Fort Bragg renames Longstreet to disassociate from Confederate name

FORT BRAGG — A main road on Fort Bragg where one of the installation’s access control points is located is changing its name, Fort Bragg officials announced this month.

Longstreet Road will revert back to its original and historic name, Long Street, with sign changes starting last week and expected to be complete by the end of the month.

A news release states the condensed name has been incorrectly affiliated with Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet.

The road is one of eight roads that will be renamed this year, Col. Scott Pence, Fort Bragg’s garrison commander, said in the release.

More than 480 street names on Fort Bragg were evaluated in preparation for the national naming commission, said Linda Carnes-McNaughton, Fort Bragg’s curator and archeologist, said during a joint Sept. 14 meeting with the city of Fayetteville about the Fort Bragg renaming process.

The 2021 National Defense Authorization Act approved by Congress mandates renaming Department of Defense property that commemorates individuals who served with the Confederate States of America.

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Pence said Long Street was named before Camp Bragg was built in 1918.

Based on a National Register of Historic Places evaluation of the area conducted by Carl Steen in 2008, the condensed name from Long Street to Longstreet was likely part of U.S. Geological Survey map simplification efforts after 1918.

Longstreet first appears in Camp Bragg 1918-1919 installation maps drawn by cartographers.

“Returning the street name to its original heritage ensures that the installation’s history is properly retained for those who live and work on Fort Bragg,” Pence said.

History of the road

The news release states that Fort Bragg’s Directorate of Public Works Cultural Resources verified in historical documents that the original name of the road was Long Street.

It was known locally as “the long street” and existed during the American Revolution as a segment of Yadkin Road that connected colonial settlements in the Cape Fear River valley to immigrant settlements in the upper Yadkin River valley, the news release states.

Archeological sites associated with the early Fort Bragg community, just southeast of Sicily Drop Zone, are the remains of a tiny settlement that's been known as “McKay’s” and “Long Street.”

According to the Fayetteville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau website, Long Street Presbyterian Church and Cemetery were established in that area during the mid-1700s.

During the September meeting, Carnes-McNaughton said other Fort Bragg streets identified for name changes include: Alexander, Armistead, Donelson, Jackson, Mosby, Pelham and Reilly.

The news release states that the next street name change will remove McKellars Road, where it starts at Gruber Road, to be an extension of Gruber Road.

Carnes-McNaughton said the area was associated with the McKellar family, who owned the land predating the Civil War but "happened to have a descendant, Capt. John McKellar, who served with the Confederate Army.

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.

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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fort Bragg renames roads named after Confederate soldiers