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Why were US military bases named for Confederate traitors?
Here's a link to a well-written and researched article that describes when and why US military bases were named for Confederates.
https://eji.org/news/the-dishonorable-origins-of-military-bases-named-for-people-who-fought-against-the-united-states/
And here's a quote -- sorry, but this quote pretty much violates the DU rules on quotes:
Prior to 1917, the U.S. military had only a small footprint in the South. This was a direct consequence of Reconstruction, the 12-year period after the Civil War, when many white Southerners forcefully objected to the presence of federal troops stationed there to protect the rights and safety of newly emancipated Black people.
In 1877, the federal government abandoned Reconstruction and withdrew troops from defending the Southern statehouses, paving the way for the rapid deterioration of political rights for Black Southerners and the ascendency of white leaders who were fiercely committed to racial hierarchy.
Mass membership groups like the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the United Confederate Veterans soon formed to spread the ideology known as the Lost Cause, a revisionist narrative that asserted the Civil War was not about slavery, minimized the Confederacy’s military defeat, and celebrated the South’s triumph over Reconstruction.
By the early 1900s, these groups had tens of thousands of members organized into hundreds of local “camps” across the country, many of which were named for Confederate traitors. Members of the Lost Cause movement lobbied to have U.S. military installations named after Confederates, but these efforts were initially rejected.
. . .
During his presidency, Wilson segregated the federal workforce, banned Black people from serving in the Navy, which had been integrated for 100 years, and screened Birth of a Nation, a film glorifying the Ku Klux Klan, at the White House.
In June 1917, Wilson honored a large contingent of Confederate veterans with a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. In a speech following the display, he declared, “There are many memories of the Civil War that thrill along the blood and make one proud to have been sprung of a race that could produce such bravery and constancy,” arguing that “heroic things were done on both sides.”
. . .
A month after former Confederate soldiers who fought against the United States triumphantly paraded in front of the White House, the Army announced it would name military posts after Confederate figures for the first time. Four Confederate leaders were initially honored: John Brown Gordon, Robert E. Lee, Pierre Beauregard, and Joseph Wheeler. In 1918, Braxton Bragg and Henry Benning were also honored with base names, the latter at the urging of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.4 There were no reports of any input from or consideration of Black service members during the naming process.
In 1877, the federal government abandoned Reconstruction and withdrew troops from defending the Southern statehouses, paving the way for the rapid deterioration of political rights for Black Southerners and the ascendency of white leaders who were fiercely committed to racial hierarchy.
Mass membership groups like the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the United Confederate Veterans soon formed to spread the ideology known as the Lost Cause, a revisionist narrative that asserted the Civil War was not about slavery, minimized the Confederacy’s military defeat, and celebrated the South’s triumph over Reconstruction.
By the early 1900s, these groups had tens of thousands of members organized into hundreds of local “camps” across the country, many of which were named for Confederate traitors. Members of the Lost Cause movement lobbied to have U.S. military installations named after Confederates, but these efforts were initially rejected.
. . .
During his presidency, Wilson segregated the federal workforce, banned Black people from serving in the Navy, which had been integrated for 100 years, and screened Birth of a Nation, a film glorifying the Ku Klux Klan, at the White House.
In June 1917, Wilson honored a large contingent of Confederate veterans with a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. In a speech following the display, he declared, “There are many memories of the Civil War that thrill along the blood and make one proud to have been sprung of a race that could produce such bravery and constancy,” arguing that “heroic things were done on both sides.”
. . .
A month after former Confederate soldiers who fought against the United States triumphantly paraded in front of the White House, the Army announced it would name military posts after Confederate figures for the first time. Four Confederate leaders were initially honored: John Brown Gordon, Robert E. Lee, Pierre Beauregard, and Joseph Wheeler. In 1918, Braxton Bragg and Henry Benning were also honored with base names, the latter at the urging of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.4 There were no reports of any input from or consideration of Black service members during the naming process.
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