Army installation in Kansas, United States
Fort Leavenworth
(
) is a
United States Army installation
located in
Leavenworth County, Kansas
, in the city of
Leavenworth
.
[1]
Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of
Washington, D.C.
, and the oldest permanent settlement in Kansas.
[2]
Fort Leavenworth has been historically known as the "Intellectual Center of the Army."
[3]
During the country's
westward expansion
, Fort Leavenworth was a forward destination for thousands of soldiers, surveyors, immigrants,
American Indians
, preachers and settlers who passed through.
Today, the
garrison
supports the
US Army Training and Doctrine Command
(TRADOC) by managing and maintaining the home of the
US Army Combined Arms Center
(CAC). CAC's mission involves leader development, collective training, and Army doctrine and battle command (current and future).
Fort Leavenworth is also home to the Military Corrections Complex, consisting of the
United States Disciplinary Barracks
– the
Department of Defense
's only
maximum security prison
– and the
Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility
. In addition, the Fort Leavenworth Garrison supports numerous tenant organizations that directly and indirectly relate to the functions of the CAC, including the
United States Army Command and General Staff College
and the
Foreign Military Studies Office
.
The fort occupies 5,600 acres (2,300 ha) and has 7,000,000 square feet (650,000 m
2
) of floor area in 1,000 buildings and 1,500 quarters. It is located on the Frontier Military Scenic Byway (
U.S. Route 69
and
K-7
corridor), which was originally a military road connecting to
Fort Scott
and
Fort Gibson
.
Fort Leavenworth was also the base of African-American soldiers of the
U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment
of the United States Army, formed on 21 September 1866 at Fort Leavenworth. They became known as
Buffalo Soldiers
, nicknamed by the Native American tribes whom they fought. The term eventually was applied to all of the African-American regiments formed in 1866.
Tenants and organization
[
edit
]
The garrison commander is a
colonel
reporting via IMCOM West to the
Installation Management Command
. The fort is nicknamed the "intellectual center" of the Army because much of its mission involves training.
Major tenants include:
[4]
- United States Army Combined Arms Center
(CAC) which, among its various responsibilities, is the
United States Army Command and General Staff College
, which includes a degrees granting
graduate school
for U.S. and allied soldiers and officers. The school trains almost all of the army's
majors
.
[5]
All modern
five-star army generals
have passed through the college including
George Marshall
,
Douglas MacArthur
,
Dwight Eisenhower
,
Henry "Hap" Arnold
, and
Omar Bradley
.
[6]
Since 1978 it has been commanded by a
lieutenant general
(3 stars). In 2007, its commander was
David Petraeus
. It reports to the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).
- United States Disciplinary Barracks
, which is the only maximum security prison for military personnel of all branches. Since a 2007 reorganization, its commander is a colonel who reports to the
United States Army Corrections Command
.
- Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility
, a low security prison. reports to the
United States Army Corrections Command
.
- Foreign Military Studies Office
(which reports to TRADOC)
- Munson Army Health Center (Post hospital)
- University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies (which includes teaching
Red Teams
among its courses)
- Sherman Army Airfield
?the Post airport (which reports to the garrison)
- Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery
- TRADOC Analysis Center
(which reports to TRADOC)
[7]
- Headquarters of the National Guard's
35th Infantry Division (Mechanized)
- Mission Command Training Program
is the focal point for
National Guard of the United States
division and brigade staff training and development.
[8]
- Army/ACE Registry Transcript Systems (handles
transcripts
for all its training)
[9]
Schools
[
edit
]
Fort Leavenworth School District
operates schools for grades PreK-8. High school students go to
Leavenworth High School
of
Leavenworth USD 453
.
[10]
Media
[
edit
]
The Fort Leavenworth Lamp
newspaper served the military community living on post from 1971 to 2023.
History
[
edit
]
18th century
[
edit
]
The fort is 10 miles south of the 18th century French
Fort de Cavagnal
, which was the farthest west fort in
Louisiana (New France)
. Its commandant was
Francois Coulon de Villiers
,
[11]
a brother to
Louis Coulon de Villiers
, who was the only military commander to force
George Washington
to surrender (after avenging the murder of his half brother
Joseph Coulon de Jumonville
while in Washington's custody, which was the incident that set off the
French and Indian War
).
The French abandoned the fort after ceding its territory to
Louisiana (New Spain)
at the conclusion of the French and Indian War.
Early American explorers on the
Missouri River
to visit the area of Fort de Cavagnal include
Lewis and Clark
on 26?29 June 1804
[12]
and
Stephen Harriman Long
in 1819.
The fort location had been chosen then because of its proximity to a large
Kansa
tribe village.
19th century
[
edit
]
Colonel
Henry Leavenworth
, with the officers and men of the
3rd Infantry Regiment
from
Jefferson Barracks
at
St. Louis
, Missouri, established Fort Leavenworth in 1827 to be a forward base protecting the
Santa Fe Trail
.
Leavenworth's instructions had been the following:
Colonel Leavenworth of the 3d Infantry, with four companies of his regiment will ascend the Missouri and when he reaches a point on its left band near the mouth of
Little Platte River
and within a range of twenty miles above or below its confluence, he will select such position as in his judgment is best calculated for the site of a permanent cantonment. The spot being chosen, he will then construct with the troops of his command comfortable, though temporary quarters sufficient for the accommodation of four companies. This movement will be made as early as the convenience of the service will permit.
[13]
Leavenworth was to report that spot around the confluence on the east side of the Missouri River (near present-day
Farley, Missouri
) would be prone to flooding and on 8 May 1827 recommended the location 20 miles (32 km) upstream on the west bank in the bluffs above the river.
The first army installation in
Cantonment
Leavenworth (its original name) was located on Scott Avenue, south of the Post Chapel with initial strength of 14 officers and 174 enlisted men.
The Cantonment almost immediately increased in importance as it became the eastern terminus for the Santa Fe Trail and
Oregon Trail
. After
Indian Removal Act
of 1830 attempted to remove all Indians west of the Missouri?Kansas border, the fort which is west of the border assumed even more importance. In 1832, it was renamed "Fort Leavenworth".
Between 1832 and 1834, the Rookery was built as bachelor officer quarters.
[14]
The Rookery is the oldest building in Kansas and would be the office of the first territorial governor and thus the first capitol in Kansas from 1854 to 1855 when the capitol was moved to
Pawnee, Kansas
.
[15]
In 1836,
William Clark
at the fort presided over the transfer of Indian land directly across the Missouri River from the fort to the U.S. government in the
Platte Purchase
which involved the entire northwest corner of Missouri.
In 1839, Col.
Stephen W. Kearny
marched against the
Cherokees
with 20 companies of
dragoons
, the largest U.S. mounted force ever assembled. Throughout the
Mexican?American War
, Fort Leavenworth was the outfitting post for the
Army of the West
.
In 1854,
Kansas Territory
Governor
Andrew Reeder
set up executive offices on post and lived for a short time in the quarters now known as the Rookery.
During the 1850s, troops from Ft. Leavenworth were mobilized to control the "Mormon Problem" in what became known as the
Utah War
.
From 1858 to 1874 Fort Leavenworth was also home to the Fort Leavenworth Arsenal (originally called the Leavenworth Ordnance Depot) which supplied
ordnance
to the army in the western United States which was located at what today is the Combined Arms Center headquarters complex on what is called Arsenal Hill which was reached by Arsenal Avenue (which today is called Scott Avenue). The arsenal moved in 1874 to the
Rock Island Arsenal
in Illinois. Two surviving buildings from the arsenal are Sherman Hall and Sheridan Hall which are now in the same complex as Grant Hall and are among the most iconic buildings of the fort.
[16]
Civil War
[
edit
]
At the outbreak of the
Civil War
, Camp Lincoln was established on post as a reception and training station for Kansas volunteers. In 1864, news of the approach of
Confederate
General
Sterling Price
prompted construction of Fort Sully, a series of earthworks for artillery emplacements on Hancock Hill, overlooking what is now the
Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery
. (See
Fort Sully (Fort Leavenworth)
). However, Price's forces never reached Fort Leavenworth, having met defeat at
Westport
, which is now part of
Kansas City
. During its long history, the post was never subject to enemy attack.
For three decades following the war, the Army's chief mission was control of the
American Indian
tribes on the Western plains. Between 1865 and 1891, the Army had more than 1,000 combat engagements with
Apache
,
Modoc
,
Cheyenne
,
Ute
,
Nez Perce
,
Comanche
,
Kiowa
,
Kickapoo
and other tribes.
The Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery is one of the
national cemeteries
established by
Abraham Lincoln
on 17 July 1862. Veterans since the
War of 1812
have been laid to rest in the cemetery. One veteran of the War of 1812 is the cemetery's most famous occupant, Brigadier General Henry Leavenworth, who gave his name to the fort, the cemetery, and the town and county they are located in. Others buried in the cemetery include 10
Medal of Honor
recipients, seven
Confederate
prisoners of war
as well as soldiers killed in
Operation Desert Storm
,
Operation Iraqi Freedom
and
Operation Enduring Freedom
. Although there is no longer space for new burial sites, burials frequently take place for those who already have family members interred in the cemetery.
[17]
Reconstruction and Indian wars
[
edit
]
In 1866, the
U.S. Congress
authorized the formation of four black regiments, which were the
24th
and
25th Infantry Regiments
and the
9th
and
10th Cavalry Regiments
. The 10th Cavalry Regiment was formed at Fort Leavenworth under the command of Col.
Benjamin Grierson
. Today, a statue of a cavalry rider stands at Fort Leavenworth in tribute to the "
Buffalo Soldier
" of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments.
[18]
Just off Fort Leavenworth in the City of
Leavenworth
, The
Richard Allen Cultural Center
, housed in a former home of a Buffalo Soldier, also highlights the history of the Buffalo Soldiers and African-Americans serving in the U.S. Army.
The United States Disciplinary Barracks, now a maximum-security
military prison
, was established in 1875 under the command of Lt. Col.
Edmund Rice
.
[19]
In 1877 some 400
Nez Perce
were shipped to Fort Leavenworth after being pursued and captured in the
Nez Perce War
. In 1889 they were sent to
Tonkawa, Oklahoma
.
The fort's first Catholic church was built in 1871 and was later replaced by St. Ignatius Chapel in 1889. St. Ignatius Chapel was destroyed by fire in December 2001. The first Protestant chapel, Memorial Chapel, was built by prison labor in 1878 of stone quarried on post. The round window behind the chapel's front altar was intentionally installed slightly askew by an inmate who was angry at his work boss. This chapel has brass cannon embedded in the walls at the sides of the church, and photos of many of the officers involved in the early history of the fort, including some of the Custer family.
In 1881, Gen.
William T. Sherman
established the School of Application for Cavalry and Infantry. That school evolved into the
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College
.
The Western Branch National Military Home ("
old soldiers' home
"), now called the Veterans Medical Center, or Dwight D. Eisenhower Medical Center Historic District was established in 1885 as part of the
National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers
system. The soldier home is closely associated with the nearby cemetery that became the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery in 1973.
[17]
20th century
[
edit
]
World War I
was the first opportunity to evaluate the impact of Sherman's school. Graduates excelled in planning complex
American Expeditionary Forces
operations. By the end of the war, they dominated staffs throughout the AEF.
In the years between the world wars, graduates included such officers as
Dwight D. Eisenhower
,
Omar Bradley
and
George S. Patton
. During
World War II
, some 19,000 officers completed various courses at Fort Leavenworth. By the end of 1943, commanders and staffs of 26 infantry, airborne and cavalry divisions had trained as teams at the school.
General
Michael Joe Costello
of the army of the newly formed
Irish Free State
attended Fort Leavenworth from 1926 to 1927, passing with such distinction that he was recommended for the
United States Army War College
.
In 1946, the school was given its current name. In 1959, the college moved to the newly built
J. Franklin Bell
Hall on Arsenal Hill. In 1985, the
Harold Keith Johnson
wing was added to house the Combined Arms and Services Staff School (CAS
3
). Classes for the
School of Advanced Military Studies
and the School for Command Preparation, as well as the
Combined Arms Research Library
, are located in Eisenhower Hall which was dedicated in 1994.
It was declared a
National Historic Landmark
in 1960.
[20]
[21]
Until the early 1970s, a battery of four
Nike-Hercules Missiles
were deployed at Bell Point on a hill on the west side of the fort.
The base is served by the
Sherman Army Airfield
which has a 5,905-foot (1,800 m) runway and operates under a joint agreement with the city of Leavenworth, Kansas that permits civilian aircraft to use it all hours. The airfield was inundated by the Missouri River in levee breaches during the
Great Flood of 1951
, the
Great Flood of 1993
, and the Great Flood of 2011.
Freedom's Frontier Heritage Area
[
edit
]
Fort Leavenworth is considered one of the most significant historic military installations in the
Department of the Army
, as well as to the nation. The fort's 5,634 ac (2,279 ha) contain a 213 ac (86.1 ha)
National Historic Landmark District
(NHLD), which was established in 1974.
A number of historic preservation investigations have been conducted over the past few decades at Fort Leavenworth. In 1970, for example, two historic sites were listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
(NRHP): the
Main Parade Ground
and the
Santa Fe Trail Ruts
.
During 2006, this historic military site became part of a new
Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Fort Leavenworth, Kansas"
,
Geographic Names Information System
,
United States Geological Survey
,
United States Department of the Interior
- ^
"Fort Leavenworth History"
. Garrison.leavenworth.army.mil.
Archived
from the original on 17 March 2012
. Retrieved
19 March
2012
.
- ^
"Combined Arms Center Overview"
. Usacac.army.mil. 6 July 2011.
Archived
from the original on 2 March 2012
. Retrieved
19 March
2012
.
- ^
"Fort Leavenworth, KS ? Units/Tenants"
. Garrison.leavenworth.army.mil. 6 October 2006. Archived from
the original
on 30 June 2007
. Retrieved
16 March
2010
.
- ^
CGSC (5 January 2011).
"About the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College"
.
cgscfoundation.org
.
Archived
from the original on 5 November 2013
. Retrieved
11 August
2013
.
- ^
H.R. 1177: 5-Star Generals Commemorative Coin Act
Archived
23 October 2010 at the
Wayback Machine
. coinnews.net, 23 February 2009.
- ^
"U.S. Army TRADOC Analysis Center(TRAC)"
. Trac.army.mil. 26 February 2010. Archived from
the original
on 13 February 2010
. Retrieved
16 March
2010
.
- ^
"The Battle Command Training Center"
. Bctc.army.mil. 29 December 2009. Archived from
the original
on 3 February 2010
. Retrieved
16 March
2010
.
- ^
"Army/American Council on Education Registry Transcript System (AARTS) Home Page"
. Aarts.army.mil. Archived from
the original
on 13 March 2012
. Retrieved
19 March
2012
.
- ^
"Schools"
. U.S. Army Garrison - Fort Leavenworth. Archived from
the original
on 18 December 2010
. Retrieved
19 January
2024
.
Senior high school students attend Leavenworth High School, which is part of the city school system.
- ^
Fort de Cavagnial: Imperial France in Kansas, 1744?1764 kclibrary.org
[
permanent dead link
]
.
- ^
The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
, Vol. 2., G.E. Moulton, ed., Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1986, pp. 323?333.
- ^
A Brief History of Fort Leavenworth ? John W. Partin
Archived
20 March 2008 at the
Wayback Machine
.
- ^
Fort Leavenworth ? globalsecurity.org ? Retrieved March 6, 2008
Archived
9 March 2008 at the
Wayback Machine
.
- ^
The Capitals of Kansas ? Retrieved March 6, 2008
Archived
5 July 2008 at the
Wayback Machine
.
- ^
Lamp, Quentin Schillare.
"Historic street named for Winfield Scott"
.
ftleavenworthlamp.com
.
Archived
from the original on 8 August 2017
. Retrieved
2 May
2018
.
- ^
a
b
United States Department of Veterans Affairs, "Cemeteries ? Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery" at
"Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery - National Cemetery Administration"
.
Archived
from the original on 7 March 2014
. Retrieved
7 March
2014
.
Retrieved 15 October 2011
- ^
Fort Leavenworth, KS ? UNKNOWN
Archived
27 June 2007 at the
Wayback Machine
.
- ^
"Gen. Edmund Rice biography"
. Steven Nitch. Archived from
the original
on 25 February 2012
. Retrieved
7 April
2012
.
- ^
"Fort Leavenworth"
.
National Historic Landmark summary listing
. National Park Service. Archived from
the original
on 15 June 2009
. Retrieved
25 June
2008
.
- ^
Jerry L. Rogers and Donald F. Dosch (13 December 1973).
"National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Fort Leavenworth, National Historic Landmark / Fort Leavenworth"
. National Park Service
. Retrieved
22 June
2009
.
and
Accompanying photos, exterior and interior, from 19
(2.23 MB)
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
- Freedom's Frontier
- Frontier Army Museum
- Fort Leavenworth Home Page
- Munson Army Health Center
- Guide for visitors to Fort Leavenworth
- The Fort Leavenworth Lamp Online ? Fort Leavenworth's Newspaper
Archived
21 July 2023 at the
Wayback Machine
- U.S. Army Combined Arms Center
- U.S. Army Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
- TRADOC Schools
- TRADOC Website
- Fort Leavenworth History Collection
Combined Arms Research Library Digital Library
- USD 207 local unified school district
- Fort Leavenworth has been extensively documented by the
Historic American Buildings Survey
. Sample documents include:
- HABS No. KS-7, "
Fort Leavenworth, The Rookery, 12?14 Sumner Place, Leavenworth, Leavenworth County, KS
", 4 photos, 5 data pages
- HABS No. KS-8, "
20?22 Sumner Place (House), Leavenworth, Leavenworth County, KS
", 8 photos, 6 data pages
|
---|
Subordinate Commands
| | |
---|
Centers of Excellence (CoE)
| |
---|
Colleges and schools
| |
---|
Installations
| |
---|
|
---|
Topics
| |
---|
Lists by state
| |
---|
Lists by insular areas
| |
---|
Lists by associated state
| |
---|
Other areas
| |
---|
Related
| |
---|
|
|
---|
Education
|
|
---|
Landmarks
| |
---|
Media
| |
---|
Transportation
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
This list is incomplete.
|
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|
39°21′18″N
94°55′16″W
/
39.35500°N 94.92111°W
/
39.35500; -94.92111