Pentagon changes Fort Liberty's name back to Fort Bragg
The Pentagon will change the name of the North Carolina military base Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg, fulfilling a campaign pledge by President Trump while honoring a different namesake.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday signed an order to restore the name of the sprawling Army base to Fort Bragg after it was renamed Fort Liberty in June 2023 as part of a congressionally mandated rule to rename installations honoring Confederate generals.
Hegseth, who signed the memorandum renaming the base while flying to Stuttgart, Germany, said the new moniker pays tribute to Roland L. Bragg, an Army paratrooper who was awarded a Silver Star for actions during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.
“That’s right. Bragg is back,” Hegseth said after signing the memo in a video posted to X.
Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot said in a statement the change “underscores the installation’s legacy of recognizing those who have demonstrated extraordinary service and sacrifice for the nation.”
The sprawling installation near Fayetteville was originally named after Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general from Warrenton, N.C., who lost several costly Civil War battles before leaving the Army to run a sugar plantation that used slaves.
One of the largest military installations in the world, Fort Bragg is home to roughly 52,000 personnel and the Army's 82nd Airborne Division and U.S. Army Special Operations Command. Established during WWI, it is known for being able to rapidly deploy troops overseas.
The switch follows more than five years of political jockeying to rid military installations of names honoring Confederates.
The fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) first banned the Defense Department from naming assets after Confederate symbols, followed by the 2021 NDAA that mandated a commission to recommend new names for nine military bases.
President Trump in late 2020 vetoed the later defense bill partly over the base-renaming provision, but was overrode by Congress.
Trump in October vowed to revert Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg while on the campaign trail in North Carolina, an electoral battleground state.
“We did win two world wars from Fort Bragg, right?” he said at a rally in Fayetteville. “We're gonna get it back. We're gonna bring our country back.”
Hegseth, who has said he served at Fort Bragg while in the Army, also had spoken out against the name switch, arguing the base should never have been renamed “because legacy matters.”
And on his first official day as Pentagon chief, he called Fort Liberty and Fort Moore by their previous names, Fort Bragg and Fort Benning.
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