US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum on 3 March 2025 directing Fort Moore in Georgia to be reverted back to its original name of Fort Benning.
A US Department of Defense (DoD) press release explained that, rather than the Civil War-era Confederate General Henry L Benning that the installation was originally named after, Fort Benning is now “renamed in honor of [US] Army Corporal Fred G Benning, who “served with extraordinary heroism during World War I with the United States Army, and in recognition of the installation’s storied history of service to the United States of America”.
Cpl Benning enlisted in the army in April 1917 at the age of 17 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for “extraordinary heroism in action” during events that took place on 9 October 1918, south of Exermont in France, during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.
The reversion of Fort Benning to its original name follows a previous directive on 10/11 February 2025 when Hegseth directed Fort Liberty in North Carolina to be restored back to its original name of Fort Bragg. This, a US DoD press release explained at the time, was in honour of Private Roland L Bragg: a US airborne infantryman who received the Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity, as well as a Purple Heart for wounds sustained, during the Battle of the Bulge in the Second World War.
The fort was originally named after slave-owning Confederate General Braxton Bragg, who is widely regarded as one of the worst generals to serve in the American Civil War.
For both renamings Hegseth has posted videos of him signing the memos on the X social media channel, although in both cases he has not said more than asserting that the original names are “back”.
During the previous US Biden Administration the US Army renamed nine bases that were originally named after Confederate generals, but Fort Liberty was the only base of the nine not renamed after a specific US hero. The now former Fort Moore, for example, was renamed after Lieutenant General Hal Moore, who served with distinction during the Vietnam War and won the Distinguished Service Cross, and his wife Julia, whose efforts led to the army to revise its procedures for notifying the next of kin of battlefield fatalities. Both Gen Moore and his wife are buried on the base’s grounds.
The reversion of the name Fort Moore back to Fort Benning suggests the US DoD will have to come up with another seven US Army heroes who share the same surnames – Gordon, Hill, Hood, Lee, Pickett, Polk and Rucker – as the Confederate generals those bases were originally named after.
