The American forts renamed twice

Congress set up a commission in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act to strip Confederate officers' names from Army installations; the new names lasted about two years before a February 2025 Pentagon memorandum and a June 2025 presidential announcement sent them back. The trick was that the old names returned attached to different people: soldiers who happened to share a surname with the Confederate general, each one with a citation the Army could point to. What follows is the paper trail at each post, from the first redesignation ceremony to the second. Six of the nine posts are here. Fort Polk, Fort Pickett and Fort A.P. Hill are missing until the map data catches up with their restored names.

Places in this collection

  • Fort Rucker — The Army aviation post outside Ozark was renamed Fort Novosel in 2023 and returned to Fort Rucker under the June 2025 order. The Army's ann…
  • Fort Lee — Named in 1917 for Robert E. Lee, the Petersburg post became Fort Gregg-Adams in 2023 and reverted in 2025. The name now attaches to Pvt. Fi…
  • Fort Gordon — The Augusta signal post spent two years as Fort Eisenhower before the June 2025 reversion, and OpenStreetMap still carries Fort Eisenhower…
  • Fort Hood — Renamed Fort Cavazos in 2023, the Killeen post was redesignated Fort Hood again in June 2025 after Hegseth signed the order, with the forma…
  • Fort Benning — In May 2023 the post became Fort Moore, for Lt. Gen. Harold Moore and his wife Julia, the first Army installation named in part for a milit…
  • Fort Bragg — The post was renamed Fort Liberty in 2023 under the congressional naming commission, dropping Confederate general Braxton Bragg. In early F…

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