court Orders Southwest To Pay Fired Pro-Life Flight Attendant
A federal court has <a href="https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/court-orders-southwest-airlines-to-provide-back-pay-to-employee-fired-over-union-criticism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ordered</a> Southwest Airlines to provide back pay and maximum punitive damages to a former flight attendant named Charlene Carter, who was fired after speaking out against her union&#8217;s political activism. Carter was fired in 2017 after posting pro-life messages and supporting a recall of her union’s president. The court ordered her reinstatement as well. Carter was represented by attorneys from the national right to work foundation.
Texas Basketball Coach Arrested
The head coach of the men’s basketball team at the University of Texas, Chris Beard, was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/university-of-texas-mens-basketball-head-coach-arrested-for-felony-assault" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested</a> Monday morning and was charged with third-degree assault on a relative.
Mississippi State Football Coach In Critical Condition
Mississippi State University head football coach Mike Leach is in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mississippi-state-football-coach-mike-leach-rushed-to-the-hospital" target="_blank" rel="noopener">critical condition</a> after suffering a massive heart attack Sunday.
The university issued a statement acknowledging the situation and stating that &#8220;Mike’s family is with him and appreciates the overwhelming expressions of love and support for the coach, but also requests that their family’s privacy be respected at this time.” Leach is in his third year as head coach at Mississippi State.
Longer Tweets Coming, Musk Announces
On Sunday, Elon Musk <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/technology/3771542-musk-says-twitter-character-account-will-increase-to-4000/#:~:text=Twitter%20CEO%20Elon%20Musk%20on,tweets%20from%20280%20to%204%2C000." target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Twitter will up its character limits from 280 to 4,000 for individual tweets.
To listen to the audio version of this podcast, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/morning-wire/id1576594336" target="_blank" rel="noopener">click here</a>. And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.

John Fetterman

Monday Afternoon Update: Fetterman Has A Face For Movies, Confederate Statue Comes Down, Gigantic Caravan Crosses Border

Energy

General

Illegal Immigration

ISIS

Morning Wire

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Nearly 20 cannons found in a Georgia river are believed by archeologists to be from British ships from the time of the American War of Independence. 
During an excavation job, workers uncovered 19 cannons that researchers believe to have been sitting at the bottom of the Savannah River, in Savannah, Georgia, for roughly 240 years. Experts believe that the cannons ended up on the river bottom after the ships were scuttled by the British around 1779.
“The mud- and rust-encrusted guns were discovered by accident. A dredge scooping sediment from the riverbed last year as part of a $973 million deepening of Savannah’s busy shipping channel surfaced with one the cannons clasped in its metal jaws. The crew soon dug up two more,” the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-savannah-us-navy-e64a3849bbba152fd2d3549ad401d18b">reported.</a> 
Historians note that before the siege of Savannah in 1779, it is likely that the British scuttled the ships with the cannons onboard around the time of the battle, which would last from September 16 to October 18 1779.
After closer examination of the cannons, historians ruled out that they were Confederate, which was the initial assumption, and then determined that they likely dated back to the Revolutionary War. 
“They’re in remarkably good shape,” Army Corps of Engineers archeologist Andrea Farmer said. “Many were buried in clay and covered by silt and debris that kind of protected them.”
Each of the cannons has been moved to a warehouse by the river over the past year, as archeologists work with officials from Georgia, the U.S. government, and Britain to create a display, with the Savannah History Museum being the likely final destination.
Logistics are complicated by the question of who actually owns the cannons, whether it be the U.S. or Britain, which is still in contention. 
“Everybody wants to keep the artifacts in Savannah,” Farmer explained, “because that makes the most sense.”
Farmer noted that, while researchers are confident that the cannons come from the war of independence, they still need official verification. Part of the verification includes examining other artifacts found in the river, including shards of a ship’s bell and anchor, to make the final determination. 
Historians say several of the cannons were likely made in France and ended up on two British ships, the HMS Venus and the HMS Savannah. They also explained why the British might scuttle their own ships. 
To prevent French ships from gaining access to the Savannah in 1779, the British scuttled several of their own ships to block up the river. “The land battle that followed was one of the bloodiest of the war. British forces killed nearly 300 colonial fighters and their allies, while wounding hundreds more,” the Associated Press explained.
The cannons are not the first artifacts from American history to be found in the Savannah River. Back in <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/21/us/savannah-georgia-civil-war-ironclad/index.html">2015</a>, a Confederate ironclad ship, the CSS Georgia was pulled out of the water by Navy divers. Prior to its removal, the Confederate ship had been underwater for 150 years.

Sunken old cannon

Cannons Found In Georgia River Believed To Be From British Ships During The American Revolutionary War

Cannons Found In Georgia River Believed To Be From British Ships During American Revolutionary War

American History

Georgia

Revolution

On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Virginia decided the state can remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
As <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/lee-statue-richmond-court-removal/2021/09/02/4a2ee794-0bee-11ec-a6dd-296ba7fb2dce_story.html">reported</a> by The Washington Post, the statue is allowed to be taken down from Monument Avenue in Richmond. “In unanimous rulings in two separate cases, the justices affirmed the power of Gov. Ralph Northam to order the 60-foot statue removed from state-owned property,” the outlet reported. 
A group of citizens and an ancestor of the family that had provided the property to the state of Virginia over 120 years ago filed lawsuits last year after Democratic Governor of Virginia Ralph Northam pushed to take down the statue after George Floyd died following an encounter with police in Minneapolis. 
As NPR <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/02/1033595859/virginia-supreme-court-remove-statue-robert-e-lee-confederate-richmond">reported</a>:
<blockquote>
Separate <a href="https://apnews.com/article/george-floyd-virginia-courts-f21704e2c6602de3cbb9b01005adab37">lawsuits were filed</a> by a group of residents who own property near the statue and a descendant of signatories to the 1890 deed that transferred the statue, pedestal and land they sit on to the state.
Descendant William Gregory argued that the state agreed to &#8220;faithfully guard&#8221; and &#8220;affectionately protect&#8221; the statue. And five property owners argued that the governor is bound by a 1889 joint resolution of the Virginia General Assembly that accepted the statue and agreed to maintain it as a monument to Lee. 
During <a href="https://apnews.com/article/george-floyd-virginia-courts-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-c6cec30170d088cde56eca2306c73629">a hearing before the Supreme Court</a> on June 8, attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that the Virginia Constitution does not grant the governor the authority to remove the statue. But Attorney General Mark Herring&#8217;s office said a small group of private citizens cannot force the state to maintain a monument that no longer reflects its values.
</blockquote>
After the lawsuits were unsuccessful, the plaintiffs took their cases to the state’s Supreme Court. 
The Washington Post reported the decision: 
<blockquote>
In rejecting one of the appeals, the justices found that requirements built into the 1889 deed giving the site to the state, as well as language adopted by the General Assembly in 1890 authorizing the accepting of the property, no longer bind the state to preserve and protect the monument. 
The justices wrote that “those restrictive covenants are unenforceable as contrary to public policy and for being unreasonable because their effect is to compel government speech, by forcing the Commonwealth to express, in perpetuity, a message with which it now disagrees.”
</blockquote>
“Today’s ruling is a tremendous win for the people of Virginia,” Governor Northam said in a statement on Thursday. “Our public memorials are symbols of who we are and what we value. When we honor leaders who fought to preserve a system that enslaved human beings, we are honoring a lost cause that has burdened Virginia for too many years.” 
Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring’s (D) office argued the case for Northam. Herring praised the decisions. “Today is an historic day in Virginia. Today, we turn the page to a new chapter in our Commonwealth’s history — one of growth, openness, healing, and hope,” Herring said in a written statement.
After social justice protests and Black Lives Matter riots broke out across the country last year, several states have looked to reassess famous statues, as well as the names of streets, colleges, and buildings that might be offensive to citizens.

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Virginia Supreme Court Rules State Can Take Down Confederate Statue

Arlington House, the mansion in Virginia that once belonged to Confederate General Robert E. Lee, is reopening after a $12 million revamping effort aimed at contextualizing Lee’s legacy.
After the rehabilitation, the mansion that overlooks Arlington National Cemetery will include more information about people who were enslaved on the property, as <a href="https://apnews.com/article/travel-health-coronavirus-pandemic-lifestyle-fd735726b77d8ca99473ac3f856126ff">reported</a> by The Associated Press. 
For the first time since 2018, the National Park Service opened Arlington House to the general population on Tuesday. The coronavirus pandemic and setbacks resulted in a longer closure than originally planned as the mansion and grounds were anticipated to open in 2019.
“The rehabilitation was funded by philanthropist David Rubenstein, who has also donated millions for the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and other historical sites around the D.C. region,” per the AP. 
Arlington House has a vast trove of records related to its history but is still impacted by the fact that there is often not much recorded documentation about people who were enslaved, noted Charles Cuvelier, superintendent of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, the National Park Service unit that manages Arlington House.
“Our efforts are to illuminate those layers of history to the best of our ability,” he said.
The Arlington House website <a href="https://www.nps.gov/arho/learn/management/telling-the-story-of-the-enslaved-people-at-arlington-house.htm">explained</a>: &#8220;Today, the National Park Service tells the whole story of slavery at Arlington House, recognizing that speaking openly about this history might engender discomfort in ourselves, our colleagues, and our visitors, because it helps us to understand the complete story of our collective history and acknowledge those who have been too long ignored by the dominate narrative. The National Park Service acknowledges and recognizes the lives of those enslaved at Arlington House with respect, humanity, empathy, and agency.&#8221;
&#8220;Visitors to Arlington House can learn about enslaved people who worked at the estate, such as the Syphax, Burke, Parks, and Gray families, including learning stories about their daily life on the plantation and their families’ legacies,&#8221; it said.
The &#8220;newly restored outbuildings&#8221; that operated as working and living quarters for slaves are also open to the public.
“Descendants of Charles and Maria Syphax can trace their lineage back to Parke Custis, who fathered children with Maria’s mother, Arianna Carter, also a slave,” per the AP. 
The outlet reported: 
<blockquote>
The Norris family included Wesley Norris, who according to some accounts escaped from Arlington House in 1859 when Lee was managing the estate. When Norris was captured, Lee insisted that Norris be whipped 50 times and that the wounds be washed with brine, according to newspaper accounts, including one given by Norris directly to an anti-slavery newspaper.
</blockquote>
Steve Hammond, a descendant of the Syphax family who is now a trustee of the Arlington House Foundation, said he thinks the new items do a better job of sharing the entire history of the location. 
“It’s going to be much more focused on everyone who has lived on that historic piece of property,” he said. 
Hammond has also pushed to take out Lee’s name from the site, which bears the formal name of “Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial.” Representative Don Beyer (D-VA) <a href="https://apnews.com/article/va-state-wire-religion-dc-wire-us-news-cdd50a2811ba86cb65251ee772f949b7">proposed legislation</a> to change the name last year and is <a href="https://apnews.com/article/travel-health-coronavirus-pandemic-lifestyle-fd735726b77d8ca99473ac3f856126ff">reportedly</a> planning to do so again. 
Hammond said that he anticipates the updates — and the possible change in name — will be difficult for some people who preferred when Lee was the main focus of the house, but he is hopeful that the site can now encourage more extensive conversations about all of the house’s previous residents. 
“We’re trying to create space for these difficult conversations,” he said.
The reopening comes as conversations surrounding the existence of confederate statues and the re-naming of schools become more prominent. 
A school district in Jacksonville, Florida, recently announced that it will be changing the names of six schools that have ties to figures from the confederacy, as <a href="https://thegrio.com/2021/06/07/jacksonville-change-school-names-confederate/">reported</a> by The Grio.
“At this point in time it’s important to start thinking about who we want to be,” said Duval County public schools board chair Elizabeth Andersen. “As a board, we were listening to our community members and wanting to move forward so that every student that walks in our building understands that they are respected, that they are capable of achieving their highest potential, and that all of their lives matter.” 
The six schools set to be renamed in Jacksonville are Kirby-Smith Middle School, Joseph Finegan Elementary Schoo, Stonewall Jackson Elementary Schoo, Jefferson Davis Middle School, J.E.B. Stuart Middle School, and Robert E. Lee High School.

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Robert E. Lee Memorial Arlington House Updated To Include More Information On Slaves Who Lived There

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