Commission: Remove Or Rename Confederate Memorials At West Point

Editor's note: This article has been updated to include two responses from the U.S. Military Academy.

WEST POINT, NY — A plaque commemorating the Ku Klux Klan is among several things commemorating the Confederacy at the U.S. Military Academy flagged by the national Naming Commission in its newest report submitted to Congress Monday.

"Throughout the grounds, plaques adorn almost every building and entrance, honoring the names and lives of West Point graduates who demonstrated exceptional devotion to the defense of the United States and the advancement of its ideals," the report said. "Commemorating the Confederacy alongside those graduates honors men who fought against the United States of America, and whose cause sought to destroy the nation as we know it."

The Commission visited West Point and worked closely with leaders and historians there to identify assets that have clear ties to the Confederacy, according to the report. It recommended dealing with a dozen monuments or markers, including many of Robert E. Lee, once the USMA Superintendent, who decided to fight for Virginia.

"The Commissioners do not make these recommendations with any intention of 'erasing history.' The facts of the past remain and the Commissioners are confident the history of the Civil War will continue to be taught at all Service academies with all the quality and complex detail our national past deserves," the report said. "Rather, they make these recommendations to affirm West Point’s long tradition of educating future generations of America’s military leaders to represent the best of our national ideals."

Among the items they listed were five named for Lee, one named for Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard and one named for Gen. William J. Hardee.

In addition, the commissioners recommended the portrait of Lee in Confederate uniform with the rank of general indicated on the plaque, currently displayed in Jefferson Hall, be relocated or removed.

"The Commission finds that images or references to then-MAJ Robert E. Lee that strictly reflect his U.S. Army service as superintendent at West Point, and that do not conflate his Confederate service, are historical artifacts and may remain in place," the report said.

In the trio of bronze tryptch on Bartlett Hall, one mounted marker bears the words, "Ku Klux Klan" and shows a man in a hood carrying a gun.

The Commission is only tasked with searching out and making recommendations about U.S. military assets that honor the Confederacy.

"The marker falls outside the remit of the Commission; however, there are clearly ties in the KKK to the Confederacy. The Commission encourages the Secretary of Defense to address DoD assets that highlight the KKK in Defense Memorialization processes and create a standard disposition requirement for such assets," the report said.

The U.S. Army provided cost estimates for removing, replacing, renaming:

• Beauregard Place. $1,000.
• Lee Barracks. $3,000.
• Lee Housing Area. $3,000.
• Lee Area Child Development Center. $3,000.
• Lee Road. $3,000.
• Lee Gate. $3,000.
• Hardee Place. $1,000.
• Jefferson Hall (Library). $2,500.
• Reconciliation Plaza. $300,000.
• Bartlett Hall. $100,000.
• Honor Plaza. $2,500.
• Cullum Hall. $2,000.

USMA officials said they were reviewing the recommendations in the Naming Commission’s Part II Report and would collaborate with the Department of the Army to implement changes, once approved. "West Point’s mission is to develop leaders of character who internalize Army Values, the ideals of Duty, Honor, Country, and the Army Ethic. As a values-based institution, we are fully committed to creating a climate where everyone is treated with dignity and respect."

As for the Ku Klux Klan figure, the USMA issued this statement:

There is a triptych (three bronze panels) at one of the entrances of Bartlett Hall that depicts the history of the United States. The artwork was dedicated on June 3, 1965, and each panel measures 11’ X 5’ each. As part of the middle panel titled “One Nation, Under God, Indivisible,” there is a small section that shows a Ku Klux Klan member.

The artist, Laura Gardin Fraser (Sept 14, 1889 – Aug 13, 1966) was an American sculptor who was commissioned to design the panels and wanted to create art that depicted “historical incidents or persons” that symbolized the principal events of that time, thereby documenting both tragedy and triumph in our nation’s history.

Among many other symbols, the triptych also includes individuals who were instrumental in shaping principal events of that time, and symbols like the “Tree of Life” that depict how our nation has flourished despite its tragedies. The artwork was originally dedicated to West Point graduates who served in World War II and Korea.

The Academy strives to graduate diverse leaders of character for our Nation.

To learn more about the historical triptych, visit the USMA Library’s digital collection.

The Naming Commission is charged with enumerating and suggesting new names for tributes and memorials to Confederate officers on U.S. military property.

In June 2020, U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney led over 20 colleagues in a letter to the Secretary of Defense calling for the renaming of buildings and facilities with confederate names.

“We cannot allow bigotry of the past to be perpetuated and celebrated in the same halls that educate our leaders of the future. It is essential that West Point’s campus and culture be one that is welcoming to students of all backgrounds," he said about the Commission's report. "For years, I’ve advocated directly to military leadership for such changes, and I am glad to see that we are finally making progress.”

For years, U.S. military officials had defended tributes and memorials to Confederate officers, the Associated Press reported. But in the aftermath of the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and the months of racial unrest that followed, Congress ordered a comprehensive plan to rename the military posts and hundreds of other federal assets such as roads, buildings, memorials, signs and landmarks that honored rebel leaders.

The first part of the Naming Commission's work dealt with military bases. The second, with the United States Military Academy at West Point and the United States Naval Academy (USNA) at Annapolis.

The report is the latest step in a broader effort by the military to confront racial injustice.
The renaming process was laid out in a law passed by Congress in late 2020. The secretary of defense is expected to implement the commission’s plan no later than Jan. 1, 2024, the Associate Press reported.

According to the report, the Naming Commission requested West Point’s existing plan to rename or remove assets that commemorate the Confederacy. A USMA representative provided an overview of the Military Academy’s inventory of Confederacy-affiliated assets and West Point’s renaming process.

The Commission said West Point resisted pressure to install monuments to the Confederacy for many years.

In 1861, one-fifth of the cadets left to join the Confederate army, according to the Commission. The report says:

After the war, antipathy towards Confederates ran long and deep. Although the Civil War ended in 1865, no Confederate leader was invited to West Point until 1898. For more than 60 years after the war’s end and well into the 20th century, no Confederate monuments existed at the Military Academy. Attempts to establish them were consistently met with solid resistance.

"For example, when West Point built Cullum Hall in 1898 to serve as both the Academy’s social center and a memorial to West Point cadets killed in action, they did so with the specific proviso that no Confederate name was to be commemorated or even mentioned within it.

It was not until 1930 and 1931, at a time when the “Lost Cause” sentiment gripped the nation, that West Point accepted and installed Confederate memorials. Due to external pressures, the Army felt compelled to change its policy. Over the subsequent decades, additional Confederate affiliated items were added at West Point.

Most recently, Reconciliation Plaza honoring the North and South was given to the campus by the Class of 1961 on the occasion of its 40th reunion, in 2001.

"Several aspects of Reconciliation Plaza commemorate Confederates or their actions," the Commission said in its report, including Marker 3 which highlights then BG P.G.T. Beauregard leading Confederate forces in insurrection against Fort Sumter, South Carolina.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.