The Naming Commission’s complete inventory of assets with names connected to the Confederacy has more than 750 items to review as part of the commission’s mandate from Congress.
Among the items on the list are streets, civil works, buildings, paintings, vessels, signs and the military installations themselves.
The inventory included 26 items at Fort Gordon, beginning with the name of the installation.
The 25 other items, buildings, signs and memorials, include the Gordon Club, Gordon Terrace housing area, Gordon Conference and Catering Center, Gordon Lake and the golf course and water towers one and three.
The list is available at www.thenamingcommission.gov/inventory
The commission was created because the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act included “assess the cost of renaming or removing names, symbols, displays, monuments, or paraphernalia (owned or operated by the Department of Defense) that commemorate the Confederate States of America or any person who served voluntarily with the Confederate States of America.”
“We will update the inventory list in collaboration with the Department of Defense, including its sub-agencies and the military branches, as we continue to identify assets within our area of consideration,” said retired Adm. Michelle Howard, chair of the Naming Commission. “This work is vital to understand the scope and estimated cost of renaming or removing Confederate-named assets and will enable us to provide the most accurate report possible to Congress.”
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In mid-March, the commission released the list of names which may be used to rename nine Department of Defense installations and one U.S. Navy ship.
Two Georgia posts — Fort Gordon and Fort Benning — are among those that may be renamed. The others are Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Rucker, Alabama; Fort Polk, Louisiana; Fort Benning and Fort Gordon in Georgia; and Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Lee and Fort Pickett in Virginia. The lone ship is the U.S.S. Maury.
Among the 87 names on the list released March 17 are Omar Bradley, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Colin Powell, Audie Murphy, Alvin York, George Marshall, Harriet Tubman and Hal and Julia Moore, made famous by the book and movie “We Were Soldiers Once…and Young.”
That list is also posted to the commission’s website: www.thenamingcommission.gov/names
In addition to Howard, the other members of the commission are Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, U.S. Army, Retired, Vice-Chair, Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick, U.S. Army, Retired, Jerry Buchannan, Gen. Robert Neller, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired, Lawrence Romo and Dr. Kori Schake. The only elected official on the commission is Georgia Congressman Austin Scott (R-GA8).
Fort Gordon was founded as Camp Gordon. It is named for John Brown Gordon, a major general in the Confederate Army who later served as governor of Georgia and as a U.S. senator. Fort Benning is named after Henry L. Benning, a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. He was also a judge on the Georgia Supreme Court.
The commission must give its final report to the House Armed Services Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee by Oct. 1, 2022. The names must be changed by 2024. Commission members must also determine the cost of removing the offending names as well as any symbols, monuments or other objects related to the Confederacy.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a general assignment reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
