Fort Omaha

Fort Omaha is a former United States Army and current United States Navy instillation built in the vicinity of modern-day North Omaha, Nebraska, and the current home of the Metropolitan Community College.

Contents

[edit] About

Opened in 1868 as a supply depot for various forts along the Platte River, Fort Omaha is currently the home of Metropolitan Community College.[1] It is also the site of the General Crook House, which, along with the Fort itself, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Fort Omaha is perhaps most remarkable for its role in the 1879 trial of Standing Bear v. Crook. Standing Bear, a Ponca tribe chief, successfully argued in U.S. District Court that Native Americans are "persons within the meaning of the law" and have the rights of citizenship. During the trial Standing Bear was assisted by Susette LaFlesche Tibbles, a famous Omaha who was the daughter of Iron Eye, the last recognized chief of the Omaha.

In World War II Fort Omaha was a prisoner of war camp for Italian Army soldiers.

[edit] Notable personnel

  • Major General George Crook
  • Major General Stuart Heintzelman
  • Brigadier General Dan Christie Kingman

[edit] Current usage

After WWII Fort Omaha was placed under control of the US Navy. Today several perimeter facilities are used as a training locations for the Marine Corps Reserve, as well as storage and repair areas for Navy vehicles. The remainder of Fort Omaha houses a campus of the Metropolitan Community College and the Douglas County Historical Society at the General Crook House.

[edit] General Crook House

In 1879 this Italianate-style house was completed for General and Mrs. Crook for the General's continued administration of the Indian Wars. Today it is the Douglas County Historical Society museum, and is filled with 1800s Victorian-style furniture, with military exhibits, ornate Victorian-style gardens and the Douglas County historical archive.[2]

[edit] Fort Omaha Balloon School

A large steel hanger was built at Fort Omaha in 1907 for use in experiments with dirigibles, a program that was abandoned in 1909. This program and its successor were part of the American Expeditionary Forces.

A balloon house was built in 1908, and in 1909 the first balloon flight occurred. 800 men immediately enlisted in the US Army Signal Corps shortly after the United States entered World War I. They were sent to the Fort Omaha Balloon School for training, and afterwards, provided forward observations for the artillery.[3][4] More than 16,000 airmen eventually went through the Balloon School

In 1917 the Army determined that weather conditions at Fort Omaha were not suitable for rapidly training balloon companies. The next year a contingent of officers and men from Fort Omaha were assigned to Camp John Wise in Texas, and the Balloon School at Fort Omaha was soon entirely gone.[5]

[edit] Notable personnel

  • Captain Frank Purdy Lahm
  • Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge
  • Lieutenant Benjamin Foulois


[edit] References

  1. ↑ (n.d.) Fort Omaha HistoricOmaha.Com
  2. ↑ (n.d.) Fort Omaha and the General Crook House. Douglas County Historical Society.
  3. ↑ Collins, W. (1919) History of Fort Omaha. Omaha: M. F. Shafer & Co.
  4. ↑ Herbert, C. (n.d.) A Balloon's Eye View of World War One. Undated paper for the National Association of American Balloon Corps Veterans.
  5. ↑ DesChenes, R. (n.d.) The Story of the American Expeditionary Forces: 43rd Balloon Company AEF. Great War Society.

[edit] External links


Notice

This article uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Fort_Omaha. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the CC by-sa 3.0 License.


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