Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth this week signed a memorandum renaming Fort Liberty in North Carolina back to Fort Bragg, but with a significant change—its new namesake is not Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, but an unsung World War II hero, Pvt. Roland Bragg.
“I direct the Army to change the name of Fort Liberty, North Carolina, to Fort Bragg, North Carolina,” Hegseth announced. “That’s right. Bragg is back.”
The decision reintroduces the Fort Bragg name, while sidestepping its original Confederate connection, providing an example of what some saw as compromise and others as a slap in the face.
The Stonewall Brigade — Sons of Confederate Veterans #1296 called it a "political bait and switch" in a Facebook post. "This is cowardice in the face of the enemy to play the renaming game in this manner," they wrote.
Rob Schofield, an editor at NC Newline, a property of States Newsroom, the country's largest nonprofit news organization, called the renaming a "mockery" and said, "its true purpose as another attack on racial justice and basic norms of democratic governance is patently obvious."
The move sparked renewed discussion in Fort Bragg, California, a town that also bears the name of Braxton Bragg. Local leaders and activists remain divided on whether their city should follow a similar renaming process.
Councilmember Lindy Peters, who supports keeping the name unchanged, noted that Fort Bragg, California, was named in 1857—four years before the Confederacy was formed. He argued that the town’s name originates from Bragg’s service as a Union officer in the Mexican-American War, rather than his later Confederate ties.
“In keeping with the true nature of our history, why would we want to change the name?” Peters said.
Phil Swirling, chair of the nonprofit Change Our Name Fort Bragg, criticized the Pentagon’s decision as “executive overreach” and questioned its legality. He also expressed concern that renaming the base after an obscure figure with the same surname was a political maneuver.
“This is a reassertion of white supremacy in the country,” Swirling said. “The idea is to appeal to that base with the renaming. Everybody’s going to think the base has been renamed for Braxton Bragg.”
Swirling said Fort Bragg’s confederate namesake is not the only issue. “Let's say that the city is named for a different Bragg. And in fact, it’s a fairly common name. If you go back, you could find Union officers in the Civil War whose name was Bragg. That's not a workaround for several reasons.. the biggest one is, unlike Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Fort Bragg, California, is not an army base; it's a city. And so to call it a fort is not only a misnomer, but it is part of the history of the terrible things that were done to Native Americans here by the soldiers at the fort when it was in operation from 1857 to 1867. So, the word ‘Fort’ needs to go as well as the name Bragg.”
Despite their differences, Peters and Swirling agree that residents of Fort Bragg, California, should have the opportunity to vote on whether to change the city’s name.
Peters described the three alternatives facing elected officials. First, the council itself can vote to change the name. Second, the council could vote to place the issue on the ballot during the regular election cycle. Third, the council leaves the matters in the hands of citizens to use the the initiative process.
“We felt since it's pretty controversial [and so the initiative process would be the best course]. Generally it's the people that want the name changed that are reaching out right now and having educational sessions and talking about changing the name. They seemed pretty adamant about it. And if they were that adamant about it, we felt okay then let's go through the initiative process and if you gather enough signatures to place it on the ballot, then it's on the ballot.”
Peters added that his read of the Fort Bragg electorate now is that they would defeat the measure. “In my opinion, if it's put on the ballot right now, I don't think people would favor the name change,” he said.
Both Peters and Zwerling brought up the issue of cost.
Zwerling noted that the initial cost of renaming the Fort Bragg army base to Fort Liberty was estimated at $8 million. He said a former Fort Bragg City Manager gave a rough “off-the-top-of-her-head” estimate of $250,000 to change the name of the city. “That’s a doable amount,” he said.
But Peters said the six-figure estimate was too much for a small city. The median household income of Fort Bragg is estimated to be $47,662, with significant numbers making much more and much less. According to the MIT Living Wage calculator, the living wage for a single adult living in California is $59,740, with housing, transportation, and taxes as the highest expense categories.
