Fort Hood, Texas

John Bell Hood, a member of a prominent family of enslavers in Kentucky, strongly believed that Black people were inferior and could never be equal to white people.^{1 Jeffrey Kass, "Did You Miss Trump's Civil War Re-Enactment?" Level, June 18, 2025; "John Bell Hood," Encyclopedia.com, accessed Sept. 12, 2025; Tim Stickings, "The Traitor Generals Who Fought to Save Slavery," Daily Mail, June 11, 2020.} He made clear his beliefs to U.S. leaders: "Better die a thousand deaths than submit to live under you or your Government and your Negro allies." He fought against the United States during the Civil War and made a series of disastrous battlefield decisions that virtually destroyed his Confederate command and tarnished his reputation as a military leader. The U.S. Defense Department now seeks to honor Hood by restoring his name to an Army base in Texas that is one of the largest military installations in the world.

Hood expressed deep-seated contempt for Black people and a firm commitment to the antebellum racial hierarchy. In a September 1864 letter to Union Gen. William T. Sherman during the Civil War, Hood wrote:

You came into our country with your army, avowedly for the purpose of subjugating free white men, women, and children, and not only intend to rule over them, but you make negroes your allies, and desire to place over us an inferior race, which we have raised from barbarism to its present position, which is the highest ever attained by that race, in any country in all time.

In 1849, at age 18, Hood managed to gain admission to West Point thanks to his father's wealth and the assistance of an uncle who was a U.S. congressman.^{2 "John Bell Hood," Encyclopedia.com; John Bell Hood, Advance and Retreat: Personal Experiences in the United States and Confederate Armies (New Orleans, 1880), 5.} During Hood's time at the military academy, his poor grades and misbehavior nearly resulted in his expulsion, and he graduated near the bottom of his class.^{3 "John Bell Hood," Encyclopedia.com; Patrick Craddock, "John Bell Hood," Tennessee Encyclopedia, updated March 1, 2018.} After West Point, he served in the U.S. Army, leading expeditions in pursuit of Native Americans in California and Texas.^{4 Craddock, "John Bell Hood;" Hood, Advance and Retreat, 6-15.}

A Failed Leader

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Hood called the dissolution of the Union a "great movement" and resigned from the U.S. Army.^{5 Letter from John B. Hood to Gov. Beriah Magoffin, Camp Wood, Texas, Jan. 15, 1861; Craddock, "John Bell Hood."} Frustrated that his home state of Kentucky did not immediately secede, he adopted Texas as his new home state and enlisted in the Confederate army.

Hood was an aggressive commander who played a critical role in the killing and wounding of tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers.^{6 The Naming Commission, Final Report to Congress, Part I: United States Army Bases, (Aug. 2022), 42; "Gaines' Mill," American Battlefield Trust, accessed Sept. 12, 2025; "Antietam," American Battlefield Trust, accessed Sept. 12, 2025; "Fredericksburg," American Battlefield Trust, accessed Sept. 12, 2025; "Gettysburg," American Battlefield Trust, accessed Sept. 12, 2025.} Toward the end of the war, Hood forced his troops into repeated futile attacks that decimated his forces.^{7 "John Bell Hood," Encyclopedia.com; Craddock, "John Bell Hood"; Ty Seidule, "Named for the Enemy: The US Army's Confederate Problem," Perspectives on History, Aug. 4, 2020; "Franklin," American Battlefield Trust, accessed Sept. 12, 2025; "Nashville," American Battlefield Trust, accessed Sept. 12, 2025.} As a result, he lost the respect of many of his own men and resigned his command.^{8 "Franklin," American Battlefield Trust; "Nashville," American Battlefield Trust; Wiley Sword, The Confederacy's Last Hurrah: Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville (Open Road Media, 2017).}

Seventy-five years after the end of the Civil War, the U.S. entered World War II. As new bases were established to train and equip rapidly increasing numbers of troops, white Southerners advocated that Southern bases should be named in honor of men who fought against the U.S. to preserve slavery, including John Bell Hood.^{9 Naming Commission, Final Report, 3-4.} In 1942, the U.S. Army honored Hood by naming a base after him near Killeen, Texas.^{10 Naming Commission, Final Report, 42.}

In 1944, Army Ground Forces-the largest training organization ever established in the U.S., with 12.2 million soldiers by July 1, 1943-attempted to remove the Hood name. Rather than honor a traitor and failed military leader, they sought to memorialize Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair, who had led the base and received the Army Distinguished Service Medal for his service in World War I and World War II before he was killed during the Battle of Normandy on July 25, 1944.^{11 "Naming of U.S. Army Posts," U.S. Army Center of Military History; "Lesley James McNair," Military Times, accessed Sept. 12, 2025.} The Army rejected that effort, ostensibly to avoid "undesirable popular and political repercussions in the State of Texas."^{12 "Naming of U.S. Army Posts," U.S. Army Center of Military History.}

Dishonoring Black Soldiers

Over one million Black men and women served in the U.S. armed forces during World War II.^{13 Clarence Taylor, "Patriotism Crosses the Color Line: African Americans in World War II," Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, Sept. 12, 2025.} The federal government segregated white and Black troops and allowed defense contractors to discriminate against Black people in hiring.^{14 Taylor, "Patriotism." In 1931, Black activists succeeded in persuading President Franklin Roosevelt to sign an executive order that banned racial discrimination in defense industries.}

Black leaders decried the hypocrisy of Black soldiers being sent overseas to fight for freedom when they and their families were denied freedom at home.^{15 Taylor, "Patriotism."} Black soldiers also noted similarities between the treatment of Jews under the racial caste system of Nazi Germany and the way Black Americans were treated.^{16 Taylor, "Patriotism."}

Bases named after ardent defenders of slavery compounded this distress for Black Americans, especially for those who served.^{17 "A Strange Light," Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee), Feb. 27, 1941; Chicago Defender (Chicago, Illinois), Feb. 1, 1941.}

A Long Overdue Change, Quickly Reversed

Despite persistent discrimination, Black Americans have continued to join the Army and serve their country with honor. Today, nonwhite service members comprise 59.5% of the Army.^{18 "Fact and Figures: Fiscal Year 2024 Overview," U.S. Army Recruiting Command, accessed Sept. 12, 2025.}

In the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2021, an overwhelming bipartisan majority of Congress prohibited the Defense Department from naming military installations after any person who served voluntarily with the Confederacy. The law created a Naming Commission tasked with renaming or removing all military assets that commemorate Confederate traitors.

The commission recommended in 2022 that nine Army bases named for Confederates be renamed to honor American heroes-like Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, who served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars and received "two Legions of Merit, a Silver Star, five Bronze Stars, the Purple Heart, and many other medals and awards for exceptional service in war and peace."^{19 Naming Commission, Final Report, 43.} Fort Hood was rededicated Fort Cavazos on May 9, 2023.

Roosevelt Huggins, a retired command master sergeant who is Black and was stationed at Fort Hood, told the Dallas Morning News he had "always been aware of who the military installation was named after." Of the renaming, he said, "Things are moving in the right direction. We understand it and the reasoning for the Army now wanting to revisit the conversation…Now is the time to do it."

As a presidential candidate in 2024, Donald Trump promised to restore to the military bases the names of Confederates who fought against the United States.^{20 Julia Mueller, "Trump Vows to Restore Confederate General's Name to NC Military Base," The Hill, Oct. 4, 2024.}

This summer, at President Trump's urging, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered that the Confederate names, including John Bell Hood, be restored.^{21 Lolita C. Baldor, "Army Restores the Names of Seven Bases That Lost Their Confederate-Linked Names Under Biden," AP News, June 10, 2025.} In a cynical attempt to get around the federal ban on honoring people who fought against the U.S., the Army identified service members with the same last names as the secessionists.^{22 Baldor, "Army Restores;" U.S. Army Public Affairs, "Army to Change Names of Seven Installations," U.S. Army, June 10, 2025.}