Six options considered for renaming Louisiana National Guard facility that honored Confederate general

Camp Beauregard, the sprawling Louisiana installation in Pineville that functions as one of two main sites for the Louisiana National Guard, will get a new name later this year as it follows the Army’s lead in moving away from bases named for Confederate officers.

Louisiana Adjutant General D. Keith Waddell, a gubernatorial appointee, will decide between six names presented to him by a committee made up of national guard and civilian leaders, he said Tuesday. Waddell hopes to have made his decision within the next month with a rededication ceremony to come later this year.

“I understand that the Louisiana National Guard is a very diverse and inclusive organization,” Waddell said Tuesday. “I wanted to do what’s best for our organization and this is part of that.”

The names under consideration include: Louisiana National Guard Training Center Pineville, Central Louisiana Training Center Pineville, Camp Stroud, Louisiana Maneuvers Training Center, Camp Pineville and Post de Rapides.

Camp Beauregard is named for P.G.T. Beauregard, who served as a general in the Confederate Army. Beauregard Parish, in southwestern Louisiana is also named for him. In 2017, New Orleans officials removed a statue of Beauregard that stood at the entrance to City Park.

The name change comes at a time when Congress and Pentagon officials are moving to rename military installations across the south that were named after Confederates. Fort Polk in Vernon Parish, the state’s largest military base, which was named for Confederate General Leonidas Polk, is slated to be redesignated Fort Johnson by the end of the year.

Other large bases across the South, including Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Lee in Virginia, are slated to be renamed.

Those redesignations were stipulated by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021. Because Camp Beauregard is owned by the state, officials determined it was not subject to that requirement. But Waddell began considering the move anyway, noting that the Louisiana Guard gets funding, training and equipment from the federal government.