US Army Training Center - Yearbook (Fort Bragg, NC)

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HTSTUTIY UF FUHT BTI GE Situated on land that was hrst inhabited more than 200 years ago, Fort Bragg, an important installation for national defense, contains the largest field artillery range in the world. With its mild climate permitting outdoor training throughout the year over varied ter- rain, it is a splendid training center and on its extensive ranges field guns of the largest calibers may be fired with safety. - Located in the sandhills section of North Carolina between the Piedmont area and the coastal plain, the Fort Bragg Military Reservation is 10 miles northwest of Fayetteville and averages eight miles in width by 24 miles in length and contains approximately 122,000 acres. A branch line connects the post With the main line of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad at Fayetteville. The post proper is located at the eastern end of the reservation due to the existence of level terrain there suitable for drill, maneuvers, post construction and air- dromes. With an estimated 22,000,000 gallons a day being available at the Waterworks intake station on Little River, an adequate supply of fresh water is as- sured. SITE EXPLORED IN I663 The land on which this modern military post is lo- cated was first explored by commissioners from Barba- cios who sailed up Cape Fear River in 1663. and it was first settled about 1729 by Highland Scotch, who still remain the dominant racial group. A slow but steady immigration of Scots followed in succeeding decades, with a great influx about 1749. Tnfrequent clearings supported the sparse population, whose principal means of livelihood was small farming. Great forests of long leaf and loblolly pine covered the area. Within several decades after their arrival in 1729, the Scots had spread out into the area between Man- chester and Cross Creek fFayettevillel. An especially promising section was the Long Street area, in the cen- ter of what is now the Fort Bragg reservation, located in Hoke and Cumberland counties. The Long Street community was favored by the beauty of the scenery, the fertility of the soil, the variety of the forest growth and the general healthful site of the locality. Although these Highland Scots were industrious farmers, whose main occupation was the tilling of the soil, they became involved in the Revolution and were divided among themselves in the late 1700's with re- gard to political sympathy in the strife between the colonists and King George. In the early days of the revolution, a settlement of Whigs located in Piney Bot- tom Was wiped out by the Tories coming from the lo- cality now occupied by the City of Fayetteville. During the Carolina campaign, Lord Cornwallis, following his defeat by General Nathaniel Greene at Guilford Court House, retreated along the Yadkin Road which traverses the length of the reservation. Morgan, called T281 the Swamp Fox, made this locality his headquarters, from which he carried on harassing operations against the British forces. Following the revolution and the winning of inde- pendence for the colonies, the Highland Scots again farmed the land, but during the period from 1782 to 1862, the area and its inhabitants showed little change. In the War Between the States, this area was again the scene of military operations. One of the last engagements in this conflict, brief but sharp in nature, took place at what is now called the Battle Field Farm on the Fort Bragg Reservation. It was here that the Confederate forces, commanded by Major General Wade Hampton, and the Union forces, commanded by Brevet Major General H. Judson Kil- patrick, met in conflict, and, on the Reservation, there are now small groups of graves of unknown Union and Confederate soldiers who gave their lives to their cause in that action. Annually, these graves are decorated with appropriate ceremonies by the Fort Bragg garrison with the assistance of local patriotic societies. During the War Between the States, 107 men from the Fort Bragg area marched away to fight for the Confederacy, but only seven came back at the close of the war. In the years that followed, the land was al- most depopulated, and not a child was presented for baptism in the Long Street Church for a full 16 years. Slowly the land commenced to revert to the wild state which characterized it when the fearly settlers first viewed it. As time passed, the process slowly reversed itself, although at the outbreak of the World War, half a century later, only seven per cent of the land was under cultivation and approximately 170 families were living in the area which eventually became Fort Bragg. MILITARY RESERVATION The history of this area as a military reservation be- gan in June, 1918, when the Chief of Field Artillery sought a site for the establishment of an Artillery Firing Center having adequate artillery range, suitable terrain and soil, nearby rail transportation, adequate water sup- plies and a location as far north as possible but still where climatic conditions would permit year round training. Major General William Snow, the Chief of Field Artillery, instigated a survey of the areas which might be appropriate for the establishment of artillery firing centers. Colonel E. P. King made a search throughout the Eastern part of the United States for such an area. Tn his account of this search, he stated in part: At that time, there were no road maps such as we have today and we found very few sign posts through the country. The geological survey had made very few maps in that section. We traveled principally by compass and dead reckoning . . . About six o'clock