Fort McClellan
Fort McClellan, originally Camp McClellan, is a United States Army post located adjacent to the city of Anniston, Alabama. During World War II, it was one of the largest U.S. Army installations, training an estimated half-million troops. After the war it became the home of the Military Police Corps, the Chemical Corps and the Women's Army Corps. From 1975 until it was closed in 1999, Fort McClellan was home of the Military Police Corps and the One Station Unit Training Military Police School. Also after World War II until it was closed in 1999, it was home of the Chemical Corps School, which trained soldiers in chemical warfare. In 1988, Fort McClellan was used as an alternate training academy for the United States Border Patrol. Before its closure by the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, the post employed about 10,000 military personnel and about 1,500 civilians. It underwent unexploded ordnance clean up from 2003 to 2014. Since 2010, about 3,000 acres of the post's brownfield land have been redeveloped as a mixed-use community. The portion of the post which has not been redeveloped is currently owned by the Alabama Army National Guard and is used as a training facility for units from all across the state, also housing the Alabama Army National Guard’s Officer Candidate School, for enlisted soldiers looking to earn their commission.
Early history
Located in the Choccolocco Foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Woodstock, Alabama, was founded as a private industrial town by the Woodstock Iron Company in 1872. Woodstock was later renamed Anniston and was opened to the public in 1883; by 1890, it had a population of near 10,000 persons. While Fort McClellan was the first and only long-lived United States Army post near Anniston, a temporary facility named Camp Shipp existed there during 1898–1899.Camp Shipp – Spanish–American War
The Spanish–American War ended in 1898, but with a final peace settlement still in the future, the U.S. Army had an immediate need for a facility to quarter a Military reserve force from Alabama should the hostilities start anew. Anniston was on a north–south railroad that continued to Mobile, Alabama, a major seaport for Cuba-bound departures, and successfully sought the reserve facility. Camp Shipp was established in August 1898 within the northwest city limits of Anniston; an artillery range was planned to be on the nearby Blue Mountain. By October, nearly 10,000 troops of the 3rd Alabama Volunteer Infantry were at Camp Shipp, but by the end of the year they began to rapidly move out. The camp never fully realized its intended purpose; it was used temporarily as a hospital for patients of the influenza epidemic sweeping Army posts, and then phased out in March 1899. The camp was named for Lt. William E. Shipp of the 10th Cavalry Regiment who was killed in action at Santiago, Cuba while leading a charge in the Battle of San Juan Hill.Camp McClellan – World War I
In 1912, there was renewed interest in Anniston for having a nearby Army training facility. Alabama's Third District congressman Henry D. Clayton Jr. brought to the Department of War's attention the potential of the Choccolocco Mountains for artillery training. Twenty-thousand National Guardsmen were sent to the area for maneuvers. Officials of the participating Army War College found the terrain highly suitable for artillery training, and advocated purchase of the land.On March 17, 1917, the Federal Government acquired of this land for. On April 6, 1917, Congress declared war on Germany and it has been suggested that without it "it’s likely that Fort McClellan as we remember it would never have been born". The Department of War formally established Camp McClellan on July 18, 1917, named in honor of Major General George B. McClellan, General-in-Chief of the Union Army, 1861–1862. Camp McClellan was one of 32 mobilization camps formed to quickly train men for World War I.
Like the other National Guard mobilization facilities, Camp McClellan used hastily constructed wooden buildings for headquarters, mess halls, latrines, and showers, with rows of wooden-floored tents for housing the troops. There were 26 blocks of training areas composed of central buildings and tents, each designated for a particular function. Overall, about 1,500 buildings were built, including a base hospital with 118 buildings. The Anniston city limit at that time was a circle 1.3 miles in diameter. The Camp McClellan reservation was approximately a square some 3.0 miles on each side, adjoining the northeast quarter arc of the city limits and extending northward along the Anniston to Jacksonville, Alabama, pike. The training blocks were in the northern part of the reservation. An existing Southern Railway line was close by the western boundary; a terminal facility called Remount Depot was built near the southwest corner of the reservation and, farther north, a spur into the camp was constructed.
The first troops arrived in late August 1917; by October there were more than 27,000 men from units in New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia training at the camp under the 29th Infantry Division, commanded by Major General Charles G. Morton. Other troops included the 1st Separate Negro Company of Maryland, the 6th Division, the 157th Depot Brigade, the 11th and 12th Training Battalions, and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Development Regiments.
Fort McClellan – permanent post
Following the Armistice with Germany on November 11, 1918, and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles officially ending the war, most of the mobilization camps were closed. Nine facilities were placed on "caretaker status"; Camp McClellan was included, intended to be used as a "corps area training center" providing training to Reserve Officers' Training Corps cadets and Organized Reserve units from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana. Congress and the public had little interest in military affairs, including maintaining these camps, and the training centers were closed in 1922, soon after they opened. In 1926, however, Congress approved funds for permanent facilities, and new buildings were started at Camp McClellan for the headquarters, officer quarters, barracks, and a central hospital. On July 1, 1929, by War Department order, the post was designated Fort McClellan and a permanent installation. This would be a post for one regiment of Infantry having 1,500 officers and men and a summer Citizens' Military Training Camp with a capacity of 6,400 civilian trainees.As the Great Depression started, unspent funds initially allocated for military construction were diverted into programs to stem the unemployment. Construction on the permanent facilities slowed, but in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt allocated Works Progress Administration funds for Fort McClellan. In the next three years, an estimated in WPA funds was used for constructing new roads, the Fort McClellan Army Airfield, and additional permanent buildings. Included was a radio facility with a high-power transmitter for Morse-code communications, Most of the buildings were Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in style.
During the 1930s, the 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, had the role of post garrison, responsible for training ROTC cadets, Organized Reserve units, and overseeing the annual encampments of National Guard units there, primarily from the Alabama National Guard. In addition, the post garrison maintained the headquarters for District "D" of the Civilian Conservation Corps, handling 45 camps in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
World War II
As World War II approached, the facilities at Fort McClellan underwent considerable expansion. Although the central area of permanent buildings remained the headquarters, many new temporary wooden buildings were constructed and all of the buildings remaining from World War I were upgraded. In October 1940, the 27th Infantry Division of the New York National Guard was inducted into federal service and sent to Fort McClellan. New housing for trainees was not yet available; the majority of the men of the 27th lived in tents until leaving at the start of the war in December 1941, and were soon deployed throughout the Pacific Theater of Operations.Major expansion (1941–44)
About $6.5 million in Federal Funding was made available for construction to accommodate quarters and other facilities for up to 50,000 military personnel at Fort McClellan. Overall improvements included 74 miles of new roads, sewage facilities for 50,000 persons, a huge general hospital with 80 wooden buildings connected by 4.5 miles of catwalks, 5 theaters plus an amphitheater seating 12,000 persons, 27 warehouses, and many ammunition–storage bunkers. Hundreds of five- and fifteen-man hutments, arranged in Company-level groups, were built for personnel being trained. Colonel John L. Jenkins was the Commanding Officer during most of the construction period.The land area of Fort McClellan was also greatly expanded. Directly to the east, a mountainous peninsula connecting to the Talladega National Forest was acquired, allowing access to this Federal Area for training maneuvers. This increased the reservation to a total of 42,286 acres. A few miles to the west, a 22,168-acre tract was purchased for $675,000 and used for artillery and heavy mortar ranges, tank firing, and bivouac areas. This is directly north of another Army facility, the Anniston Army Depot. The range was initially called Morrisville Maneuvering Area and later changed to Pelham Range, named for John Pelham, a hero in the Confederate cavalry during the American Civil War, who was raised in that area.
At peak, there were officially 2,170 officers and 42,126 enlisted personnel at Fort McClellan. The station complement tripled in number; this complement included two detachments of the Women's Army Corps. In the war years, a total of nearly 500,000 men were trained at Fort McClellan.