This shadow can cause passions in Blackstone and the surrounding area, which is about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Richmond. Some are disturbed by the fact that Congress has ordered the removal of the Pickett name as part of a larger scrubbing of military bases names that honor the Confederacy and those who served in it. The names of at most nine Army bases across six states will be changed.
Others agree that it is high time to stop using the names.
Nathaniel Miller (a Black member on the town council) says, “Change them!” He was stationed at Pickett in 1973 after his return from Vietnam. He says that it should have been done a long time ago because the names are a reminder about slavery and a period of American history when Blacks had no voice.
Pickett’s nameake is Maj. General George E. Pickett. He is best known for his failed Confederate assault on Gettysburg, which became known as Pickett’s Charge. He was a Virginian and a West Point graduate. After the Civil War’s outbreak in 1861, he resigned from his U.S. Army officer rank.
The national reckoning that has been triggered by the recent police shooting of George Floyd in Minneapolis, May 2020, is part of the push to rename Fort Pickett. The military has defended the naming Confederate officers after bases for years. However, even as recently as 2015, the Army claimed that the names were not meant to honor the rebel cause but rather a gesture of reconciliation towards the South.
Congress voted last year to force the name changes in order to remove these symbols of Black oppression and human bondage.
Army Gen. Mark Milley is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He spoke out about the legacy of Black pain that was reflected in Confederate names at Army base where at least 20% of soldiers today are Black. These names may serve as reminders to Black soldiers of the fact that rebel officers fought for an institution that might have enslaved them ancestors, he said.
Milley stated to a House committee that the Confederacy does not deserve to be remembered in this manner in June 2020.
He said, “It was an action of rebellion, it wasn’t treason at that time, against Union, Stars and Stripes and against the U.S. Constitution.” “And those officers turned down their oath. Some people have a different opinion. It’s part of our heritage. Some people believe it’s heritage.
Blackstone is not able to explain why the government chose the Pickett name. To coincide with the 79th anniversary, Pickett’s Gettysburg charge, the 1942 dedication ceremony of Camp Pickett was attended by Pickett’s family. According to the Associated Press, Virginia Governor was present at the ceremony. Colgate Darden stated that Pickett’s Charge will live on forever as an “epic of supreme courage” that made him an “immortal” in Virginia.
Greg Eanes is an Air Force veteran who grew-up in Crewe. He sees removing Pickett’s name as disrespecting rebels and their families.
Eanes, standing next to a Confederate trench still visible on a battlefield in a neighboring county, says that “it is nothing less than cultural genocide.” The South has a special history. Many of the people in the South have relatives and ancestors who served in Confederate armies. I believe it would be wrong to dismiss their concerns, or even arbitrarily dismiss them.
Yet, Fort Pickett’s Confederate connection is not a hot topic.
“There was probably an era in my life where this would have gotten us riled up,” states Billy Coleburn, 52-year-old Blackstone native and mayor of the small town of approximately 3,500 people.
He adds, “The times are changing.”
Jim and Christine Hasbrouck, local innkeepers, applaud the removals of Confederate generals’ names.
Jim says, “We must stop putting them up on a pedestal.”
The Virginia National Guard is the main user of Fort Pickett. It is located in Southside Virginia and is approximately halfway between Richmond, the former capital of Confederacy, as well as Appomattox where Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to his Confederate forces, in 1865.
This heavily Republican area voted for Donald Trump by 57% to 42% in November 2017. It also favored Hillary Clinton by a 55%-to-42% margin four years prior. You will find many remembrances of the Civil War here. Just up the road, among the groves maple, oak, and pine trees, is Sailor’s Creek Battlefield State Park. This park was the scene of several battles that took place on April 6, 1865 in which Confederate forces, including one unit commanded under Pickett, were defeated. Three days later Lee surrendered at Appomattox.
Congress created last year a federal commission to suggest new names for at minimum nine Army bases that were named after Confederate officers. Three of them are located in Virginia. The other bases are located in Texas, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana. Trump objected to the law and said that renaming the bases would be disrespectful for those who were trained there.
Two active Navy vessels will also be renamed. The USNS Maury is an oceanographic survey vessel. It was named after Matthew Fontaine Maury who was a scientist and naval officer who resigned in order to join the Confederates. Named after the 1863 Confederate victory in Chancellorsville, Virginia, the cruiser USS Chancellorsville.
Blackstone resident Tom Wilkinson is a retired Army colonel and commanded Fort Pickett between 2008 and 2012. He says he accepts the decision to rename Fort Pickett but thinks it’s a mistake.
Wilkinson states, “If we could look back in hindsight… I would say leave this alone.” “Because you don’t know what’s next.” Is it possible to change street names in the United States?
The post-George Floyd debate about racial injustice goes beyond the names of military bases. Pickett is one example of a name that has caused controversy in Washington state. The Bellingham city council voted in 2019 to remove Pickett’s name from a bridge Pickett and his troops built during the establishment of Fort Bellingham, a frontier post that was called Fort Bellingham.
The November referendum on relocation of a Confederate War Monument that has been erected in front the county courthouse in Nottoway County since 1893 is an even hotter topic.
Fort Pickett was one of the last places that members of Congress visited when they established the federal Naming Commission. Michelle Howard, a former Navy admiral, said that the commissioners were generally received well by the communities during their previous visits. However, some people did take the opportunity to vent a bit. Michelle Howard will be visiting Pickett soon.
His military record, aside from his decision to fight the federal government against him, is subject to conflicting interpretations by historians. However, historians agree that Pickett’s performance was at best average.
Pickett was appointed Confederate commander in North Carolina and Virginia after the destruction of his Gettysburg division in 1863. Pickett’s defeat at Five Forks in 1865, 20 miles east from Blackstone, was particularly humiliating. He had gone to a fish fry earlier and not expected a Union attack. After his men were overpowered, he fled Sailor’s Creek and surrendered.
People who grew up in Fort Pickett agree that the name change will not matter, regardless of the details of his legacy.
Leigh Hart, a Blackstone native and a former Blackstone resident, says that Pickett will always be Pickett to her. It will always be Pickett.”
