Contested Military Landscapes of the Confederacy: Memorialization and Renaming

Keywords: Military installations, Confederacy, Robert E. Lee
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

The U.S. military represents a unique social-cultural institution in America that has often paved the way for racial, ethnic and gender integration within its ranks. Nevertheless, the contested legacies of the Civil War and the Confederacy have continued to be adversely represented in the memorialization of its landspaces, in particular in the naming of numerous military installations in the South and thru the memorialization of other structures and places within these installations, including the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In 2021 the Department of Defense commissioned the Naming Commission to address and rename assets named after the Confederacy, including ten major Army installations in the South. Similar efforts were addressed at West Point to reconsider the legacy of General Robert E. Lee, the military hero of the Confederacy, and a graduate of the Academy. This paper will explore the underlying landscape and memorialization legacies and issues surrounding this military footprint in America and provide an overview of the steps being taken to remove Confederate symbols and names.