Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signs a memorandum to rename Fort Liberty, N.C., to Fort Roland L. Bragg, while aboard a military aircraft en route to Germany, Feb. 10, 2025. (Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza, DOD)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has approved reverting the name of military base Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg.
Hegseth approved a memorandum Monday to change the name, but with a different namesake.
Located just west of Fayetteville, the base was initially named in 1918 after Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg. It’s one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with more than 52,000 military personnel.
A naming commission set up by Congress to study renaming military bases described Bragg as “considered one of the worst generals of the Civil War.
“Most of the battles he was involved in ended in defeat and resulted in tremendous losses for the Confederate Army,” reads the August 2022 report. “Bragg was temperamental, a harsh disciplinarian, and widely disliked in the pre-Civil War U.S. Army and within the Confederate Army by peers and subordinates alike.”
Congress proposed renaming the installation and eight other bases during President Joe Biden’s tenure. The Fayetteville base’s name was changed to Fort Liberty in June 2023 following a congressional decision to rename installations honoring Confederate generals.
The efforts were part of the National Defense Authorization Act passed at the end of the first Trump administration. Then-President Donald Trump vetoed the bill, but Congress voted 81-13 to override the decision in January 2021.
Hegseth on Monday instructed the Army to revert back to the Bragg name, but pay tribute to a different individual: Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World War II veteran “who earned the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his exceptional courage during the Battle of the Bulge,” according to defense department spokesman John Ullyot.
“This change underscores the installation’s legacy of recognizing those who have demonstrated extraordinary service and sacrifice for the nation,” Ullyot said in a statement.
The action to return the bases to their former Confederate names would require approval from Congress.
80 years later, movie tells story of SC woman’s battalion during World War II
It would also require millions of dollars for signage. The cost of changing the base signage from Bragg to Liberty less than two years ago was pegged at more than $6 million. It’s unclear how much this change might cost.
U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina 9th District praised the announcement, sharing on social media: “Fort Bragg is BACK! Thank you, @SecDef!”
Hegseth, a National Guard veteran and former Fox News host, has previously voiced strong opposition to removing the names of Confederate generals from military bases, calling the efforts “a sham,” “garbage,” and “crap” in various media appearances between 2021 and 2024, according to CNN.
What about other bases?
It’s unclear if there will be an attempt to change back other military installations renamed during the Biden administration. None of South Carolina’s bases were renamed, but two Army bases in Georgia got new namesakes. Unlike Fort Liberty, they were renamed after people — specifically, Army commanders in 20th century wars.
When established in 1941 near Augusta, Fort Gordon was named for John Brown Gordon, a commanding officer in the Confederate Army who went on to be Georgia’s governor and a U.S. senator. It was renamed Fort Eisenhower in 2023 after World War II Army general and 34th President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Fort Benning, established in 1918 near the Alabama border, was named after Henry L. Benning, a Georgia legislator and Confederate Army brigadier general. It was renamed Fort Moore in 2023 after Lt. Gen. Harold “Hal” Moore Jr. and his wife, Julia Moore, who are both buried at the base’s cemetery. Lt. Gen. Moore served in the Korean and Vietnam wars. He is co-author of the book “We Were Soldiers Once … And Young,” about the brutal 1965 battle Moore led in Vietnam’s Ia Drang valley.
SC Daily Gazette Editor Seanna Adcox contributed to this report.
Like the SC Daily Gazette, NC Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. NC Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Rob Schofield for questions: info@ncnewsline.com.