Seven Army bases that were originally named for Confederate generals are reverting to those names — but the Trump administration says they’re officially named for different people with the same last names.
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Donald Trump made the announcement Tuesday at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
A bill passed by Congress in 2020, overriding Trump’s veto during his first term, mandated that no military bases could be named after Confederate leaders. The bases were officially renamed in 2023, when Joe Biden was president. Now the Trump administration is restoring the original names, with the twist of honoring different people, something Military Times dubbed “a workaround.” The Tuesday announcement involved seven bases, while two others have already reverted to their original names.
The administration’s hostility to diversity as on display when Hegseth and Trump addressed soldiers at the base Tuesday. “We’re not interested in your woke garbage or your political correctness,” Hegseth said, as quoted by The New York Times.
Trump, for his part, delivered “a rambling speech that ridiculed ‘radical left lunatic’ politicians, threatened flag-burning protesters and falsely claimed the 2020 election was ‘rigged,’” according to New York Times opinion writer W.J. Hennigan in a column headlined “Trump Crossed the Line at Fort Bragg.”
The move also comes at a time when the Department of Defense is seeking to strip names of gay rights advocate Harvey Milk and other civil rights leaders from Navy ships.
Related: U.S. Rep. Sorensen sticks up for Harvey Milk in hearing with Navy secretary
The bases to be renamed are:
- Fort Gordon, Georgia, which was originally named after Confederate Major Gen. John Brown Gordon, was renamed Fort Eisenhower in 2023 to honor President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had been supreme commander of all Allied forces in Europe in World War II. It will now honor Master Sgt. Gary I. Gordon, who served in Somalia in the 1990s. He was killed in action in 1993 and received the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously.
- Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia, was originally named after Confederate Lt. Gen. Ambrose Powell Hill, was renamed in 2023 to Fort Walker after Dr. Mary Walker, who served in the Civil War as the first female surgeon in the U.S. Army and is the woman to have been awarded the Medal of Honor. It will now honor three men who fought for the Union in the Civil War and received the Medal of honor: Lt. Col. Edward Hill, 1st Sgt. Robert A. Pinn, and Pvt. Bruce Anderson. There are no women honored in the restored names of any of the bases.
- Fort Hood, Texas, was originally named for Confederate Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood, and was renamed in 2023 to Fort Cavazos after Gen. Richard Cavazos, a veteran of the wars in Vietnam and Korea who was the first Hispanic brigadier general and then the first Hispanic four-star general. It will now honor Col. Robert B. Hood, a hero of World War I.
- Fort Lee, Virginia, was originally named after Gen. Robert E. Lee, the top Confederate commander, and was renamed Fort Gregg-Adams in 2023 to honor Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg, the first African American to reach that rank, and Lt. Col. Charity Adams, the highest-ranking Black woman officer in World War II. It will now be named for Pvt. Fitz Lee, a Black man who received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish-American War.
- Fort Pickett, Virginia, was initially named after Major Gen. George Edward Pickett, best known for leading an ill-fated Confederate charge at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. It was renamed in 2023 to Fort Barfoot after Tech. Sgt. Van T. Barfoot, who won the Medal of Honor in WWII. Now it will honor 1st. Lt. Vernon W. Pickett, who received the Distinguished Service Cross for his WWII service.
- Fort Polk, Louisiana, was originally named for Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk, a clergyman turned Confederate officer. It was renamed Fort Johnson in 2023 to after Sgt. William Henry Johnson, a Black soldier who was a WWI hero and Medal of Honor winner. Now its namesake will Gen. James H. Polk, who served in WWII and the Korean War, then commanded U.S. Army forces in Europe during the Cold War.
- Fort Rucker, Alabama, was first named after Confederate Brig. Gen. Edmund Winchester Rucker, renamed in 2023 to Fort Novosel after Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael J. Novosel Sr., who received the Medal of Honor for serving in a medical corps in the Vietnam War. It will now honor Capt. Edward W. Rucker, a WWI aviator and Distinguished Service Cross recipient.
The administration had already restored the original names of Fort Bragg and Fort Benning in Georgia. Fort Bragg was initially named for Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general known most for incompetency. It was renamed Fort Liberty in 2023, but earlier this year it reverted to Fort Bragg in honor of Pvt. Roland L. Bragg, who served in Europe in WWII.
Fort Benning was originally named for Confederate Lt. Gen. Henry Benning. In 2023 it was renamed for Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and his wife, Julie Moore, the first time such an honor was given to a military spouse. Hal Moore served in Korea and Vietnam, and Julie Moore established family support groups and reached out to grieving families of soldiers who had been killed. The name now honors Cpl. Fred Benning, who received the Distinguished Service Cross in WWI.
