Fort Oglethorpe was a United States Army post in the US state of Georgia. It was established in a 1902 regulation, and received its first contingent in 1904. It served largely as a cavalry post for the 6th Cavalry. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, Fort Oglethorpe housed 4,000 German prisoners of war and civilian detainees. During World War I and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, it served as an induction and processing center. During World War II, it was a major training center for the

Women's Army Corps The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on 15 May 1942 and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the United States ...

. Originally established with the purchase of 813 acres by the US Government, Fort Oglethorpe also expanded into the territory of the adjacent

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, located in northern Georgia and southeastern Tennessee, preserves the sites of two major battles of the American Civil War: the Battle of Chickamauga and the Siege of Chattanooga. A detailed h ...

. (All facilities were removed from the park after the end of WW2, and no evidence remains today.) The Fort was considered to be one of the most modern in the country, and it was used for many things. The Fort saw extensive field-testing of the Bantam Reconnaisance Car, later to be known as the "

Jeep Jeep is an American automobile marque, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner American Motors ...

." The Fort was also a major factor in the development of various forms of the

Mobile Army Surgical Hospital Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals were U.S. Army field hospital units conceptualized in 1946 as replacements for the World War II-era Auxiliary Surgical Group hospital units, which had become obsolete. MASH Units were in operation from the Korean ...

, or "MASH," and the perfection of many medical techniques used in trench warfare. Then-Captain

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

served here for four months in 1917 as an instructor. The post was declared surplus after World War II and sold. The final flag was lowered at 5:00 PM on December 31, 1946. The majority of the old post formed the nucleus for the present community of

Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia Fort Oglethorpe is a city predominantly in Catoosa County with some portions in Walker County in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 10,423. It is part of the Chattanooga, TN–GA Metropolitan St ...

. Incorporated in February, 1949, it was the first city to be incorporated in Georgia after World War 2. In the 1930s, soldiers played

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small ha ...

with Summerfield Johnston Sr. ( Summerfield Johnston Jr.'s father), of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company, later known as

Coca-Cola Enterprises Coca-Cola Enterprises was a marketer, producer, and distributor of Coca-Cola products. It was formerly the anchor bottler for Western Europe and most of North America. Coca-Cola Enterprises' products included Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, ...

, at Fort Oglethorpe and on the Johnston farm in

McDonald, Tennessee McDonald is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Bradley County, Tennessee, United States. McDonald is located along U.S. Route 11 and U.S. Route 64 west-southwest of Cleveland. McDonald has a post office with ZIP ...

. Polo and other pursuits were considered by the Army to be an important way for soldiers to maintain their riding skills in the years between World Wars 1 and 2, and the Fort hosted both horse shows and national competitions. The American

comic book artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

and writer Marc Swayze was stationed at Fort Oglethorpe at the beginning of World War II.

References

External links

A short history of Fort Oglethorpe

Fort Oglethorpe History from Catoosa County Chamber of Commerce

6th Cavalry Museum
{{Coord, 34, 56, 58.75, N, 85, 15, 10.66, W, display=title Buildings and structures in Catoosa County, Georgia O O Buildings and structures in Walker County, Georgia