The U. S. Army established Fort Leavenworth in 1827 in what would become the territory and later state of Kansas, at the head of the Santa Fe Trail and Oregon Trail. It was named for Colonel Henry Leavenworth, one of the army officers most associated with the frontier. Built to protect western travelers and maintain a military presence against the Plains Indians, the fort was a significant anchor to American defense in the West.
Fort Leavenworth was the staging site for several important expeditions to the West, one commanded by Colonel Henry Dodge (1835) and two others led by Colonel (later General) Stephen Watts Kearny (1839 and 1845). On the outbreak of the Mexican-American War in 1846, Kearny gathered a force of 1,600 at the fort, trained and outfitted his army, and began his trek to conquer New Mexico and California. During the Civil War, Fort Leavenworth served as an important supply depot and as the headquarters of the Department of the Missouri. In 1881, the army established a Command and Staff School at the fort, and this course of study became the required career step for all officers of staff rank. As such, the fort and its environs became one of the few (along with West Point) common factors in the experience of career officers. It continues to fill that same function up to the present day.
Further reading: Dwight L. Clarke, Stephen Watts Kearny, Soldier of the West (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961).
World History
