So Fort Bragg is going to be renamed “Fort Liberty.” Why such a bland name? We commemorate great American military leaders by naming bases and installations in their memory. Don’t we have enough highly regarded military leaders and heroes to honor?

I can think of plenty of deserving U.S. military leaders worthy of the honor. But the reality is our “woke” politicians and their backers detest people that have risen to acclaim and respect because they overcame difficulties and achieved success by diligence and competence. They want us underlings to sit back while they, alone, plot the course of progress and rewrite history.

So why not “Fort Fredendall?” General Fredendall was the U.S. Army commander at the catastrophic defeat of U.S. forces at Kasserine Pass in February 1943. Major General Lloyd Fredendall is the epitome of the mediocrity and passivity that the “woke” types want to impose on us. Anyhow, Fredendall was relieved of command.

I agree that Fort Bragg’s name should be changed. But not because it honors a Confederate. Braxton Bragg left his glorious success behind him in Mexico. As a Confederate commander, Bragg arguably accomplished more to bring General Lee and the Confederacy to Appomattox Court House than the majority of the Union’s generals.
Bragg’s only success was at Chickamauga, but only because James Longstreet’s corps arrived to exploit the collapse of the Union line. But Chickamauga would see the rise of Union general George Thomas.

Bragg went on to lose more battles. At Chattanooga, George Thomas’ troops swept Bragg’s Confederates off of Missionary Ridge, in a rout that ended his field service. But Bragg was restored to command just in time to lose Fort Fisher and Wilmington. With the loss of Wilmington, the Confederacy’s last seaport and essential trade were cut off. Bragg then capped his career by his troops’ arriving too late at the Battle of Bentonville, the last major battle of the Civil War.

So when Camp Bragg was set up when the USA entered the First World War, naming the Army base after a native North Carolinian made sense, but full of sarcasm and irony.
So Fort Bragg is named for a dud.

A far more fitting name for the U.S. Army’s largest base would be George Thomas, the “Rock of Chickamauga” and the hero of Missionary Ridge and Nashville. There used to be a Fort Thomas in Kentucky, but it was closed in the 1960’s. George Thomas is far more deserving of the honor. As a Union commander, born in Virginia, he spans the North-South cultural divide and embodies the qualities we all need to emulate: competence, courage and conscience. Here is an American hero that personifies the qualities that should unite us. But politicians, both “woke” and other, always seek to divide us.

And why stop at Fort Bragg? Cumberland County, that includes much of Fort Bragg, also needs to be renamed. William Augustus — Duke of Cumberland — was King George II’s youngest son. Like Braxton Bragg, William Augustus was a military commander of dubious talent. After losing the Battle of Fontenoy, the Duke of Cumberland was recalled. But in 1745 he returned to the field at the head of a small British Army to deal with Charles Stuart — Bonnie Prince Charlie.

The Duke of Cumberland’s small force defeated the Highlanders at Culloden in 1746, where he earned the nickname “Butcher.” No need to go into details here; every true Scot knows the history. So naming this county, with its long association with Scottish settlement, after the Duke of Cumberland is an incredible gaffe.
Even in England, Cumberland County is no more. It and Westmorland (another name associated with an odious history) County were merged in 1974 to make the new county of Cumbria. So why not “Culloden County” instead?

While the “woke” crowd is celebrating their great victory in their campaign to erase American history that they find distasteful, they of course have no regard to the actual expenses of their achievement.
So what is Fayetteville going to do about Bragg Boulevard? Change its name too? Who cares what that is going to cost the county, city, and, perish the thought, the people and their businesses?

This has not been thought through competently. That is the price of being “woke.”