Fort McClellan Fort McClellan , originally Camp McClellan , was a United States Army post located adjacent to the city of Anniston , Alabama . During World War II , it was one of the largest U . S . Army installations , training an estimated half - million troops . After the war and until it was closed in 1999 , Fort McClellan was home for an average population of about 10 , 000 military personnel , some half of whom were permanently assigned , and employed about 1 , 500 civilians . Early History . Located in the Choccolocco Foothills of the Appalachian Mountains , Woodstock , Alabama , was founded as a private industrial town by the Woodstock Iron Company in 1872 . The town was later renamed Anniston and was opened to the public in 1883 ; by 1890 , it had a population of near 10 , 000 persons . While Fort McClellan was the first and only long - lived United States Army post near Anniston , a temporary facility named Camp Shipp existed there during 1898 - 1899 . Camp Shipp — Spanish - American War . The Spanish - American War ended in 1898 , but with a final peace settlement still in the future , the U . S . Army had an immediate need for a facility to quarter a Military reserve force from Alabama should the hostilities start anew . Anniston was on a north - south railroad that continued to Mobile , Alabama , a major seaport for Cuba - bound departures , and successfully sought the reserve facility . Camp Shipp was established in August 1898 within the northwest city limits of Anniston ; an artillery range was planned to be on the nearby Blue Mountain . By October , nearly 10 , 000 troops of the 3rd Alabama Volunteer Infantry were at Camp Shipp , but by the end of the year they began to rapidly move out . The camp never fully realized its intended purpose ; it was used temporarily as a hospital for patients of the influenza epidemic sweeping Army posts , and then phased out in March 1899 . The camp was named for Lt . William E . Shipp of the 10th Cavalry Regiment who was killed in action at Santiago , Cuba while leading a charge in the Battle of San Juan Hill . Camp McClellan — World War I . In 1912 , there was renewed interest in Anniston for having a nearby Army training facility . The U . S . Congressman for this District brought to the Department of War ’ s attention the potential of the Choccolocco Mountains for artillery training , Twenty - thousand National Guardsmen were sent to the area for maneuvers . Officials of the participating Army War College found the terrain highly suitable for artillery training , and advocated purchase of the land . On 17 March 1917 , the Federal Government acquired 18 , 952 acres ( 75 . 8 km² ) of this land for $ 247 , 000 and began construction of a National Guard camp . The Department of War formally established Camp McClellan on 18 July 1917 . The camp was named in honor of Major General George B . McClellan , General - in - Chief of the United States Army 1861 - 1862 , and Governor of New Jersey 1878 - 1881 . Camp McClellan was one of 32 mobilization camps formed to quickly train men for World War I . Like the other National Guard mobilization facilities , Camp McClellan used hastily constructed wooden buildings for headquarters , mess halls , latrines , and showers , with rows of wooden - floored tents for housing the troops . There were 26 blocks of training areas composed of central buildings and tents , each designated for a particular function ( infantry , artillery , ammunition , etc . ) . Overall , about 1 , 500 buildings were built , including a base hospital with 118 buildings . The Anniston city limit at that time was a circle 1 . 3 miles ( 2 . 1 kilometers ) in diameter . The Camp McClellan reservation was approximately a square some 3 . 0 miles ( 4 . 8 kilometers ) on each side , adjoining the northeast quarter arc of the city limits and extending northward along the Anniston to Jacksonville , Alabama , pike . The training blocks were in the northern part of the reservation . An existing Southern Railway line was close by the western boundary ; a terminal facility called Remount Depot was built near the southwest corner of the reservation and , farther north , a spur into the camp was constructed . The first troops arrived in late August 1917 ; by October there were more than 27 , 000 men from units in New Jersey , Virginia , Maryland , and the District of Columbia training at the camp under the 29th Infantry Division , commanded by Major General Charles G . Morton . ( During World War II , a Navy transport vessel , the USS " General C . G . Morton " honored Morton . ) The 29th was deployed in France in June 1918 as part of the American Expeditionary Force , and suffered almost 6 , 000 casualties in the Meuse - Argonne Offensive . During the war , other troops trained at Camp McClellan included the 1st Separate Negro Company of Maryland , the 6th Division , the 157th Depot Brigade , the 11th and 12th Training Battalions , and the 1st , 2nd , and 3rd Development Regiments . Fort McClellan — Permanent Post . Following the Armistice with Germany ( 11 November 1918 ) and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles ( 18 June 1919 ) officially ending the war , most of the mobilization camps were closed . Nine facilities were placed on “ caretaker status ” ; Camp McClellan was included , intended to be used for special training in the Army ’ s 9th Corps Area . Congress and the public had little interest in maintaining these camps , much less in upgrading them as permanent facilities . In 1926 , however , Congress approved funds for permanent facilities , and new buildings were started at Camp McClellan for the headquarters , officer quarters , barracks , and a central hospital . On 1 July 1929 , by War Department order , the post was designated Fort McClellan and a permanent installation . This would be a post for one regiment of Infantry having 1 , 500 officers and men and a summer camp with a capacity for 6 , 400 civilian trainees . As the Great Depression started , unspent funds initially allocated for military construction were diverted into programs to stem the unemployment . Construction on the permanent facilities slowed , but in 1933 , President Franklin D . Roosevelt allocated Works Progress Administration ( WPA ) funds for Fort McClellan . In the next three years , an estimated $ 1 , 785 , 000 in WPA funds was used for constructing new roads , the Fort McClellan Army Airfield , and additional permanent buildings . Included was a radio facility with a high - power transmitter ( call letters WUR ) for Morse - code communications , Most of the buildings were Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in style . During the 1930s , the Army 22nd Infantry Regiment had the role of Post Garrison , responsible for training units of the Army ’ s Reserve Officer Training Corps ( ROTC ) , units within the Organized Reserve , and the annual encampment of the Alabama Army National Guard ( the 32nd Infantry Division ) . In addition the Post Garrison maintained the headquarters for District “ D ” of the Civilian Conservation Corps ( CCC ) , handling 45 CCC camps in Alabama , Florida , Mississippi , and Tennessee . World War II Activities . As World War II approached , the facilities at Fort McClellan underwent considerable expansion . Although the central area of permanent buildings remained the headquarters , many new temporary wooden buildings were constructed and all of the buildings remaining from World War I were upgraded . In October 1940 , the 27th Infantry Division of the New York National Guard was activated and sent to Fort McClellan . New housing for trainees was not yet available ; the majority of the men of the 27th lived in tents until leaving at the start of the war in December 1941 , and were soon deployed throughout the Pacific Theater of Operations . Major Expansion . About $ 6 . 5 million in Federal Funding was made available for construction to accommodate quarters and other facilities for up to 50 , 000 military personnel at Fort McClellan . Overall improvements included 74 miles ( 118 km ) of new roads , sewage facilities for 50 , 000 persons , a huge general hospital with 80 wooden buildings connected by 4 . 5 miles ( 7 . 2 km ) of catwalks , 5 theaters plus an amphitheater seating 12 , 000 persons , 27 warehouses , and many ammunition – storage bunkers . Hundreds of five - and fifteen - man hutments , arranged in Company - level groups , were built for personnel being trained . Colonel John L . Jenkins was the Commanding Officer ( 1941 - 1944 ) during most of the construction period . The land area of Fort McClellan was also greatly expanded . Directly to the east , a mountainous peninsula connecting to the Talladega National Forest was acquired , allowing access to this Federal Area for training maneuvers . This increased the reservation to a total of 42 , 286 acres ( 169 . 1 km² ) . A few miles to the west , a 22 , 168 - acre ( 86 . 7 - km² ) tract was purchased for $ 675 , 000 and used for artillery and heavy mortar ranges , tank firing , and bivouac areas . This is directly north of another Army facility , the Anniston Army Depot . The range was initially called Morrisville Maneuvering Area and later changed to Pelham Range , named for John Pelham , a hero in the Confederate cavalry during the American Civil War , who was raised in that area . At peak , there were officially 2 , 170 officers and 42 , 126 enlisted personnel at Fort McClellan . The station complement tripled in number ; this complement included two detachments of the Women ’ s Army Corps ( WAC ) . In the war years , a total of nearly 500 , 000 men were trained at Fort McClellan . Basic and Special Training . Replacing the 27th Division , in 1942 , the Army began training new recruits and draftees at Fort McClellan under what was called the Branch Immaterial Training Center . Recruits received eight weeks of basic training , and were then sent elsewhere for combat training or specialized schools . In 1943 , this became the Infantry Replacement Training Center ( IRTC ) . Under IRTC , the basic training was increased to nine weeks and included situations corresponding to combat in European areas such as training within simulated urban areas , actions under live artillery fire , and crouching in foxholes with tanks moving overhead . In addition to the IRTC , there was training at Fort McClellan of special troops such the 92nd Infantry Division with African - American soldiers from all states . The 92nd Division trained during 1942 - 1943 , then were deployed overseas to fight in Italian campaigns . Prisoner of War Camp . During the war , Fort McClellan became the temporary home for many captured enemy soldiers ; a 3 , 000 - capacity Prison Internment Camp for prisoners of war ( POWs ) was built in 1943 . The camp also served to receive prisoners who would go on to three other POW camps in Alabama . At the end of the war in Europe , the camp at Fort McClellan held 2 , 546 men . A cemetery on the reservation marks 26 German and 3 Italian prisoners of war who died while in captivity . Post - World War II Missions . After the war ended with Germany and then Japan , the IRTC at Fort McClellan trained soldiers for occupation duty until November 1946 , at which time the activity was redesignated a Recruit Training Center . The number of troops being trained dwindled rapidly , and the installation was placed on inactive status on 30 June 1947 ; only a small maintenance crew remained on the post . Under pressure from the Alabama Congressional Delegation , in early 1950 , the Army began plans to again use the area for National Guard training . With the onset of the Korean War in June 1950 , these plans were accelerated . Brigadier General Theodore R . Wessels was assigned as Commander ( 1950 - 1952 ) and $ 10 million in funds were allocated for facility restoration . In 1951 , Fort McClellan was officially reactivated , with missions to have a National Guard Training Brigade and to operate the Chemical Corps replacement training center . Wessels is often called the “ Father of the New Fort McClellan . ” Chemical Corps . Funding was appropriated to build specialized facilities at Fort McClellan for what was initially called the Chemical Corps School ( CCS ) . The CCS began operations in 1952 , and the facilities were completed in 1954 . The CCS offered eight weeks of basic training followed by eight weeks devoted to chemical warfare training . In September 1953 , Operation Top Hat was conducted at the CCS . Highly secret at the time , then very controversial when revealed , Top Hat used Chemical Corps personnel to test decontamination methods for biological and chemical weapons , including sulfur mustard and nerve agents . The name of the CCS was changed to the U . S . Army Chemical Center and School in 1962 . Also in 1962 , another activity , the U . S . Army Combat Development Command Chemical Biological - Radiological Agency , moved to Fort McClellan . Both of these operations were relocated to Edgewood Arsenal , Maryland , in 1973 . However , in 1979 the moves were reversed , with the U . S . Army Chemical School ( ACS ) relocating from Edgewood to Fort McClellan . After reorganizing , the ACS provided numerous courses for officers , non - commissioned officers , and initial - entry soldiers , ranging from general in nature to highly technical . Several allied countries sent their military to train at the School . It continued to operate there until being transferred to Fort Leonard Wood , Missouri , in 1999 . H . R . 411 , The Fort McClellan Health Registry Act , was reintroduced to congress . The goal of H . R . 411 is to establish a registry of persons who were exposed to chemical agents during military service at Fort McClellan . The chemical weapons that were present at BRAC were incinerated but areas of the base have levels of chemical agents in concentrations of up to 55 , 000 times established safe levels . Military Police Corps . The Military Police Corps is one of the youngest branches of the U . S . Army , being officially established in September 1941 . A Military Police School , earlier operating at Fort Gordon , Georgia , was officially transferred to Fort McClellan on 11 July 1975 . The Military Police School provided training programs in general policing activities , corrections and detention operations , police and criminal intelligence operations , and security . The School also operated the Department of Defense Polygraph Institute . The Military Police School was transferred to Fort Leonard Wood , Missouri , in 1999 . Women ' s Army Corps . The Women ' s Army Corps ( WAC ) was the women ' s branch of the U . S . Army . It was created as an auxiliary unit , the Women ' s Army Auxiliary Corps ( WAAC ) in 1942 and converted to full status as the WAC in 1943 . The Women ’ s Army Corps School was founded at Fort McClellan on 25 September 1952 . About two years later , official ceremonies were conducted to establish the post as the first permanent home of the U . S . Women ' s Army Corps Center , the WACC . The WACC provided the receiving , processing , and training operations for all female officers and enlisted personnel entering the U . S . Army . Civilian summer training was also conducted at the WACC during the 1950s . Fort McClellan remained its home until the Corps was disestablished and its flag retired in 1978 . Participating in the final ceremony was Major General Mary E . Clarke , the last director of the Women ’ s Army Corps and soon appointed the Commanding General of Fort McClellan ( 1978 - 1980 ) , the first female officer ever to command a major U . S . Army installation . Vietnam War Training . To meet special infantry needs of the Vietnam War , an Advanced Individual Training Infantry Brigade was activated at Fort McClellan in 1966 . With this mission addition , the Fort was renamed the U . S . Army School / Training Center and Fort McClellan . As forces in Vietnam were reduced , the Training Infantry Brigade was deactivated in April 1970 , after training more than 30 , 000 men . During 1969 , this Training Brigade , along with the Military Police School and the Army Chemical School , made Fort McClellan the only U . S . Army installation in the United States with three major missions . Closing and Present Use . During the last decades of the 20th century , Fort McClellan was ' home ' for an average military population of about 10 , 000 people , including about 5 , 000 who were permanently assigned , and employed about 1 , 500 civilians . In 1995 , the Base Realignment and Closure ( BRAC ) Commission voted to permanently close Fort McClellan . The official closing ceremony ending Fort McClellan ' s illustrious past was held on 20 May 1999 . At the official closing ceremony , Major General Ralph G . Wooten , Commanding General and Chemical School Commandant ( 1996 - 1999 ) , conveyed a heartfelt thanks from the Department of the Army to Fort McClellan and the surrounding communities : At the time of closure , Fort McClellan was home to the U . S . Army Chemical School , the U . S . Army Military Police School , the Training Brigade , and the Department of Defense Polygraph Institute . The Chemical School , Military Police School , and the Training Brigade relocated to Fort Leonard Wood , Missouri , integrating with their Engineer School to form the U . S . Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence . The DoD Polygraph Institute relocated to Fort Jackson , South Carolina . Governmental Occupants . The grounds of Fort McClellan continue to be operated by the Alabama National Guard for field training , as well as a notoriously difficult National Guard Officer Candidate School , which was briefly shown in the film " Brüno " . Fort McClellan is also home to the Center for Domestic Preparedness of the Department of Homeland Security . McClellan Community . In early 1999 , the local community leaders of Anniston and Calhoun County established the Fort McClellan Joint Powers Authority for the purpose of overseeing the redevelopment and reuse of Fort McClellan . On 30 April 2009 , Alabama Governor Bob Riley signed into law Act # 2009 - 337 authorizing , " . . . the incorporation of development authorities for the purpose of developing real and personal property of closed military installations in Alabama . . . . ” On 3 March 2010 , the McClellan Development Authority was officially certified as a non - profit public corporation charged with the future economic development of the former U . S . Army Fort . Carved from the developed portions of the original reservation , McClellan is a 10 , 000 - acre ( 40 . 0 - km2 ) master - planned , mixed - use community offering opportunities for residential , commercial , industrial , retail , education , research , and technology development . Since its opening , McClellan has become home to over 900 residents and a work place for more than 3 , 000 employees . Mountain Longleaf National Wildlife Refuge . In 2003 , the U . S . Fish and Wildlife Service , an agency of the U . S . Department of the Interior , established the Mountain Longleaf National Wildlife Refuge on 9 , 016 acres ( 36 . 1 km² ) in undeveloped land on the reservation of the former Fort McClellan . It takes its name from some of the last - remaining mountain longleaf pine ( " Pinus palustris " ) forests in the southeastern United States . As a relatively new wildlife refuge , Mountain Longleaf has not yet developed any sizable tourist facilities . A single information kiosk is located at the junction of Bain ' s Gap Road and Ridge Road South , near the center of the McClellan community . Additionally , part of the reserve is closed to the general public , pending environmental cleanup . Otherwise , there are limited opportunities for hiking , photography , and wildlife observation at the refuge . Work is underway to restore the environment from the ecological problems introduced by the long use of the area for Army field training .