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Museum director proposes name changes for VA Army bases honoring Confederate generals

Frank Smith has at least four names of loyal African American veterans who he says are more deserving of honor than the men who rebelled against the United States.

WASHINGTON — It's still unclear if President Trump's opposition has derailed a bipartisan push to rename nearly a dozen U.S. Army bases that honor Confederate officers who fought the U.S. Army.

If Congress moves forward, Frank Smith, the director of the D.C. African American Civil War Museum, has a few Black heroes he'd like to nominate.

RELATED: Military rethinks Confederate Army symbols on bases, Trump won't 'even consider' it

Advocates say the effort here is not to bury history, but to reframe it to honor those who fought and died for freedom for all. 

"We're all saying this is a different country, a different America, we have different values," Smith said. 

In Virginia, Fort Lee, Fort Pickett and Fort AP Hill are all still named for Confederate generals who deserted the Union.  

RELATED: Virginia has 3 Army bases named for Confederate officers, more than any other state

"We give our full measure, as President Lincoln says, for this country all the time," Smith said. "And we deserve better, to be honest with you. We deserve better." 


Here are some of those he would like to honor:

Capt. Andre Cailloux was one of the first Black officers in the Union Army killed in combat in the Civil War. He died leading his battalion's assault on the Confederate fortifications at Port Hudson, Louisiana. He'd told his General he was ready for whatever came. 

"General we come of a fighting race," reads a quote from Cailloux on the wall of the museum. "Our fathers were brought here slaves because they were captured in war." 

Maj. Martin Delany was born free in Charles Town, which was in Virginia then. He recruited troops for the Union, and was the first Black senior officer in the US Army.

Then there's Robert Smalls. He was born enslaved in South Carolina. As a ship's pilot, he commandeered the Confederate transport ship Planter, and delivered it to the Union. He spent the rest of the Civil War helping the Navy hunt down and destroy rebel warships.

"Trying to save the flag, trying to save the Union, and trying to free his people," Smith said.

Those are just three of the Union loyalists Smith says are more deserving of honor.

But there is one other living veteran that Smith said deserves to have a fort named after him: Gen. Charles McGee --  a 100-year-old Bethesda veteran -- and one of the last surviving Tuskegee airmen. 

President Trump might even agree on that one, since he recently promoted McGee to Brigadier General.

RELATED: 100-year-old Tuskegee Airman from Bethesda honored at State of the Union after being promoted to Brigadier General

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