On the
Carlisle Barracks grounds in Pennsylvania, a non-descript rectangular stone
building was witness to so much of our early American history. The entrance is in the middle, a heavy and
simple wooden door with rusted thick latches. It is now a self-guided museum
which opens at daylight and closes at sun-down. It was captivating to step
inside and to visit alone the former prison cells and powder storage magazine,
now a museum which describes the rich history that surrounds the area.
The Carlisle
post was purchased by the federal government in 1801 from the heirs of William
Penn for $662.20. The property had been
rented previously.
In 1803 Meriwether
Lewis was helped by eight recruits from the Carlisle Barracks in his
preparation to explore the Missouri River. These recruits were sent by
Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Cushing to help transport supplies and a keelboat from
Pittsburgh to St. Louis. When the job was done, the recruits traveled down the
Mississippi River and reported to Fort Adams, MS.
After a big
fire destroyed most of the buildings in 1806, the post was rebuilt as a recruit
depot. Even the Navy was authorized to use it. In 1828, the post began training
cavalry troops. By 1846, the Carlisle Barracks became the principal cavalry and
light artillery training depot for the U.S. Army.
Jail Cells
Cavalry
School brothers were split and had to take sides as the war broke out between
North and South. Few thought that
Confederate soldiers would venture out this far north. But they did. In June of 1863 Gen. Robert E.
Lee’s Confederate Army moved north into Maryland and Pennsylvania, moving along
the Cumberland Valley towards Harrisburg, Pa.
Interestingly,
a former soldier who served in 1840 at the Carlisle Barracks, Lt. Richard S.
Ewell, 1st Dragoons, returned to Carlisle in 1863 as Confederate
Lieutenant General where he headquartered and staged the area for an attack on
Harrisburg. But Gen. Lee ordered him to rendezvous south of South Mountain and
he left Carlisle on June 30, 1863.
Carlisle
Barracks was almost burned to the ground by the shelling of Maj. Gen. J.E.B.
Stuart and his Confederate cavalry when U.S. Brigadier General William E. Smith
division, who was in possession of Carlisle, refused to surrender. One hundred
and thirty-four rounds of ammunition also destroyed the city’s gas works (July
1, 1863).
Ironically,
before the Civil War, Carlisle Barracks had been commanded by Stuart’s
father-in-law, Gen. Phillip St. George Cooke. The post became smoldering ruins,
however, by the end of the Civil War Carlisle Barracks had been rebuilt.
Gen. George
Washington’s Continental Army was supported by a growing depot which had been
built in 1777 during the American War of Independence from the British
government. This Hessian Powder Magazine is the building in which I was
standing. This magazine, far away from
the reach of British ships, stored gunpowder, cannon shot and small arms.
It is not
documented as such but tradition claims that Hessian soldiers, who were
interned at Carlisle after their capture by Washington’s Army during the Battle
of Trenton in 1776, had built the powder magazine. It is the second oldest
building on post after the 1760 Wilson-Henderson Mill on Route 11.
This
building served many functions since its construction. The covered gallery, the
chimneys and roof ventilators of the 18th century have long been
removed. According to the archives, the iron doors were added in the mid-19th
century when the building was used as the Hessian Guard House.
When the
Carlisle Barracks were used as a cavalry school, the magazine building was used
a guard house. From 1879 to 1918, the building was used by the Carlisle Indian
Industrial School as a detention center for students. In the early 20th
century, the building was used as storage and in 1948 was converted back to a
close approximation of its former appearance. It now houses a museum.
It is highly
unusual that powder magazines such as this one survived because generally gun
powder was stored in earthen cellars or in highly enforced buildings in which
the roof could minimize the blast effect but the rock walls would stand.
Vaulted brick ceilings, traversed entrances, ventilation shafts and lightning
rods were added to the architecture of buildings in order to enhance their
safety. Exposed metal was avoided in order to moderate sparks and copper, wood,
and leather were used while handling gunpowder.
To 18th
century Americans, a “Hessian” was a generic term given to all six
German-speaking states that had sent troops to serve the British government in
compliance to treaty obligations. Professional mercenaries of sorts, “Hessians”
were unforgiving fighters who took no prisoners and were greatly feared by the
Continental Army soldiers. The few
soldiers, who were captured after the Battle of Trenton, were sent to Carlisle and
used as free labor.
According to
the museum archives, on the night of December 25, 1776, Washington’s army crossed
the Delaware River by boats since it had not frozen over as he had hoped, and
surprised the Hessians who were quartered in Trenton. On January 3, 1777 his
army also defeated the British forces in Princeton, causing both the Hessians
and the British to retreat into the interior of New Jersey.
A “Hessian”
soldier of the Fusilier Regiment von Lossburg at the Battle of Trenton was
equipped with a brass helmet plate with a lion cipher of his fusilier regiment
and armed with a standard Prussian pattern flintlock musket and brass hilted
short sword.
In 1903 when
the post housed the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, the football team
invented the hidden ball play in a college game against Harvard.
In 1920 when
the post housed the Medical Field Service School, Major John P. Fletcher
invented the first complete sterile bandage for individual soldiers. It was
called the Carlisle Bandage.
In 1918
General Hospital No. 31 was established in Carlisle Barracks as a pioneering
rehab center, treating over 4,000 soldiers in WWI.
In another
first, in order to evacuate the wounded, a trial for the auto-gyro was executed
in 1935 at the Carlisle Medical Field Service School as the first vertical
take-off associated with the Army.
The list of
schools located on the post is quite long:
-
Artillery
School (1777)
-
School
of Cavalry Practice (1838)
-
Mounted
Light Artillery (1838)
-
Indian
Industrial School (1879)
-
Medical
School (1920)
-
School
of Government of Occupied Areas (1946)
-
Adjutant
General School (1946)
-
Armed
Forces Information Schools (1946)
-
Chaplain
School (1947)
-
Military
Police School (1947)
-
Army
Security Agency School (1949)
-
U.S.
Army War College (1951)
-
U.S.
Army Military History Research Collection
(1967)
-
U.S.
Army Military History Institute (1977)
The Indian
School envisioned by Richard Pratt trained Native American youth in industry,
trades, and farming. Besides academics, students learned blacksmithing,
metalworking, carpentry, and printing. Girls learned cooking, sewing,
embroidery, and other forms of stitching.
Some of the
best athletes and teams in the nation were instructed by Glenn S. “Pop” Warner:
William Henry “Lone Star” Dietz, Charles
“Chief” Bender; Louis Tewanima of the Hopi tribe earned trophies in the 1908
and 1912 Olympics and Jim Thorpe was named All American football halfback in
1911 and 1912 and won the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics. The
Associated Press named Thorpe the greatest athlete of the first 50 years of the
20th century.
The athletic
field and the cemetery are a testimony to 39 years of existence of the Indian
School. Students like Happy Lucy who passed away while studying are buried
here.
Captain
Johann Ewald, commander of a company of Hessian riflemen, who fought against
the American Army of the Revolution had this to say:
“Concerning
the American army, one should not think that it can be compared to a motley
crowd of farmers. The so-called Continental regiments are under good discipline
and drill in the English style as well as the English themselves… This army consists of handsome… well-built
men whose appearance suffers very much indeed from a lack of clothing, hats,
and shoes. For I have seen many soldiers of this army without shoes, with
tattered breeches and uniforms patched with all sorts of colored cloths, without
neckband and only the lid of a hat, who marched and stood their guard as
proudly as the best uniformed soldier in the world, despite the raw weather and
hard rain… Indeed, very many stood quite proudly under arms without shoes and
stockings. Although I shuddered at the distress of these men, it filled me with
awe for them. Who would have thought a hundred years ago that out of this
multitude of rabble would arise a people who could defy kings and enter into a
close alliance with crowned heads?”
The American
Patriots stood against the mighty English empire, one of the greatest military powers
of all time, spanning the world. With
little prior military experience and learning their craft on the drill field
and in battle, the Americans won.
Today the
U.S. Army War College produces “graduates who are skilled critical thinkers
tasked with solving complex problems in the global application of land power.”
“The
Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College conducts and publishes
national security and strategic research and analysis which serve to influence
policy debate and bridge the gap between Military and Academia.” One recent
wargame looked at three critical outcomes of the Syrian conflict. (Museum
Archives)
At the time
of its founding in 1751, the tiny village of Carlisle, Pa, located on the banks
of the Letort Creek in the Cumberland Valley was the county seat of Cumberland
County, the westernmost county in Pa. The small township of Carlisle has been at
the cross roads of American history. Carlisle Barracks played a significant
role in the training of the American soldier.