President Donald Trump announced Tuesday he’s ordering a reversal of the name changes at U.S. military bases made under the Biden administration and restoring the monikers of Confederate generals at seven military installations.
“For a little breaking news we are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort A.P. Hill, and Fort Robert E. Lee,” Trump said during a speech at Fort Bragg in North Carolina commemorating the Army’s 250th anniversary.
“We won a lot of battles out of those forts,” the President stated. “It’s no time to change and I’m superstitious. You know I like to keep it going,” he added.
The bases are currently known as Fort Barfoot in Virginia, Fort Cazavos in Texas, Fort Eisenhower in Georgia, Fort Novosel in Alabama, Fort Johnson in Louisiana, Fort Walker in Virginia, and Fort Gregg-Adams, also in Virginia, respectively, according to a report by The Hill.
The order to reverse the name changes is part of a campaign promise Trump made after a 2022 decision by a Congressionally mandated commission to change the names at nine military bases.
The names of Fort Benning and Fort Bragg, previously changed to Fort Moore and Fort Liberty, were switched back earlier this year, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said now they are not named for Confederate generals as they originally were.
Hegseth said Bragg is named after Army paratrooper Private First Class Roland Bragg, who fought in World War II and not after Civil War Gen. Braxton Bragg. Hegseth also said Benning is not named after Confederate Lt. Gen. Henry Benning, but instead after World War I hero Cpl. Fred G. Benning, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroics on the front lines in France.
Plenty of social media users agree with the switch back. “GOOD! Those forts were home to America’s greatest warriors for decades. It was an insult to change them,” one X user posted.
Others were clearly angry. “Confederates were not even Americans. They were traitors. Literally, Math checks out, though MAGA seems to admire treason.”
“Hey, I’m confused. Did the south win that war? Why don’t we make John Wilkes Booth a national hero? Change Lincoln’s birthday holiday to John Wilkes Booth day?”
“No surprise that a Trump cultist would celebrate America’s greatest traitors,” another user posted about Hegseth and the name changes.
A sidebar here. Trump is still talking about crowd sizes, something stemming from his first term in 2017 when he disputed for years the reporting on the crowd size at his inauguration. He also can’t stop talking about former President Joe Biden.
“This is a record crowd,” he told Army Operation Command members and members of the 82nd Airborne Division and XVIII Airborne Corps at his speech on Tuesday. “You never had a crowd this big. That’s an honor.”
“You think this crowd would have shown up for Biden?” Trump asked. “I don’t think so,” he responded, chuckling.
But Confederate names on U.S. military bases are no laughing matter. The name reversals come after years of political struggle and back-and-forth. It wasn’t until 2020 that Congress finally banned Confederate names and symbols from the military. And the name changes at the nine military bases didn’t happen until 2023.
