United States Army War College history

As in the Revolutionary War, Carlisle Barracks hosted a major training facility when the School of Cavalry Practice was established in 1838.

Inadequate to its tasking, his force set fire to and abandoned the arsenal on April 19, 1861 before returning to Carlisle.

Founded rumors of invasion reached Carlisle in early summer of 1863.

Also in April 1864, land northeast of the Post was leased to establish a reception center for substitutes and draftees.

Records do not show if the fence was ever constructed, but its need ceased when, on April 9, 1865, the Civil War ended and the pace of activity at Carlisle Barracks greatly diminished.

The first students arrived at Carlisle at midnight October 6, 1879, with others following three weeks later.

In 1883, Congress authorized support for off-reservation schools through a national fund dedicated to Native American education.

The first class graduated in 1889.

The Carlisle Indian School first played collegiate football against Yale in 1896.

By 1897, Carlisle football was known throughout the country, a fame that garnered financial support.

The first War College class of six captains and three majors of the Army and Marine Corps convened November 1st, 1904, as the first professional education beyond West Point.

Jim Thorpe, the school's greatest football and track and field athlete, won the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm.

On September 1, 1918, Carlisle Barracks reverted to War Department control.

Reopening in the fall of 1919, the focus shifted from preparing and mentoring the General Staff to the academic studies of war.

In 1950, the school opened again to address the growing Army's need for more officers with an advanced education.

The United States Army War College, senior educational institution of the United States Army, arrived in the spring of 1951 to begin the latest stage of the post's history.

The Center for Strategic Leadership, a state-of-the-art war gaming complex that opened in 1994, adds yet another unique dimension to the college and to Carlisle Barracks' history as a distinctive United States Army campus.

Krebs has been at UofL since 2007.

Krebs, a military historian, organized an international 2018 military history conference in Louisville that was attended by over 600 military historians. “For history, that’s a fairly big conference,” he laughed.

Here, Army ROTC members take their oath in 2019 as they become commissioned officers.