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Fort Oglethorpe Post was originally "Camp Thomas" named after Gen. George Thomas, who commanded
a Union army in the bloody Battle of Chickamauga. Camp Thomas came into being in February, 1898 and as Cavalrymen
were needed hurriedly to fight in the Spanish-American War, the National Park Service leased a strip of land in the Chickamauga
Park to the War Department. Approximately 80,000 men trained at Camp Thomas during the Spanish-American War. The
post was renamed "Fort Oglethorpe" after Georgia's founder, James Oglethorpe, when it was moved to its present location in
1902 and was completed in 1904. The Fort was built at a cost of $1,000,000 under the direction of Capt. Slocum and Capt.
Howard French.
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Fort Oglethorpe Post, when completed in 1904, was said to be the "Largest and Finest" Cavalry Post in the
United States. It consisted of 74 buildings costing $2,000-$64,000.00 each to build, accommodated 50 commissioned officers,
1,200 enlisted men, and 1,500 horses. The Post grew substantially in 1916 when, by act of Congress, was enlarged
to include a Brigade Post.
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Through the years of the post's operation it was visited by many famous people including President Theodore
Roosevelt (1902) and President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1943), President Dwight D. Eisenhower (stationed here as a Captain in
1917)
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1917 - Was home to Camp Greenleaf, the largest medical military training facility in the United States and
said to be the "West Point of Medicine". During its operation from 1917 until March of 1918, over 4,000 officers and
20,000 enlisted men trained at Camp Greenleaf alone. The Medical troops at Camp Greenleaf, in January of 1918, were
divided into eight groups: the student officers, the evacuation hospital group, motor transportation group, animal-drawn transportation
group, personnel of trains group, personnel of evacuation hospital trains group, the stable and sanitary company group, and
headquarters company group.
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During WWI, Fort Oglethorpe had approxiamtely 80,000 mobilized U.S. soldiers and held the largest P.O.W. camp
in the country, housing over 3,400 (mostly German) Prisoners of War.
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In 1917 Fort Oglethorpe was home to the "Reserve Officer's Training Camp". In preparation for
the 2,500 U.S. Army Reserve Officers and applicants attending this training camp, the U.S. War Department ordered construction
of 81 buildings, most of which were to be constructed in one week and all to be finished and ready for full use
in two weeks time.
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Was home to the Women's Auxillary Corp from 1942 - 1945, during which thousands of WACs were
trained and history made on April 22, 1944 when LTC Elizabeth Strayhorn became the first woman in U.S. history to
Command a Post.
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Fort Oglethorpe made its first valuable contribution to mechanized war in 1917. Under
H.J. Slocum, then a Colonel, and Gen. Rockenbach tank experiments were conducted and later a regiment from the post became
the first American tank unit baptized under fire in Europe.
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In 1941 Fort Oglethorpe Post grabbed the army spotlight with jeep experiments in water. The Jeeps
were tested in Chickamauga Lake and muddy Chickamauga Creek. Successfully weathering the tests, the water-traveling
jeeps were used in combat during WWII.
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May, 1919 - General Hospital No. 14, at Fort Oglethorpe, was reduced to a Post Hospital. This Hospital, a
part of Camp Greenleaf, the largest medical military training facility in the U.S., had a 5,000 bed capacity
and was originally intended to do reconstruction work on maimed WWI soldiers returning from battle.
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1917 - Camp McLean was formally presented in honor of Lieut. Warden McLean, of Philedelphia, who
was killed during the 1st Officer's Training Camp at Chickamauga Park. 1918-Warden McLean Auditorium was formally
dedicated. It was used for medical lectures and training at Camp Greenleaf. Built at a cost of $15,000 with
money donated by Mrs. William L. McLean, mother of Lieut. Warden McLean.
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8-22-1917 - The largest review of army medical units ever held in the United States (at the time) took place
on McDonald Field at Fort Oglethorpe. In the line of march were 1,060 medical officers, more than twice the number ever
in the medical corps of the army before, and 3,232 enlisted men. Hundreds of people from Chattanooga had motored to
witness the event and many others came by trolley.
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1918 -Some German P.O.W.s held at Fort Oglethorpe were nicknamed, "The Millionaires" because of their high
status in German society. The P.O.W.s had a newsletter, the Orgelsdorfer Eulenspiegel, in which they distributed
among the thousands of Germans detained at Fort Oglethorpe during 1918 and 1919. Original Copies of this newsletter
and translations were donated to the Chattanooga Hamilton County Bicentennial Library by Mrs. Helen Groh, daughter of Mr.
Paul Blaffert who served as Secretary of the Concord Club, a German organization which disbanded in the 1940s.
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1918 - Dr. Karl Muck, former conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was detained at Fort Oglethorpe
after being charged as a potential German shy. Among the Germans who were imprisoned with him at Fort Oglethorpe were
former Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conductor Earnest Kunwald and twenty-nine fellow German members of the Boston Orchestra. Dr.
Muck was deported to Germany in August 1919 and never returned to the United States. He served as conductor of the Hamburg,
Germany Philharmonic Orchestra and died on March 4, 1940.
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