The cost was summarized by the team tasked with a sweeping Department of Defense audit to identify, rename, alter or remove assets commemorating the battlefield exploits of those who fought during the Civil War to preserve slavery. There are 1,100 such species across the military, the panel found. The project underscores how deeply ingrained Confederate symbology is within the armed forces, a tradition-bound institution where some units still trace their lineage to key Confederate victories and commanders. The nine facilities to be renamed, all in former rebel states, have been a point of contention for years. However, these conversations reached a crescendo after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, which prompted a massive rethinking of race and racism in the United States. The committee was created in next year’s defense policy bill. The commissioners said on a call with reporters that, at Arlington National Cemetery, they recommended removing a statue above a Confederate monument depicting slaves, removing the bronze and leaving the granite base and foundation. The commission previously ruled that Fort Belvoir in Virginia, named after an 18th-century plantation for the same reasons, was outside its purview, leaving it up to the Pentagon to decide whether it should be renamed. Bases named for Confederates should honor women and minorities, panel says While the committee made specific recommendations about what to rename the nine Army posts, it declined to select candidates for renaming two Navy ships, saying that would have to fall to the Navy secretary. The USS Chancellorsville, a guided-missile cruiser named for a major victory under Robert E. Lee, once had photos of Lee and Stonewall Jackson in its boardroom, said Ty Seidule, co-chairman of the commission and a retired one-star general. The USNS Maury, an oceanographic research ship, should also be renamed by the secretary of the Navy, the committee said. The vessel was named after Matthew Fontaine Maury, who resigned his commission in the US navy to join the Confederate sea service. Fort Fisher Recreation Area in North Carolina, which is overseen by the Air Force, should also be renamed, the commission said. Its name comes from a Confederate fortification named after a soldier killed in 1861. Why are some military bases called Confederates? The many other items are relegated to military installations where few outsiders see them. For base names, the changes will require a complete overhaul for items large and small, from signs outside the main gates to the stamps used to process paperwork for new and departing soldiers. Some of the items, such as plaques, may be absorbed into military museums, Seidule said, while others may be trashed. “The military or the military has a procedure for disposing of equipment,” he noted. About a third of the estimated cost will be devoted to base name changes, the commission said. The vast majority of the remaining cost, nearly $41 million, will be for items located throughout the military. It will cost just under half a million dollars to address Confederate artifacts at the military academies at West Point and Annapolis, the committee said. The name changes at the nine bases will mark the first time Army installations are named after female and black soldiers instead of white men. Last year, the Washington Post found that three National Guard units honored their Confederate heritage by using radio call signs and slogans with Civil War significance. Some individual units made changes in the wake of Floyd’s killing, while others said they would await the results of the committee’s work. While the committee reported its findings on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, the final part of its report will not be made public until it is delivered to lawmakers, said Stephen Baker, a spokesman for the committee. Final authorization approval rests with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
