Fort Benning (Columbus, Georgia, Georgia)

Columbus, Georgia · Georgia · World War I onwards

Quick BriefCamp Benning opened in October 1918 as a World War I infantry training facility and was designated a permanent fort in February 1922. Congress authorized the establishment in fall 1918, and the Army immediately began construction of the Infantry School of Arms. Dwight D. Eisenhower served at Benning from December 1918 to March 1919.

Active base today

History & Significance

After U.S. entry into World War I, Army officials recognized that Fort Sill, Oklahoma, could not accommodate training for both infantry and artillery, so a board convened in May 1918 to select a new site; Columbus, Georgia, was chosen for its climate, terrain, and transportation outlets. Congress authorized establishment in fall 1918, naming it Camp Benning at the request of the Columbus Rotary Club.

Troops arrived in October 1918 and the post became permanent in February 1922. The installation rapidly evolved into the Army's premier infantry training center.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, reforms transformed infantry from nineteenth-century doctrine to twentieth-century practice; George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower both influenced the Infantry School. During World War II, Fort Benning served as a primary infantry and airborne training center and officer school, developing and refining new tactics based on combat experience.

The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion—the first all-black paratroop unit, nicknamed the "Triple Nickles"—trained there and later served as smokejumpers fighting forest fires on the West Coast. In 1950, the Ranger School was established at Benning. In 1963, the Eleventh Air Assault Division was formed there to test air assault concepts later adopted during the Vietnam War.