Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause

Seidule began his military career at Fort Bragg, named after Confederate general Braxton Bragg. Decorated for bravery in the Mexican War, Bragg was hated by his troops, one of whom tried to kill him. He was an enslaver, and as a Confederate general he lost far more battles than he won. Bragg thus seems like an unlikely namesake for one of the largest military bases in the world, aside from the fact that he was from North Carolina. Seidule later transferred to Fort Benning in Georgia, named after Henry Benning, who championed secession on the explicit grounds of protecting slavery. He helped convince Virginia to secede, warning their convention that abolition of slavery would lead to the extermination of white people in America. He participated Confederate in several major battles, and rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the Confederate army.

Another base in Georgia, Fort Gordon, is named after a Confederate major general who suffered grievous wounds at the 1862 Battle of Antietam and would go on to serve as both governor of Georgia and national leader of the Ku Klux Klan. Several posts in Seidule’s native Virginia also honor Confederates, including Fort A. P. Hill, Fort Pickett, and of course Fort Lee (following the publication of this book, the Defense Department’s “Naming Commission” changed the name of Fort Pickett to Fort Barfoot, after a World War II Medal of Honor recipient.