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Texas’ Fort Hood likely to be renamed for first Hispanic four-star general instead of Confederate general

The Army’s largest active-duty armored post is named after Gen. John Bell Hood. A commission has recommended naming it for Gen. Richard Cavazos, a native Texan.

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The Bernie Beck Gate to the Fort Hood U.S. Army post in Killeen.
The Bernie Beck Gate to the Fort Hood U.S. Army post in Killeen. A blue-ribbon commission has recommended changing the post's name as part of an effort to remove Confederate names from military facilities. Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for the Texas Tribune

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Fort Hood likely will be renamed Fort Cavazos after a blue-ribbon commission recommended that the Confederate-named Army base receive a new name along with eight other military bases nationwide.

The Naming Commission, which was created by Congress and is responsible for recommending new names or removal of names and symbols that commemorate Confederate figures within the Department of Defense, called for Fort Hood to be named after Gen. Richard Cavazos, a native Texan and the Army’s first Hispanic four-star general.

The Army’s largest active-duty armored post, with about 40,000 soldiers, was named after Gen. John Bell Hood, who led the Confederate Army’s Texas Brigade during the Civil War.

No U.S. military bases are named for a Hispanic service member. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, pushed for the name change along with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

The commission also recommended changing the name of Fort Bragg in North Carolina to Fort Liberty, and Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia to Fort Walker — for Dr. Mary Edwards Walker who was a suffragist, prisoner of war and surgeon — among others.

The commission will make its recommendations to Congress, then it will be then sent to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for final approval.

“I’m grateful to The Naming Commission for their recommendation to rename Fort Hood for Richard Cavazos,” Castro said on Twitter Tuesday.

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Jason Beeferman

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