Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday restored the original name of a Georgia military installation, although Fort Benning now honors another combat hero instead of a Confederate general.

Hegseth signed a memo Monday changing back Fort Moore to Fort Benning, which had been the installation’s name for more than a century.

In May 2023, then-Defense Secretary and Alabama native Lloyd Austin accepted the recommendation of a congressional naming commission to rename Fort Benning, which honored Confederate Gen. Henry L. Benning, to Fort Moore, after Lt. Gen. General Hal Moore and his wife, Julia Compton Moore.

Hal Moore was an American military hero known for saving most of his men in the first major battle between the U.S. and North Vietnamese armies, according to the Associated Press. He was depicted in the film “We Were Soldiers.”

Moore lived in Alabama for many years, dying in Auburn in 2017 at age 94.

The recommendation was made in wake of the George Floyd protests.

“The new name pays tribute to Corporal (CPL) Fred G. Benning, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his extraordinary heroism in action during World War I with the U.S. Army in France in 1918,” the Defense Department said in a statement. “This change underscores the installation’s storied history of service to the United States of America, honors the warfighter ethos, and recognizes the heroes who have trained at the installation for decades and will continue to train on its storied ranges.”

The Army awarded the Distinguished Service Cross to Benning for “extraordinary heroism in action” during events that took place Oct. 9, 1918, south of Exermont, France.

“After the enemy killed his platoon commander and disabled two senior non-commissioned officers, Cpl. Benning took command of the surviving 20 men of his company and courageously led them through heavy fire to their assigned objective in support of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive,” Hegseth’s memo reads, adding that Benning “continued his selfless service” after returning home from the war Sept. 3, 1919, and ultimately going on to serve as the mayor of Neligh, Nebraska.

Benning died in May 1974.

The name restoration comes after Hegseth last month reverted Fort Liberty in North Carolina to Fort Bragg.

Like Fort Benning, Fort Bragg was named after a Confederate general.

But instead of Gen. Braxton Bragg, the native North Carolinian and Confederate leader who the base had been named after in 1918, Hegseth said the installation would be named after Pfc. Roland Bragg, a soldier who was assigned to the 18th Airborne Corps at the base during World War II.

Alabama Secretary of State urged Hegseth to do the same for Fort Novosel in the central part of the state.

The fort was originally named Fort Rucker after named for Col. Edmund Rucker, a brigade commander in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

Fort Novosel’s current name honors Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael J. Novosel, Sr., a Medal of Honor recipient with ties to Army Aviation, the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence, and the Wiregrass region in southeast Alabama.

The Associated Press Contributed to this report.