Fort Leavenworth

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is the third oldest continuously active military reservation in the United States and the oldest active Army post west of Washington, D.C. The post has guarded the nation’s frontier since 1827. In the early days, Fort Leavenworth was on the frontiers of basic exploration and physical defense. Today, it is on the frontiers of military thought, training and education. Situated on high bluffs overlooking the Missouri River, the land Fort Leavenworth occupies was favored by the American Indians who used the river as a trade route, gathered food in the river valley, and hunted bison on the plains to the west. Archeological evidence on post suggests that people have periodically inhabited the area for about 10,000 years. The first Europeans to explore the area were probably 18th century French fur traders. Fort de Cavagnial was established in 1744 as a safe trading post and base for exploration. The fort was abandoned in 1764 when the territory was ceded to the Spanish. Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark saw the remains of Fort de Cavagnial on July 2, 1804, as they led the Army’s Corps of Discovery up the Missouri River into the Louisiana Purchase. The expedition celebrated Independence Day north of present-day Fort Leavenworth at the mouth of Independence Creek, near present-day Atchison, Kansas. The expedition camped overnight on islands near the fort on the way west and on the return trip in September 1806. Col. Henry Leavenworth, with the officers and men of the 3rd Infantry Regiment from Jefferson Barracks at St. Louis, Missouri, established Fort Leavenworth in May 1827. The post was one of a half dozen forts guarding the western frontier and a base for patrols escorting the profitable trade along the newly opened Santa Fe Trail. In its early days Fort Leavenworth divided its time between guarding the Indians on their reservations and punishing those on the warpath. Soldiers from Fort Leavenworth escorted doctors to the reservations and expelled squatters from Indian lands. It was also the base for Col. S. W. Kearney’s 1839 campaign against the Cherokees. He left with 10 companies of dragoons, the largest U.S. mounted force ever assembled to that point in time, to subdue the warring bands. The 1846 war with Mexico marked a turning point for Fort Leavenworth. It was the outfitting post for Kearney’s Army of the West, which captured Santa Fe and San Diego. After this the post was used as a major supply depot, supplying the forts, posts and military camps of the west.
When the Kansas Territory was organized in 1854, Governor Andrew Reeder set up executive offices on post and lived for a short time in the quarters now known as “The Rookery.” Troops from Fort Leavenworth were heavily involved in the border conflict at that time, known as “Bleeding Kansas.” At the outbreak of the Civil War, Camp Lincoln was established on post as a reception and training station for Kansas volunteers. News of the approach of Confederate Gen. 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. But Price’s forces never reached Fort Leavenworth, having met defeat at Westport, Missouri. During its long history, the post was never subject to enemy attack. Following the Civil War, Fort Leavenworth returned to its missions of supplying the Army in the west and attempting to control the American Indian tribes on the western plains. From 1870 to 1883, Fort Leavenworth was home to Headquarters, Department of the Missouri. This headquarters controlled Army activities in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and portions of Texas and Wyoming. In the early part of this period there were many conflicts with various Indian bands. The post also continued to supply the western forts and field forces through its arsenal and quartermaster depot. In 1866, the U.S. Congress authorized the formation of several black regiments. One of these, the 10th Cavalry Regiment, was formed at Fort Leavenworth under the command of Col. Benjamin H. Grierson. Today, a monument stands at Fort Leavenworth in tribute to the Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments. In 1881, Gen. William T. Sherman directed the establishment of a “school of application for infantry and cavalry.” That school evolved into today’s U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. World War I proved the wisdom of Sherman’s initiative. Fort Leavenworth graduates excelled in planning complex American Expeditionary Forces operations. In the years between the World Wars, graduates included such officers as Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley and George S. Patton Jr. 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.