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Page 1: Belvoir History
Page 2: Belvoir History
Page 3: Belvoir History

Fort BelvoirHost to History

(Second Edition)

THE FIRST PUBLICATION of this booklet in 1996 was a result of a partnership between the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Belvoir and the Department of Defense Legacy

Resource Management Program. The second edition was published in 2010.

INSIDE FRONT COVER: Painting entitled Flight Over Belvoir, by Jackson Miles Abbott.

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CONTENTS

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1A Letter from Colonel Blixt

Prehistoric Antecedents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Native Americans & Europeans: . . . . . . . . . . .3First Contacts

Belvoir in the Seventeenth Century . . . . . . . .5

The Eighteenth Century: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Fairfax County’s “Golden Age”

Transitions I : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9Belvoir in the Antebellum Period

Transitions II: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11Belvoir Enters the Twentieth Century

Establishment of Camp A.A. Humphreys: . . .131917 — 1918

Historic Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16Map of the Fort Belvoir Area

Inter-War Period: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181919 — 1939

World War II Period: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221940 — 1945

Cold-War Period: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Fort Belvoir Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30For the Twenty-First Century

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

TOP: Main Post Chapel, constructed in 1957. CENTER:Abbot Hall, Post Headquarters, constructed in 1935. Itwas originally the main academic building for the EngineerSchool. BOTTOM: An officer’s home in Belvoir Village.

FRONT COVER: The insignia of the Installation ManagementCommand (IMCOM), the Fort Belvoir Garrison logo, theinsignia of the Military District of Washington (MDW), and the IMCOM logo. The Fort Belvoir logo includes“Flight Over Belvoir,” a painting by Jackson Miles Abbott.

BACK COVER: Pictured on a map of Fort Belvoir, ca.1967,are various engineer instruments and possesions, the Coatof Arms of the U.S. Army Engineer School, and the FortBelvoir U.S. Army Garrison, 2010.

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FOREWORD

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PREHISTORIC ANTECEDENTS

When people first arrived in the Fort Belvoir area,perhaps 11,500 years ago, Northern Virginiawas far different than it is today. The climate

was considerably colder, and the great Arctic glaciers coveredNorth America as far south as northern Pennsylvania.Because much of the earth’s water was locked in these gla-ciers, today’s Potomac River was a small tributary of theSusquehanna River. Streams like Dogue and AccotinkCreeks, if they existed at all, were mere trickles. Theregion’s vegetation and animal life resembled more closelywhat we today associate with northern Canada or theArctic tundra. Mastodon, mammoth, and other now-extinct species still roamed parts of eastern North America.

Archeologists know that the earliest Americans wanderedthroughout Virginia, including present-day FairfaxCounty. Their stone quarries and living sites have beenexcavated in the Shenandoah Valley and in the southernPiedmont. At Belvoir, at least one of their fluted projectilepoints has been found near Davison Army Airfield.Scholars think that these early people traveled insmall bands, hunting andgathering the meager edibleresources that were availablein the colder environment.

During the next severalthousand years, the climatemoderated, the glaciersslowly receded, and sealevels rose. The SusquehannaRiver valley graduallyflooded to form today’sChesapeake Bay and thePotomac River became thefamiliar broad stream weknow today. The region’svegetation and its animallife changed significantly.Oak and hickory forestsappeared, as did “modern”animal species such asdeer, bear, elk and bison.

Around 4,000 B.C., as food became more plentiful, thepeople of the Potomac Valley could gather nuts, berries,and other seasonal resources to supplement the animalsthey hunted. Archeological evidence suggests that thearea’s prehistoric population also rose during this period.

After approximately 2,750 B.C., the climate of theNorthern Virginia area stabilized close to what it is today.Prehistoric peoples tended to gravitate toward the region’srivers and streams and to adopt a less nomadic existence.They settled in larger base camps and made seasonal food-gathering trips into the interior. Food resources were moreabundant and diverse. Fish entered the Potomac estuary tospawn in the spring: oysters and mussels were available inseason; and meat could be obtained from a wide varietyof small mammals, reptiles, and migratory waterfowl, aswell as larger game, such as deer and bear.

To exploit these resources, prehistoric peoples developedtools designed for specialized tasks, including the bowand arrow. After approximately 1,000 B.C., they also

mastered the art of makingceramics from local clays.Archeologists believe thatthe decorative variationson these native ceramicsprobably represent culturalvariations within groups ofNative Americans.

Most importantly, theNative Americans whogreeted the first Europeanvisitors to this regionengaged in agriculture.The maize, beans, andother products grown bythese Indians wouldbecome the commoditiesthat ensured the survivalof Virginia’s earlyEuropean settlements.

This array of Indian projectile points, all found in FairfaxCounty, represents over 8,000 years of prehistoric occupa-tion in the region.

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NATIVE AMERICANS & EUROPEANS:First Contact

John Smith and his companions came to the upperPotomac River in 1608 on a matter of survival—thesurvival of the colony at Jamestown. Without the

Indian corn supplied in part by the native residents of thisregion, the first settlers at Jamestown would have perished.

Who were these Native Americans who greeted JohnSmith and his companions as they made their way upthe Potomac in 1608? Where had they come from?Archeologists and historians disagree about the origins,the social structure and the relationships among theIndian groups who lived along this section of thePotomac River.

Some archeologists believe that the cultural characteristicsof the Native Americans who lived near Belvoir andgreeted John Smith may have spread southward from

north central Pennsylvania through Maryland and, ultimately, down the Potomac River. The forms, manu-facturing techniques, and decorative motifs of ceramicsrecovered from sites along the lower Potomac are similarto those found on earlier sites near the headwaters ofthe Potomac and its tributaries.

Scholars of Native American languages have arguedthat the forebears of the Potomac River Indians, whospoke an Algonkian language, may have migrated fromthe Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, where otherAlgonkian-speaking peoples lived. In fact, one legendof the Piscataway tribe, which lived across the Potomacfrom Fort Belvoir, refers to such a migration. Localarcheologist Larry Moore has maintained that the Indiansof southern Fairfax County spoke a Siouan language,which would suggest that they had come from the west.

John White’s depiction of a small palisaded village in North Carolina may illustrate what Potomac River villages were like.

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Regardless of the different opinions regarding the originsof these groups, archeology has provided us some cluesto the type of social structure that these early Virginianshad developed. Historic accounts frequently refer to largeIndian villages enclosed within wooden stockades orpalisades. John Smith’s mapclearly shows that NativeAmerican villages andbuildings lined both shoreof the Potomac River belowthe Fall Line. The closest ofthese to Fort Belvoir was the“Chief’s Howse,” or town ofTauxenent on the OccoquanRiver, just south of the post.Archeologists have investigat-ed several such village sitesalong the Potomac River.

Some Indians apparentlyoccupied smaller satellite villages away from the largertown sites. Smith’s map dis-tinguishes between chiefhouses and regular houses. Smith’s “regularhouses” may represent smaller less substantialunfortified hamlets; at least one of these satellitesites has been found on Mason’s Neck, just southof Belvoir. The patterns of various storage pits andhouse outlines, the bone, stone, and antler tools,and the remains of plant and animal foods foundon these sites show that these early Virginians usedresources from both the river and the inland forests.

Three separate groups or tribes—the Dogue (also knownas the Taux or Moyumpse), the Patawomeke, and thePiscataway Indians—apparently controlled this sectionof the Potomac River. Historic records leave little doubtthat the Dogue Indians were most closely associated withthe south-eastern corner of Fairfax County. Early Virginialand records also referred to the “Doeg” or MoyumpseIndians, using a variety of spellings. In the 1650s, thename of “Dogs Island” was applied to a tract of landon what is now Mason’s Neck, the next peninsuladowriver from Belvoir. Pohick Bay, which borders thewestern side of the Belvoir peninsula, was sometimescalled “Doeg Island Creek” or “Miompses Creek.” Aslate as 1737, a map of the area identified an island inthe Occoquan River as “Doge Island once an IndianHabitation in Occoquan Bay now little left of it.”Some Dogue Indians also resided with the PiscatawayIndians across the Potomac River in Maryland on landbetween Potomac Creek and Piscataway Creek.

During the rest of the seventeenth century, the Indians ofthe Potomac River region maintained a mixed relationshipwith the increasing number of European settlers in the

region. For example, while the Maryland colony generallycultivated friendly relationships with most Indian groupson the Potomac, the colony’s relationships with the Doguewere strained. Friction between European settlers andIndians intensified in the 1650s when the Maryland

government invited theSusquehannocks, anIroquoian tribe that originallylived at the head of theChesapeake Bay, to settlenear Piscataway Creek inwhat is now Prince GeorgesCounty. Documentary evidence suggests that in1675, the Dogue and theSusquehannocks weredrawn, perhaps unwittinglyinto a conflict with colonists

in Maryland and Virginia. For the next fifteen years,remnants of these two tribes roamed through Virginia’sPiedmont region and Southern Maryland, raiding frontiersettlements and terrorizing both Indians and Europeansin Virginia’s interior. The sporadic conflicts and raidswere not resolved until the 1690s.

John Smith’s 1608 map showed the Belvoir areaand indicated the locations of several villages, including Tauxenent.

Sand-tempered cord-markedPotomac Creek pottery is acharacteristic ceramic found on sites near Belvoir.

These fragmentary Indian tobaccopipes—one stone, the other ceramic—were found at what is thought to bethe site of the village of Tauxenent.The effigy represents an otter.

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Fairfax Co. Heritage Resources

Fairfax Co. Heritage Resources

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BELVOIR IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

From the time JohnSmith entered theupper Potomac River

valley until approximately1650; few Europeans ventured into what eventuallybecame Northern Virginia.Those who did were tran-sients—traders with nameslike Crenshaw, Hamer,Spelman, Jones, and Fleet—who exchanged Jews’ harps,beads and hoes for beaverpelts obtained from theusually friendly Indians.

However, deterioratingIndian-European relations,and friction with theMaryland colony across thePotomac River discouragedexpansion and permanentsettlement along the upperPotomac in Virginia until themiddle of the seventeenthcentury. The first land grantin what is now Fairfax County wasissued in 1651 for property on thepeninsula or “neck” immediatelysouth of Fort Belvoir. The first landgrant within the boundaries of whatis now Fort Belvoir was issued six yearslater. John Stoell acquired a parcel of1,000 acres on Belvoir’s southwestpeninsula, the neck of land betweenPohick and Accotink Creeks. It isunlikely that Stoell himself occupiedthe property, for parts of it were soldwithin a short time to other owners.

The power to grant land in the colonyof Virginia originally rested with thecolonial assembly in Jamestown. To encourage populationgrowth, the assembly adopted a system known as the“head right,” which enabled a resident colonist to claimfifty acres for every new settler whose passage he paidfrom England to Virginia. To ensure permanent settlementinstead of speculation, the assembly also required thatthe grant recipient had to erect a minimal house, grazelivestock, and/or cultivate one acre of his property with-

in three years. Failure tocomply with the requirementsmeant that the land could bedeclared “deserted;” in suchcases, the grant could be re-issued to another individual.

Political developments inEngland led to changes thatultimately disrupted andconfused the system of earlyland grants in NorthernVirginia. In 1649, in recog-nition of services renderedto the Crown, the exiledKing Charles II granted toseven of his supporters avast territory in Virginiathat became known as theNorthern Neck. This largegrant included all of the landbetween the Potomac andthe Rappahannock Rivers.Through marriage and pur-chase, this vast region cameunder the ownership of a

single titled family—the Fairfaxes. Asproprietor, Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax,could rent or sell parcels of land,independent of control by Virginia’scolonial government. Because twoagencies now were authorized to grantland, many early patents overlapped,and/or their boundaries were inexact.The confusion led later to many legalchallenges over the boundaries ofthese early landgrants.

Despite conflicting land claims, settle-ment in Northern Virginia accelerated atthe end of the Susquehannock Wars.By 1673, as Augustine Herrman’s

map shows, several permanent, residences had beenestablished along the shores of the Potomac River andits tributaries. By 1690, all waterfront property thattoday is included within Fort Belvoir had been patentedand subdivided.

Five major property grants comprised most of the areathat today forms Fort Belvoir. In 1694, the 1,000-acre

The coat of arms of Thomas, SixthLord Fairfax, became the emblem ofthe newly created County of Fairfax.

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Stoell grant between Accotink and Pohick creeks,plus an additional 150-acre parcel at the mouth ofAccotink Creek, were granted to Thomas Ousley (Owsley)of Stafford County. Ousley, who was captain of a localmilitia group known as the Potomac Rangers, lived on thisproperty and was buried there in 1700. Thus far, arche-ologists have been unable to locate either Ousley’sgrave or the site of his house. By 1718, the McCarty

family had acquired the tract, which ultimately wasnamed “Cedar Grove Plantation.”

William Green’s 1669 patent for 1,150 acres encom-passed most of what is now Fort Belvoir’s South Post.Although this property was sub-divided and sold in theearly eighteenth century, it was reassembled during the1730s to create the central portion of William Fairfax’s2,200-acre plantation of Belvoir Manor.

The part of Belvoir Neck that borders on Dogue Creek,now the location of the Dogue Creek Village housingcomplex, was purchased in 1678 by John Wells andThomas Derrick, who apparently intended the tract asan investment. Portions of their 363-acre grant weresubsequently sold to a variety of landowners, includingsome residents of Maryland. This portion of Belvoir Neckapparently remained a separate parcel until 1918, whenit was acquired as part of Camp A.A. Humphreys, asFort Belvoir was originally called.

In 1671, John Thomas patented 1,000 acres along theupper reaches of Accotink Creek. The exact location isunclear, because the deed describes it only as lying ‘on thehead of a creek in Potomac freshes beyond the Doegs Island

and land of Col. Speake adjacent land of Robert Lord andJames Magregory.” Thomas’ property seems to haveincluded almost all of the area now occupied by DavisonArmy Airfield, as well as portions of the North Post goldcourse. By 1718, the same Dennis McCarty who hadbought “Cedar Grove” also had purchased Thomas’property, which he named “Mount Air.”

A 1678 deed conveyed 780 acres of land “on the headof Doug Creek adjacent Mr. Wells and Mr. Thomas” toColonel William Travers of Essex County, Virginia. Inthe late eighteenth century, this tract was purchased byGeorge Washington and it became Woodlawn Plantation.Today, Belvoir’s Commissary, Post Exchange, the LewisVillage housing and the Fort Belvoir Elementary Schoolare all located on this tract.

The largest grant of land—a total of 2,244 acres“between the main run of Accotink and Dogue run,commonly called...Herryford Manor”—was first patentedin 1714. A 300-acre section of this large grant, whichadjoined Dennis McCarty’s Mount Air property, wassold to the wardens and vestry of Truro Parish for 12,000pounds of tobacco; this property was known as the Glebe.William Fairfax bought the 300-acre church propertyin 1752, and added it to his Belvoir Manor Plantation.

By the second quarter of the eighteenth century, popu-lation in the region north of the Occoquan River hadincreased sufficiently to justify the formation of a newpolitical jurisdiction, which was carved out of PrinceWilliam County. The new county adopted the cost ofarms of the house of Fairfax as its insignia.

In 1994, volunteers from Fairfax County’s Heritage ResourcesOffice search for Thomas Owsley’s seventeenth century home.

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ABOVE: Agustine Herrman’s 1676 Map of Maryland andVirginia depicted the initial plantations in the southern portion of Fairfax County in the Belvoir area.

FACING PAGE:Warner’s 1737survey of the Northern Neck pro-prietary was the first map to depict the enormous size of thefive million acre grant that extended from the headwaters ofthe Potomac River in West Virginia to the Chesapeake Bay.

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In about 1750, if you had journeyed to NorthernVirginia from England or from other colonies onthe Atlantic seaboard, chances are that you would

have arrived by ship. Navigable rivers like the Potomacwere the main commercial arteries of the Virginiacolony. These eighteenth century highways carried thecommodities that established and maintained the greatcolonial fortunes: tobacco, grain, and slaves. Theyalso wove together the social and political fabric of thecolony, for those who lived along and traveled therivers generally held positions of power. From eachplantation’s river landing, the sons of Virginia’splanters embarked to be schooled in England. Oneafter another, poised upon the bluffs above the river,stood the imposing residences of Virginia’s colonialelite—the tangible and visible symbols of each planter’swealth and power.

As your ship sailed slowly north of the Occoquan River,with its small settlement at the town of Colchester, foursuch manors would slowly have come into view: GeorgeMason’s Gunston Hall, Col. Dennis McCarty’s CedarGrove and Mount Air; William Fairfax’s Belvoir, andLawrence Washington’s Mount Vernon. Two of thesehomes—Cedar Grove and Belvoir—lay within the presentboundaries of Fort Belvoir. Gunston Hall and MountVernon survive, but Belvoir and Cedar Grove remainonly as archeological sites.

William Fairfax, builder of Belvoir, arrived in the Virginiacolony in the 1730s from Massachusetts, where he hadserved as Collector of Customs for the Crown. From1734 to 1741, Fairfax and his wife Deborah lived alongthe lower Potomac, where William again assumed theposition of Collector of Customs and acted as land

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THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY:Fairfax County’s “Golden Age”

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agent for his cousin, Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax,proprietor of the massive Northern Neckland grant.

During this time, he also assembled the property andconstructed the dwelling complex at Belvoir Manor.Fairfax’s elegant new home was completed in 1741.Historic documents and archeological remains found atBelvoir Manor both attest to the elegant lifestyle enjoyedby the Fairfax family. William Fairfax called his manorBelvoir, a French word meaning “beautiful to see.”The mansion itself, described in a 1774 rental notice, wasspacious and well-appointed. Its furnishings consistedof “tables, chairs, and every other necessary article...veryelegant.” Ceramics imported from Europe and the Orientgraced its tables. Prominent citizens of the colony, includingGeorge Washington, a neighbor and a close friend, visitedfrequently, and Thomas Sixth Lord Fairfax, the onlymember of the British nobility ever to reside in thecolonies, lived at Belvoir before he moved to theShenandoah Valley.

Despite the grandeur of their surroundings and therefinement of their furnishings, planters like the Masons,McCartys, Washingtons, and Fairfaxes did not leadindolent lives. Conscious of their civic duty, they were thepolitical, social, economic, and religious leaders of theirimmediate neighborhood and of the colony at large.

William Fairfax was a case in point.As President of the Governor’s Councilin Williamsburg, he held a positionequivalent to today’s Lieutenant Governor;in this position, he represented the colony at an importantconference with the Iroquois Indians in 1753. It was hewho introduced the bill that created Fairfax County as aseparate political jurisdiction in 1742, and he subsequentlyserved as presiding Justice of the County Court, and asCounty Lieutenant, the county’s chief law-enforcementofficer. At the same time, he managed his own largeproperties throughout Fairfax County and served as theland agent for his cousin, Lord Fairfax. George WilliamFairfax, William’s son and heir and a close personalfriend of George Washington, continued his father’stradition of public service.

While the contributions of these eighteenth centuryleaders certainly were substantial, their lives must alsobe viewed in a broader perspective. Planters likeWilliam Fairfax comprised a very small portion ofFairfax County’s population: most of their neighborswere smaller farmers who sometimes barely managedto make a living. Moreover, the affluence of theseplanters was based not only on land and imposingbuildings, but on the number of slaves they held.Slaves too are in the records—as chattel passed fromone generation to another, and as the probable usersof the plain unglazed ceramics found in the outbuild-ings of Belvoir Manor.

ABOVE: In ca. 1932, Colonel Edward Schulz uncovered the massive foundations of the Belvoir Manor Houseand its dependencies. RIGHT: Belvoir’s slaves either made or used coarse unglazed earthenware pots such asthis one. BOTTOM: An artist’s rendering of the Belvoir Manor.

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TRANSITIONS I:Belvoir in the Antebellum Period

When GeorgeWilliam Fairfaxleft Belvoir for

England in 1773, the estatewas rented and its fur-nishings were sold. In1783, the mansion andseveral of its outbuildingswere destroyed by fire, and,as Washington noted, theplantation complexgradually deterioratedinto ruins. FerdinandoFairfax, who inheritedthe property, apparentlydid not live there. Thebluffs below the former mansion site were quarried forbuilding stone, but the house site itself was not developed.The subsequent history of the Belvoir estate was a micro-cosm of the fate of many of the large plantationsthat had graced southeastern Fairfax County duringthe eighteenth century.

Belvoir Plantation was devastated further during theWar of 1812. In August 1814, as British land forcesattacked and burned the City of Washington, a Britishnaval squadron sailed up the Potomac River andforced the surrender of Alexandria. Loaded with loot,the fleet then began the 180-mile return trip downriver.On September 1, the British attempted to run thedeep-water channel below the Belvoir house site, aposition that previously had been identified as a

strategic defensive locationon the river. Here, a hastilyassembled American force,composed of Virginia andAlexandria militia underthe command of U.S. NavyCaptain David Porter, hurriedly began to mounta battery on the bluffsabove the river. For fourdays, British and Americanforces exchanged cannonand musket fire. The Britishfleet eventually passed theAmerican positions, butBritish shells demolished

what little was left of the old Belvoir Manor.

All of the great eighteenth century plantations in theFort Belvoir area changed considerably in the yearsbefore the Civil War. Soil exhaustion and inheritanceprompted the sale and sub-division of these formerlymassive tracts of land. As a new generation of landown-ers took up residence in southeastern Fairfax County,patterns of land use and ownership were altered.

The association of Belvoir Plantation with the Fairfaxfamily ended with the death of Ferdinando Fairfax in1820. During the next decade, William Herbert ofAlexandria acquired the property, which he quickly usedas collateral for a loan. During the 1830s, Thomas Irwin,Herbert’s creditor, operated the shad fisheries at White

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This artist’s rendering shows American forces building gunemplacements on the bluffs at Belvoir, in preparation forintercepting the British fleet.

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House Point. However, Herbert’scontinued inability to pay hisdebts eventually led to the sale ofBelvoir at public auction in 1838.

In 1841, Philip Otterback ofWashington, D.C. purchased the“Tract of land (and fisheriesthereunto appertaining) called‘Belvoir’ or the ‘White House’”for slightly over $12,000. The1860 Federal agricultural censusshows that Otterback raised wheat,corn, and oats on approximatelyone-third of his Belvoir tract.The remaining “unimproved”land, part of which was knownas “Otterback’s Woods,” probablywas used for timber and pasture,since he also owned considerablelivestock, including horses, cattle,pigs, and substantialnumbers of sheep.

Ownership and use ofDennis McCarty’s MountAir and Cedar Groveproperties also changedsignificantly during theearly nineteenth century.By 1800, great-grandsonDaniel McCarty “theyounger” had incurred somuch debt that the FairfaxCounty Court placed liensagainst all of his land,rental dwellings, slaves,farm animals, and crops.McCarty’s wife, Sarah,was allowed to keepCedar Grove Plantationas her residence, butportions of McCarty’sproperty were mortgaged,sold, or leased within thefirst two decades of thenineteenth century. Partsof Mount Air, whichincluded some of what isnow Fort Belvoir’s NorthPost, were acquired in1815 by Sarah McCarty Chichester, daughter of DanielMcCarty, and sister of Daniel McCarty, Jr. In 1804,several parcels around the intersection of AccotinkCreek and the Colchester Road (U.S. Route 1) weretransferred to the partnership of Gardner and Deane.These properties, which now form the lower part ofDavison Army Airfield, Accotink, and the area around

Tulley Gate, were developedinto a grist mill complex. By the Civil War, the village ofAccotink had coalesced aroundthe mill site. Daniel McCarty’ssons, William and James, wereleft with only Cedar Grove anda large parcel of land west ofupper Accotink Creek known asthe “Whitemarsh Tract.”

By the beginning of the CivilWar, all remaining McCartyproperty had passed from family control. JonathanRoberts, a farmer and surveyor,with his wife Abigail, their fivechildren and two male boarders,occupied the Cedar Grove prop-erty he bought from WilliamMcCarty in 1848. Roberts, who

was originally fromNew Jersey, sub-dividedportions of his property,selling the Accotink millsite to the partnership ofTroth and Gillinghamin 1849, and a 95-acretract to Levi Stiles, alsofrom New Jersey. The land east of the“Whitemarsh Tract”was purchased in 1856by Samuel and MaryDenty, who raised live-stock, wheat, corn, andfive children on their700-acre farm. In 1860,Mount Air and 452 surrounding acres, were purchased byAristide C. Landstreet,who would later serve as a private in Company F, 6th Virginia Cavalry, CSA duringthe Civil War.

Roberts, Stiles, Troth,Gillingham, Denty andOtterback all represent-

ed the changes that had occurred in the Belvoir area.Large manorial holdings, manned by dozens of slaves,were a thing of the past. Tobacco, which had depletedthe soils, no longer reigned supreme. The influence ofthe Tidewater aristocracy had waned. Instead, thereappeared a new set of entrepreneurs and farmers whoshepherded the Belvoir area into the twentieth century.

TOP: This auction notice in the Alexandria Gazette mistakenlycalled the old Fairfax plantation “Belview”. BOTTOM: This surveymap, showing the Accotink grist mill area, was made in 1859 for acourt case. Note the large marsh, which today is a prominentfeature of the Accotink Wildlife Refuge.

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TRANSITIONS II:Belvoir Enters the Twentieth Century

Chalkley Gillingham and Paul Troth, two of thepartners who purchased the run-down Woodlawnestate in the 1840s were in the vanguard of the

new arrivals in the Belvoir area. To them, Fairfax County’sdepleted soils, low real estate prices, and general economicdecline in the 1840s, presented an outstanding opportunity.Troth and Gillingham, who supplied lumber to Northernshipbuilders, were interested primarily in the vast timberresources of the Woodlawn property.

Many attributes distinguished these new residents fromestablished Tidewater families. Many were from Northernstates such as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maine, NewHampshire, and even New Brunswick, Canada. Theyrepresented a diverse assortment of occupations. Somewere members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, areligious sect that had been present in Virginia since theseventeenth century, and whose presence was strong inAlexandria. Quakers were committed to non-violence,education, the use of progressive farming methods, andopposition to slavery.

By 1850, the Quakers had created a thriving communityin the emerging neighborhood in the Accotink/Woodlawnarea. The 1860 Federal census showed that residents ofAccotink worked as lawyers, doctors, millers, merchants,blacksmiths, boatmen nurserymen, laborers, wheelwrights,surveyors, carpenters, and farmers. Farm labor wasprovided by a family members or hired help, some ofwhom were immigrants from Europe and Canada. TheWoodlawn and Accotink communities included aQuaker Meeting House and cemetery, the AccotinkMill, a school, and one or more stores.

The decline and subdivision of the great tobacco plan-tations brought about another profound demographicchange in nineteenth century Fairfax. With smaller farmsand the introductions of agricultural machinery, largenumbers of slaves were no longer needed. Although manyslaves were sold or taken by their owners to states inthe Deep South, others were freed. The Quakers assistedmany of these freed African-Americans to acquire landin the Woodlands/Accotink area.

Benjamin Otterback surveys the Potomac River from the shoreline of his White House shad fishery, ca. 1900.

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Archival sources show that these former slaves not onlysurvived, but often prospered. Felix, Lewis, Philip and Ausa(Osman) Quander, probably related to Nancy Quander,a Washington slave who was freed in 1802, worked aslaborers and apparently owned no property in 1850. Butwithin a decade, all had acquired small tracts, locatednorth and west of Woodlawn Plantation on what todayis part of North Post. Other African-American propertyowners in the area before the Civil War included theHolland and Jasper families. The farms that theseex-slaves owned ranged in size from 3 to 28 acres.

During the Civil War,both Union and Confed-erate forces foraged insoutheastern Fairfax,disrupting the daily lives of the Belvoir area’s residents.However, the closest major battles, First and SecondManassas, took place far to the south and west. BelvoirNeck also was too far from Washington, D.C to be includedin the city’s perimeter defenses. Compared to other parts ofFairfax County the Accotink and Woodlawn communitiescontinued to develop in relative stability.

The same families that had moved into the region beforethe war remained there during the post-war period. Thechildren of many neighboring families intermarried, andfarms became smaller as they were subdivided amongincreasing numbers of heirs. When the Army acquiredthe southwest peninsula in 1918 for use as a target range,14 separate deeds were drawn up for properties that at onetime had been part of McCarty’s Cedar Grove plantation.As one 1907 promotional brochure pointed out, “Old

plantations here are fast being divided up into smalleracres, and practically where ‘One blade of grass grewbefore, two blades now grow.”

Decreasing farm sizes also meant that fewer people couldsupport themselves solely by farming; more and morewere employed in providing services. In general, whitestended to hold such skilled or salaried positions such ascarpenter, miller, postmaster, salesman, schoolteacher, andblacksmith. P. Hillman Troth, who owned the AccotinkMill and several rental properties in the village, was one

of Accotink’s mostprominent citizens.

Both the black and thewhite communitiesdeveloped strong socialand cultural institutionsin the post-Civil Waryears. The WoodlawnMethodist Church andcemetery, a school,and the Mount VernonEnterprise Lodge of theOdd Fellows formedthe physical and social

nucleus of the area’s burgeoning African-Americancommunity. The social and cultural life of the area’sEuro-American residents revolved around the Episcopal,Methodist, Baptist, and Quaker churches at Woodlawn,Pohick, and Accotink, the schools at Potter’s Hill andin Accotink village, and the Woodlawn Farmer’s Club,which held annual agricultural fairs and published ajournal on progressive farming.

As the War Department prepared to acquire property in thearea, Fort Belvoir’s eighteenth century sites lay forgottenand overgrown. One historian who visited the site ofBelvoir Manor in 1888 wrote: “All was a tangle of brush-wood and fallen trees: but such an enchanting viewover the river! There were some heaps of bricks, and a poor old fig tree in the clearing, which I suppose, was once the garden.”

ABOVE: Accotink Village, ca. 1900. BELOW, LEFT: The grave of Chalkley Gillingham, a leader of the two groups that developedthe Belvoir area in the post-Civil War years. BELOW, CENTER: A company street at Camp Belvoir, 1915.

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ESTABLISHMENT OF CAMP A. A. HUMPHREYS:1917 – 1918

The U.S. Armybegan utilizingthe Belvoir

peninsula as an engineertraining facility in1915,which they namedCamp Belvoir. Thefacility evolved fromthe U.S.Army’s EngineerSchool, which wasestablished in 1866 atWillet’s Point (now FortTotten), New York. In1901, the school relo-cated to WashingtonBarracks (now FortMcNair) inWashington,D.C. AlthoughWashing-ton Barracks providedample classroom facili-ties, that installationlacked adequate fieldtraining areas and rifleranges. As a result, theschool was forced toseek additional train-ing space.

In 1912, the EngineerSchool began conduct-ing summer trainingexercises on a govern-ment-owned parcel in Virginia, locatedapproximately 15 milessouth of Washingtonalong the PotomacRiver. The District of Columbia hadacquired the1,500-acretract on the Belvoir peninsula in 1910 from theOtterback family, for development of a children’sreformatory. However, local community groups andpatriotic organizations, such as the Daughters of theAmerican Revolution, opposed the establishment of areformatory on ground so closely associated with GeorgeWashington and the other “founding fathers” of thecountry. Thus, the reformatory never materialized atBelvoir, but was later constructed in nearby Lorton.

In 1912, Congresstransferred theOtterback propertyto the War Depart-ment, following anArmy request to usethe land as a trainingsite. This site waschosen by theEngineer Schoolbecause of its prox-imity to the existingschool, its adequatewater supply and itschallenging terrain.Here, engineer stu-dents conducted rifle practice, trainedin building pontonbridges, and billetedin temporary Camp Belvoir.

America’s entry intoWorld War I in April1917 led to the firstwave of militaryconstruction at theVirginia training site.Construction of thesemi-permanent can-tonment, named CampA.A. Humphreys inhonor of Civil Warcommander and former Chief ofEngineers (1866-79),Major General AndrewA. Humphreys, beganin January 1918 under

very difficult conditions. The Winter of 1918 was remem-bered for its extremely cold temperatures and unusuallyheavy snowfall. Despite these severe conditions, some5,000 soldiers and 6,000 civilians cleared, surveyed,and constructed camp facilities in only 11 months. Muchof the heavy labor was performed by segregated African-American service battalions. According to the first issue ofthe camp newspaper, The Castle, Camp A.A. Humphreyswas “the wonder city in the midst of an unbroken

A recruiting poster utilized during World War I to encourage men toenlist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

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wilderness of forest and swamp” where “the Washingtonsand the Fairfaxes hunted the fox.”

The development of Camp A.A. Humphreys transformedthe agrarian neighborhood around Accotink and Wood-lawn; one historian described the establishment of thecamp as “the second invasion by the armed forces” ofthe Woodlawn neighborhood. Many residents were displaced from their homes and farms, sometimesunwillingly. Many of the members of the WoodlawnQuaker Meeting,who had lostproperties, movedelsewhere, and asa result, the long-standing Quakerinfluence in theWoodlawn neigh-borhood declined.Through purchaseor condemnation,the Army acquiredadditional acreageduring 1917 and1918, fourteenfarms on thepeninsula betweenAccotink andPohick Creeks were transformed into target ranges, twolarge parcels along Dogue Creek were taken throughgovernment condemnation proceedings, and the purchaseof a 3,300-acre parcel that today comprises most ofthe North Post and Davison Army Airfield was inprocess by 1918.

Transportation systems and utilities also were improved.Previously, the most direct access to the Belvoir Peninsulahad been by boat down the Potomac from Washington –the most efficient way of supplying the camp with buildingmaterials and other necessities. Road systems thereforewere improved: the unpaved Washington-RichmondHighway was surfaced in concrete within six months(October 1918), and a plank road was constructed thatlinked the camp to the Washington-Richmond Highway.Standard gauge and narrow gauge railways followed.The Mount Air property was used to construct a rail-way linking Camp Humphreys with the Richmond,

Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. Building thesetransportation system not only facilitated deliveries tothe camp, but provided valuable engineer trainingexperience for troops sent to the battle lines in Europe.

To accommodate the 20,000 men anticipated at the camp,plans called for the construction of 790 temporarywood-frame buildings. Quarters were filled as soon asthey were completed. A consistent supply of fresh waterwas assured through the construction of a dam acrossAccotink Creek and a water filtration plant on the siteof the former Accotink Mill. Within only four monthsof the start of the construction, Camp A.A. Humphreysoperated in full swing.

Several schools operated at Camp A.A. Humphreysduring World War I. One of the most vital componentsof the camp was the Engineer Replacement and TrainingCamp, where enlisted men were trained. Camp A.A.Humphreys was also active in training officers duringthe war. The Engineer Officers’ Training Center operatedat Camp Humphreys until February 1919. Its programwas designed to select the most qualified enlisted menfor training as junior officers. Another school locatedat Camp A.A. Humphreys was the Army Gas School,necessitated by the advent of chemical warfare. Theschool of Military Mining taught trench warfare andfield fortification techniques. The schools conductedmost of their training on the South Post although partsof the southwest peninsula were used for rifle ranges.By the end of the war, over 50,000 enlisted men and4,900 officer candidates had been trained at CampA.A. Humphreys.

Life at Camp A.A. Humphreys did not consist solely ofmilitary training. Considerable attention was paid tomaintaining troop morale. At least six charitable serviceorganizations—the YMCA, Knights of Columbus, theJewish Welfare Board, the Red Cross, the YWCA, andthe Library Board—maintained a permanent presenceon the installation. These groups offered social andrecreational events for both enlisted men and officers.World War I trainees could participate in inter-installationathletics; improve their basic reading and writing skills;learn to speak French; watch movies and vaudeville shows;visit Washington, D.C.; and attend dances. Troops atCamp Humphreys suffered severely during the late

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Summer and Autumn of 1918 during the world-wideSpanish Influenza pandemic. The number of troopstreated at the camp was at least 4,000; with a mortalityrate of 35%.

At war’s end in November 1918, Camp A.A. Humphreysbecame a demobilization center where troops were

prepared for their return to civilian life. By the close of 1919, more than 14,000 men had been demobilizedat Camp A.A. Humphreys. The camp retained a smallgarrison after the war. In 1919, the 5th EngineerRegiment from Camp A.A. Humphreys was called toWashington D.C. to help quell racially motivated civil disturbances.

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP:

Panorama of CampHumphreys.

Route 1, Winter 1918:Soldiers worked in coldand snowy conditionsduring the construction ofCamp Humphreys.

Barracks of the EngineerOfficer Training School atCamp Humphreys, 1918.

St. Martin’s Chapel, FortHumphreys, 1920.

Portrait of MajorGeneral AndrewAtkinson Humphreys.

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HISTORIC SITES

Of the Fort Belvoir Area

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Woodlawn Friends’ Meeting House

Pohick Episcopal Church(Truro Parish)

Accotink Methodist Church

Woodlawn Methodist Cemetary

George Mason’s Gunston Hall(Courtesy Gunston Hall)

Officers’ Housing (ca.1935), Fort Belvoir

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Mount Vernon (Courtesy MountVernonLadies’ Association)

Historic Abbot Hall, Fort Belvoir

Woodlawn Plantation

George Washington’s Grist Mill

Fairfax Family Grave Siteand Manor Site

Historic Officers’ Housing (ca.1925), Fort Belvoir

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INTER-WAR PERIOD:1919 –1939

Unlike many temporary Army installations estab-lished during World War I and closed following thewar, Camp A.A. Humphreys remained active and

continued to expand. By 1919 the camp had grown fromits original 1,500 acres to approximately 6,000 acres.

The Army’s commitment to the post was demonstratedby the official relocation of the Engineer School fromWashington Barracks to Camp A.A. Humphreys in 1919.Although the school had been utilizing the area as atraining site since 1915, it was not until 1919 that thecamp became the “home” of the Corps of Engineers.Following the Engineer School’s move, Camp A.A.Humphreys was designated a permanent post in 1922and renamed Fort Humphreys. Throughout the inter-waryears, the Engineer School trained new engineer officersin the technical requirements of their duties. Programsoffered included forestry, road and railroad construction,camouflage, mining, surveying, ponton bridge construc-tion, photography, printing, and cooking.

The school also provided compressed courses for NationalGuard and Reserve officers. The four-week ROTC(Reserve Officers Training Corps) camps, which drew

would-be Army engineers from universities across thecountry, continued the facility’s pre-World War I traditionof using the original 1,500-acre site as a summer trainingcamp. ROTC cadets received basic training in standardmilitary tactics through such courses as bayonet drilland target practice; military administration and militarylaw; first aid and sanitation; and two levels of engineeringcourses in such specializations as bridge-building, demolition, reconnaissance, and railroad construction.Of course, ROTC camp experiences were not allwork; the camp had a yearbook, an orchestra, and anorganized program of athletic competition. The camphostesses also made certain that the would-be officerssocialized with acceptable young ladies from the surrounding neighborhood.

Another addition to Fort Humphreys during the inter-warperiod was the Engineer Board, which relocated to FortHumphreys in 1924. The Engineer Board, forerunner of theBelvoir Research, Development and Engineering Center,was founded in 1870 to test engineering equipment. At FortHumphreys, the Board’s mission was to develop specializedengineering equipment. Its establishment marked thebeginning of the installation’s role in military research

Bridge building exercises, Camp Humphreys, 1921.

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and development. During theinter-war period, the Boarddeveloped numerous items tomake troops more effective andmore comfortable in combat.Among the many innovationswere assault boats, portablesteel bridges, mine detectors,and even portable bathing units.

One of the more dramaticchanges to Fort Humphreysduring the inter-war periodwas its physical transformation.By the 1920s, the installation’soriginal temporary buildingshad deteriorated, as had mostof the Army’s other temporarytraining cantonments thatwere hastily built duringWorld War I.

In 1926, the Army initiated anambitious, nation-wide buildingprogram designed to addressgrowing concerns over thedeplorable liv-ing conditionsreported at thenation’s militaryinstallations.The programaimed to replacethe World War Itemporarywooden build-ings with per-manent build-ings. The pro-gram wasfinancedthrough the saleof 43 militaryinstallations;money receivedfrom the saleswas deposited into a special fund designated the“Military Post Construction Fund.”

The Army’s nationwide re-building program resulted in amassive construction effort that involved both military andcivilian architects, planners, and designers. Standardizedarchitectural plans were developed by the Army’s Quarter-master Corps to carry out the construction programeffectively and economically. These plans included designsthat adapted to local climatic conditions and that reflectedlocal architectural history. The Georgian Colonial Revivalstyle, characterized by red brick facades, strict symmetry,

and pedimented central pavil-ions, was used most often inthe eastern areas of the coun-try, where English settlementswere clustered in the colonialperiod. The Spanish ColonialRevival style, characterizedby stucco walls and clay tileroofs, was favored for postsin the south and the west, inareas of traditional Spanishinfluence.

Many of Fort Belvoir’s mostimportant buildings wereconstructed as a result of thenationwide rebuilding pro-gram. Most of FortHumphreys’ temporarywood-frame World War Ibuildings were demolished;in their place, new perma-nent masonry constructionbuildings were erected. AtBelvoir, the new buildingsincluded officers’ housing,

barracks, aschool and ahospital; alldesigned in aGeorgianColonialRevival style.

The landscapeplan adoptedfor FortHumphreysalso exempli-fied the Armyefforts toimprove thequality of lifefor its person-nel and the aesthetic beauty

of its installations. George B. Ford, planning adviserto the War Department during the 1920s, encouragedinstallations to turn away from more formal, tradition-al planning practices, particularly the use of straight linesand rigid geometric patterns. He advocated creatinguseful and aesthetically pleasing environments that tookadvantage of natural vistas and used irregular lines.Quartermaster Corps officer, First Lieutenant HowardB. Nurse, also influenced Army planning at this time.Like Ford, he advocated the integration of naturaltopography in the design and layout of streets, especiallyin residential areas. The results of Nurse’s and Ford’s

The Station Hospital, later named Flagler Hall, under construction in 1932.

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philosophies were most apparent in the configuration ofthe officers’ housing sections at Belvoir today.

These new planning concepts were implemented atinstallations nation-wide, including Fort Humphreys.The elaborate new layout for Fort Humphreys calledfor separate functional areas united in a formal plan.Administrative and instructional buildings were arrangedalong one side of the parade ground, with barracks,theater, gymnasium, post exchange, and post office intwo squares on the opposite side of the parade ground.Non-commissioned officer housing was arranged intwo blocks behind the barracks area, while the officers’housing was placed along a picturesque, curving roadin a park-like setting. Warehouses and support buildingswere located at the edge of the new post plan.

Another development at the post during the inter-warperiod was a renewed interest in the history of the area,particularly of William Fairfax’s Belvoir plantation.During the 1920s, two lieutenants at the post, Karrickand Kohloss, surveyed and described the ruins of theold Fairfax mansion and attempted to reconstruct its

historic appearance and layout. At about the same time,Fairfax Harrison, a locally-prominent historian andpresident of the Southern Railroad, sponsored the con-struction of the monument obelisk that today marksthe graves of William Fairfax and his wife. In 1931,Colonel Edward H. Schulz, commanding officer of FortHumphreys, initiated the first archeological project atthe plantation ruins. Vegetation was cleared, and exca-vation revealed the foundations of the large mansion,its outbuildings, and the outline of an elaborate walledflower garden with two garden houses that overlookedthe Potomac River from the 100-foot bluff.

While Schulz’ excavation techniques were somewhatprimitive by modern standards, the archeological projectgenerated a tremendous amount of public interest. Therewas some talk of reconstructing the manor house to serveas the commanding officer’s quarters, and, in 1935, thename of the installation was changed from Fort Humphreysto Fort Belvoir. It is said that the name change occurredafter President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s visit to neighbor-ing Gunston Hall, whose owner informed the presidentof the post’s historic past.

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FACING PAGE: Aerial view of Fort Humphreys, 1932.

ABOVE: Fort HumphreysVirginia map showing old andnew proposed construction.

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WORLD WAR II PERIOD:1940 –1945

The outbreak ofWorld War IIin Europe in

1939 and Japaneseexpansion in Asia andthe Pacific motivatedthe United Statesgovernment to beginpreparing for possibleinvolvement in theexpanding worldconflict. As in WorldWar I, Army engineerswould be needed toprovide critical sup-port to Allied forcesby building roads andbridges, clearingobstacles, providingmaps, and engineeringdemolitions. To prepare engineersadequately for theirwartime role, FortBelvoir once againbecame one of theArmy’s primary engi-neer training sites.

Fort Belvoir againexpanded. To accom-modate the influx ofdraftees after 1940,an additional 3,000acres north of U.S.Route 1 were acquiredto make room for the new Engineer Replacement TrainingCenter (ERTC). As in the past, numerous local familieswere displaced from their small farms by this acquisition.It was during this phase of Belvoir’s expansion that thesmall historic African-American community at Woodlawndisintegrated. The Woodlawn Methodist Church andmany residents moved north to the community of GumSprings along U.S. Route 1. The new Army housingcomplex known as Young Village was constructed onthe site where the community’s school, church and OddFellows Hall had stood.

In March 1941, the ERTC facility began to provide basicmilitary engineer training to draftees. Originally, the ERTC

program wasdesigned as a 12-week course, but itsduration was short-ened to eight weeksearly in 1942, whenthe demand fortroops escalateddramatically afterPearl Harbor. Asimilar curriculumwas offered at theERTCs at FortLeonard Wood inMissouri and laterat Camp Abbot inOregon. Recruitswere schooled inreconnaissance, unitcoordination, roadand obstacle con-struction, and demolition. Aftermid-1942, Belvoirbegan training engi-neer specialists inoperating construc-tion machinery, carpentry, drafting,and surveying.Instruction also wasoffered for suchnon-engineeringspecialties as truckdriving, cooking,and baking. As the

war progressed and new weapons were developed, specialized courses in weapons operation were added tothe curriculum. Engineers learned about tanks and theiruses, flamethrowers, and anti-aircraft guns. By the end ofthe war in 1945, the ERTC at Fort Belvoir had trainedroughly 147,000 engineer troops.

One of the most innovative troop training strategiesdeveloped during World War II was the obstacle course,invented by Brig. Gen. William Hoge, who later com-manded the Engineer School (1947-48). A Fort Belvoirinvention, the course was designed to teach recruits howto handle themselves and their equipment in simulatedfield conditions. Belvoir’s obstacle course incorporated

A 1942 recruiting poster designed by JesWilhelm Schlaikjer illustrating the dualrole of Army enginners in combat: to block the enemy and to“clear the way.”

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walls to climb over, hurdles to jump over, barbed wireto crawl under, ditches to swing over, and pipes to crawlthrough. The course was put into operation at the ERTCduring the spring of 1941, and was replaced in November1941 with a more rigorous one designed by Major LewisPrentiss. Proven to be a highly effective training exercise,the obstacle course was adopted at Army installationsthroughout the country.

The demands of the global conflict created personnelshortages, and various strategies were developed toovercome these shortfalls. To remedy the shortage ofqualified engineer officers during the early years of thewar, an Engineer Officer Candidate School (EOCS) wasestablished at Fort Belvoir in July of 1941. During thecourse of the war, EOCS commissioned over 22,000new second lieutenants.

The Engineer Board, responsible for the Corps’ researchand development activities, also grew dramatically duringthe war years. The Engineer Board conducted most of itstesting and development at the Engineer Proving Ground(EPG), acquired in 1940. The EPG was later renamed theFort Belvoir North Area in 1963. In 1942, the organizationmoved from its original location off the Parade Ground tothe southern end of Gunston Road. In 1947, the EngineerBoard changed its name to the Engineer Research andDevelopment Laboratories (ERDL) to more accuratelyconvey its mission. The latest title was the U.S. ArmyResearch Development and Engineering Center.

World War II also brought women into the Armed Forceson a regular basis for the first time in American history.

The first detachment of Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps(WAAC) personnel arrived at Fort Belvoir in March1943. Members of the WAAC communications, clerical,and service platoons worked as post office clerks, telephone operators, stenographers and typists, motorvehicle drivers, and mechanics. By April 1943, the 50thHeadquarters Company WAAC had become a permanentunit at Fort Belvoir.

The social and regulatory dilemmas created by thepresence of female military personnel at Fort Belvoir

TOP: Engineers training in bridge building at Fort Belvoirduring World War II. CENTER: The layout of the obstaclecourse intruduced at the Engineer Replacement TrainingCenter during the spring of 1941. Note that the coursecrosses Woodlawn Run several times in order to incorpo-rate various types of water obstacles. BOTTOM: Soldierstraining on the new obstacle course, July 1941.

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were common topics of dis-cussion in the two installationnewspapers, The Castle andThe Duckboard: Breezy Bitsfrom Belvoir Barracks.Belvoir’s military personnelsoon learned, for example,that female Warrant Officers,WAAC officers, and Armynurses were “entitled to thesame privileges with referenceto salutes as customarilyenjoyed and prescribed forcommissioned officers.”Marriages between base personnel were reported undersuch headlines as “Come hell or high water, cupidmarches on at Belvoir.”

The massive influx of inductees at Fort Belvoirprompted another wave of temporary construction atthe post during World War II. Housing was constructedfor approximately 24,000 enlisted men and officers.Like the temporary structures built during World War I,the World War II-era, wood-frame buildings weredesigned to be simple and inexpensive to construct.Unlike the World War I facilities, however, these newerstructures incorporated such improvements as indoorplumbing, central heating, and electricity. These temporary buildings were constructed at U.S. Armyinstallations throughout the country as the countrymobilized for war.

As before, maintaining troop morale throughout thewar years became just as important as technical training.The post offered numerous recreational outlets, fromdances and art classes to amateur theatrical productionsand a library. Fort Belvoir’s two weekly newspapersdevoted more space to the social aspects of life at

Belvoir than they did to military news. Their pagescarried barracks gossip; news of team sporting events;notices about dances; advice on etiquette; cartoons andjokes; helpful hints for surviving Army life; reports onvisiting officials, dignitaries, and move stars; and capsule

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biographies of officers and enlistedmen. Not until late in the war didthese publications concentrate onhard military news.

At the end of World War II in 1945,Fort Belvoir once again became ademobilization center with facilitiesdesigned to ease the transitionbetween military and civilian life.However, the relative calm of thepost-war years was short-lived.

TOP: Panorama of the EngineerReplacement Training Center (ERTC)in 1942. CENTER: Drafting class at theReplacement Training Center duringWorld War II. BOTTOM: Engineer Boardtesting a floating bridge with a lighttank, December 1941.

Photos on this page: Post History Office, Fort Belvoir

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COLD WAR PERIOD:1946 –1989

Following World War II, the engineer training roleat Fort Belvoir waxed and waned according towartime needs. In 1945, both the Engineer

Replacement Training Center and the Engineer OfficerCandidate School were phased out; however, both pro-grams were reactivated in the 1950s during the KoreanConflict, and again in the 1960s with the Vietnambuild-up. Both conflicts required a reassessment of theinstallation’s training function and methods, and arevamping of its physical plant.

For example, by 1950, many World War II temporarybarracks had been adapted for other uses. When newenlistees and draftees arrived on the post, they had tobe housed in six-man tents while the barracks buildingswere reconverted back to their original function. The

types of training offered also reflected shifts in warfaretechnology and philosophy; a Close Combat Rangewas installed on the peninsula south of the village ofAccotink, and on North Post, a Chemical/Biological/Radiological School was instituted.

In general, emphasis at Fort Belvoir in the 1950s beganshifting from training to research and development.Throughout the decade, the Engineer Research andDevelopment Laboratories (ERDL) were involved inexperimentation with a wide range of technical militaryapplications. The laboratories developed and tested newtechniques for electrical power generation; camouflageand deception; methods of handling materials and fuel;bridging, and mine detection. They experimented withportable map copying machines, fungicides for use in

The SM-1 Nuclear Plant was the first nuclear plant to be designed as a training facility for military personnel. It was inoperation from 1957 to 1973.

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tropical environments, andheavy earth-moving equip-ment. The Castle reportedon ERDL’s development ofpre-fabricated buildings foruse in Arctic environments,and the subsequent testing ofthese structures in Greenlandand Canada. During the1960s, the primary focus ofresearch at Fort Belvoirshifted to the developmentof Army vehicles.

Perhaps no structure on thepost illustrated more graphi-cally Fort Belvoir’s researchand development phase thanthe SM-1 (Stationary, MediumPower, First Prototype)Nuclear Plant. This facilitywas developed to generateelectricity for commercialuse, and to cut back theDepartment of Defense’sdependency on fossil fuels.The SM-1 Plant, which rep-resented the first nationalnuclear training facility formilitary personnel, becameoperational in 1957 andremained in operation untilits de-commissioning in 1973.

The innovative initiatives pursued at Fort Belvoir duringthe post-war period were also illustrated in its residentialarchitecture. In 1948, the well-known architectural firmof Albert Kahn & Associates designed the Thermo-ConHouse. This house form was intended to provide a prototype for low-cost, mass-produced housing. Theconstruction of the house employed an innovative tech-nique that used chemically-treated concrete that rose fromits foundation like bread rising in a pan. Another majorresidential project during the 1970s was the McReeBarracks, a complex of mid-rise buildings constructedin 1975 to house 1,200 single enlisted Soldiers.

Fort Belvoir’s mission expanded in other directions between1950 and 1980. The post began playing host to a varietyof organizations, including the DeWitt Army Hospital,the Defense Systems Management College (DSMC), andthe Defense Mapping School (DMS). The DeWitt Hospital,constructed in 1957, provided regional healthcare services.DSMC, founded in 1971, was a graduate-level institutionthat offered advanced courses of study in weapon systemsacquisition management for both military personnel andcivilians. DMS, a component of the Defense MappingAgency (now the National Geospatial-Intelligence

School), was established in1972 to provide instructionin tactical mapping, landgeodetic surveys, and carto-graphic drafting.

Fort Belvoir’s educationalrole also expanded in newdirections. Every summerfrom the 1950s through the1970s, the post hosted agroup of United StatesMilitary Academy (USMA)cadets for a week-longtraining visit. The coursewas designed to emphasizemilitary engineering as afield of specialization forcareer development. FortBelvoir’s USMA PreparatorySchool also provided a year-long course of academicstudy to prepare selectedenlisted personnel for entryinto West Point; until itmoved to Fort Monmouth,New Jersey.

Fort Belvoir personnel alsobecame intimately involvedwith two of the most poignantevents of the post-war years. In1963, engineers from Belvoirsurveyed the first temporary

John F. Kennedy gravesite, and designed a prototypeeternal flame—all in less than a week. Lt. Gen.Walter K.Wilson recalled the events of that weekend. “. . . theydecided suddenly. . . [that] they were going to bury himin Arlington. That really put us in the middle of things.We had to get over there and locate the grave, work withthe cemetery staff, survey the plot, and recommend itslocation.” After the President’s widow requested theinstallation of an eternal flame, recalled Wilson: “Weall got together on the floor of an Engineer Schoolbuilding. . . where we laid out different things that mightwork. We designed it right on the floor there, the conceptof what would be the eternal flame.”

In 1982, divers from the installation’s 86th DivingDetachment assisted local disaster management agenciesin recovering victims and debris from the frozen PotomacRiver following the disastrous crash of an Air FloridaBoeing 737 jet in the midst of a heavy January snowstorm.The post’s 11th Engineer Battalion installed float bridgingout to the wreck site. Map personnel from the 30thEngineer Battalion also surveyed the wreck site andproduced a series of maps that identified each fragmentof baggage or equipment on the river bottom.

TOP: The U.S. Army Engineer School was officiallytransferred to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri on June1, 1988. At the same ceremony, the Military Districtof Washington (MDW) assumed operational control ofFort Belvoir.

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Fort Belvoir remained the home ofthe Engineer School and Center until1988. Due to a shortage of land fortraining at Belvoir, the EngineerSchool relocated to Fort LeonardWood in Missouri, thus ending the70-year association between theEngineer School and Belvoir.

Although its role as an engineertraining center diminished after themove in 1989, Fort Belvoir continuedto fulfill an important and valuablerole. The 8,600-acre post was oneof the larger installations in theMilitary District of Washington(MDW), which also included FortMcNair, Fort Myer, Fort Meade,and Fort Hamilton. The post’smission was to provide essentialadministrative and basic operations support to its tenantorganizations. Fort Belvoir housed tenants from allarmed forces, as well as such Department of Defenseagencies as the Army Management Staff College andthe Defense Acquisition University. To carry out this

mission effectively, Fort Belvoir evolved from a tradi-tional military installation to a more broadly basedcommunity. It functioned in many ways like a small city,with its own ordinances, land use plan, building codes,utilities, public parks, and academic institutions.

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FACING PAGE:

TOP: Tanks and infantry small armsfire support the assault troups in ariver crossing exercise, 1955.

BOTTOM: Engineer students build-ing a wooden bridge across a streamat Fort Belvoir, 1963.

THIS PAGE:

TOP: DeWitt Army Hospital,May, 1957.

MIDDLE: McRee Barracks, a housingcomplex for single enlisted soldiers,was constructed at Fort Belvoir in 1975.

BOTTOM: Humphreys Hall, home ofthe Army Management Staff College.

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No his tory o f For t Be lvo i r would becomple te wi thout ment ion ing theac t ive ro l e tha t the ins ta l l a t ion

p layed in prese rv ing i t s na tura land historic resources.

As Fort Belvoir entered the twenty-first century, carewas being taken to ensure the continued protection ofits resources through compliance with environmentaland preservation laws, restoration of damaged environ-ments, adoption of measures to prevent problems in thefuture, and continually to conserve and preserve its natural and cultural resources. Since the 1930s whenarcheological investigations were first undertaken at theBelvoir Manor site under the director of Colonel EdwardSchulz, the installation maintained a consistent interestin and commitment to its cultural resources. The decade

of the 1970s saw a renewed interest in recovering theremains of Fort Belvoir’s eighteenth century heritage.Working in a unique relationship with the FairfaxCounty Public Schools, the Engineer Museum supporteda three-year archeological investigation of the formerhome of William Fairfax. As a result, the Belvoir Manorsite was listed in the National Register of Historic Placesin 1973. Since that time, the installation initiated additional studies to identify its other architectural andarcheological resources, so that they could be preservedfor the education of future generations.

The Eleanor U. Kennedy Shelter, located near Tulley Gateon U.S. Route 1, exemplified the thoughtful considerationsthat had been given to the preservation of Fort Belvoir’shistoric buildings. The homeless shelter was housed inthe post’s former water filtration plant. Constructed

FORT BELVOIR PLANS

For theTwenty-First Century

Accotink Creek. A trail meanders along the bank.

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in 1918 as part of the original water supply system forCamp A.A. Humphreys, the structure was one of theinstallation’s earliest permanent buildings. The facility,leased by Fairfax County, provided temporary housingfor 52 homeless persons.

Fort Belvoir also displayed a great sensitivity towardsthe natural resources under its jurisdiction. Beginningin the 1950s, Lt. Col. Jackson Miles Abbott, a conserva-tionist and wildlife artist,observed that timberremoval, road construc-tion, stream pollution, andinsecticide use were threat-ening the native bird andanimal life on the installa-tion. Abbott noted that 28species of mammals andmore than 228 birdspecies, ranging from hum-mingbirds to bald eagles,had been observed on theinstallation. Thanks toimproved habitat manage-ment, bird species, whosenumbers had been decliningin Lt. Col. Abbott’s day,reappeared, includingospreys, trumpeter swans,and bald eagles.

More than one-third of theinstallation’s acreage hadbeen preserved as a desig-nated wildlife sanctuary.The Accotink Bay WildlifeRefuge was established in1980 and included over1,300 acres of marsh andhardwood forest in the

southwestern corner of the post, in an area formerlyused for target ranges. The Jackson Miles AbbottWetlands Refuge, dedicated in October 1989, incorpo-rated 150 acres of non-tidal wetland and forest near theWoodlawn Village Housing area along Dogue Creek.Both refuge areas were open to the public, and providedmiles of trails, including a one-mile handicapped-accessi-ble trail. In 1991, as a result of its efforts to preserve thenatural environment, Fort Belvoir received a Natural

Resources ConservationAward from theDepartment of Defense.

The future stewardship ofFort Belvoir’s vast naturaland cultural resources wasfurthered by the develop-ment of a comprehensiveland management plan.The plan, which earneda national honor awardfrom the American PlanningAssociation in 1991, soughtto manage growth in a waythat protected and main-tained the installation’sunique assets, while main-taining the ability of theinstallation to pursue itsassigned military mission.

Beginning in 1989, FortBelvoir, like many otherDepartment of Defense(DoD) installations, wassubject to a series of thenew Base Realignmentand Closure (BRAC) leg-islations. In subsequentBRAC actions, a number of

TOP: Houses in Park Village, occupied by senior non-commis-sioned officers. BOTTOM: Houses in Fairfax Village, occupiedby company-grade and warrant officers.

Artist’s representation of the Missile Defense Agency Headquarters, adjoining Long Parade Field.

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large agencies, such as the Defense Logistics Agency(DLA) and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency(DTRA) closed their doors in the National CapitalRegion and re-located to new facilities on Fort Belvoir.Along with the installation’s world-wide role followingthe terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, the post initi-ated new security requirements for access onto thepost. Force protection and anti-terrorism measurescontinued to play a major role inthe operation of the installation. Anumber of agencies in local leasedfacilities also began to move toFort Belvoir for security purposes.

In the latest round of BRAC pro-ceedings, the 2005 legislationeventually directed that Fort Belvoirwould receive a net gain of 19,300personnel on Main Post and itssub-installations. Approximately$4 billion was spent on building anew Community Hospital and theMissile Defense Agency (MDA) onMain Post, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) on theFort Belvoir North Area, two largeoffice buildings at the Mark Centerin Alexandria for the WashingtonHeadquarters Service; the JointUse Intelligence Analysis Facility(JUIAF) at Rivanna Station in

Charlottesville,Virginia; and a host of associatedinfrastructure improvements on and off post. Theseimprovements included the construction of the finalsection of the Fairfax County Parkway along the southern border of the North Area.

In 1994, Fort Belvoir partnered with the Fairfax CountyPublic Schools to construct the new Fort Belvoir

Elementary School on North Postto replace the three DoD schoolscurrently in operation. The newelementary school soon becamethe largest such educationalfacility in the Commonwealthof Virginia.

Additionally, the Army selectedFort Belvoir to host the construc-tion of the new National Museumof the United States Army(NMUSA), superintended by theArmy Historical Foundation. Themuseum was projected to be builton a 41-acre preferred site onNorth Post.

As part of an effort to focus moredirectly on their primary mission,installations were directed to privatize many of their supportservices. Gas was first in 1992 with

Artist’s representation of the new Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, scheduled to open in 2011. Note the environmental features suchas the curved rainwater collector panels on the roofs.

The Mark Center in Alexandria, Virginia,near the intersection of I-395 and SeminaryRoad, the home of the 6,400 WashingtonHeadquarters Service personnel, associatedwith the 2005 BRAC legislation.

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the switch to Washington Gas. Housing followed in2001 to Clark Pinnacle under the ResidentialCommunities Initiative (RCI), with the goal of providingquality housing on post comparable to any suchdwellings in the surrounding civilian communities.Electrical services were transferred in 2009 toDominion Virginia Power, and water and sewer servicesto American Water in 2010. These partnerships affordedFort Belvoir the opportunity to better support the Army’smission, and received a number of prestigious design andenvironmental awards such as the 2009 LEED (Leadershipin Energy and EnvironmentalDesign)-NC (New Con-struc-tion) Platinum MilitaryProject Certification for thenew Fairfax VillageCommunity Center by theU.S. Green Building Council.

In 2009, General Ann Dunwoodywas appointed to commandthe Army Material Command(AMC) at Fort Belvoir. She was the first female Armyofficer to be promoted to 4-star rank.

Fort Belvoir is a part of the Northeast Region of theArmy’s Installation Management Command(IMCOM). The post’s senior command is the JointForce Headquarters-National Capital Region/MilitaryDistrict of Washington (JFHQ-NCR/MDW).

Today, Fort Belvoir continues its historic transformation,expanding its role as a strategic sustaining base forAmerica’s armed forces worldwide. The missions fulfilledhere are vital to the success of the goals and objectivesof the nation’s defense strategy. Meanwhile, the postcontinues to be the Army’s installation of choice forSoldiers, Families, Civilians, and Retirees.

CENTER: Artist’s rendering, aerial viewof the Warrior Transition Unit (WTU)barracks and the Warrior and FamilyAssistance Center (WFAC), adjoiningthe new Community Hospital.

BOTTOM LEFT: Camp Humphreys’original water filtration plant, built in1918, was converted into the EleanorU. Kennedy Shelter for the Homelessin 1989.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Artist’s rendering of theJUIAF building at Rivanna Station.

Artist’s representation of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency at the New Campus East on the Fort Belvoir North Area.

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TOP: Color Guards in period uniforms at theannual Army Birthday/Flag Day ceremony, 2008.

RIGHT: The annual Oktoberfest 2008, celebrat-ing the German-American partnership.

LEFT: A Fort Belvoir Garrison HeadquartersBattalion formation run, 2010.

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MODERN ACTIVITIES AT FORT BELVOIR

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Directorate of Public Works, Fort Belvoir, Virginia

Paciulli, Simmons & Associates, Inc., Reston, Virginia

History Office, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Belvoir

Directorate of Public Affairs and InstallationHistorian, Fort Belvoir

R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc.

Heritage Resources Branch, Fairfax County Office ofComprehensive Planning, Falls Church, Virginia

Woodlawn United Methodist Church

Woodlawn Friends’ Meeting House

Library of Congress, Geography and Maps Division,Washington, D.C.

National Archives, Cartographic and Still PhotosDivisions, College Park, Maryland

Virginiana Room, Fairfax County Public Library,Fairfax, Virginia

Multimedia and Visual Information Service Center, Fort Belvoir

RELATED WEBSITE LINKS:

www.belvoir.army.mil

www.belvoirnewvision.com

www.belvoirhousinghistory.com

www.fairfaxcounty.gov

www.armyhistory.org

www.accotink.org

ABOVE: Jackson Miles Abbott, aconservationist and wildlife artist,was a lieutenant colonel at FortBelvoir in the 1940s. His oilpainting entitled American Eiderswas featured on a United StatesPostage Stamp.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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