{"id":81991,"date":"2025-06-25T17:33:47","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/06\/25\/fort-named-after-gen-robert-e-lee-will-now-honor-a-buffalo-soldier\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:00:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:00:59","slug":"fort-named-after-gen-robert-e-lee-will-now-honor-a-buffalo-soldier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/veterans\/military-history\/2025\/06\/25\/fort-named-after-gen-robert-e-lee-will-now-honor-a-buffalo-soldier\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort named after Gen. Robert E. Lee will now honor a Buffalo Soldier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Amid President Donald Trump\u2019s plans to revert the designations of seven Army installations previously named for Confederate fighters<\/a> to their old names, albeit new namesakes, comes the Army\u2019s announcement that Fort Lee in Virginia will become the first base to be named after a Buffalo Soldier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fort Lee \u2014 initially named after the Confederate general Robert E. Lee \u2014 was briefly changed to Fort Gregg-Adams under President Joe Biden\u2019s administration in its efforts to remove any connection to the Confederacy from current military bases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the recommendations of a special committee, Fort Lee was renamed Fort Gregg-Adams to honor Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams. Both joined the Army prior to its desegregation, with Gregg rising to become the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics for the Army while Adams commanded the 6888th Central Postal Directory during the Second World War. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the first Army base in U.S. history to be named for Black Americans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, under Trump, the fort will yet again be the home of another milestone. It will be renamed for Pvt. Fitz Lee, a Buffalo soldier who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Spanish-American War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buffalo Soldiers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While African Americans have fought in U.S. wars since the American Revolution, peacetime Black U.S. Regular Army units were not created until 1866. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the Civil War, Congress created six Regular Army regiments of African American soldiers: 9th and 10th cavalry regiments and 38th, 39th, 40th and 41st infantry regiments. Three years later in 1869, the four infantry regiments were consolidated into two units and redesignated as the 24th and 25th infantry regiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fort Lee was redesignated as Fort Gregg-Adams on April 27, 2023, to honor two Black Americans who served in the U.S. Army. The base will once again be Fort Lee, this time named for a Buffalo Soldier, following an order by President Donald Trump. (Terrance Bell\/Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to historian Jerry Morelock<\/a>, \u201cThe nickname Buffalo Soldiers originated during the regiments\u2019 initial service in the Frontier Army in campaigns against Native American tribes. Likely, the title was first bestowed upon 10th Cavalry troopers as a term of respect by Cheyenne warriors in early 1867. Eventually, however, the name Buffalo Soldiers was extended to denote all troops in the four African-American cavalry and infantry regiments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pvt. Fitz Lee<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Born the same year Congress created standing Black units, Lee, a Virginia native, enlisted in M Troop, 10th Cavalry in 1889. After nearly a decade with the Army, Lee, serving as a private, found himself bound for Cuba after the U.S. declared war on Spain on April 25, 1898. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee and 50 other troopers, according to the National Park Service<\/a>, were assigned to head behind enemy lines to re-enforce and resupply Cuban fighters seeking liberation from Spanish rule in the Caribbean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 30, 1898, Cuban freedom fighters and American soldiers disembarked the steamship Florida, attempting an amphibious landing at Tayabacoa, Cuba. Almost immediately, the landing party found themselves engaged in enemy fire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ambushed, the landing group soon retreated, leaving behind at least 16 wounded to become prisoners of war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After several rescue attempts failed, Lee, Cpl. George H. Wanton, Pvt. Dennis Bell, Sgt. William H. Thompkins and Lt. George P. Ahern stepped forward and volunteered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wading ashore, the five soldiers managed to surprise the Spanish, successfully freeing their wounded comrades. <\/p>\n\n\n\t