The Louisiana National Guard on Monday, July 14, 2025, reverted the name of its training center to Camp Beauregard to honor a state militia veteran from the War of 1812 who is the father of the Confederate general who was the original namesake. (Louisiana National Guard )
The Louisiana National Guard has returned the name Camp Beauregard to its military training center in Pineville, honoring a state militia veteran from the War of 1812 instead of the Confederate general namesake it boasted for more than a century, state officials have announced.
The Guard base owned by the state will now bear the name of Capt. Jacques Toutant Beauregard, who fought in the 1815 Battle of New Orleans, the last major fight of the conflict between American and British troops. The new namesake also happens to be the father of Confederate Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, whose moniker was stripped from the post in 2023 when it became the Louisiana National Guard Training Center Pineville as the state followed the federal government’s lead in removing Confederate ties from military installations.
The new move also follows the federal government, as President Donald Trump’s administration this year has reverted all nine Army installations renamed in 2023 to their original names but in honor of veterans who did not serve the Confederacy.
In a social media statement posted Monday alongside a photo of a gravestone bearing the word “Wokeism,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry announced the move.
“In Louisiana, we honor courage, not cancel it,” wrote Landry, a Republican who took office last year. “Let this be a lesson that we should always give reverence to history and not be quick to so easily condemn or erase the dead, lest we and our times be judged arbitrary by future generations.”
Trump has long railed against the efforts to remove Confederate names from the military, which began during his first term in the White House. Under his direction, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth restored the name Fort Bragg to the Army’s largest installation in March — after the North Carolina post held the name Fort Liberty for less than two years. The base now honors a World War II soldier with the name Bragg.
Hegseth in the following months ordered all the renamed posts reverted to their old names after identifying new veterans with the same names.
Camp Beauregard’s new namesake served in the Third Regiment of the Louisiana militia, the precursor to the state’s National Guard, and led his troops as they formed the vanguard of the fight against British soldiers in New Orleans from the opening skirmishes on Dec. 23, 1814, through the battle’s main engagement on Jan. 8, 1815. The battle, which was fought after a treaty to end the conflict was already signed, saw the Americans route British forces, according to historians. The British took nearly 2,000 casualties, and the American lost less than a dozen troops, according to statistics from the American Battlefield Trust.
A statement from the Louisiana National Guard does not mention the camp’s new namesake is the father of the old namesake. Jacques Toutant Beauregard was the owner of his family’s long-held Contreras Plantation, a sugar cane farm outside New Orleans worked by slaves under his leadership, according to historians.
The state’s Guard said the move honors a prominent Louisianan and military figure.
“We’re naming our premier training installation after an American hero and patriot who fought for the freedom of the city of New Orleans, the state of Louisiana, and the United States of America against a foreign invader,” said Army Maj. Gen. Thomas Friloux, the Louisiana National Guard’s top general.
Camp Beauregard was first established in 1917 just outside Pineville in central Louisiana to train infantry forces gearing up to deploy during World War I. It was purchased by the state in 1920 to support National Guard training but was federalized in 1940 to train forces preparing for World War II.
It has remained a prominent training facility for the Louisiana Guard since the 1970s, according to state officials. It spans 12,500 acres and includes various firing ranges, vehicle training simulators, an urban assault course and counter improvised explosive device lanes.
“By restoring the name Camp Beauregard, we honor a legacy of courage and service that dates back over two centuries,” Landry said in a second statement. “Capt. Jacques Toutant Beauregard stood at the front lines in defense of New Orleans during one of our nation’s most defining battles. His patriotism and leadership continue to inspire generations of Louisiana Guardsmen who stand ready to defend our state and nation at a moment’s notice.”
