Fort Bragg, one of the largest military installations in the world, was renamed Fort Liberty on Friday, finally losing its Confederate namesake.
A ceremony was held at which some veterans said it was a small but important step in making the US Army more welcoming to current and future Black service members.
The change was the most prominent in a sweeping Department of Defense initiative, motivated by the George Floyd protests of 2020, to rename military installations that had been named after Confederate soldiers.
The “Black Lives Matter” demonstrations that erupted across the country following Floyd’s killing by a white police officer, coupled with ongoing efforts to remove Confederate monuments, put the spotlight on Army facilities.
A congressional naming commission visited the bases and met with members of the surrounding communities for suggestions.
The new Fort Liberty sign will be on display June 2 in front of the base in Fort Liberty, North Carolina.
An honor guard displays the colors of Fort Bragg during the Fort Liberty renaming ceremony
The change was the most prominent in a sweeping Department of Defense initiative, motivated by the George Floyd protests of 2020, to rename military installations that had been named after Confederate soldiers
The Black Lives Matter demonstrations that broke out after the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer put the spotlight on Army facilities.
“We were given a mission, we accomplished that mission, and we improved,” said Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, commanding general of the XVIII. Airborne Corps and Fort Liberty, told reporters after the ceremony that made the name change official.
The North Carolina base was originally named in 1918 for General Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general from Warrenton, North Carolina known for owning slaves and losing key Civil War battles that contributed to the Confederacy’s downfall.
While other bases are named after black soldiers, US presidents, and pioneering women, North Carolina’s military facility is the only one not named after a person.
Retired US Army Brigadier General. General Ty Seidule told a naming commission meeting last year that the new name was chosen because “liberty remains the greatest American value.”
Lt. Gen. Christopher T. Donahue speaks at the ceremony in North Carolina
T. Donahue said “freedom” was chosen because it “remains the greatest American value.”
“Fayetteville signed one of the first treaties in 1775 in which we declared our willingness to fight for the freedom and liberation of Britain,” Donahue said, referring to the town adjacent to the base.
“Freedom has always been deeply rooted in this area.”
The cost of renaming Fort Bragg — one of the largest military installations in the world by population — is about $8 million, Colonel John Wilcox said Friday. Most of the signage on the front has been changed, but the process is ongoing.
“The name changes, the mission doesn’t change,” base spokeswoman Cheryle Rivas said on Friday.
Fort Polk, Louisiana will be the next facility to change its name to Fort Johnson on June 13 in honor of Sgt. William Henry Johnson. The changes proposed by the naming commission must be implemented by January 1st.
Several military bases have been named after Confederate soldiers in World Wars I and II as part of a “demonstration of reconciliation” with white Southerners and a broader effort to unite the nation in common struggle, said Nina Silber, a historian at Boston University.
“It was a kind of ‘Yes, we recognize your patriotism’ gesture, which is kind of absurd to recognize the patriotism of people who have rebelled against a country,” she said.
The original naming involved members of local communities, but black residents were excluded from the talks.
Bases were named after soldiers who were born or raised nearby, regardless of how effectively they performed their duties. General Bragg is widely viewed by historians as a bad leader who didn’t command the respect of his troops, Silber said.
For Isiah James, senior policy officer at the Black Veterans Project, the base renaming is a “long overdue” change that he hopes will result in more substantial improvements for black military personnel.
“America should have no traces of slavery and secessionism and should celebrate them,” he said.
“We shouldn’t praise, hold up and adore them, because every time a black soldier enters the base, they get the message that this base Bragg is named after someone who wanted to keep them as human property.”
Commanding officers approach the Colored Guard during a Fort Bragg renaming ceremony
The cost of renaming Fort Bragg – one of the largest military installations in the world in terms of population – amounts to about 8 million US dollars
Crews guard their guns during a 15-gun salute in North Carolina
The North Carolina base was originally named in 1918 for General Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general from Warrenton, North Carolina, who was known for his slave ownership
While other bases are named after black soldiers, US presidents, and pioneering women, North Carolina’s military facility is the only one not named after a person
Fort Polk, the only military base in Louisiana named after a Confederate official, is another of the nine facilities to be renamed
Fortresses named after Confederate generals
- Fort Benning, Georgia – Founded in 1909, the fort was named for Confederate Brigadier General Henry Lewis Benning, who was born on a plantation owned by his parents and was an active advocate of Georgia’s secession from the Union
- Fort Gordon, Georgia – Founded in 1941, the fort was named for Confederate Major General John Brown Gordon, who became a US Senator and Governor of Georgia after the fall of the Confederacy
- Fort Bragg, North Carolina – Founded in 1918, the fort is named for Confederate General Braxton Bragg, whose numerous casualties are considered a major factor in the Confederacy’s ultimate defeat
- Fort Hood, Texas – Founded in 1942, the fort was named for Confederate General John Bell Hood. It was originally built to test and train soldiers in the use of WWII tank destroyers
- Fort Rucker, Alabama – Founded in 1942, the fort is named for Confederate General Edmund Rucker. The fort is primarily used for US Army aviator flight training
- Fort Polk, Louisiana – Founded in 1941, the fort was named for Confederate General Leonidas Polk, who was also the first bishop of the Diocese of Louisiana and later of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America
- Fort AP Hill, Virginia – Founded in 1941, the fort was named for Confederate General Ambrose Powell Hill, a native Virginian who fought in the Mexican-American and Seminole Wars before joining the Confederacy
- Fort Pickett, Virginia – Founded in 1941, the fort was named for Confederate General George Pickett, best known for leading the futile battle offensive on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg
- Fort Lee, Virginia – Named for famous Confederate General Robert E. Lee, this fort, founded in 1917 as Camp Lee, is located on the historic site where Captain John Smith planted some of the first plantations along the James River in the 17th century
Other black veterans, like George Postell Jr., 56, who served at the base with the 27th Engineers Combat Airborne Division for more than four years before being injured in a parachute jump, were reluctant to embrace the change.
“I divided my blood, and I know many of my other brothers who did the same for Fort Bragg’s namesake,” Postell said. “For me it will always be Fort Bragg, no matter what you call it.”
James Buxton Jr., a US Army veteran and president of the Fayetteville Branch of the NAACP, supports the renaming of the base. Buxton said he’s seen the impact of racism associated with the base over the years – including the killing of a black couple in the 1990s by soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division, who were neo-Nazis.
But Buxton also called the new Fort Liberty name choice “outlandish”. He said he would have preferred the base to keep the Bragg name, but be renamed in honor of Edward S. Bragg, a veteran US legislator and Union general in the US Civil War.
At last week’s All American Week, a celebration of the 82nd Airborne Division and one of the last major events to bear the Fort Bragg name, several veterans expressed mixed feelings about the name change.
Gregory Patterson, 64, a former member of the 82nd Airborne who served in the Army from 1977 to 1999, joined numerous veterans in attending the celebration. Patterson, who is black, said he understood why they changed the name, but he believes the name is linked to the place, not the person — namely, the home of the 82nd Airborne Division.
“I’ll still call it Bragg, even if the person they named it after wasn’t a good person,” he said.
Mark Melancon, 63, who served from 1983 to 1990, wore a T-shirt that read “Born in Benning, raised in Bragg.” Fort Benning in Georgia was renamed Fort Moore last month.
When asked about the move to Fort Liberty, Melancon replied, “We’re not thrilled about it.” The way we see it, it will always be Bragg.’
The name Bragg, Melancon said, evoked strong feelings and memories. ‘Home. The camaraderie we had. The Brotherhood.’
Fort Bragg, a US Army military installation in North Carolina, is one of the largest military installations in the world.
The cost of renaming the nine Army bases that honored the Confederacy is $39 million, double the cost originally expected, Lt. Gen. Kevin Vereen, the Army’s deputy chief of staff for the facility, told Military.com.
The Naming Commission, established by Congress in the National Defense Authorization Act 2021, provided a list of proposed names for the military installations. The Commission received more than 34,000 proposals.
The names include women and black Americans rather than white men.
Other bases that have been renamed include: Fort Hood, the primary Army base in central Texas, renamed Fort Cavazos on May 9.
Fort Rucker, Alabama, was renamed Fort Novosel on April 10, and Fort Benning, Georgia, was renamed Fort Moore on May 11 in honor of Hal Moore.