In 1918 the Chief of Field Artillery, General William J. Snow, seeking an area having suitable terrain, adequate water, rail facilities, and a climate for year round training, decided that the area now known as Fort Bragg met all of the desired criteria. Consequently, Camp Bragg came into existence on 4 September 1918. Camp Bragg was named for a native North Carolinian, General Braxton Bragg.
Prior to its establishment as a military reservation, the area was a desolate region. Huge forests of long-leaf and loblolly pines covered the sandy area. About 1729 Highland Scots began cultivating the land in the Long Street area in what was to be the Main Post section of Camp Bragg. At the beginning of World War I only seven percent of the land was occupied and the population consisted of approximately 170 families.
During the first year of its existence, $6,000,000 was spent in purchasing land and erecting cantonments for six artillery brigades. Although cessation of hostilities came in November 1918, work was rapidly pushed to a conclusion and February 1, 1919, saw the completion of Camp Bragg.
As soon as World War I was over, the artillery personnel and materiel from Camp McClellan, Alabama were transferred to Camp Bragg in order accommodate testing the new long range weapons developed during the war. Because demobilization had begun, the War Department decided to reduce the size of Camp Bragg from the planned six to a two brigade cantonment to provide a garrison for Regular Army units and a training center for National Guard Artillery units. Military personnel then took over all of the work at the Camp, a large part of which had been done by wartime civilian employees. The year 1920 saw little military training taking place.
A large tract of land on the reservation had been set aside as a landing field to be used in connection with observation of Field Artillery firing. Here were stationed various aircraft and balloon detachments to serve the Field Artillery Board. On April 1, 1919, the landing field was named Pope Field in honor of First Lieutenant Harley H. Pope who was killed in an airplane accident near Fayetteville. Pilots landing at Pope Field were instructed to make one or two low passes over the landing strip to clear it of wild deer, so abundant were the herds of deer in the cantonment.
Early in 1921 two Field Artillery units, the 13th and 17th Field Artillery Brigades, began training in the camp. However, due to post-war cutbacks, the War Department decided to abandon Camp Bragg on August 23, 1921. This was averted by the determined efforts of General Albert J. Bowley, Commanding General of Camp Bragg, various civic organizations in the nearby city of Fayetteville, and a personal inspection by the Secretary of War. The abandonment order was rescinded on September 16, 1921.
One year later, September 30, 1922, Camp Bragg became Fort Bragg, a permanent Army post. Under the direction of General Bowley, development of the Fort progressed rapidly. Parade grounds, training facilities, baseball diamonds and other athletic facilities were constructed to lend a permanent air to Fort Bragg.
*History borrowed from www.bragg.army.mil
*Photo taken by Linda Coen-Cushman