Hegseth renames North Carolina military base Fort Roland L. Bragg Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed an order Monday restoring the name of a storied special operations forces base back to Fort Bragg.
The base’s original namesake, Gen. Braxton Bragg, was a Confederate general from Warrenton, North Carolina, who was known for owning slaves and losing key Civil War battles, contributing to the Confederacy’s downfall.
The North Carolina base was renamed Fort Liberty in 2023 as part of a national effort under the Biden administration to remove names that honored Confederate leaders.
On Hegseth's first official day as defense secretary he made a point of calling it Fort Bragg in his first exchange with reporters.
The choice of the World War II private first class got around a law prohibiting the military from naming a base after a Confederate leader.
