Throwback Thursday 17 FEB 2022 – Army War College 1919

So What’s in a Name?  Army War College 1919!

The Engineers are Heading Across the Potomac

Since their arrival in 1901 from Willets Point – Fort Totten, the US Army engineers, and their Engineering School occupied the acres at Greenleaf Point.  The top Army Commanders had other plans for the engineers … move to what in the current day is Fort Belvoir as the name changed to Camp A.A. Humphreys in 1917.  It was because of Major General Andrew Atkinson Humphreys and appreciative of his contribution to the United States Army as Chief Engineer of the U.S. Army.

A View Down 4th Street

with the NCO quarters on the right and the parade field  loaded with tents on the left, one can barely see the dome of Roosevelt Hall where was located the United States Army War College 1919

by General Andrew A. Humphreys (Author)

The Virginia Campaign, 1864 And 1865

(Campaigns of the Civil War)

Paperback – March 22, 1995

ABOUT THE BOOK:

“Recounts the climactic year-long grapple between the Civil War’s two foremost generals–Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. A classic campaign history.”–Brooks D. Simpson

Most people still view the final, bloody confrontation between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee as a relentless grinding away of the Army of Northern Virginia in a continuous battle of attrition, attributing Grant’s victory not to his generalship but to his overwhelming superiority in numbers. General Andrew A. Humphreys (1810-1883), chief of staff of the Army of the Potomac and later the fiery commander of the Second Corps, provides readers with a far more enlightened understanding of The Virginia Campaign, 1864 and 1865. Humphreys was known for his high military scholarship, conspicuous courage, and remarkable coolness in combat. Joshua Chamberlain hailed him as “the accomplished, heroic soldier, the noble and modest man.” Humphreys led troops in action at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg; by war’s end, he was still fighting, blocking Lee’s retreating columns and helping to hem in the Confederates at Appomattox.

In The Virginia Campaign, Humphreys examines the strategy, battles, and consequences from the detached perspective of a historian intimately acquainted with his material. Especially valuable is his clear dissection of alternative plans of the campaign. For readers seeking concise accounts of, and insightful analyses into, the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor, the siege of Petersburg, the capture of Richmond, and the surrender of Lee’s army, this volume in the landmark Campaigns of the Civil War series more than fulfills the requirements.
Introduction by Brooks D. Simpson

The Troops with Some Recreation Time – Having a Ball!

With the barracks and the flagpole in the background, the troops take some time to take some time to have a ball on the drill field.

Preparing to Fire the Retreat Gun

The flagpole was encircled with several artillery pieces that were captured in the battle over the years.  However, there was only one gun that was used for the commencement of the retreat ceremony.

by Brigadier-General Andrew A. Humphreys (Author)

The Virginia Campaign:

Last Year of the Civil War (Annotated)

Paperback – November 11, 2016

ABOUT THE BOOK:

General Andrew Humphreys always led his men from the front. After distinguished service on the Peninsula, at Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, and elsewhere, he nearly lost his division at Gettysburg in Sickles’ ill-advised move out in front of the Union lines. After Gettysburg, Humphrey’s acceded to the request of General Meade to become his Chief of Staff. He served in that capacity until November of 1864 when he took command of II Corps. Humphreys’ extraordinarily detailed account of the entire Virginia Campaign was highly praised by his peers after the war. He was at the center of events and scoured the official records of both sides of the Civil War when writing this account in 1883. He describes the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, the Mine explosion, and the final surrender, among many anecdotes about the famous men with whom he served. Every memoir of the American Civil War provides us with another view of the catastrophe that changed the country forever.

Signal Corps Mobile Repair Truck

For the Service Squadron,  this was the machine chop truck to handle repairs in the field

OVER 200 HISTORICAL IMAGES, MAPS & ILLUSTRATIONS

The book, Images of America – Fort Lesley J. McNair contains over two hundred historical photographs, images, and illustrations that chronicle the two hundred plus years of history among the acres of this US Army Post.

The book “Images of America – Fort Lesley J McNair”  is “a walk down memory lane” as one reader called it after he turned the last page.  Go beyond