Fort Gregg-Adams (Prince George County, Virginia)
Prince George County · Virginia · World War I, World War II, Cold War
History & Significance
In April 1917, the War Department selected a site in Prince George County near Petersburg for a National Army cantonment, with Petersburg leasing 450 acres plus an additional 15,000 acres for training. Named Camp Lee on July 15, 1917, after Confederate general Robert E. Lee, the cantonment reflected the convention of naming installations south of the Mason-Dixon Line for Confederate commanders.
With capacity for 60,335 men, Camp Lee was the second-largest cantonment constructed in the United States. The 80th Division, the Blue Ridge Division, organized there in August 1917 and composed primarily of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia residents, deployed to France with approximately 23,000 soldiers arriving by June 1918 and seeing major combat in the Second Battle of the Somme and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.
During a 1918 influenza epidemic, approximately 10,000 soldiers were stricken with nearly 700 deaths in a couple of weeks. In 1921, the camp was closed and its buildings torn down except for one structure (the White House), with portions incorporated into Petersburg National Battlefield.
In October 1940, the War Department ordered reconstruction of Camp Lee, with the Quartermaster Replacement Training Center beginning operation in February 1941. On April 15, 1950, the War Department designated it a permanent facility and renamed it Fort Lee. During World War II, more than 50,000 officers attended Quartermaster Officer Candidate School and over 300,000 quartermaster soldiers trained at the camp.
Key Facts
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Sources
- https://home.army.mil/greggadams/about
- https://home.army.mil/greggadams/history
- https://home.army.mil/lee/history
- https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/fort-lee/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lee_(military_base)
- https://www.army.mil/article/189328/the_three_lives_of_fort_lee_virginia_world_war_i
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Gregg-Adams_(Virginia)
- https://virginia.places.org/military/fortlee.html