The Early Years of Camp Benning - Politics and Persistence (3 of 3)

SOURCES: "Camp Benning," New Georgia Encyclopedia; "Camp Benning," United States Army Infantry Branch History Division; and Fort Benning: The Land and the People, by Sharyn Kane and Richard Keeton, 1998.

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Members of a Congressional committee toured the post in September 1919, seeing for themselves the bustling activities and rigorous training. They also observed the dilapidated hovels and tents in which many soldiers were forced to live. But no definitive action from Congress followed their tour.

In December, General John J. Pershing (pictured below), a hero of World War I, visited. Hard rain for several days before he arrived turned the camp into a sea of mud and puddles. Soldiers remembering the deluge referred to as the "Pershing Flood."

The Army, unwilling to lose the infantry school, mustered statistics to build an argument to support Camp Benning. Officers prepared reports for Congress documenting that the infantry comprised 89 percent of American combat casualties in World War I. While improved training had saved lives during the war, the large numbers of casualties were attributed to training that was still inadequate, most military experts agreed. No matter what size Army the country deemed necessary, there should be a permanent infantry school to ensure preparedness, urged Colonel Paul B. Malone, Camp Benning's assistant commandant.

He wrote, "Losses of American lives... will bear a close but inverse ratio to the extent to which training… in time of peace is given to the leaders of infantry units."

Enough elected representatives eventually came to share Malone's viewpoint for Congress to vote in February 1920 to declare Camp Benning a permanent military post. They approved, resumed construction, and appropriated more than $1 million in additional building funds for the Infantry School of Arms, which became the Infantry School.

The vote seemed to assure Camp Benning's existence, but many problems lingered in an era of tight military budgets. The population at the camp continued to mushroom. By the fall of 1920, there were 350 officers, as well as 7,000 troops and 650 student officers. They overwhelmed the post's housing capabilities. Soldiers had to vacate barracks so the rooms could be used for classes. More tents were raised for housing. The entire 29th Infantry moved into a tent camp, which continued to be used for the next ten years.

Housing was so scarce and inadequate that some officers received permission to use salvaged materials to build their own shelters. The result was a hodgepodge of houses all distinctively different from each other. They were "limited only in size and design by the resources and imaginations of their builders," wrote Fort Benning historian Yarborough.

Slowly, the housing situation improved, although not without occasional steps backward. In March 1921, a tank crew accidentally fired a six-pound shell into one of the officers' quarters. Apparently, no one was hurt. A few days later, an artillery shell hit one of the camp's railroad tracks. A workman nearby narrowly escaped injury. In the same month, violent thunderstorms raked the area, tearing off some roofs and lifting other buildings off their foundations.

President Warren G. Harding visited Camp Benning in 1921. He is seated on the first row on the left. Next to him is Major General Walter H. Gordon, third commandant of the post.

Mostly, however, Camp Benning continued to improve both its operation and reputation. In October 1921, President Warren G. Harding visited, the first of many chief executives to make the journey.

The Infantry School had come a long way since its predecessor, the School of Musketry, had trained soldiers primarily in rifles and pistols. Now there were courses about a whole array of modern weapons. There were also new lessons in battle tactics, as well as how the infantry should coordinate efforts with other military branches. The overall aim was to develop "efficient commanders and staff officers" and to improve "the quality of leadership and the capacity to instruct others." Another goal was to instill the ability to perform high-quality analysis and research.

Additional troops arrived to provide different types of demonstrations – the 344th Tank Battalion, Company D of the 7th Engineers, the 1st Battalion 83d Field Artillery, a medical demonstration detachment, and the 32d Balloon Company, used for observing troop movements. The hot air balloon equipment was stored in hangers where Lawson Army Airfield now stands. These buildings still exist although modified from their original designs.

By 1922, the post was renamed Fort Benning, and in March, General John J. Pershing returned for another visit. Violent thunderstorms again pelted the area with heavy rains, producing what came to be known as the "Second Pershing Flood."

Arthur Bussey built this home, called Riverside, in 1909. The house was originally built as a summer home for the Columbus businessman and his family. The residence now serves as the commandant's quarters and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A new commandant, Brigadier General Briant H. Wells, in 1924 began establishing a greater sense of order and cohesive appearance for Fort Benning. He prepared a formal document, which became known as the Wells Plan, for permanent construction, emphasizing the importance of the outdoor environment. Wells envisioned pleasant landscaping in the developed areas and wanted sound management practices in undeveloped areas so that Fort Benning's forests continued to flourish. The first organized landscaping took place during Wells' regime when some 2,000 trees were transplanted from the nearby forests. Wells also oversaw plantings of grass, shrubs, and flowers. This was an important first step in creating the campus-like environment that characterizes Fort Benning today. Commandants who followed Wells continued to emphasize the importance of landscaping.

Under the Wells Plan, academic and civic areas were combined into one large campus, a scheme that continues today at Fort Benning's hub, now called the Main Post Cantonment. The plan also called for the building of permanent "cuartel" barracks. Construction began on the first of these buildings in 1925.

The Wells Plan also placed heavy emphasis on providing recreation opportunities for military personnel. Doughboy Stadium, with its distinctive towers and arches, was completed in 1924, built with contributions from soldiers to honor fallen comrades who had fought in World War I. The stadium is preserved today as one of Fort Benning's important historic sites.

During General Wells' tenure, Fort Benning developed recreational facilities unequaled on any other military post, with the possible exception of West Point. Besides Doughboy Stadium (pictured below), there was Gowdy (baseball) Field, named after Captain Hank Gowdy, a professional player with the New York Giants, the Post Theater, and Russ Swimming Pool. The Army also completed an 18-hole golf course in the late 1920's. Eventually, Fort Benning also boasted a handball court, a bowling alley, the Campbell King Horse Show Bowl, and a new gymnasium.

Some athletic feats, however, weren't planned and didn't take place in any recreational facility. Private Joseph Wiggins was handling the controls of the post's narrow-gauge train in February 1925 when up ahead he noticed something moving on the tracks. He realized that a baby had crawled in front of the train. Wiggins yanked on the brakes. The train slowed, but, because it was heading downhill, continued to roll forward. Wiggins leaped out of the cab and started running. He raced ahead of the moving engine and somehow managed to snatch the baby off the tracks just in time.

Lt. Col. George C. Marshall was appointed assistant commandant of the post in 1927 and initiated major changes. He was appalled by the high casualties in World War I, caused, he thought, by insufficient training. He was determined to prevent a lack of preparation from costing more lives in any future conflicts.

Marshall, who later became Army Chief of Staff during World War II, authored the Marshall Plan for reviving postwar Europe, and won the Nobel Peace Prize, gathered around him bright, innovative young officers, including Omar Bradley and Joseph Stillwell, who both also gained fame in World War II. He and his subordinates revamped the education system at Fort Benning, seeing to it that all courses offered instruction of the highest quality. The changes he fostered are still known as the Benning Revolution.

Marshall thought that an officer in battle should be able to assess any situation coolly, no matter how chaotic the circumstances, and make clearheaded decisions. He directed officers under his command to plan military field exercises carefully, then he would throw in a monkey wrench.

"He would come in and take all your maps, take all your notes, and see how well you did without them. The ones who could be put under that kind of pressure and scrutiny and then succeed, Marshall felt like they had achieved the goal. He kept a little black book and would jot down who he felt the leaders of tomorrow's Army would be," according to Frank Hanner, the (1998) Infantry Museum director.

His ability to spot military talent, first developed at Fort Benning, served Marshall well in the perilous years that followed. During World War II, Marshall and Fort Benning would be tested beyond what anyone could have imagined.