The Frontier Army Museum

Chronicling America’s first truly distant war

- Peter Suciu

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is arguably most famous — even infamous to some — for being home to the U.S. Military Corrections Complex, but that’s really just one small facet of this army installation, dating back to 1827. In fact, the prison, consisting of the United States Disciplinary Barracks — the Department of Defense’s only maximum-security prison — actually only dates back to 1874.

By that time, Fort Leavenworth had already become an important part of America’s move westward. Today, the fort is the oldest active U.S. Army post west of Washington, D.C., and it’s also the oldest permanent settlement in Kansas. It was the home to the United States’ original so-called “Buffalo Soldiers,” the segregated African-American 10th Cavalry Regiment, which saw combat in the Indian Wars and later in the Spanish-American War in Cuba and in the Philippine-American War. Fort Leavenworth has also been known historically as the “Intellectual Center of the Army,” and today supports the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), and maintains the home of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center (CAC). In addition, the garrison supports “tenant” organizations, directly and indirectly, related to the functions of the CAC, including the United States Army Command and General Staff College and the Foreign Military Studies Office.