Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Lex Anteinternet: Military Installation Names. What they were, and are, and how they got there. Part 2. Posts in Wyoming

Lex Anteinternet: Military Installation Names. What they were, and ...:

Military Installation Names. What they were, and are, and how they got there. Part 2. Posts in Wyoming

Part 1 of this post was originally just a few introductory paragraphs before what was intended to be a discussion on Wyoming's posts, but it grew so large, we made it a separate entry.  Here we go on to the second part of the discussion, which was supposed to be the main point of the discussion.

The Wyoming Posts

Wyoming has had a large number of military installations over the years, but most of the posts that have existed within it are long closed, with some of them closed installations for over a century. Today, there are only three really substantial full time military posts in Wyoming, with two of those being National Guard facilities.  We'll take a look at those posts first.

Current Posts

1.  F. E. Warren A.F.B.

Ft. D. A. Russell, 1910.

Warren is named after Francis E. Warren, former Wyoming Senator and Governor and father in law to Gen. John Pershing.  He was also a Civil War Medal of Honor recipient, an award conferred on him post war.  Warren was a major Wyoming political figure during his lifetime.  The post wasn't named for him at first, however.  It was named for David A. Russell.

David A. Russell.

David A. Russell was a career officer and West Point graduate who was a casualty of the Civil War.  Russell had fought in the Mexican War and in the West at the Rogue River War, but had no direct connection with Wyoming of which I'm aware.  Russell was killed by shrapnel in September 1864 at Winchester, Virginia.

Ft. D. A. Russell was established in 1867, the same year that Russell was posthumously brevetted to Major General, and therefore just a few years after Russell's death.  It retained that name up until 1930, when President Hoover had the base renamed for the recently departed Francis E. Warren.

Francis E. Warren.

Warren was a legendary Wyoming political figure of the late 19th and early 20th Century.  He was the state's last Territorial Governor and it first State Governor.  He served in the Senate for a long time, dying in office in 1929.  He was also the recipient of the Medal of Honor for valor in action at age 19 when he was an infantryman of the 49th Massachusetts during the Civil War.  He was John J. Pershing's father in law.  The changing of the name of the post no doubt had as much to do with his long service as a politician as his military service.

The post became an Air Force Base in 1947.  It is perhaps somewhat unique for an Air Force Base as it doesn’t contain a runway.  It’s a strategic missile post.

This post, in the context of the times, provides an interesting example of a post being renamed.  For the first sixty-three years of its existence it bore the name of the unfortunate D. A. Russell, and for the next ninety it has borne the name of Francis E. Warren.  It's also interesting in that it provides an example of a post being renamed for a state political figure between World War One and World War Two.

2.  Camp Guernsey.


The heavily used National Guard training range is named after the town of Guernsey, Wyoming.  This post receives so much use that it is, for all practical purposes, a ground combat training range in constant use by the Army and the Marine Corps, as well as the National Guard.

This National Guard post went into operation in the summer of 1938 when it replaced the Pole Mountain Training Range.  The 115th Cavalry trained there in 38 and 29, and then was called into active duty in 1940.  Training resumed there after the Guard was deactivated in 1945 and has continued on every since.

Guernsey itself was named for C. A. Guernsey who was a local cattle rancher and author.  If viewed in the fashion of Ft. Laramie, therefore, Camp Guernsey was vicariously named for him.  It's interesting that unlike the numerous camps and forts established during World War One and World War Two all around the country, no effort was seemingly made to name it after a military figure, even though numerous Indian Wars battles had been fought in the state and the state had contributed men to the Spanish American War, Philippine Insurrection and World War One by that time.

Indeed, in that context, its surprising that's never been done, even though the Wyoming National Guard has now participated, in some fashion, in every war fought since statehood.

3.  Wyoming Air National Guard Base.

The unimaginatively named Air Guard base in Cheyenne is also heavily used and is called simply that.  It’s odd to think that this Air Guard base, which is extremely active, basically overflies Warren AFB, which as noted lacks a runway.

4.  Army National Guard Armories

At least one current National Guard Armory, the one in Douglas, was named after a long time serving National Guardsman.  Unfortunately, I've been remiss in recording his name and I wasn't able to find it when putting up this post.  I know that he'd served for a long time before World War One, served in the war, and then after the war, as the units full time enlisted man.  He was likely the only full time soldier at that post for much of that time.

The Armory in Rawlins, when it had one, was similarly named after a very long serving Guardsman, Darryl F. Acton.  Acton had been the full time enlisted man and the First Sergeant of the unit for a very long time and after his retirement it was named for him.  He outlived that designation, and therefore this entry more properly belongs below, as the Rawlins Armory was closed post Cold War when the National Guard was reduced in size. Today the Wyoming Department of Transportation occupied the building and the name no longer remains.  1st Sgt Action died in 2019.  His military service dated back to the Korean War.

Former and Closed in the 20th Century.

Not counting all of the National Guard Armories in the state, of which there a large number, including many which have been replaced or simply closed over the years, Wyoming still has a surprising number of 20th Century military post that were occupied at one time.  Many of these fit into the Frontier period with their establishment trailing on into the 20th Century, but a couple of them were World War Two installations.  We deal with them below.

1. Casper Army Air Base.  

Flag pole base of parade ground.

This enormous airfield was built during World War Two as a bomber training facility, opening in September, 1942.  It was transferred to the county following World War Two in 1949 and is now the Natrona County International Airport.  It continues to get a lot of military traffic including so much Royal Canadian Air Force traffic that I jokingly refer to it as the southernmost Canadian air force base.

A lot of the World War Two era buildings remain at this location, but almost all of them have been altered. A museum constructed in recent years, however, contains original World War Two era murals within it.



3. Heart Mountain Relocation Camp.


I'm not quite certain if I should regard this as a military installation or not, but given as there were troops there, I'll count it.

Heart Mountain came about when the Federal Government acted to move Japanese and Japanese American residents from the West Coast to the interior and keep them in camps.  The act was illegal, but it was done, resulting in one of the more shameful episodes in American 20th Century history.  One of the camps was Heart Mountain, which was opened in 1942 and remained open throughout the war, although Administration policies put in place in 1944 that started to allow for the return of the residents meant that by June 1945, prior to the end of the war, the population had been reduced by around 2,000 residents.  Given that over 10,000 people were interred there during the war, that meant that few had left by the war's end and in fact the last internees left the camp in November, 1945.  Given everything that occurred during the war return to their homes proved extremely difficult in many instances.


The state's reputation has been given a black mark by the existence of the camp even though the state didn't cause it to come into existence.  The state did enact discriminatory laws, however, during the war aimed at it residents, who were legal residents of the US or US citizens, so the state doesn't deserve a pass on it either.  The state definitely wanted the internees to leave once they could.

The land for the camp belonged to the Bureau of Reclamation prior to the war and when the camp closed it reverted to that ownership.  In the 1990s efforts were made to preserve what little remained of it and a state interpretive center was opened in 2011.

It's interesting to note that in recollections by the internees Heart Mountain is fairly uniformly regarded as a horrible place, whereas generally the entire Park County region it is in is regarded as one of the nicest places in the state.  This demonstrates how conditions define views.  The structures at the camp were regarded as temporary and were basically tar paper shacks, something that would be difficult to live in a Park County winter even if a person wasn't a prisoner.
This post, considered a pork barrel project at the time it was established, is one that  had a long association with the military horse in that the remount aspects of this post were a major give and take for the town.  The area where the post was located, Sheridan, had a substantial English ranching connection and a lot of high quality horse breeding occurred there.  Polo was introduced there and it remains in the form of the Big Horn Polo Club.  As noted, even after the post closed the Army remained in the form of an ongoing Remount program for years, even though the troops associated with it were technically serving on a distant assignment from Ft. Robinson.  Given this, the lack of importance the fort is generally viewed with really is not fair.

Ranald S. "Bad Hand" Mackenzie.  Mackenzie lost two fingers during the Civil War which is the probable reason for his nickname.

Ranald Mackenzie was a famous and tragic U.S. Army commander.  An 1862 graduate of West Point, he was a brilliant commander and was breveted to general in 1866.  Following the Civil War he distinguished himself in the post Civil War Indian Wars.  Even by the 1870s, however, he was showing signs of mental instability and was discharged from the service in 1884.  While his decline was commonly attributed to falling from a Wagon while stationed at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, there's fairly good reason to believe that it was due to the progress of syphilis.  The decline of his fame was such that his death was little noted in the press, even though he'd been a very well known and followed commander only a decade before, but he was sufficiently well remembered to be honored in the form of the name of this post.

Some years ago I posted photos of Ft. Mackenzie on another site, where they'd be of interest.  I just recently moved those over to one of our companion blogs, and therefore, while it may burden this thread a bit, I'm reposting them here as well:

Ft. Ranald Mackenzie (Sheridan Wyoming Veterans Hospital)
















5. Pole Mountain.  

Pole Mountain was an Army and a National Guard training range located at Pole Mountain, Albany County.  The range was used by both the Army and the Wyoming National Guard in the 20s and the 30s until Camp Guernsey was opened just prior to World War Two.  It’s National Forest today.

It was a cavalry training range during its existence, due to the presence of cavalry at Ft. Warren and in the Wyoming National Guard during that period.  The nearby presence of the Union Pacific Railroad allowed troops to be deposited at the area by train or to ride there from Ft. Warren.

6. Ft. Yellowstone.  

Fort Yellowstone in 1910.

Named after Yellowstone National Park, which it served, the post was established in 1886 for the purpose of administering the National Park, which was a task originally assigned to the Army.  Gen. Philip Sheridan dispatched the original cavalry detachment there which accordingly named the post Camp Sheridan, giving us an example of the naming of a Wyoming post after the living honoree, although only barely, as Sheridan was to die the following year at age 57.  The post was renamed Fort Yellowstone when it was given permanent status in 1891.  The Army occupied the post until 1918 when it was turned over to the National Park Service which had taken over the duties of park administration.

Today its Mammoth Hot Springs in the park.  Many of the original buildings remain.

This post had to offer its troops some of the best duty of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

7. Ft. Washakie.  

This post was named after Chief Washakie of the Shoshone was living at the time and in fact outlived the post, dying at about age 100.

Visit of President Arthur to Ft. Washakie, 1883.

The area has a somewhat complicated history in regard to the establishments of military installations.  The first post established there was Camp Augur, which was a subpost of Ft. Bridger.  It was established in 1869.  Augur was a Mexican war and Civil War general who was the head of the Department of the Platte at the time, giving us another example of the naming of an installation after a living figure, although it was a camp, not a fort.  While Camp Augur is regarded as the predecessor of Ft. Washakie, it was actually located where Lander Wyoming is located today.  It's purpose was to protect the Shoshones at the Wind River Indian Reservation and it was located at the Indian Agency headquarters.  In 1870 the camp was renamed Camp Brown, in honor of Cpt. Frederick Brown who was killed at the Fetterman Fight.

In 1871 the agency headquarters were moved fifteen miles to the north and the Army post went with it.  In 1878 the post was renamed Ft. Washakie.  The town that developed there is the seat of government for the Wind River Reservation and many of the military buildings remain in use.  

This post was one of two (the other being D. A. Russell) which at which the 9th Cavalry was stationed in the state for a time.

This post is unusual in that it was named after an American Indian, and a living one at that. It's occasionally claimed that it provides the only example of this being done, but that is disputed.

Former and closed in the 19th Century.  


Map by William Henry Jackson depicting Pony Express stations.  This is posted here as many of the same stations were used by the Army during the Civil War as small military posts.

This list will be incomplete.  There were many, many, temporary camps, stations and installations in Wyoming during the frontier period, many of which simply bore the name of where they were.  Indeed, my house is quite near one whose exact location is unknown.  Some of these which are remembered are because they were more established than the others or they're associated with a specific event.

On this, there's a couple of things we should note.

One is the presence of "stations".  During the Civil War the 11th Ohio and 11th Kansas Cavalry, and to an extent the 1st U.S. Volunteers, the latter of which were "galvanized Yankees" who were mostly from Tennessee in Wyoming's case, established a network of stations along the Oregon Trail to protect it and the telegraph line that had gone in.  Many of these were existing civilian locations that were thought deserving of protection in any event, but not all of them were. And not all of the existing civilian stations received an Army garrison.  This was a change in strategic thinking as it allowed patrols to be shorter and forced Indian parties that might have some destructive intent to deal with a much more extant military presence, even if the number of soldiers at any one station was often very small.  The strategy was quite effective.

Not all of the locations for these stations is presently known today. I’m presently within a few miles of three of them, two of which have known locations and one of which doesn’t, but is probably within several hundred yards of my house.

During the same period, and before, the Army also established a lot of camps, quite a few of which were very temporary in nature. Even ones that featured log structures were often only occupied fairly briefly.  These bases served campaigns in vast contested territories and had the chance of becoming permanent in some instances, although many did not.

1.  Camp Augur and Camp Brown.

See Ft. Washakie

2.  Fort Bernard

I'll abstain going into depth on this post, as it was a private American Fur Company trading post near Ft. Laramie.  This trading post had a surprisingly long life, existing from 1845 to 1866, when it burned down.

3.  Fort Bridger

Ft. Bridger is named for its founder Jim Bridger, who founded it as a trading post in 1842.  The post seems to have been sold by a partner of Bridger's to Mormon interests in 1855 during a period of time during which Bridger, who did not get along well with the Mormons, was absent.

Frontiersman Jim Bridger.  Bridger was a long lived individual for the dangerous life he lead.  Born in Virginia and orphaned in Missouri at age 13, he lived to age 77 and died on his farm in Kansas.  He was married three times due the deaths of his spouses, with each of his wives being a Native American.  His last was a daughter of Chief Washakie.  Of his several children, only one outlived him.

The post was burned in 1857 by the Mormons during the Mormon War in order to keep it out of U.S. Army hands, but they wintered there and rebuilt the fort as an Army post in 1858.  The Army thereafter occupied it against both of its prior owners until abandoning it in 1878. The Army then reestablished it in 1880, and then closed it again in 1890.

This post was one of the numerous frontier posts established by civilians who named them after themselves.  Occupied prior to the Civil War, the Army of that period simply retained the prior name.

2.  Ft. Caspar.  

This post amed for Lt. Caspar Collins who was killed at a battle with the Cheyenne at that location in 1865, prior to which it was Platte Bridge Station.

The post location was at a point on the North Platte River that could be forded and it had been used as a temporary military camp prior to Platte Bridge Station prior to the Civil War.  In 1849 a ferry was established on the location by the Mormon church.  French Canadian entrepreneurs established a bridge there shortly afterwards, and a trading post along with it.  When the telegraph line was put through the area, Western Union established a telegraph station there.  In 1861 the Army posted troops at the location, given its obvious importance,  naming the station after the Bridge.  In 1865 a battle was fought across the river from the location in which Lt. Caspar Collins was killed leading a relief party attempting to get to an Army wagon train that was some miles distant and being besieged.  The Army then named the post after the late Lt. Collins.

Statue of Collins in Casper, Wyoming.

The location was not named “Ft. Collins”, however, as the lieutenant’s father already had a post named after him, Ft. Collins, which is in northern Colorado.  Lt. Collins himself was a member of the 11th Ohio Cavalry which was stationed in Wyoming during the Civil War.  His actual post was Sweetwater Station and he just happened to be at Platte Bridge Station when the nearby Battle of Red Buttes developed and he volunteered to lead the relief party.  The post was closed as a result of Red Cloud’s War after which the Sioux burned it down.  It’s been rebuilt as a very nice city park and historical site.

Oregon Trail Memorials, Ft. Caspar Wyoming

This is an Oregon Trail memorial at Ft. Casper Wyoming. I somewhat wonder if the medallion on this one came from an older monument, as the medallion is a very common site along the trail on older memorials. At some point prior to World War Two a significant effort was made to place such memorials commemorating the trail, which in many locations had become state highways.

This is an even older Oregon Trail Memorial, also located at Ft. Caspar. As can be seen from the monument, it was placed in 1914. During this period, traveling on the trial itself was very common, as nearly every stretch of it was some sort of local road. Indeed, in some parts of Wyoming, this is still the case.

Once again, these monuments probably really do not belong here, but they are strongly associated with the history of Western movement, which involved a lot of sacrifice of all sorts by all involved.

This post has the distinction of being the first post in Wyoming to be named after a soldier who died in an Indian Wars engagement, signalling what would be a major change in naming conventions that was just beginning.

3.  Cheyenne Depot (Camp Carlin).


I'm going to leave this photograph as the description for this one, as its about all I know about a post that I would have regarded as an auxiliary to Ft. D. A. Russell.

3.  Deer Creek Station

Deer Creek Station was an Army station on the Oregon Trail that is near the present town of Glenrock.  Named simply for its location, its associated with a battle that took place on May 20, 1865 which was actually a series of engagements in the general area of the post.  In those actions groups of soldiers were attacked by more numerous parties of Indians but were able to hold off the attacks due to their superior arms.  Like Ft. Caspar, this post was abandoned at the end of Red Cloud's War and it was burned by Indians in August, 1866.

I just recently posted an item on this on one or our companion blogs, and hence will include that post here:

Deer Creek Station, Glenrock Wyoming.


In the last couple of days I've put up some photos of Frontier Era Army posts in the state which were taken years ago. All of those were originally posted elsewhere, but a change in how Photobucket operated made them difficult to view, and I was left wondering why I hadn't blogged those photos.  I know the reason why, actually.  It used to be hard to upload lots of photos onto Blogger.  That's changed.

Anyhow, this photograph is new.  This is the former location of Deer Creek Station.


The sign itself isn't placed on the exact location, actually.  It's near it, more or less, but really a couple of miles away.  I'd guess it may be 1 mile to 2 miles from the original post.  Anyhow, the sign does a good job of giving the history of the post, which started off as a civilian trading post in 1857 and which was occupied during the Civil War by state troops sent to police the frontier.  This post, like a collection of others, was burned by the Indians following the abandonment of the fort in 1866.




3. Ft. Fetterman.

Ft. Fetterman today.

This post was named after the officer of that name killed at “The Fetterman Fight” at a time at which his reputation was not yet tarnished, a process that was at least partially aided by the long efforts of his former commander, Col. Carrington, which is not to say that the fading of Fetterman's star wasn't deserved.

The post was built in 1867 just after the conclusion of Red Cloud's War in which Fetterman had lost his life.  It was a major post during its existence, although something about it caused it to have the highest insanity rate in the Frontier Army.  At the height of its importance it was a major staging area for the Powder River Campaign of 1876 which would see the Battle of the Rosebud as its major battle, and which occurred just south of Little Big Horn a few days prior to that battle.  Following the decline of Indian combat, it was abandoned as unneeded in 1882.  Most of the buildings were carted off following the posts closure and were used for the construction of a nearby and fairly infamous town that no longer exists.

4. Ft. Halleck 

Ft. Halleck was a large post established on the Overland Trail near Elk Mountain in 1862.  It was built to protect that trail, but it was abandoned, in spite of its size, in 1866 when Ft. Sanders was built near Laramie. By that time the Union Pacific Railroad had passed through the area which altered the strategic nature of patrolling this stretch of Wyoming, given as that could now be done with the assistance of rail.

Gen. Henry Halleck with an extraordinarily unusual kepi or forage cap.

The post was named after Gen. Henry Halleck who was living at the time.  He was a career soldier whose career was interrupted by an additional career of being a lawyer.  He had a mixed military record, but was good in subordinate commands and brought a spirit of professionalism to the Army.  He died in 1874 at age 56.

5. Ft. Phil Kearny.


Principally recalled for the disaster of the Fetterman Fight, and the somewhat redeeming battle of the Wagon Box fight, this post was named after Phil Kearny, a Union general who died at the Second Battle of Bull Run. This post was originally named Ft. Carrington by Col. Carrington, it’s first commander who never outlived the disgrace of the defeat of the Fetterman Fight. The post was burned to the ground by the Cheyenne following Red Cloud’s War.


The post proved to be poorly located and consumed a gigantic quantity of wood, which was one of its downsides.  Col. Carrington's career as an Army officer (he'd been a pre Civil War lawyer) was ruined by the events of the Fetterman battle, although he personally managed to escape being court martialed, an event that happened with blistering frequency in the 19th Century Army and which Grant had sought to do after the disaster.

The wealthy, eclectic Phil Kearny, who served in two American wars and two French ones, and who was married twice and divorced once.

Phil Kearny, we might note, was an unusual Army officer in that he was born into a wealthy family and inherited his family's wealth after his parents passed away while he was young. Raised by grandparents, he had always wished for a military career but went to law school and became a lawyer at his grandparents insistence.  He practiced law for four years but, upon the death of his grandfather, he received a commission in the Army and shortly went to France to study cavalry tactics at the famous French cavalry school, the Saumur.  While a student there, he actually went to Algeria with the French forces and served as a cavalryman, seeing combat, with the French.

Kearny thereafter lived an odd and adventurous life, twice resigning from the U.S. Army due to a lack of action going on within it, and then rejoining it.  He served in the Mexican War and the Civil War, in which he was killed, but he served with the French forces a second time as well, fighting with them against the Austrians.

Perhaps that all explains why this post in Wyoming was named after him.  Another already had existed, and ceased to exist, also named in his honor, outside of Washington D. C.  Neither post had long existences.

The naming of both posts, however, also shows how people should be considered in the context of their times, while also keeping in mind that absolute truths are universal.  Obviously Kearny's Army contemporaries admired him, and he was no doubt supremely interesting to be around.  He was highly educated and wealthy, with a taste for adventure.  He'd also served in two wars for a foreign power, one of which was a naked colonial enterprise.  We wouldn't admire that latter item today, but at least as late as the 1980s there were Americans who seriously entertained, and even served, in foreign wars that were comparable to some extent.

Ft. Phil Kearny was really unusual, we might note, in that it actually had a log post wall around it.  Frontier forts are commonly depicted that way in film, but few really were built in that fashion. This one was.  Today the location of the former fort is a nice State of Wyoming Park.

I photographed Ft. Phil Keany for another site some years ago, and I just reposted those photographs on our companion blog.  Given that, I'm reposting them here as they may be of interest.

Ft. Phil Kearny




























































5.  Ft. Laramie.  


Named for its location on the Laramie River this post started off as a civilian trading post named Fort William.  William Sublette founded the post in 1833/1834 and the post was initially named after him.  In 1841 the post was sold to the American Fur Company in 1841 and renamed Fort John in honor of John B. Sarpy, a partner in that company.  In 1849, following the end of the Mexican War, it was purchased by the U.S. Army and renamed Ft. Laramie, reflecting the fact that the post was routinely called Fort John on the Laramie River.  Laramie of the name was a French fur trapper who had the misfortune of disappearing in the location.  Jacques LaRamy, (by some spellings) donated his name, by that method, to the state and as a result the fort, two towns, a river, a county, a mountain range, and a geologic event are all named for him.



The post was a major Army post for decades and one of the most significant in the region.  It's importance declined, however, after the transcontinental railroad became fully established and then the end of active Indian campaigns in Wyoming further decreased its role.  The post was abandoned in 1889 and decommissioned in 1890.  Even though the Army removed fixtures of use in 1890 and locals further stripped the post after it was closed, the base was so well established that much of it remained when it was made a National Historic Site in 1931.

In terms of names, it's one of two posts in Wyoming that were basically named after thier locations, although in this case the name was simply inherited from prior use.  If a person views Fort Laramie as having been called that as a contraction of Fort John on the Laramie River, that's the case.  Of course, by extension, as noted, Jacques La Ramee (another spelling) contributed his name.  La Ramee was a Quebecois Metis who disappeared in the area in 1821 at age 37.  His death has been attributed to falling through ice and from an Arapaho raid, but nobody really knows what happened to him.
6. Ft. McKinney

The first Ft. McKinney, or Cantonment Reno, today.

There were two posts named this, both named after  2nd Lt. John McKinney, who went down in a hail of hostile gunfire in the Dull Knife Battle in 1877.  Given that he was a young officer at the time, he is somebody that I don't know anything else about.  He was assigned to the 4th Cavalry and was likely fairly new to the Army at the time.

The first post named after McKinney had been first named Cantonment Reno, which was established in 1876 as a staging area during the Powder River Expedition.  As a Cantonment the post, which was the second one located at that spot in the Powder River Basin was the second one in that location named Reno, as will be seen below.  It was renamed and repurposed as a fort the following year after McKinney's death, but the location proved to be a poor one for a sustained presence due to the lack of resources most of the year and the decision was made to move the garrison across the Powder River Basin in 1878. When the new garrison was built, it retained the name of the prior one, which of course had only recently been named. The new Ft. McKinney was manned until 1894 when it was closed.  In 1903 the grounds were turned over to the State of Wyoming and they are used today as the state's veteran's home.

Ft. McKinney played a notable role in Wyoming's history when cavalry form the location was dispatched to intervene in the Johnson County War.

Cantonment Reno is one of those locations I've photographed for another reason, and I just reposted those photographs on our companion blog.  Given that, I'll repost that item here:

Cantonment Reno (Ft. McKinney)












7. Ft. Reno.



This post is mentioned immediately above and, as noted, the name was used twice, making it have an odd legacy with Ft. McKinney, which one of the Reno posts became, as that name was also used twice.

Jesse L. Reno.

Both Reno installations were named after Maj. Gen. Jesse Lee Reno, a Union officer killed early in the Civil War.  He was not related in any fashion to Marcus Reno of Little Big Horn fame.  He was born in what was then Wheeling Virginia, and which became Wheeling, West Virginia, during the Civil War, making him an officer who hailed from a state that was severed in two by the Civil War.  He'd graduated from West Point prior to the Mexican War and had served continually, earning a reputation of being a "soldier's soldier".  He was killed by friendly fire while in advance of his troops reconnoitering the area, when one of his own soldiers mistook him for a Confederate.


The first Ft. Reno had originally been called Ft. Connor as it was established by Patrick Connor, a regional commander in Wyoming during the Civil War.  It was renamed for Reno after only bearing the name Ft. Connor in October and November 1865, the month of its establishment.  Like Ft. Phil Kearny, it was unusually for a Wyoming post as it had actual walls, which most frontier posts did not.

Patrick Connor

Patrick Connor, who first established the post and whom it was first name for, was a firebrand from Ireland who served a stint in the U.S. Army as an enlisted man before becoming a citizen in 1845.  As a private he saw frontier duty and fought in the Seminole War.  He served again in the Mexican War and was commissioned, resigning in 1847 due to rheumatism, at which time he was only 27.  He was a California Ranger after that and a California volunteer at the start of the Civil War.  His Civil War service was all on the frontier and was extremely active, although it was marked by actions that were rash and not always directed at the Indian parties that he was seeking to combat.  His headquarters were in Salt Lake City where he remained after being discharged from the service in 1866.  Unlike some of his contemporaries, his military service does not seem to have worn on him and he lived until age 71, dying in Salt Lake City.


8. Ft. Sanders

Ft. Sanders was surprisingly a Civil War contemporary of the other Civil War era forts and posts noted here. The post is generally obscure, even though it had a longer life than its contemporaries.

Not much remains of Ft. Sanders today.

Ft. Sanders was established near where Laramie now is in 1866 to guard the Overland Trail, but its location meant that it was located on the path of the Transcontinental Railroad and therefore its purpose converted to guarding it fairly quickly.  It soon bordered Laramie, which was established in 1869 with the establishment of the railroad.  It started to become redundant with the establishment of Ft. D. A. Russell, but it was none the less manned until 1882.

William P. Sanders

The post was named after Gen. William P. Sanders who was killed at the Siege of Knoxville, although that was its second name. Sanders was a West Point graduate who had barely graduated as the Superintendent of West Point at the time, Robert E. Lee, recommended his dismissal.  The Secretary of War at the time, Jefferson Davis, who was also his cousin, intervened and saved Sanders career.  He was killed in action in Kentucky at age 30, in 1863.  A position in the campaign in which he was killed was also named Ft. Sanders.

John Buford

This post was originally Ft. John Buford, who died of illness also in 1863. Buford, like Sanders, had southern connection and was also from Kentucky, and has also remained loyal to the Union.  Prior to the war he had seen frontier service as a dragoon and his military career had a lasting legacy in teh U.S. Army as he is associated with the development of bugle calls.  He died of typhus while serving in the field.

M8 Buford

Buford remains remembered in the Army and the M8 light tank, that was adopted but not put into service, was named after him.  He also had a fort named after him in what is now North Dakota which was manned from 1872 until 1895.  The town of Buford, Wyoming, is likewise named after him.  His legacy is oddly cut short, much like his life, in the things that were named after him.
9. Ft. Fred Steele. 


Named for Frederick Steele who rose to the rank of Maj. Gen. during the Civil War but who died as the result of an accident while experiencing ill health in 1868.  Somewhat fittingly, this is now the most depressing historical site in the state.

Ft. Fred Steele was built in 1868 specifically to provide security to the transcontinental railroad and, after its construction, was part of a three fort network, including Ft. Sanders and Ft. D.A. Russell that served that purpose.  The garrison of the fort in fact did use the railroad for transportation when needed, and its location, that was highly isolated, but at the same time centrally located on the rail line, made such deployments ideal.  The post dispatched troops as needed as far away as Chicago and deployed to put down the the anti Chinese riots in Rock Springs when that occured.  The garrison fought a major engagement in the White River War in 1879 at Milk Creek, Utah, that went very badly leading to the unit being besieged for a period of days necessitating additional deployments from the post and Ft. D.A. Russell.  The post was no longer necessary by the mid 1880s and it was abandoned in 1886.

Fred Steele himself was a career officer who had served in the Mexican War and the Civil War with distinction.  He saw immediate service in Texas and the Northwest following the Civil War but took medical leave in 1867.  He died due to an apoplectic fit that caused him to fall from a buggy in 1868.  The post, therefore, was named for him the very year he died.

10. Ft. Supply, 

Ft. Supply will be mentioned here, but as it was a private Latter Day Saints fort, and never an Army post, we'll just do that.  It was built in 1853 in what is now Uinta County and abandoned along with Ft. Bridger in 1857 during the Mormon War. Unlike Ft. Bridger, the Army did not rebuild it but only occupied the position briefly.

11. Sweetwater Station.  


Sweetwater Station was one of the numerous stations occupied by the 11th Ohio and 11th Kansas Cavalry during the Civil War, during that period of time in which they patrolled the Oregon and Overland Trails. This station was a significant one on the Oregon Trail.  Lt. Caspar Collins, who died at the Battle of Platte Bridge Station, was actually stationed at Sweetwater Station.

Perhaps somewhat fittingly, the location today remains a rest stop on the highway.

The station was on the Sweetwater River and was named after it.
12. Richard’s (Reshaw's) Bridge.


This station was informally but not officially named for the bridge and trading post owned by the individual of that name and had an occasional military presence dating back to November, 1855 when troops were first stationed there and the post was named Ft. Clay.  That following March the post was renamed Camp Davis and then abandoned that November after having been occupied for one year.  The post was occupied again in 1858 during the Mormon War, this time as Camp Payne, but then once again abandoned in 1859.


Richard was Quebecois and therefore the pronunciation of this name in the French lead to the phonetic "Reshaw".  The bridge was an important one in Central Wyoming on the Oregon Trail but it drew competition from Guinard's bridge, owned by fellow Quebecois, which was opened in 1859.  The Mormon ferry was located at that location as well. Because of this the importance of Reshaw's Bridge declined and the Army did not reestablish a regular garrison at the bridge when the 11th Ohio and 11th Kansas occupied the stations during the Civil War.  It was important during the 1850s, however, and the Army garrisoned it successively each time there was a need to, renaming the garrison three times.

So there we have the Wyoming installations.  What does that tell us about how the Army named its installations over the years?  We'll look at that next.

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Military Installation Names. What they were, and are, and how they got there. Part 1. Named for Confederate Generals


Lex Anteinternet: Military Installation Names. What they were, and are, and how they got there. Part 1. Named for Confederate Generals.

Lex Anteinternet: Military Installation Names. What they were, and ...:

Military Installation Names. What they were, and are, and how they got there. Part 1. Named for Confederate Generals

Camp Cody, New Mexico. This camp was named after a figure associated with Wyoming, but not from Wyoming, Buffalo Bill Cody.  It operated from 1917 to 1919.

This is a post that I’m posting here following a discussion I read elsewhere on the seemingly probable, and now apparently Presidentially derailed, decision of the U.S. Army to rename a collection of forts that were named after Confederate generals in the 1917 to 1942 period (or give or take a few years on either side of that).  That lead me to pondering the names of posts in Wyoming, and how they were named, which is what this blog entry was originally going to be about.  It grew so large, however, that I've now busted into at least three parts.

First an item on those posts from the blog Tasks and Purpose.  I was trying to remember what they all were, and couldn't (or didn't realize the association) and that website cleared that up, and added a little more detail. As they noted:
“The bases are named for the following Confederate officers: Gen. Robert E. Lee, Gen. Braxton Bragg, Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard, Gen. John Bell Hood, Lt. Gen. John Brown Gordon, Lt. Gen. A.P Hill, Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk, Maj. General George E. Pickett, Brig. Gen. Henry Benning, and Col. Edmund W. Rucker.
Among those commanders: Gordon is believed to have become the leader of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia; Pickett ordered the execution of 22 prisoners who had switched from the Confederate to Union army; Bragg was fired after being defeated at Chattanooga and was also roundly despised by his peers and subordinates; and Hood’s military career came to an ignominious end after his army was smashed at the Battle of Nashville.”
For those who might not be familiar with it, and by way of a brief introduction to the topic, U.S. Army military posts are frequently, but not always, named after prior significant or heroic Army figures.  The Air Force also does this as well.  Neither service, as noted, uniformly does this and there are exceptions to this practice.  Indeed, the exceptions aren't uncommon.

Anyhow, one thing that this tread, which is growing to the overlong stage, will explore a bit is the history of naming conventions.  And what we'll tend to find looking at that is that who things are named after changes quite a bit over time.  During the Revolutionary War, for example, forts were fairly frequently named after presently serving commanders, in the American case, not always wisely.  Ft. Washington, for example, was outside of the City of New York and didn't stand up at all to the British assault on it.

Anyhow, period from 1917 to 1942 provides a really odd example of naming practices in that its the only instance in American history when posts were named after people who had been treasonous.


Camp Wheeler, Georgia, named after Confederate general Joseph Wheeler.  Camp Wheeler was used from 1917 to 1919, and again from 1940 to 1945, after which the land was returned to its original owners.

In recent days there's been a service wide movement to address Confederate symbols in the military, the first of which was an order by the Commandant of the Marine Corps banning the Confederate battle flag from appearing in any form on Marine Corps installations. The Navy followed suit  but the Army, which has the only official vestiges of the Confederacy, demurred on the topic of renaming those military bases which had been named for Confederate Army figures, something that was done in the 1917 to 1942 time frame.  President Trump has apparently put the kibosh on this, noting:
It has been suggested that we should rename as many as 10 of our Legendary Military Bases, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc. These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom. The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations...


Camp Custer,  Michigan.  1918.  This camp was obviously named after Michigan native Col. George A. Custer.  I've put it up here to illustrate that problems with who forts are named after may be a bit more problematic than the news at first seems. Camp Custer went into military service in 1917 and is still used today by the Michigan National Guard.
Meanwhile, the Army itself has indicated that it has intended to start the process of looking at new names for the posts and the current defense appropriations bill would require it.

So what are those posts?

The Confederate Named Posts.

The actual installations are:

Camp Beauregard (Louisiana National Guard)

Camp Beauregard, 1941.

Camp Beauregard was established in 1917 as part of the World War One build up.  In 1919 it was returned to the state, following the war.  It became a Federal installation again in 1940 which used it as a major training base during World War Two.  Following the war, the Federal Government returned it to the state, which used it for a couple of years and then deactivated it.  It returned to Louisiana National Guard use in 1973.

The post is named after P.G.T. Beauregard who was a career Army officer who fought in the Mexican War but who resigned to join the Confederate forces at the start of the Civil War.  A native Louisiana, he held mixed views that make him stand somewhat apart from most Confederate figures, something that tended to be more common with Louisianans as it reflected their Catholic background.  His family had owned slaves itself and he was a post war opponent of Reconstruction in the South, even as, at the same time, he went on record on more than one occasion urging white Southerners to accept full equality for blacks and he urged black land ownership, something we also have a post on.

The choice of the name of this post reflects that Beauregard was a Louisianan.  Renaming this post might be something that even those urging renaming might reconsider, as Beauregard was not only a rebel against his country, which he was, but he was one that rethought white Southern positions on the equality of blacks, which he urged be accepted after the war when it would not have been a popular thing to do.  He moved on rapidly after the war to look very far forward towards a new Louisiana, and was even the subject of a memorial poem by black Creole Victor Rillieux upon his death.

Ft. Benning, Georgia



Ft. Benning is a massive U.S. Army installation in Georgia which is home to the Army's Infantry and Armor schools.  It was established as Camp Benning in October, 1918, making it a post established at the tail end of the First World War, and was converted to permanent status in 1920.  It's been a major U.S. Army installation ever since.

Benning was named for Confederate general Henry L. Benning.  Benning was a lawyer from Columbus, Georgia, and therefore different from some of the other Southern figures that have posts named after him in that he had no service in the U.S. Army at all.  He was an ardent and radical proponent of slavery and proposed a Southern system designed to permanently institutionalize it out of the fear that the arch of history would start to eliminate it in the northern most Southern states.  As a Justice in the Georgia Supreme Court he was of the view that the court was free to ignore decisions made by the United States Supreme Court.  He joined the Confederate service during the war, survived it, and returned to the practice of law following it, at which time he was essentially financially ruined by the war.  He died in 1875 of a stroke.

Henry Benning provides a really good example of why some would like to rename these posts.  It's baffling why a post was named after him in the first place and it seems to be simply because he was a Southern Civil War figure from Georgia.  There's very little to admire about Benning personally in that he was such a dedicated proponent of slavery and succession that his views were radically in that direction even for Southerners.

Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.  

U.S. Airborne troops training at Ft. Bragg very early in World War Two.  The howitzer is the 75mm pack howitzer that had been developed for pack artillery between the wars and which was used by airborne troops, as well as others, during it.  The soldiers in this photograph are completely lacking the unique uniforms associated with the airborne and are still wearing M1917 helmets, although they are equipped with the new M1 Carbine.

Ft. Bragg is currently the most populous military installation in the world with 50,000 residents.  It started its existence in 1918 as an artillery training center and was converted to a permanent installation in 1922.  During World War Two it became associated with the airborne and it remains associated with them and special warfare units today.

Ft. Bragg was named after Braxton Bragg, who had served as a U.S. Army officer in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican War before leaving the Army in 1856 to purchase a sugar plantation in Louisiana.  He was, accordingly, a slave holder and the Southern born Bragg had never been known to oppose slavery.  His long service in the Army resulted in a military sense of discipline over his slaves which in turn resulted in the quick profitability of the plantation.  Pretty clearly, therefore, he had a vested interest in slavery.

Bragg's reputation as a commander hasn't held up well post war, a war which he survived.  He relied upon frontal assaults which, contrary to the widespread movie fed belief, were already past their military prime after the early stages of the war..  He lost his plantation due to the war and died in 1876 of a stroke, at age 59, in Texas.




Bragg's poor reputation as a Civil War commander has caused some to wonder, on this topic, why any post was ever named after him.  Oddly enough, it was the second time a fort was named for Braxton Bragg, however, as a military post in northern California was named that upon being established in 1857. In that instance the field commander at the location named the post after his former Mexican War commander, Braxton Bragg, who at that time had no association with the Confederacy as the naming predated it.  In 2015, prior to current events, there was a petition to rename the town given Bragg's later association with the armed effort to keep men enslaved in the South.

Bragg points out the problem with renaming posts.  The post has become so closely associated with the Airborne that mentioning it is more likely to bring to mind the Airborne of World War Two, or the Special Forces of the Cold War, than it is to bring to mind Braxton Bragg.

Ft. Gordon, Georgia.

The 82nd Division  honoring the widow of John Brown Gordon at the first Camp Gordon.

The first Camp Gordon was one of the many World War One training camps established as part of the effort to train troops for the Great War.  It was the training camp for the 82nd Division, one of the divisions made up of conscripts during the war, with that division being given the name the "All American" division, as its men were drawn from across the country.  Having said that, half of those men were from Georgia and of course additional men were from Southern states, such as the units most famous Great War soldier, Alvin York of Tennessee.  The Camp was disbanded in 1921 and the real estate sold.

Black soldiers at the original Camp Gordon in 1917.  These troops are being read to by one of tehir members due to the illiteracy of the listening soldiers. What would serving at a camp named for Gordon have been like for these troops?

When the Second World War created a demand for training camps once again, a second Camp Gordon was established in Georgia in a different location.  It seems to have been named Camp Gordon as the first Georgia Camp Gordon was named that.  The second Camp Gordon achieved permanent fort status in 1956.  The Army's important cyber school is located there today.

The first one, and hence the second one, were named after Confederate General John Brown Gordon.  Gordon was a Georgia lawyer and planter, although he was not a large slave owner.  In the 1860 census he reported owning a single slave, a 14 year old girl, while his father owned a further four.  He rose high in Confederate ranks during the war and was highly regarded by Robert E. Lee. Following the war he had an extremely successful career in politics serving in the United States Senate and as the Governor of Georgia.

He is also believed to have been the titular head of the Klu Klux Klan in Georgia, a charge he denied, although he admitted to be part of a secret "peace police" organization.  The KKK records and organization was so secretive at the time that it's proven impossible to prove the charge.

Gordon provides an example of the sort of person the Army shouldn't have honored with a camp name, and beyond that, the bizarre nature of post Civil War American politics in that he actually served as the Presiden to the United States Senate at one time, the first post Civil War Southerner to do so.  If he'd clearly had a change of heart regarding the rebellion and slavery that would be one thing, but clearly, that doesn't seem to have been the case.  Given that, and given that this fort doesn't have a strong connection with post World War One history the way that some other Army posts do, renaming this post doesn't involve the considerations that renaming the others might.

Ft. Hood

Latrine basin at Camp Hood, Texas, in 1943.

Fort Hood stands out in this list as it was established in 1942, during World War Two, and therefore comes a good generation after the Lost Cause naming of most of the other installations in this list.  Having said that, by 1942 the Lost Cause version of the South was highly established and even widely accepted in some circles, having just been celebrated in the film Gone With The Wind.  It's one of the largest military installations in the world.

The post was named for Confederate general John Bell Hood, a West Point graduate who entered the U.S. Army in the late 1850s.  A Kentuckian who has served with the U.S. Army in Texas, he resigned from the Army after the start of the Civil War and ended up joining the Confederate forces in Texas as he was upset that his native Kentucky had not declared for the Confederacy.  He was an outright racist.  A young man during the war, he married after the war and worked as an insurance company representative.  He fathered eleven children with his wife and died of the yellow fever in 1879 at age 48.  The same epidemic that killed him, and one of his daughters, destroyed his companies finances and his family was supported by a Texas veterans organization for the following twenty years.

Hood was the youngest individual to be given command of an army during the Civil War which is likely why he came to mind when Camp Hood was named, combined with his association with Texas.  He wasn't a Texan and lived after the war in New Orleans.  It's curious that as late as 1942, with many examples of heroism having been provided by the recently fought World War One, that the Army was still naming posts after Civil War generals, let alone Confederate civil war generals.

Ft. A.P. Hill


Fort A. P. Hill is a training range in Kentucky.  This is a post that I frankly haven't heard of.  Like Benning, this post was established in the 1940s, with this one being established in 1941, just prior to the war.  It was named after Virginia native and Confederate general Ambrose Powell Hill.  Hill was a West Point graduate who had a cavalry command that did not see action during the Mexican War, after which he transferred to the Coastal Artillery.  He resigned his commission just prior to the Civil War and joined the Confederate forces when the war commenced.

Hill was very well liked by the men under his command and most fellow officers.  His career was hampered by constant ill health due to the effects of gonorrhea contracted while he was at West Point.  He was not a great commander and is sometimes cited as an example of the Peter Principle at work in a military command.  Unlike some of the other Confederate figures here he's not personally associated with ardent racism and seems to have gone with the South simply because he was a Virginian.  Having said that, he was vocal about not wanting to live in a defeated South and got his wish when he was shot dead by a Union officer when he was attempting to quixotically demand the Union troops surrender. This came just seven days prior to the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse and therefore at a time at which the South had obviously lost the war.

Hill likely would not be a candidate for the naming of a post today even if he were a Union officer.

Ft. Lee, Virginia.  

The United State's Navy's Camp Lee, Virginia, in 1911.  This Camp Lee predates the Army's.

This post was established in 1917 as Camp Lee in 1917 and rapidly expanded in size.  Oddly enough the name had already been used by the Navy, which is surprising.  It was disestablished in 1920 and then reestablished in 1940.  It became Ft. Lee in 1950 when it became a training location for the Quartermaster Corps.

The fort is named for Robert E. Lee.  Robert E. Lee is probably the most beloved of the Confederate generals but his reputation ignores that he was a slave owner who had a long career in the U.S. Army prior to the war and who was offered command of the Army by Lincoln but resigned rather than fight in a war against Virginians, only to join the rebellion and fight against the nation he'd sworn a loyalty oath to in the first place.  He was a good an effective general but his conscience was obvious pretty elastic towards some very serious matters.

If a person is inclined to want to change the names of these posts this is one that, interestingly enough, might be capable of being salvaged as there have been a number of well known U.S. officers by that name.  Charles Lee was a Continental Major General during the Revolution.  "Light Horse" Henry Lee also served during the Revolution and again during the Whiskey Rebellion, putting the father of Robert E. Lee, as he was, in the ironic position of commanding the suppression of an earlier rebellion.  William C. Lee was a Major General during World War Two and was the commander of the 101st Airborne. John H.C. Lee was a Lieutenant General who was in charge of logistics in the ETO during World War Two.  Indeed, John H.C. Lee, while a controversial figure, probably makes more sense than Robert E. Lee in terms of a naming influence for an ordinance post, and William C. Lee, the "father of the airborne", would be a good choice for an updated naming.

Ft. Pickett (Virginia National Guard)

Ft. Pickett is obviously named after Confederate General George Pickett of Pickett's Charge fame.

Ft. Pickett was established as Camp Pickett in 1941 as part of the build up during World War Two.  It had been a Civilian Conservation Corps camp prior to that, although not with Pickett's name. The post has an odd  history in that following World War Two it was basically disestablished and then reestablished to support Operation Portex, a large war game, that was staged in 1950, just prior to the Korean War. After that the camp remained being used and was transferred as a military establishment to the National Guard, although it received heavy use from other reserve and active components.  In 1960 the post was converted for Guard and Reserve training cycles and then it achieved permanent fort status in 1974.

The use of Gen. Pickett's name for this post seems to follow on the naming customs that were adopted during World War One as the government chose Pickett's name because this was a Southern post.  In doing this, it named the post after another example of a Southern born regular Army officer who had resigned his commission to join the Confederate forces.  In his case, this involved considerable effort as he was stationed at the time on San Juan Island off the coast of Washington State, where he had been involved in the armed standoff of the Pig War a year prior.  After a lengthy sea voyage, he joined the Confederate army.

Pickett's service is subject to some mixed reviews as to how good of an officer he was.  Obviously fondly recalled by Southerners because of his doomed charge at Gettysburg, he is not uniformly regarded as a great commander.  He did have a measure of wit, however, as he was noted to have commented after the war, when asked about why the doomed charge had failed, "I've always thought the Yankees had something to do with it".  On another occasion, that being a post war gathering of former officers of the Army of Northern Virginia, he'd turned to a companion and blamed Lee for the horrific loss, which is something that Lee deserved, noting that "That's the man who lost my division".

While Pickett is recalled principally for that charge today, he himself feared he'd be recalled by the United States for ordering the execution of 22 Union soldiers at New Bern, North Carolina in 1864. Those soldiers had in some instances served previously in Confederate home guard units, i.e., state militia.  For that matter, prior to this, Pickett had been issuing aggressive orders about the on the spot execution of guerillas that were captured by Confederate forces, something that was apparently starting to occur.

The irony of this is to thick not to notice. Pickett had been a serving Federal officer when the Civil War broke out and, like the North Carolina militiamen he hung, had chosen for the other side.  The only real difference is that the North Carolinians had opted for the Union when faced with Confederate conscription whereas he's opted to rebel.  If he wasn't deserving of hanging, they were not either.

Faced with probable prosecution, Pickett fled to Canada but soon benefited from the intercession of an old Army friend, U.S. Grant.  He returned to the U.S. and was pardoned by act of Congress in 1874, a year prior to his death in 1875 at age 50.

Pickett provides a good example of somebody whom the Army should not have honored by naming a fort after him and also of the attitudes of the majority of whites following teh war.  Connections allowed him to escape conviction and receive forgiveness in spite of his actions, where as black citizens, as they now were, were not to receive, ultimately, the sort of systemic assistance that they required to establish their place in the country.

Ft. Polk, Louisiana

Ft. Polk was established as Camp Polk in 1941, making it part of the World War Two collection of posts in this article.  It was a major training post during the war, but following the war it was closed and reopened repeatedly, sometimes serving as a reserve training facility.


It achieved permanent fort status in 1955, which hasn't saved it from continually being on the edge of closure.

Ft. Polk was named after Confederate general, the Right Reverend Leonidas Polk.  Polk was a planter and the Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana prior to the Civil War.  He resigned his ecclesiastical position to take up the sword during the Civil War.  Prior to the Civil War he was a major slaveholder.  He was killed by Union artillery in June, 1864.

Polk is another example of the mystery of the naming conventions in this period.  He was a poor commander and unlike Lee or Pickett he had no pre war association with the U.S. Army.  He was a major slaveholder and his associations in life, including his role as Episcopal Bishop while still retaining his fellow human beings in bondage, and then resigning his clerical role for a military one, make him a poor example of any kind.

Ft. Rucker, Alabama

Ft. Rucker was opened during World War Two in 1942 as Camp Rucker.  It was closed at the end of the war but reopened during the Korean War and made a fort in 1955.

The post was named after Col. Edmund Rucker, an Alabama Confederate officer who became an industrial leader in Alabama after the war.  Rucker was thought fairly high of by his immediate commander as after he was wounded, losing an arm, and captured, that commander, Nathan Bedford Forrest, arranged a prisoner exchange for him. After his recovery, he returned to a Confederate command.

Rucker is somewhat unusual in this collection as he was not a career soldier, although as noted some of the others on this list were not either, and he wasn't technically a general, although he was breveted to that rank, much like George Custer, during the war.  He seems to have come to mind as he was a very successful post Civil War businessman in Alabama.

Pondering those Confederate names

So what of these bases?

I've heard of all of these bases save for one which I somehow wasn't aware of and I wasn't going to comment on it directly, but I will be frank that from a northern and western perspective, naming Army installations after men who were traitors to their country just seems flat out bizarre.  Naming a post after somebody who was associated with the KKK is flat out inexcusable.  And the whole thing is a bit hard to figure.  Until I saw the list, I didn't realize that there were ten, which is a lot.  I didn't know about Beauregard and Pickett having posts named after them at all and I'd not realized that Ft. Gordon, Ft. Polk and Ft. Rucker were named after Confederate generals, although I should have.

We noted just the other day that this film, which is a brilliant film and also a piece of Lost Cause apologetics, was made in 1939 but we failed to note that it was released on January 17, 1940.  This film, as brilliant as it is, definitely has racist elements and unashamedly glorifies the Southern cause in the war, showing how late the Lost Cause Era really lasted.

I also would not have guessed that five or six, depending upon how you reckon it, of these posts were given the names of Confederate figures during World War Two.  Perhaps because I was aware of the use of Confederate figures for camps in the South during World War One, and perhaps because I associate the Lost Cause Era with the 1910s, I would have guessed that they were mostly named during World War One.  I was wrong on that.

Indeed, as the purpose of this blog is to learn, what we've learned from that is that the Lost Cause era went on for a lot longer than I would have guessed. But perhaps I should have known better.  We covered Spiro Agnew going to Battle Mountain's dedication in 1970 just the other day, and while doing this I was informed that the Confederate unknown soldiers tomb was established in 1980.

I did know that all of these came about during the 1916 to 1942 time frame, and that they fit into the same period in which monuments to Southern generals were going up all over the South, even if I erroneously contracted the time period they went up overall (I probably should have run the era from about 1900 to 1980, rather than concentrate on the 1910s).  That period was the heyday of the "Lost Cause" movement that glorified the Southern cause, omitting that it was about slavery, and for which the bookends could perhaps be seen as the movies Birth Of A Nation (nasty racist trash) and Gone With The Wind (well filmed technicolor whitewashing).

It frankly baffles me a bit that the Army remained so concerned about drawing in Southern troops, if that's what it was really concerned about, that it started this practice in World War One, particularly as so many Southerners (black and white) had enlisted to fight in the Spanish American War, which is further baffling in light of the fact that the government resorted to the draft during the Great War, so the concern seems unwarranted, but then I guess I wasn't around doing the worrying at the time so perhaps I'm missing something.

If I am, I'm really missing it in regard to World War Two, by which time it was abundantly clear that the Army was having no trouble at all recruiting Southern men to the service and during which, moreover, the Amy eventually went completely over to conscription and quit taking volunteers as it was more efficient.  Given that, the names assigned during the Second World War really have to be regarded as part of the Army culture at the time.

Indeed, we might note on that culture that the Army's officer corps always had a strong Southern make up. That was the case prior to the Civil War and caused problems in the ranks during the Mexican War when large numbers of German and Irish immigrants, whom Southern officers generally despised, joined for the duration of the war.  Things became so bad that it inspired the only really large defection of US troops to an enemy as Irish soldiers in some numbers left the U.S. Army and joined the Mexican Army.  And that helps explain why so many officers were simply allowed to leave the service at the start of the Civil War and go freely into treason.  The brotherly nature of the officer corps allowed for it, and there were a lot of Southerners in that corps.* In spite of post war fears, Southerners continued to join the Army in numbers greater than Northerners after the Civil War and this was still the case at least as late as the Vietnam War, if not later.

I get why blacks. . .and white Northerners, may remain offended by those names and might want them changed.  Having said that, I also get President Trump's point that by now more Americans may associate those post  names with the Second World War than they do with the Civil War, so it may be a bit late to change some of  them now.  Having said that, the association of some of these individuals with hardcore racism or, in Pickett's case, with a war crime are so strong that at least in some cases something should be done.  Indeed, in the list of names a person might wish to now preserve on post titles, the ones where the post name now overshadows the original person the name honored is small, and when you look at those examples, at least one of them is extremely problematic.

So, now that the Army is looking at it, perhaps all the names should go.

When I first thought of this post I guessed, apparently inaccurately, that some southern states may have National Guard posts named after Confederate figures as well.  Anyhow, that then caused me to ponder how the US has named its military installations, in general, in the past, which lead me to thinking about military installations locally, and who they were named after.  We all know the well-known posts, but rarely the lesser known Guard and smaller military installations. Given that, as it might be interesting, I’ll list them for my state, Wyoming.  I’ll break them down into a couple of different categories.

Part of the reason that I thought this might be interesting, and I hope others follow, is that it helps illustrate what posts were named at various times and why.  So we'll get to Wyoming next.
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*Of interest, very few artillerymen, which required some mathematical knowledge, were Southerners prior to the war and, of those who were, most stayed in the Union Army.  The Confederate artillery was, accordingly, always bad.

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Lex Anteinternet: June 9, 1920. In Memorium.

Lex Anteinternet: June 9, 1920. In Memorium.:

June 9, 1920. In Memorium.


War memorials Council appointed by the Secty. of War as an advisory group for consultation with the War Dept. in matters respecting the deposition of overseas dead.

In the US the council appointed by the Secretary of War dealing with overseas war dead had their photograph taken.  In the UK, on the same day, the Imperial War Museum opened.  It is one of the greatest military museums in the world.

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Today In Wyoming's History: May 22, 2020. Flags Ordered at Half Staff

Today In Wyoming's History: May 22: 2020


May 22


2020  Governor Gordon orders flag's at half staff until Sunday, May 24, in honor of the victims of the Coronavirus.  The proclamation read:

Governor orders flags be flown at half staff statewide until May 24
in honor of the victims of the novel coronavirus pandemic
CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Governor Mark Gordon, pursuant to President Donald Trump's Proclamation, has ordered both the U.S. and State of Wyoming flags be flown at half-staff statewide until sunset on Sunday, May 24, 2020 in honor of the victims of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Presidential Proclamation follows:

Our Nation mourns for every life lost to the coronavirus pandemic, and we share in the suffering of all those who endured pain and illness from the outbreak. Through our grief, America stands steadfast and united against the invisible enemy. May God be with the victims of this pandemic and bring aid and comfort to their families and friends. As a mark of solemn respect for the victims of the coronavirus pandemic, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, May 24, 2020. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred forty-fourth.

DONALD J. TRUMP

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Lex Anteinternet: May 16, 1920. The Canonization of Joan d'Arc

Lex Anteinternet: May 16, 1920. The Canonization of Joan d'Arc:

May 16, 1920. The Canonization of Joan d'Arc

A doodle of Joan d'Arc by Clément de Fauquembergue on the margin of the protocol of the Parliament of Paris from May 10, 1429, two years prior to her death.  Clément de Fauquembergue was the parliamentary registrar and the news of the her victory at Orleans had just reached Paris.  The doodle is the only know illustration of her done during her lifetime.

On this day in 1920, Pope Benedict XV canonized Joan d'Arc, the 15th Century peasant girl who lead French forces in a revived effort to recapture lost grounds from the English after hearing voices commanding her to act for the French crown.  She ultimately paid for her efforts with her life, being burned at the stake after being falsely convicted of heresy, a charge now universally regarded as absurd and which was itself reversed in 1456.

Even no less of figure as Winston Churchill regarded Joan as a saint.  That the illiterate farm girl was able to gain access first to the French crown and then the army in the field commander was and is proof of her divine mission. With the army, she offered advice to its noble commanders which was frequently taken and French fortunes against the English in fact reversed and their army started to do remarkably well.



She is believed to have been born in 1412 in a region of Lorraine that retained loyalty to the French crown during the Hundred Years War, a contest between the Plantagenets, the Norman rulers of England, and the House of Valois, the rulers of France, over who should rule France. The house she grew up in and the village church there still stand.  As those who have ready Henry V know, the English long maintained that they should rule both kingdoms and they often regarded France as more important than in England.  That contest commenced in 1337 and featured a long running series of campaigns.  Trouble in the French royal family had been taken advantage of by Henry V who had been able to greatly expand the amount of English controlled territory in the 1415 to 1417 period.  By 1429, when Joan commenced her mission, half of France was controlled directly by England or by French duchies that were loyal to England.

The English commenced a a siege of the FRench city of Orleans in 1428, a town that was a holdout in its region for the French king, Charles VII.



Joan began to have visions in 1425, at which time she was 13 years old.  She identified the first figures she saw as St. Michael, St. Catherine and St. Margaret, who told her to drive the English out of France and take the Dauphin to Reims for his consecration.  At age 16 she made demands upon a relative to take her to see the crown which were received with scorn.  Nonetheless she was taken to Vaucouleurs where she demanded an armed escort to the royal court, which was denied. Returning the following year, she secured the support of two soldiers and their urgings and support she was conducted to the court after she reported the results of a distant battle she had not been at two days prior to messengers arriving to report it.  She as then escorted to the court disguised as a male soldier as it involved crossing hostile Burgundian territory.  At that time she was 17 years old and Charles VII 26.

She secured permission to travel with the army, which was granted.  Everything she used in the mission was donated to her, including the banner that she used.  She never used any weapons in battle but rode under her banner. She did, however, gain access to councils of war and was listened to. As noted, the fortunes of the French reversed in this period.  The siege of Orleans was broken by the French and Reims taken. The Dauphin was crowned as a result in Reims.

After a brief truce between the English and the French she was captured in battle in 1430 and put on trial for heresy.  Heresy being a religious offense, she was tried by English and Burgundian clerics, but the English officers oversaw the trial.  The trial was irregular and conducted without religious authority and without the individual commissioned to find evidence against her being able to find any.  Her conviction hinged on her having worn male clothing when under escort across hostile Burgundian soil.  She was convicted by this tribunal of heresy and burned at the stake in May 31, 1431.  Her executioner later greatly feared that his service in this role would result in his damnation.



In spite of her death, the dramatic reversal in French fortunes continued on and by 1450 the English had been pushed off the continent.  In fact, French borders surpassed their current ones, as France's resulting borders included what is now part of Belgium, a not surprising result given that Belgium is a multiethnic state.

A regular canonical trial to examine the first one's propriety was convened in 1455 and reversed the conviction in 1456.

She's been a popular figure ever since her death and in any age the nature of her mission is hard to deny.  Illiterate and born in a region separated from the retreating French royal lands, she nonetheless managed to convince the French crown and the chivalric leaders of its army that she had a divine mission, something that was aided by her knowledge of things that she could not have known but for her commission.  Under her, in spite of the fact that she was a teenage girl with no experience in military matters, French military fortunes permanently reversed.

It's no doubt her youth and gender that have caused her popularity to remain outside of France, but she is a saint whose nature should cause moderns to pause.


She was not, as some no doubt imagine her, as some sort of proto feminist teenage leader in an age of male patrimony and would not have seen things that way.  She was singularly devout and saw her mission as a religious one.  She was known to be opposed to the heresies of her era and Islam. She was intensely Catholic and caused the army she lead to be adherent to the faith.  The war for control of France changed from a contest between two royal families to a war with religious overtones and even, as viewed from a modern eye, as one involving nationalism in an early form.  Her modern fans would do well to take note of her mission and the fact that its impossible to imagine it without crediting the divine voices that she attributed it to.

And indeed, her mission did have impacts on the religious map of Europe in ways that would not be possible to appreciate at the time of her execution at age 19 in May, 1430.  England was pushed off the continent in 1450 by which time Henry VI was king. That same year he was forced to put down a rebellion against the crown in England.  In 1533, a mere 83 years later during a period of time in which events often moved slowly, King Henry VIII would take the formerly devout England away from the Church and marry his pregnant mistress Anne Boleyn, bringing the Reformation to England in a personal effort to generate a male successor through a fertile female. The following acts would result in crown licensed theft of church property, murder and decades of strife and war.  While France would fall to secularism in 1790, its position up until that time remained stalwart.