Carlisle Barracks
Encyclopedia
Carlisle Barracks is a United States Army
facility located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania
. It is part of the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command
and is the site of the U.S. Army War College
. It is the nation’s second oldest active military base.
on their way west. A brief 1756 encampment at Carlisle preceded the more permanent settlement in May 1757, when Col. John Stanwix
marched upstream with British regulars and provincials during the Seven Years War (also known as the French and Indian War
). After the American Revolutionary War
, from 1783–1837, the town of Carlisle was significant as the frontier gateway, as a greatly increased wave of land-hungry migrants moved west.
During the war, the Army had erected numerous substantial brick buildings at Carlisle Barracks for military stores and to accommodate the workmen of the ordnance department of the Army. While the facility might have been used to store ammunition and explosives, its lack of access to water transportation made it impractical because of the difficulty of overland travel.
In 1794, Carlisle Barracks became the center of intense military activity with the outbreak of the Whiskey Rebellion
. President George Washington
journeyed to the Barracks to review the troops—perhaps as many as 10,000 men. The crisis was posed by farmers in southwestern Pennsylvania, who refused to pay a tax on the commercial whiskey they distilled from their corn crops. They had found corn processed as alcohol more easily transported east over the Alleghenies and more profitable to sell than was corn as grain.
President Washington recommended the Barracks as the site for a Federal military academy, but Pennsylvania lost that political battle to the state of New York
and its West Point
location. The government decided to clear up ownership of the post; in 1801, the government paid $664.20 for the 27 acres (110,000 m²) which it had been renting from William Penn
's heirs.
In 1838 the School of Cavalry Practice was established at Carlisle Barracks. It was the Army's small but elite mounted force, the forerunner of the Armor School now at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Capt. E. V. Sumner found most of the Barracks buildings in disrepair, the maneuver area less than adequate, and the horses in short supply. Overcoming these problems included drilling his recruits at the double time on foot to simulate the trotting of the missing horses. Another mounted organization, horse-drawn light artillery, also established its school at Carlisle Barracks. In 1839, Capt. Samuel Ringgold arrived to begin training recruits and testing equipment for the "flying artillery," as it was sometimes called.
invasion up the Shenandoah
-Cumberland Valley
from Virginia
to Pennsylvania. Although many miles from the combat front, the garrison at Carlisle became a central supply center for ordnance stores, horses, and quartermaster supplies under Capt. Daniel H. Hastings. Recruits once destined for Indian-fighting units on the western frontier were prepared to replace casualties in Regular Army
units. Entire units were sent to the Barracks to refit before specific deployment.
In June 1863, "the Rebels are coming!" was a cry with substance. In spite of a small defensive Pennsylvania militia
and home guard force, Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins
' Confederate cavalry entered Carlisle on June 27. Jenkins led his mounted brigade east along the Trindle Road, where they bivouacked while they took rations by wagon from the town. He had levied a demand for food for his 1,500 men and forage for their horses. Three North Carolina brigades occupied Carlisle Barracks; the troops camped on the parade grounds.
Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart
's cavalry division approached Carlisle from the east on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 1. Depleted by a sweeping march around the Union Army
, Stuart hoped to find needed provisions—unaware that other Confederate units had already sought the same Carlisle provisions. Stuart sent a demand for surrender of the Federal forces under the command of Brig. Gen. William Farrar Smith
. When his demand was refused, Stuart initiated a short bombardment. When a second demand was refused, Stuart ordered his troops to shell the town and, later, to torch the barracks. See Battle of Carlisle
.
moved this function to the St. Louis Arsenal
in Missouri
. There it had access to transportation on the Mississippi
and Missouri
rivers. On April 20, 1871, Carlisle Barracks was officially "discontinued as a sub-Depot for the Mounted Recruit Service." The installation was available for new uses.
In 1879, the War Department passed control of the post to the Department of the Interior. The US Congress had authorized the Bureau of Indian Affairs
(BIA) to found the first Indian boarding school for the education of Native American children. With the Indian Wars at an end, the government sought a way to integrate the children into the life of the European-American culture. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School
operated until 1918. Commanding General of the Army William T. Sherman had acceded to the petitions of Richard Henry Pratt
to use the barracks for a model Indian School. The goal was for children to learn English and European-American ways, to gain an education apart from the reservations, and live among European-American men and women. Pratt believed Native Americans needed such education to be able to protect their lands and societies. He became the school's founder and first superintendent. He based the school's program on his experience since 1875 in supervising and educating Indian prisoners-of-war at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida
. Twenty young Indian men gained further education at Hampton Institute, a historically black college, and private schools in New York.
underway, the Army took back Carlisle Barracks. It used the facility to respond to a wide set of changing Army and security needs. At the end of WWI, the Army established General Hospital No. 31 as a pioneering rehabilitation center there. For two years, the hospital provided medical treatment, mental reconditioning and vocational training for more than 4,000 afflicted soldiers returned from service with the American Expeditionary Force
s in France.
at San Antonio, Texas
after World War II
, educational innovation continued. From 1946 until 1951, six Army schools were located at Carlisle Barracks. First was the Army Information School, followed shortly by the School for Government of Occupied Areas, and then the Adjutant General's School (for Army lawyers). The next year brought the Chaplain School and the Military Police School. Finally, the Army Security Agency School began highly classified operations in 1949 and stayed for two years before being displaced.
In the spring of 1951, the U.S. Army War College
, senior educational institution of the U.S. Army, relocated to Carlisle Barracks. Established in 1903 and formerly located in Washington, D.C.
, the college had functioned as part of the General Staff during its early years. It chiefly prepared selected officers for high command. Distinguished graduates of that period included John J. Pershing
(Class of 1905), Dwight D. Eisenhower
(1927), and Omar N. Bradley (1934). Classes were suspended in 1940 during the preparedness mobilization for World War II
, and not resumed until a decade later at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for the 1950-51 academic year. The new commandant, Lt. Gen. Joseph M. Swing
, relocated with the college to Pennsylvania in July 1951 and turned over command to his successor, Lt. Gen. Edward M. Almond, just in time for the arrival of the first Carlisle-based class.
At Carlisle, the Army War College grew steadily as it performed its mission of preparing officers for leadership at the highest levels. The college soon outgrew its main academic building (the current Upton Hall) and transferred to the newly constructed Root Hall in 1967. Two specialized agencies evolved into integral parts of the Army War College: the Strategic Studies Institute
, first formed in 1954; and the Military History Institute, established in 1967. The Center for Strategic Leadership, a state-of-the-art war gaming complex that opened in 1994, contributed another dimension to the college and to Carlisle Barracks' history as a distinctive U.S. Army campus.
hearings. On August 15, 2005, BRAC 2005 was approved, and Carlisle Barracks will remain open. In 2006, Carlisle Barracks broke ground on a significant project to construct new military housing, work that had been postponed pending BRAC review.
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
facility located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle is a borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The name is traditionally pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2010 census, the borough...
. It is part of the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command
United States Army Training and Doctrine Command
Established 1 July 1973, the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command is an army command of the United States Army headquartered at Fort Eustis, Virginia. It is charged with overseeing training of Army forces, the development of operational doctrine, and the development and procurement of...
and is the site of the U.S. Army War College
U.S. Army War College
The United States Army War College is a United States Army school located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on the 500 acre campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks...
. It is the nation’s second oldest active military base.
Early history
At the intersection of Indian trails along Letort Creek, in the eighteenth century the town of Carlisle became the jumping-off point for traders and settlers heading over the AllegheniesAllegheny Mountains
The Allegheny Mountain Range , also spelled Alleghany, Allegany and, informally, the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada...
on their way west. A brief 1756 encampment at Carlisle preceded the more permanent settlement in May 1757, when Col. John Stanwix
John Stanwix
John Stanwix was a British soldier and politician.Stanwix entered the army in 1706, rose to a captain of the grenadiers in 1739, major of marines in 1741, and lieutenant-colonel in 1745, and was appointed equerry to Frederick, Prince of Wales, in 1749...
marched upstream with British regulars and provincials during the Seven Years War (also known as the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
). After the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, from 1783–1837, the town of Carlisle was significant as the frontier gateway, as a greatly increased wave of land-hungry migrants moved west.
During the war, the Army had erected numerous substantial brick buildings at Carlisle Barracks for military stores and to accommodate the workmen of the ordnance department of the Army. While the facility might have been used to store ammunition and explosives, its lack of access to water transportation made it impractical because of the difficulty of overland travel.
In 1794, Carlisle Barracks became the center of intense military activity with the outbreak of the Whiskey Rebellion
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion, or Whiskey Insurrection, was a tax protest in the United States in the 1790s, during the presidency of George Washington. Farmers who sold their corn in the form of whiskey had to pay a new tax which they strongly resented...
. President George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
journeyed to the Barracks to review the troops—perhaps as many as 10,000 men. The crisis was posed by farmers in southwestern Pennsylvania, who refused to pay a tax on the commercial whiskey they distilled from their corn crops. They had found corn processed as alcohol more easily transported east over the Alleghenies and more profitable to sell than was corn as grain.
President Washington recommended the Barracks as the site for a Federal military academy, but Pennsylvania lost that political battle to the state of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and its West Point
West Point, New York
West Point is a federal military reservation established by President of the United States Thomas Jefferson in 1802. It is a census-designated place located in Town of Highlands in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 7,138 at the 2000 census...
location. The government decided to clear up ownership of the post; in 1801, the government paid $664.20 for the 27 acres (110,000 m²) which it had been renting from William Penn
William Penn
William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...
's heirs.
In 1838 the School of Cavalry Practice was established at Carlisle Barracks. It was the Army's small but elite mounted force, the forerunner of the Armor School now at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Capt. E. V. Sumner found most of the Barracks buildings in disrepair, the maneuver area less than adequate, and the horses in short supply. Overcoming these problems included drilling his recruits at the double time on foot to simulate the trotting of the missing horses. Another mounted organization, horse-drawn light artillery, also established its school at Carlisle Barracks. In 1839, Capt. Samuel Ringgold arrived to begin training recruits and testing equipment for the "flying artillery," as it was sometimes called.
Civil War
From the early Civil War days, south-central Pennsylvania was rife with rumors of a ConfederateConfederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
invasion up the Shenandoah
Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...
-Cumberland Valley
Cumberland Valley
The Cumberland Valley is a constituent valley of the Great Appalachian Valley and a North American agricultural region within the Atlantic Seaboard watershed in Pennsylvania and Maryland....
from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
to Pennsylvania. Although many miles from the combat front, the garrison at Carlisle became a central supply center for ordnance stores, horses, and quartermaster supplies under Capt. Daniel H. Hastings. Recruits once destined for Indian-fighting units on the western frontier were prepared to replace casualties in Regular Army
Regular Army
The Regular Army of the United States was and is the successor to the Continental Army as the country's permanent, professional military establishment. Even in modern times the professional core of the United States Army continues to be called the Regular Army...
units. Entire units were sent to the Barracks to refit before specific deployment.
In June 1863, "the Rebels are coming!" was a cry with substance. In spite of a small defensive Pennsylvania militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
and home guard force, Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins
Albert G. Jenkins
Albert Gallatin Jenkins was an attorney, planter, representative to the United States Congress and First Confederate Congress, and a Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War...
' Confederate cavalry entered Carlisle on June 27. Jenkins led his mounted brigade east along the Trindle Road, where they bivouacked while they took rations by wagon from the town. He had levied a demand for food for his 1,500 men and forage for their horses. Three North Carolina brigades occupied Carlisle Barracks; the troops camped on the parade grounds.
Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart
J.E.B. Stuart
James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart was a U.S. Army officer from Virginia and a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb", from the initials of his given names. Stuart was a cavalry commander known for his mastery of reconnaissance and the use...
's cavalry division approached Carlisle from the east on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 1. Depleted by a sweeping march around the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
, Stuart hoped to find needed provisions—unaware that other Confederate units had already sought the same Carlisle provisions. Stuart sent a demand for surrender of the Federal forces under the command of Brig. Gen. William Farrar Smith
William Farrar Smith
William Farrar Smith , was a civil engineer, a member of the New York City police commission, and Union general in the American Civil War.-Early life:...
. When his demand was refused, Stuart initiated a short bombardment. When a second demand was refused, Stuart ordered his troops to shell the town and, later, to torch the barracks. See Battle of Carlisle
Battle of Carlisle
The Battle of Carlisle was an American Civil War skirmish in Pennsylvania on the same day as the Battle of Gettysburg, First Day. Stuart's Confederate cavalry briefly engaged Union militia under Maj. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith at Carlisle and set fire to the Carlisle Barracks...
.
Postbellum era
After the Civil War ended, the Barracks returned to its pre-war mission of receiving, training and forwarding cavalry recruits destined for the Indian wars on the western frontier. But, as Army operations moved west, the War DepartmentUnited States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
moved this function to the St. Louis Arsenal
St. Louis Arsenal
The St. Louis Arsenal is a large complex of military weapons and ammunition storage buildings owned by the United States Army in St. Louis, Missouri. During the American Civil War, the St...
in Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. There it had access to transportation on the Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
and Missouri
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
rivers. On April 20, 1871, Carlisle Barracks was officially "discontinued as a sub-Depot for the Mounted Recruit Service." The installation was available for new uses.
In 1879, the War Department passed control of the post to the Department of the Interior. The US Congress had authorized the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
(BIA) to found the first Indian boarding school for the education of Native American children. With the Indian Wars at an end, the government sought a way to integrate the children into the life of the European-American culture. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School
Carlisle Indian Industrial School
Carlisle Indian Industrial School was an Indian boarding school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1879 at Carlisle, Pennsylvania by Captain Richard Henry Pratt, the school was the first off-reservation boarding school, and it became a model for Indian boarding schools in other locations...
operated until 1918. Commanding General of the Army William T. Sherman had acceded to the petitions of Richard Henry Pratt
Richard Henry Pratt
Richard Henry Pratt is best known as the founder and longtime superintendent of the influential Carlisle Indian Industrial School at Carlisle, Pennsylvania.-Military career:...
to use the barracks for a model Indian School. The goal was for children to learn English and European-American ways, to gain an education apart from the reservations, and live among European-American men and women. Pratt believed Native Americans needed such education to be able to protect their lands and societies. He became the school's founder and first superintendent. He based the school's program on his experience since 1875 in supervising and educating Indian prisoners-of-war at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
. Twenty young Indian men gained further education at Hampton Institute, a historically black college, and private schools in New York.
Twentieth century
On September 1, 1918, with World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
underway, the Army took back Carlisle Barracks. It used the facility to respond to a wide set of changing Army and security needs. At the end of WWI, the Army established General Hospital No. 31 as a pioneering rehabilitation center there. For two years, the hospital provided medical treatment, mental reconditioning and vocational training for more than 4,000 afflicted soldiers returned from service with the American Expeditionary Force
American Expeditionary Force
The American Expeditionary Forces or AEF were the United States Armed Forces sent to Europe in World War I. During the United States campaigns in World War I the AEF fought in France alongside British and French allied forces in the last year of the war, against Imperial German forces...
s in France.
Medical Field Service School
In the fall of 1920, the Medical Field Service School was established under Col. Percy M. Ashburn's command. Drawing on the lessons of WWI, the school developed medical equipment and doctrine suitable for the battlefield. More than 30,000 officers and NCOs passed through the school during its 26-year tenure at Carlisle Barracks. They applied classroom instruction and field exercises to train in care of casualties and disease prevention, the latter a major problem for the military until improvements in sanitation and antibiotics.Six Army schools
When the Medical Field Service School departed in 1946 for Fort Sam HoustonFort Sam Houston
Fort Sam Houston is a U.S. Army post in San Antonio, Texas.Known colloquially as "Fort Sam," it is named for the first President of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston....
at San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, educational innovation continued. From 1946 until 1951, six Army schools were located at Carlisle Barracks. First was the Army Information School, followed shortly by the School for Government of Occupied Areas, and then the Adjutant General's School (for Army lawyers). The next year brought the Chaplain School and the Military Police School. Finally, the Army Security Agency School began highly classified operations in 1949 and stayed for two years before being displaced.
U.S. Army War College
U.S. Army War College
The United States Army War College is a United States Army school located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on the 500 acre campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks...
, senior educational institution of the U.S. Army, relocated to Carlisle Barracks. Established in 1903 and formerly located in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, the college had functioned as part of the General Staff during its early years. It chiefly prepared selected officers for high command. Distinguished graduates of that period included John J. Pershing
John J. Pershing
John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, GCB , was a general officer in the United States Army who led the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I...
(Class of 1905), Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
(1927), and Omar N. Bradley (1934). Classes were suspended in 1940 during the preparedness mobilization for World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and not resumed until a decade later at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for the 1950-51 academic year. The new commandant, Lt. Gen. Joseph M. Swing
Joseph M. Swing
Joseph May Swing was a Lieutenant General in the United States Army, who commanded the 11th Airborne Division during the campaign to liberate the Philippines in World War II.-Biography:...
, relocated with the college to Pennsylvania in July 1951 and turned over command to his successor, Lt. Gen. Edward M. Almond, just in time for the arrival of the first Carlisle-based class.
At Carlisle, the Army War College grew steadily as it performed its mission of preparing officers for leadership at the highest levels. The college soon outgrew its main academic building (the current Upton Hall) and transferred to the newly constructed Root Hall in 1967. Two specialized agencies evolved into integral parts of the Army War College: the Strategic Studies Institute
Strategic Studies Institute
The Strategic Studies Institute is the U.S. Army's institute for strategic and national security research and analysis. It is part of the U.S. Army War College. SSI conducts strategic research and analysis to support the U.S. Army War College curricula, provides direct analysis for Army and...
, first formed in 1954; and the Military History Institute, established in 1967. The Center for Strategic Leadership, a state-of-the-art war gaming complex that opened in 1994, contributed another dimension to the college and to Carlisle Barracks' history as a distinctive U.S. Army campus.
BRAC
In 2005 the Carlisle Barracks was originally listed as a candidate for closure under the Army's realignment process and BRACBase Realignment and Closure, 2005
The preliminary 2005 Base Realignment and Closure list was released by the United States Department of Defense on May 13, 2005. It is the fifth Base Realignment and Closure proposal generated since the process was created in 1988. It recommends closing 33 major United States military bases and...
hearings. On August 15, 2005, BRAC 2005 was approved, and Carlisle Barracks will remain open. In 2006, Carlisle Barracks broke ground on a significant project to construct new military housing, work that had been postponed pending BRAC review.