Training 1962

Serving America’s armed forces since 1909

Fort McCoy is named for Robert Bruce McCoy. The son of a Civil War captain, McCoy was a prominent local resident who, throughout his lifetime, served as a lawyer, district attorney, county judge and mayor of Sparta, Wis. He reached the rank of major general during his 31 years of distinguished military service, which included service in the Spanish-American War, the police action in Mexico, and World War I.

McCoy returned from the Spanish-American War with a dream. He knew that as warfare became increasingly more modern, larger and more-powerful guns would be developed, and training would be emphasized. He envisioned these changes would require larger training areas, and, by 1905, he had acquired approximately 4,000 acres of land in the Sparta area.

Maj. Samuel Allen of the 7th Field Artillery at Fort Snelling, Minn., also admired the terrain of the Sparta area for its training value. September 1905 marked the first use of the land for military purposes. McCoy invited Allen’s unit to put his family’s ranch to the test during 16 days of training.

As a result of the 16-day test, Allen recommended to an Army review board that a large piece of land be purchased for an artillery camp. Approximately 14,200 acres of land, including McCoy’s 4,000 acres, were purchased in 1909. The resulting parcel was called the “Sparta Maneuver Tract.”

The Sparta Maneuver Tract was divided approximately in half by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. The maneuver camp situated on the northern half of the parcel was referred to as Camp Emory Upton, while that to the south was known as Camp Robinson.

In 1910, the War Department authorized $40,000 for construction and improvements to the area. Within that same year, the reservation was renamed Camp Bruce E. McCoy, in honor of the Civil War captain. The camp retained that name until Nov. 19, 1926, when it officially was designated as Camp McCoy in honor of Maj. Gen. Robert B. McCoy, who had died that same year.

Nearly 9,500 acres of land were acquired from the Department of Agriculture in 1938-39. From 1940-1942, an additional 37,437 acres were acquired by a directive from the Secretary of War. These additions included construction of the large, triangular-shaped cantonment area, much of which still exists today.

The “New Camp” officially was inaugurated Aug. 30, 1942. Total cost for the construction was estimated at $30 million, and the camp capacity was set at 35,000.

Camp McCoy was used as a training facility for many World War II units, including the 2nd Infantry Division, the 76th Infantry Division and the 100th Infantry Battalion, which was comprised of Hawaii National Guardsmen of Japanese ancestry. The post also served as a prisoner-of-war and enemy-alien prison camp during this time.

Aside from temporary lulls, the installation has been in almost constant use since its founding in 1909 and has provided artillery and maneuver training opportunities for millions of military personnel from all services.

Camp McCoy was aligned under U.S. Army Forces Command July 1, 1973, and officially was re-designated as Fort McCoy Sept. 30, 1974.

In 1990-91, during Operations Desert Shield/Storm, Soldiers from 74 separate units and their equipment were deployed and redeployed at Fort McCoy.

From June 1991 through June 1992, the post also completed Operation Desert Fix, which was one of the largest reserve-component equipment demobilization/repair missions in the Army. During Desert Fix, Fort McCoy was responsible for inventorying, inspecting, repairing and returning more than a division-and-a-half’s worth of equipment to 121 owning units located throughout a nine-state area.

Fort McCoy experienced great construction growth throughout the 1990s. This was the first major construction to occur at the post since 1942. From 1990 through 2011, $285.4 million in new construction contracts were awarded, the majority to regional firms.

Training levels at Fort McCoy reached record proportions in fiscal year 2000, with 149,432 personnel participating. The installation has provided support and facilities for the training of more than 100,000 personnel annually since 1984.

Fort McCoy was aligned under the U.S. Army Reserve Command in 1993.

Fort McCoy was realigned under what is now known as the Installation Management Command in 2002.

Today, Fort McCoy’s primary mission is to support the readiness of the force by serving as a training center and a support site for power-projection missions.

The installation has served in a continuing capacity as an Army power-projection site by processing and preparing military personnel for duty in overseas contingency operations.

From Sept. 11, 2001 through Dec. 30, 2011, 140,197 military personnel from 2,416 units mobilized or demobilized at Fort McCoy during the installation’s efforts to support the Global War on Terror.

(For more photographs and information on Fort McCoy’s history, please see “Fort McCoy History & Heritage,” which is available on the installation or online at http://www.mccoy.army.mil/AboutUs/History/FMCHistHrtg.pdf. )