US Army Training Center - Yearbook (Fort Jackson, SC)

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ANDREW JACKSON

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FORT JACKSON HISTORY ffVICTORY STARTS HERE2 A Tradition of Excellence On June 2, 1917, a new Army Training Center was established to answer Americais call for trained fighting men in the early, ominous days of World War I. This installation would become the largest and most active of its kind in the world. First known as the Sixth National Cantonment, and later as Camp J ackson, Fort J ackson has always served as the Armyis pioneer in the training environment. Named the Armyis Community of Excellence in 1988, Fort Jackson has continued to earn awards for excellence year after year. The initial site of the cantonment area consisted of almost 1,200 acres. The citizens of Columbia donated the land to the federal government, thereby initiating the long tradition of respect, cooperation and friendship between the city and the installation. In fact, Fort J ackson was incorporated into the city in October 1968. Named in honor of Major General Andrew J ackson, a native son of the Palmetto State and the seventh president of the United States, Camp J ackson was designated as one of 16 national cantonments constructed to support the war effort. Years of Growth The pressure of World War 1 brought swift changes. Within 11 days of the signing of a contract to construct the camp, the 110-man camp guard arrived. By the end of the first month, the labor force had grown to more than 1,200 and the first two barracks were completed. Two months later, the force had grown to almost 10,000 men. Virtually overnight, Camp Jackson had grown from a sandy-soil, pine and scrub oak forest to a thriving Army training center, complete with a trolley line and hundreds of buildings. Three months after construction began, some 8,000 draftees arrived for training. The first military unit to be organized here was the 81st ffWildcati, Division, under the camps first official commander, Major General Charles H. Barth. Members of the original guard, who had been the first to occupy the camp, were moved to Camp Sevier in Greenville, SC, and incorporated into the 30th 201d Hickoryii Division, named in honor of J ackson. More than 45,000 troops from these famed divisions went to France as part of the America Expeditionary Forces. The World War Years In less than eight months, construction of the vast camp was complete. But almost as suddenly as it began, the clamor subsided. With the signing of the Armistice in 1918, the famed 30th Division was inactivated. The 5th Infantry Division trained here until it was inactivated in 1921. Control of' the camp reverted to the Cantonment Lands Commission, and from 1925 to 1939, the sleepy silence was broken only by the occasional reports of weapons fired by state National Guardsmen.