# Should we change the names of military bases named after Confederate Generals? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 8, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-change-the-names-of-military-bases-named-after-confederate-generals/660481 "2013-06-08T18:23:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-change-the-names-of-military-bases-named-after-confederate-generals/660481/61 "2013-06-18T19:44:34Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > It’s mind boggling to me, as it was in the Memorial Day thread, how much hostility some people cling to over a war that occurred 150 years ago. Way more obsession than I hear from people here in the south, which is just about none. Not so. For example, Tennessee has had three American Presidents who were primarily affiliated with that state, but there are more monuments for NBF than for all three combined. This is also a fairly recent phenomenon. NBF wasn’t considered in the “top 20” CSA leaders for many decades after the Civil war. > **[Update on Nathan Bedford Forrest Park Controversy](http://cwmemory.com/2013/02/05/update-on-nathan-bedford-forrest-park-controversy/)** > > This story just keeps getting more bizarre by the hour.  Earlier today it looked like the Memphis City Council was going to vote to change the name of Forrest Park to Forrest – Wells Park, in honor of Ida B. Wells.  Of course, local heritage... Why are so many things named after him, why so many monuments? So racist Southern apologists can get in their secret digs vs “Yankees and Niggers’ by “honoring a war hero” when in actuality they are honoring the founder of the KKK. As recently as 2000 they even put up a monument to that racist in Selma Ala. Just last year “_Friends of Forrest moved forward with plans for a new, larger monument, which was to be 12 feet high, illuminated by L.E.D. lights, surrounded by a wrought-iron fence and protected by 24-hour security cameras_” No obsession in the South?:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-change-the-names-of-military-bases-named-after-confederate-generals/660481/62 "2013-06-18T19:49:48Z")
LEDs are just too much. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-change-the-names-of-military-bases-named-after-confederate-generals/660481/63 "2013-06-18T20:03:18Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > LEDs are just too much. They toned them down from the lasers and neon.😛 ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-change-the-names-of-military-bases-named-after-confederate-generals/660481/64 "2013-06-18T20:11:15Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Not so. For example, Tennessee has had three American Presidents who were primarily affiliated with that state, but there are more monuments for NBF than for all three combined. This is also a fairly recent phenomenon. NBF wasn’t considered in the “top 20” CSA leaders for many decades after the Civil war. > [Update on Nathan Bedford Forrest Park Controversy](http://cwmemory.com/2013/02/05/update-on-nathan-bedford-forrest-park-controversy/) Do you have a cite for your claim about Tennessee? That article you linked to doesn’t support your argument; in fact it looks like that author agrees with me: > [@](#): > > I do hope they decide to amend the name of the park to include Wells rather than discard Forrest entirely. The dedication of a park after such an individual tells us something important about the history of race and white power in Memphis’s history. Tearing it down does little more than erase that history from public view. > [@](#): > > Why are so many things named after him, why so many monuments? So racist Southern apologists can get in their secret digs vs “Yankees and Niggers’ by “honoring a war hero” when in actuality they are honoring the founder of the KKK. As recently as 2000 they even put up a monument to that racist in Selma Ala. Just last year “_Friends of Forrest moved forward with plans for a new, larger monument, which was to be 12 feet high, illuminated by L.E.D. lights, surrounded by a wrought-iron fence and protected by 24-hour security cameras_” > > No obsession in the South?:dubious: I don’t doubt your claims, but I’d like a cite to be able to make any meaningful response. I don’t know who “Friends of Forrest” are, how big they are, or how many monuments there are, or what their motives are. I’m not going to start from the assumption that they are trying to get in their digs vs. “Yankees and niggers” although it’s certainly possible; there are assholes on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-change-the-names-of-military-bases-named-after-confederate-generals/660481/65 "2013-06-18T20:20:21Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Do you have a cite for your claim about Tennessee? That article you linked to doesn’t support your argument; in fact it looks like that author agrees with me: > > I don’t doubt your claims, but I’d like a cite to be able to make any meaningful response. I don’t know who “Friends of Forrest” are, how big they are, or how many monuments there are, or what their motives are. I’m not going to start from the assumption that they are trying to get in their digs vs. “Yankees and niggers” although it’s certainly possible; there are assholes on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. Well there’s wikipedia, [“I]As of 2007, Tennessee had 32 dedicated historical markers linked to Nathan Bedford Forrest, more than are dedicated to the three former Presidents associated with the state\*” :and also about three comments down on that very page: _Tennessee has produced three American presidents. But in the state there are more monuments to Nathan Bedford Forrest than there for the three chief executives combined_ ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-change-the-names-of-military-bases-named-after-confederate-generals/660481/66 "2013-06-18T21:48:50Z")
Ok, how about appending the surname “Gump” to every monument to NBF? And yes, Washington gets to be honored for winning. Happens that way most of the time. The old difference between Freedon Fighter and Insurgent. Which is why it’s such acurious thing that we got around to naming US Army bases after “Rebs”. I don’t think many countries do such. (But yeah, I’m sure was done just to keep local muckety-mucks happy about the feds grabbing some land) In any case many of us are mostly tongue-in-cheek about the military station names. Trading Gordon for Sherman would be annoying and obnoxious… but twistedly satisfying 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-change-the-names-of-military-bases-named-after-confederate-generals/660481.md?page=3)