Beauregard Camp, Louisiana
National Guard training facility. Initially called Camp Stafford. Renamed to Confederate General PGT Beauregard in 1917
Beauregard was superintendent of West Point when his native Louisiana parted ways in 1861, but he resigned to join the rebels, firing the first shots at Fort Sumter and ordering them at Shiloh. He advised surrender in 1865. Unusually he advocated integration into adulthood.
Fort Benning, Alabama / Georgia
‘Home of the Infantry’. Named in 1917 by plantation owner Henry L. Benning, who has advocated secession since 1849, and criticized “black governors, black legislatures, black juries, all black.” He had no military experience, but was promoted to general and was one of the last to surrender at the ceremony at the Appomattox Courthouse.
Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Start of the Special Operations Command. Named after General Braxton Bragg when it opened in 1918
Slave owner, former US Army officer who joined the Confederates and promoted to general, but oversaw a series of defeats, culminating in Chattanooga when he resigned. Very disgusted by his men for his quick temperament and his obsession with discipline; Historians have said that his losses were a key part of Grant’s victory.
Fort Gordon, Georgia
Base for the Army Signal Corps and the Cyber Corps. Named after Major General John Brown Gordon when it opened in 1917
Despite no military training, Gordon was promoted to a division general, thanks to personal courage and tactical skill. He led the last Northern Virginia Army charge at Appomattox. Generally, but not definitively, recognized as the KKK leader in Georgia, then Governor and Senator against Reconstruction. He died in 1904 hailed as “the living embodiment of the Confederacy”.
Fort AP Hill, Virginia
Training and maneuvering center. Named after General AP Hill when it opened in 1940
Hill was a career army officer who resigned just before Virginia separated and immediately joined his forces. Distinguished commander of brigade and division, but blamed as commander of the Third Corps for the defeat of Gettysburg and leading the rebel withdrawal. Killed in action a week before the Confederate surrender, after saying he did not want to survive the Confederacy.
Fort Hood, Texas
Headquarters of the III Corps. Appointed at the opening in 1942 to General John Bell Hood
A Kentucky native, Hood resigned from his Army commission and volunteered for the Confederates in Texas, quickly becoming a brigadier general, but he failed as an Army commander and was relieved of command after the defeat in Nashville.
Fort Lee, Virginia
Combined Arms Support Command Headquarters. Named at the opening as a camp in 1917 for General Robert E. Lee
Slave owner Lee, the brightest officer in the army, rejected a Union command to join the rebels despite the secession. He had victories in the seven-day battles and in the second Bull Run, but led the rebels to fundamental defeat at Gettysburg. Boosted Grant from complete victory, he personally surrendered to Appomattox as Commanding General. After the war, he endorsed slavery, but said blacks “lack intelligence.”
Fort Pickett, Virginia
National Guard training site. Named to Major General George Pickett at the opening in 1941
Pickett, raised on a plantation, resigned from his Army commission a month after joining the Confederacy. Best known for the Pickett’s Charge bloodbath that led to the defeat at Gettysburg, he also ordered the execution of 22 Union soldiers after the defeat in New Bern, North Carolina. He fled to Canada for a year after the Confederate defeat for fear of being prosecuted for the crime. His wife’s hagiography of him was a key part of the ‘Lost Cause’ movement from the 1890s onward, which in turn led to the Confederate names of the bases.
Fort Polk, Louisiana
Start of the Joint Preparation Training Center. Appointed at the opening in 1941 for General (and Bishop) Leonidas Polk
Polk gave up a brief army career to become an Episcopalian priest, but it was estimated that he had as many as 400 slaves in the 1850s. So interested in secession that he established a Confederate church, his brief military experience earned him the commission as major general. . He led the troops in a series of defeats, including Shiloh, and was regarded as a poor tactician who was disliked by those he led. Killed by arson in Atlanta after being personally seen by Sherman.
Fort Rucker, Alabama
Home of the Army Aviation Center of Excellence. Renamed from the Ozark Triangular Division Camp in 1942 to Brigadier General Edmund Rucker
Rucker volunteered as a private and rose quickly, playing a key role in the Confederate victory in Chickamauga but was captured and released in a prisoner exchange organized by Nathan Bedford Forrest. He was with Forrest when Union prisoners were systematically massacred at Pillow Hill, and they worked with him after the surrender, when Forrest established the KKK.
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