Fort Bragg Keeps Its Name

Fort Bragg's name was up for discussion before the city council Jan. 24 as a citizens commission delivered its report - but no recommendation on renaming the town.

Instead, after working for nearly a year and a half, holding 40-plus meetings and reviewing more than 1600 responses from the public, the commission sent six unanimous recommendations to the council, and a handful of others that had majority support, most having to do with increasing awareness of the town's past and strengthening its ties with local Native American tribes.

The commission was created in the summer of 2020, during nationwide protests over police violence in the Black community, to consider whether Fort Bragg should change its name. Braxton Bragg, though a United States general at the time that the outpost, headquarters for the Mendocino Indian Reservation, was named in 1857, had been a Confederate general by the time the town of Fort Bragg was named in 1885.

Some commission members felt strongly about renaming, both ways. Commission member Nicki Caito Urbani said an informal poll showed six of ten commissioners said that they would like to see the name changed “some time in the not too distant future”. But it was generally agreed that the commission did not have the resources to determine what the will of the public really is on the question, and that there would be many practical questions to settle before a decision could be made, whether by initiative or city council decision. Caito Urbani noted that while 14,000 people live in the 95437 zip code, only 7000 live in Fort Bragg. Would only city residents decide? How would a new name be chosen? “How would the voices of all those people be heard?”, she asked.

Commission member Christine Olson Day said responses to the commission's survey, done through local newspapers, city water bills and social media, showed 56 percent support for keeping the name the same, about a third for changing it, and the rest undecided. Olson Day emphasized that the survey was not scientific, but said she felt it gave enough information to show that there are significant numbers of people and strongly held opinions on both sides of the question.

So, instead if the name change question itself, the commission agreed to recommend four overall goals:

- Demonstrate the City’s commitment to being inclusive and welcoming to all people

- Increase knowledge and understanding about Indigenous culture and local history

- Clarify that we do not in any way associate ourselves with the confederate legacy

- Optimize our future as an attractive and prosperous place to live and visit

Toward those ends, commissioners were unanimous about recommending:

- a city policy to prioritize Land Back to local coastal tribes

- an official agreement to work with local coastal tribes along the lines of the agreement made in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in recognition of their sovereignty and continued stewardship of this land.

- the creation of a cultural center to demonstrate, educate, and honor the way of life that existed pre-contact/pre-Fort Bragg and also to honor the many cultures that exist today here in our town and around the globe.

- a local history working group to

- Explore turning the old fort building into a Mendocino Reservation Memorial focused on the Mendocino Reservation and the first peoples on this land

- Make inclusive local history more visible in our streets and at the Guest House Museum - increased signage and plaques teaching about local coastal tribes, the Mendocino Reservation, the formation of our city and the varied communities of immigrants who made it their home. 

- Coordinate community forums on history, identity and name change issues

- Coordinate multicultural events within the city

- Appoint a City Council Ad Hoc Committee to facilitate discussion with the school district and local tribes to support the schools in presenting a more complete and inclusive history of the local area.

- Support an outdoor event to encourage the local arts, sciences, and culture/economy, a North Coast Community Day, to showcase our diverse community and encourage a robust economy.

Commission members stated various reasons for taking the approach they did. Cesar Yanez said “There isn't enough support (for or against a name change)...If we were like a dictatorship where we said 'We're going to change the name regardless of what the community feels,' we're basically just sowing more division.” Yanez recommended that, if the question does come to an initiative, that the city sponsor moderated forums “ “that encourage listening across differences, like we did on the commission.”

Andy Wellspring, a history teacher at Mendocino High School, spoke out for a name change. He called Braxton Bragg “one of the most despicable figures in all of U.S. history” for his actions commanding artillery against the Seminole nation and Mexico, and as “ top brass” defending slavery in the Civil War.

“Amends need to be made by this town that still bears the same name, Fort Bragg,” Wellspring said. “We cannot simply ignore both these historical facts - the fort and the Bragg. Nor can we ignore the detrimental effects that keeping his name alive has for many Black, Indigenous, and Mexican people, all people really. We have an opportunity and responsibility to change the town's name, to right both of these wrongs, and to write the next chapter in the future of this town, a future with a name that represents what we want to believe is beautiful.”

Commission member Lucy Stanley, a lifelong Fort Bragg and Willits resident and member of the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians, recalled her great grandmother, Lucy Cooper, who was born on the coast, taken by soldiers to the Round Valley reservation after the Mendocino Reservation was dissolved, and managed to make her way home. Stanley said she does not favor changing the town's name.

“When she (Lucy Cooper) escaped, and was one of the few lucky ones who was able to come back to Fort Bragg, it was the community that aided her,” Stanley said. “She was always thankful for that. She was a basket maker who was very well known in the community and she loved the community. That means a lot to me about Fort Bragg. I don't acknowledge Braxton Bragg. He never came here. I don't acknowledge the name. I think we can still keep it Fort Bragg and maybe have this museum to educate the community.”

Commission member Olson Day noted that the Fort Bragg name was controversial almost from the beginning. One of the commission's discoveries was a plea at the opening of the Civil War from the commander of Fort Humboldt near Eureka, to remove the name of “a traitor” from the Mendocino County outpost. Fort Bragg was decommissioned soon after.

“This will be an issue as long as we choose to keep the name,” Olson Day said.

There was basically no public discussion of the group's recommendations, since they were presented as part of the Mayor's Recognitions section of the agenda, which provides for no public comment, on the understanding that the recommendations will be discussed at a future date. But council members generally welcomed the proposals, while showing no enthusiasm for taking up the name-change question themselves.

Those council members who did express some kind of preference seemed to lean against a change.

“I think changing the name would create a pretty deep wound for a lot of people and a lot of generations. I don't agree that we should do it right now,” said Lindy Peters.

“Changing a name doesn't undo the past. Where we go today is what undoes the past,” said Tess-Albin Smith.

Marcia Rafanan, a Fort Bragg council member as well as a member of the Sherwood Valley tribe, said, “We're known for our hospitality, our beaches, our food, even Highway 20 we're known for. We're not known for Bragg, a murderer… My tribe, the Sherwood Valley people, need to be recognized and acknowledged that we're still here. There are a couple of signs that say where we gathered abalone and mussels. We need to acknowledge we're still here.”