A historical account of the nation's largest infantry training center

Fort Benning’s history tells the story of the US infantry. For most of a century, Fort Benning’s infantry school has graduated the soldiers who lead as well as the fighting foot soldiers in the dirt and mud. Founded on farm land in Georgia, it has been one of the US Army’s premier installations from the days of the Doughboys to a more modern era where Rangers proudly wear their berets.

Fort Benning’s long history has produced an impressive alumni list. Eisenhower coached its football team. Marshall rewrote the curriculum. Patton pushed men to prepare for battle. Bradley organized its Officer’s Training School, a source for men of rank in World War II. Powell and Schwarzkopf were honor graduates, as were Eaton and Freakley and other heroes from the sands of Iraq.

Fort Benning trained soldiers in the art of the bayonet. It prepared them to jump out of airplanes. It discovered the mobility and power of helicopters. It honed the technology of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. It has set the table for war in the trenches, war on the ground, war in the air, and war in the desert. Infantry has led the way and so has Fort Benning. It truly is the Home of the Infantry.

RICHARD HYATT has been a journalist for thirty-four years with the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. His honors include a column writing award from the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Sigma Delta Chi Green Eyeshade Award for Commentary. He has earned more than forty statewide awards and was named one of Georgia’s most influential journalists by Georgia Trend. Hyatt has written eleven books, including biographies of President Jimmy Carter, US Senator Zell Miller, Speaker of the House Tom Murphy, and gospel singer Jake Hess.

Military wife and English teacher PEGGY A. STELPFLUG is the author of The Roger Hall Phenomenon and editor of They Came in Peace, acollection of poems remembering the Beirut Marines and fellow servicemen killed in 1983. Peggy and her husband William, a retired Air Force pilot, live in Auburn, Alabama. Their five children areLaura, Kathy, Christy, Joe and Billy, a Marine lance corporal who died in the Beirut bombing.

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