On Feb. 10 2025, former Fox Weekend Host, Army Veteran and current Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum that would rename Fort Liberty to Fort Bragg, now named to honor the U.S. Army paratrooper Private First Class (PFC) Roland L. Bragg. Fort Bragg is one of the largest military bases in the world, having a population of about 55,000 military personnel.
In fact, Camp Bragg was first named after the Confederate General Braxton Bragg and was established in 1918. General Bragg graduated from West Point and became an artillery officer. General Bragg was known for owning slaves and losing key Civil War battles that contributed to the Confederacy’s downfall.
Because this fort was originally named after Confederate General Bragg, Mr. Kevin Bacon Mr. Kevin Bacon, an AP African American Studies and American History Teacher, shared details on the lasting legacy of the confederacy especially when monuments are named after them. “A lot of people think confederate statues, memorials, and monuments were put in place soon after the end of the Civil War. The bulk of them were put in place from 1900 to 1920 when America saw the spread of Jim Crow laws and a resurgence of the KKK, and another major push came in the 1950s and 60s during the Civil Rights Movement,” Mr. Bacon said.
Private First Class Roland L. Bragg, who Fort Bragg is currently named for, was a United States Army paratrooper during World War II. He was awarded the Silver Star, the United States Army’s third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. PFC Bragg joined the army in July of 1943 and was stationed at Fort Bragg. He was a toxic gas handler for two years and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. John Eisenhower, the son of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ambassador to Belgium, wrote a book in 1969 entitled “The Bitter Woods.” This book details the story of Bragg along with a Lieutenant using an ambulance to take wounded soldiers to an allied hospital saving some soldiers.
During World War II various units such as 9th Infantry Division, 2nd Armored Division, 82nd Airborne Division and the 100th Infantry Division trained at the fort. After World War II, the 82nd Airborne Division was permanently stationed at Fort Bragg. During the Cold War, many divisions were deployed from Fort Bragg to conflicts around the globe. In addition, many soldiers underwent basic training at the fort throughout the years. In the 1980s there was a series of deployments to the Caribbean, Grenada in 1983, Honduras in 1988 and to Panama in 1989. In 1990, units from Fort Bragg deployed to Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.
The William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year specified the expenditures, budget and policies for the United States DOD for the fiscal year of 2021. This act created a commission to rename bases that were named after figures from the Confederacy.
This commission came about in part because of protests that occurred in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd. During this many people protested systemic racism and pointed to the Confederate statues and bases as part of that system. The United States DOD began implementing the Naming Commission’s recommendations in January of 2023, and among them was renaming Fort Bragg to Fort Liberty.
This name change follows an executive order that President Donald J. Trump passed, called “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness.” This order included the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and Mount Denali to Mount McKinley. Mr. Bacon said, “what people are questioning, however, is this seemingly obscure connection to a soldier that just happens to have the same last name as the Confederate general for which the military base was previously named.” The controversy over these memorials, statues and monuments stem from whether people think that this history should be honored or removed.
