Sources: Fort Liberty to be suggested new name for Fort Bragg

Sources close to the selection process say the Fort Bragg Renaming Commission will suggest the Army post be renamed Fort Liberty.

The renaming of the base generated controversy since 2021 when Congress voted to change the names of nine military installations named after Confederate figures. Fort Bragg is on that list.

It's currently named after General Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general.

Fort Bragg is named for Gen. Braxton Bragg, who served in the Confederate Army and owned a plantation where people were enslaved.

Eleven of those names have ties to North Carolina, including Maj. Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway and Ma. Gen. James M. Gavin. The selection committee was concerned that fault would be found in the name of any person suggested.

Dan Dederick, North Carolina Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army, spoke with WRAL News on the matter.

"Fort Liberty, I did not hear any objection to that name at all," Dederick said. "It's a great name and goes back to the revolutionary war thoughts and expresses what the Army actually does for our country."

The naming commission received more than 3,400 submissions for names. Some of the names that made the short list included Dwight Eisenhower, Colin Powell and Harriet Tubman.

Congress will consider the list of names in October and is not bound by the name that has been suggested. Congress will ultimately make the decision on what Fort Bragg will be called. The Post will be officially renamed sometime in 2023.

The other bases that will be renamed include: