Life at Fort Howard 1920-1940 - The 12th Infantry

Life at Fort Howard 1920-1940 - The 12th Infantry. . , From 1920 to 1940 the fort was the home of four companies of the 12th Infantry regiment. The image to the left shows two companies on the Parade Grounds in 1936., The 12th's unit insignia to the right includes a red sea lion signifying action in the Spanish-American War, two Moline crosses representing casualties taken during the Civil War, and a wigwam indicating the unit's involvement in the Indian campaigns., During 1926 and 1927 Gen. Douglas MacArthur commanded the 3rd Corps that included the 12th Infantry. In the image to the right, General MacArthur addresses the troops at Howard in 1926., The 12th Infantry regularly served as honor guards at many presidential functions. Units would board trucks for the ride to Washington and stand in formation at the White House., The map and legend to the right and below are from the official 1921 Army audit of Fort Howard. At that time the fort was transitioning from a World War One artillery training facility to becoming the headquarters of the Third Army Corps., By then most of the coast artillery guns had been removed, and only the mortars of Battery Key and the 6-inch rifles of Battery Nicholson remained. The red dot on the map is your present location. Note that the wooded area in front of you was full of workshops, storage buildings, and barracks. The yellow dot on the legend and yellow circles on the map denote the structures that still exist in the park and on the Veterans Administration property. Several of those structures have historic landmark status., In 1938 the 12th Infantry was sent to the 75th reunion of Gettysburg veterans. They set up tents, supplied the food, and helped the old soldiers get around., Summer maneuvers for the 12th included 100-mile hikes and bivouacs in Timonium and at Fort Hoyle in Harford County., Every July throughout the 1920's and 1930's, a Citizen's Military Training Camp was conducted at Fort Howard. Young men who attended for four years and met the program's requirements were offered an officer's commission in the U.S. Army., In 1940 the army left Fort Howard and the property was transferred to the Veterans Administration (VA). The VA built the large, multi-story brick hospital located north of the fence bordering the park. The hospital opened in 1943 and closed in 2002.