Politician asks Fort Bragg to change its name; town scoffs

The city of Fort Bragg may be exempt from a proposed state bill aimed at banning Confederate names from public buildings and places in California, but the bill’s author is now asking city officials to change the town’s moniker voluntarily, adding fuel to the debate the proposal has generated.

State Sen. Steven Glazer, D-Orinda, has sent a letter to Fort Bragg Mayor Dave Turner, asking the city to eliminate its connection with Braxton Bragg, a U.S. Army officer when Fort Bragg was named for him but who later became a Confederate general.

“For too long, we’ve accepted their names in our midst and almost forgotten what the leaders of the Confederacy stood for. It is essential that we stand up and put a stop to commemorating men who actively fought to retain the foul and murderous institution of slavery,” Glazer wrote in his July 8 letter. Bragg led “bloody battles” and personally owned 105 slaves, he said.

City officials who thought the name issue had been settled earlier this week were taken aback by the request, which has been called “silly” and “ridiculous” by officials and other residents of the town of some 7,200 residents.

They’ve voiced support for proposed bans prohibiting the flying of the Confederate flag on public property, but Glazer’s proposal to Fort Bragg is going too far, they say.

“Well, jeez, senator,” Turner said. “I’m not in favor of it, and I don’t think the council is in favor of it.”

“Why would I want to?” he added.

He reiterated that the city wasn’t commemorating Gen. Braxton Bragg, it had simply kept the name of a short-lived fort, named after the man before he joined the Confederacy.

Bragg was a career officer in the U.S. Army, serving in the Mexican-American War. He resigned in 1856 and purchased a sugar plantation in Louisiana. He became a general in the Confederate Army in 1861 when seven Southern slave states seceded from the United States. Bragg is widely considered by historians to have been an inept leader who lost many battles and who was obsessed with following military rules.

Fort Bragg was established in 1857, four years before the Civil War began. Bragg, then a captain in the U.S. Army, never visited the fort, which was abandoned in 1864. All that remains is the name and one small building located next to City Hall.

“We were never named to glorify the Confederacy,” Fort Bragg Vice Mayor Lindy Peters said. He said he, too, opposes glorifying the Confederacy, but Fort Bragg’s name doesn’t do that. And it’s part of the town’s long history.

Changing the name would be akin to rewriting history, Peters said.

Critics of Glazer’s proposal wonder whose names might next be targeted for erasure in the name of being politically correct.

“How far are we going to take this thing?” Peters asked, sharing a sentiment also posted on the city’s Facebook page, where a majority of responders also opposed a name change.

“What’s next, banning all movies, books, songs, street names that have any ties to the Civil War?” one woman posted.

“It’s P.C. crap,” another wrote.

Many streets and buildings in the United States are named after George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, both slave owners, critics of Glazer’s proposal have noted.

Perhaps places named after Andrew Jackson also should be targeted, Peters said.

“He completely wiped out the Native Americans,” he said.

Glazer spokesman Steven Harmon said it’s not the same thing.

While some of the past presidents did things that we now consider bad, they are known for their good deeds, like founding the country.

“We’re talking about legacy,” Harmon said. “They helped found this country, the Confederates tried to rip it apart.”

While most of the city’s Facebook postings opposed a name change, a few supported it, though a number of those responses were clearly tongue in cheek, suggesting names like “Sweet Pea” or “Fort homeless shelter.”

Most said the entire discussion is a stupid waste of time.

“This is what happens when our elected officials have nothing better to do,” one wrote.

Some supported the idea in theory but said they didn’t want the city to waste time or money on such an effort.

The debate itself, however, may not be a waste of time.

The widespread media attention focused on Fort Bragg as a result of the proposal may prove to be a boon under the theory that any publicity is good publicity, said Scott Schneider, executive director of Visit Mendocino County.

“Let the national press pick it up as much as it wants,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MendoReporter.