Marine Corps Base Quantico
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| Marine Corps Base Quantico | |
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| Quantico, Virginia | |
 MCB Quantico logo |
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| Type | Military base |
| Built | 1917 |
| In use | Officer Candidate School The Basic School Marine Corps University FBI Academy Drug Enforcement Administration training academy |
| Controlled by | United States Marine Corps |
| Commanders | Colonel Charles A. Dallachie |
Marine Corps Base Quantico is located near Triangle, Virginia. Known as the "Crossroads of the Marine Corps", it is a major Marine Corps training base, covering nearly 100 square miles. The Corps's Combat Development Command is based here, which develops strategies for Marine combat, and makes up most of the community of over 12,000 military and civilian personnel, including families. It has a budget of around $300 million and is the home of the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School. The Marine Corps Research Center at Quantico pursues equipment R&D, especially telecommunications, for the Marine Corps. In addition, the FBI has its principal research and training facilities here, including a mock village, numerous labs, and equipment test ranges. Quantico is also the principal training facility for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
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[edit] History
"In 1917, Marine Barracks, Quantico, was established on the land currently occupied by today's Base. Marine Barracks personnel consisted of 91 enlisted men and four officers."
Prior to Marines arriving here in 1917, the land was owned by the Town of Quantico. At the turn of the century, the Quantico Company was formed on Quantico Creek. The company, which promoted the town as a tourist and excursion center, set up tourist sites, such as refreshment stands, boats, and beaches with dressing rooms to promote business.
By 1916, the Quantico Company began advertising Quantico as "The New Industrial City," and pushed for industry to come to the area. At the same time, the Quantico Shipyards were established on Hospital Point (the land that formerly held the Naval Medical Clinic but is now home to Marine Corps Systems Command) to build ocean freighters and tankers. With growing tensions of war in Europe, the construction of U.S. Navy ships was a major money-maker for the Quantico Shipyards.
While the Town of Quantico was rapidly growing as a fishing village, excursion center and a shipbuilding center in early 1917, the town was not large or significant, and was suffering many financial difficulties.
Around the same time, then-Major General Commandant of the Marine Corps, Major General George Barnett, sent a board to find possible sites for a new Marine Corps base in the Washington, D.C., vicinity.
It wasn't too long after that the Crossroads of the Corps was established and the name "Quantico" would become immortalized in military history.
In 1917, Marine Barracks, Quantico, was established on the land currently occupied by today's Base. Marine Barracks personnel consisted of 91 enlisted men and four officers.
As technology grew and expanded, so did Quantico. Thousands of Marines were trained here during World War I , and by 1920, the Marine Corps schools were founded as Col. Smedley D. Butler put it, "to make this post and the whole Marine Corps a great university."
These schools eventually developed into today's Marine Corps University. Virtually all Marine officers receive their basic training here, as well as enlisted technicians from many different disciplines.
Quantico also had several other firsts, to include a first in Marine aviation and warfare doctrination. The first Marine Aircraft Wing was developed here, as well as the Corps' first helicopter squadron - Marine Helicopter Squadron One. HMX-1 was the first helicopter squadron to provide rapid transportation of U.S. Presidents. It continues that mission today.
In 1934, Amphibious Warfare Doctrine, along with special amphibious landing crafts for World War II were developed here.
In 1987, the Marine Corps Development and Education Command here was changed to the Marine Corps Combat Development Command.
[edit] Those who came before
What is now known as the Crossroads of the Marine Corps was once seen as five miles of quiet, lush forest that bordered the Potomac River.
According to records, this is how the Algonquin Indian tribe known as Manohoacs saw the land when they inhabited the area just north of Quantico in the 1500s.
As a matter of fact, the name "Quantico" comes from the Native Americans and has been translated to mean "by the large stream."
Other accounts show that the area was first visited by European explorers in the summer of 1608. But, it wasn't until later in the year that major land owners started to appear.
After the turn of the century, the area became popular because of tobacco trade in Aquia Harbor. Because traveling on muddy roads in those days was slow, many villages sprung up along the river and its inlets. Additionally, the area was a bustling stopping point on the North-South routes between New York and Florida.
Early settlements and plantations rooted along the flatlands bordering the Potomac. The hills west of the river remained essentially uninhabited until the early 1700s.
Prince William County was organized in 1731 when the "Quantico Road" was also opened. This road gave vital access from the western part of the county to this area. By 1759 the road stretched across the Blue Ridge Mountains into the Shenandoah Valley.
The first military presence at Quantico came during the Revolutionary War, when the Quantico Creek village became a main naval base for the Commonwealth of Virginia's 72-vessel fleet on which many Virginia State Militia served.
The land was first visited by the Marine Corps in 1816 when a group of Marines traveling by ship to Washington had a slight setback. Their vessel was halted by ice in the Potomac forcing them to debark and march to the town of Dumfries, Virginia. Here they met a young Captain Archibald Henderson who lived close by. A generous-natured man, Henderson hired a wagon for them and sent them on their way.
During the Civil War, control of the Potomac River became very important to both sides of the two armies. The Confederates picked the Quantico Creek area on the Potomac to set up their gun batteries. This enabled them to make full use of several points where their artillery could reach anything on the water, thus deterring Union use of the water highway. One of these sites included "Shipping Point," the present day site of the Marine Corps Systems Command.
While battles took place in Manassas, Virginia and Fredericksburg, Virginia, the gun positions around Quantico were used until the end of the war. After a 12-day battle at the Spotsylvania Courthouse where the Union lost about 25,000 soldiers, the war moved out of the Quantico area.
Following the war, railroads became a more integral part of transportation. In 1872, the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad was formed when several railroads north and south met at Quantico Creek. This railroad still runs through the Base and is used daily.
The village came to be called "Quantico" and was built by the Quantico Company. This was the start of a thriving tourist and fishing town that would later be known worldwide as Marine Corps Base Quantico.
[edit] Units and Commands
It is the site of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command and Marine Helicopter 1 HMX-1. HMX-1 was the first helicopter squadron to provide rapid transportation of U.S. Presidents, a mission they have continued to carry out to the present day.
- Officer Candidate School
- The Basic School
- The Advanced School
- Marine Corps Embassy Security Group
- Marine Corps University
- Marine Corps Marathon
- Marine Corps Combat Development Command
- Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory
- Marine Corps Recruiting Command
- Manpower and Reserve Affairs Division, Headquarters Marine Corps
- Marine Corps Systems Command
- Marine Corps Training and Education Command
- Marine Corps Network Operations Security Command
- Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Staff Training Program
[edit] Tenant Activities
The base is the home of major training institutions for both the Marine Corps and federal law enforcement agencies, including:
- Drug Enforcement Administration training academy
- FBI Academy
- The FBI Laboratory
- FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT),
A replica of the USMC War Memorial, depicting the flag-raising at Iwo Jima, stands at the entrance to the base. (The original stands at the north end of Arlington National Cemetery.)
Marine Corps Base Quantico and the Potomac River surround the town of Quantico. Access to the town is possible only through the base, the Amtrak train station or from the river.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
This article incorporates text in the public domain from the United States Marine Corps.
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