It was Fort Gordon, then it was Fort Eisenhower, now it’s Fort Gordon again. But there are efforts to fight against that change at Augusta’s U.S. Army base along with the other recently renamed military installations.
Who was Fort Gordon named after?
Originally, Augusta’s Fort Gordon honored Lt. Gen. John Brown Gordon, one of Confederate leader Robert E. Lee’s most trusted officers, according to Time. He is also believed to have been a leader of the Ku Klux Klan, according to the National Governors Association.
Who is Fort Eisenhower named after?
Fort Gordon was renamed to Fort Eisenhower in 2023 after President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was famously also an Army general and even re-entered the military after his presidential term. The Army has said Augusta was a major place of respite for “Ike” with its ample opportunities for hunting and golf.
The base was one of multiple military installations with names connected to members of the Civil War Confederacy which were renamed. Under the Biden Administration, an independent commission was created to recommend name changes in the wake of renewed calls for racial justice following the death of George Floyd.
Are military bases getting their Confederate names back?
Last month, President Donald Trump and the Army directed seven installations, including Fort Eisenhower, to revert their names back, but the namesakes are different. In Augusta’s case, instead of being named after Lt. Gen. John Brown Gordon, it’s named after Medal of Honor recipient Master Sgt. Gary I. Gordon.
However, the House Armed Services Committee recently passed an amendment to its annual defense policy bill barring the Pentagon from using any of the funds from next year’s defense budget to rename Defense Department installations in honor of Confederate figures. While the name change is official, this would block things like new signage which, during the last change to Fort Eisenhower, cost about $1.3 million.
The Pentagon has declined to comment, but the vice chair of the base renaming commission, retired Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, praised the amendment saying he was “proud” of the committee for respecting “the will of the American people” as expressed when Congress created the bipartisan naming commission in 2021.
Why were names changed at U.S. Army bases?
President Trump said during a visit to Fort Bragg, “We won a lot of battles out of those forts — it’s no time to change … and I’m superstitious, you know, I like to keep it going right.”
At a Senate budget hearing in June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said restoring the base names was “important for the morale” of the military. He has also said changing the base names in the first place broke a “generational link,” calling it “garbage.”
Cybele Mayes-Osterman and Davis Winkie of USA Today contributed to this article.
Miguel Legoas is a Deep South Connect Team Reporter for Gannett/USA Today. Find him on Instagram @miguelegoas and email at mlegoas@gannett.com.
