Fort George G. Meade - History

History

For the 1898 Camp Meade at Middletown PA and the "Meadeboro" camp near the Pickett's Charge field, see Harrisburg ANGB and 1913 Gettysburg reunion.

Initially called Camp Annapolis Junction, the post was opened as "Camp Admiral" in 1917 on 29.7 sq mi (77 km2) acquired for a training camp. The post was renamed Camp George Gordon Meade after construction of 1,460 buildings, and in 1919, the Camp Benning tank school—formed from the WWI Camp Colt and Tobyhanna schools—was transferred to the fort before the Tank Corps was disbanded. Renamed to Fort Leonard Wood (February 1928-March 5, 1929), the fort's Experimental Motorized Forces in the summer and fall of 1928 tested vehicles and tactics in expedition convoys (Camp Meade observers had joined the in-progress 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy). In 1929, the fort's 1st Tank Regiment encamped on the Gettysburg Battlefield and Fort Meade was used as a WWII recruit training post and prisoner of war camp. The Second U.S. Army Headquarters transferred to the post on June 15, 1947; and in the 1950s, the post became headquarters of the National Security Agency.