In the 1750s, some colonists in New Jersey complained about being forced to house British soldiers who were fighting in the French and Indian War. That conflict pitted Great Britain against France for control of areas of the New World. In an effort to placate the settlers, a stone structure was built in 1758 to serve as barracks for 300 British troops.
Known today as the Old Barracks Museum, the garrison is a reminder of that little-known chapter of American history. It displays maps, dioramas, weapons, and other exhibits that transport visitors back more than 2 1/2 centuries to relive a small part of the story of the founding of our country.
This site is one of many that bring to life periods of United States military history and episodes that helped to shape—and at times save—the nation. A book titled “U.S. Military Museums, Historic Sites, and Exhibits” lists close to 400 locations in every state and the District of Columbia. An introduction to some of them demonstrates the variety that awaits discovery both near where you live and at destinations you might visit.
The dream of flight first became a reality in 1783 but not in an airplane. French brothers conducted two successful tests in a balloon propelled by a fire of wool and damp straw, then repeated their feat before King Louis XVI. Today, an early hot-air balloon displayed at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona, recalls that early experiment. Nearly 300 other aircraft are on view in hangers and outside on the large campus, too. Plans are underway to add a Military Vehicle Museum to the facility.
A French inventor and aviator named Louis Blériot achieved the next flight goal in 1909, when he piloted a crude fixed-wing aircraft over the English Channel. A replica of that plane is among more than 160 in the collection of the U.S. Army Aviation Museum at Fort Rucker, Alabama. Its assemblage of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters also includes the plane that was used by Gen. Douglas MacArthur at Bataan, where undermanned U.S. and Philippine forces delayed the advance of Japanese troops across the Pacific and helped to prevent their victory in that theater of war.
A sword carried by Napoleon Bonaparte and George Washington’s pistols are among exhibits at the West Point Museum. The Continental Army first occupied West Point, New York, in 1778, and the museum was opened in 1854. In addition to viewing its historic displays of weapons over the ages, beginning with a Stone Age club, visitors during summer have access to Fort Putnam, which was a military garrison during the Revolutionary War.
Fewer than 20 years before the West Point Museum was opened, 189 brave men fought to the death trying to defend the Alamo. Established in 1718 as a Franciscan mission in present-day San Antonio, Texas, the Alamo subsequently served as a garrison for five different armies.
In 1836, Mexican troops laid siege to the complex and eventually captured it, killing most of the American troops inside. Legendary frontiersmen Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie were among those who died. Two buildings remain from the Battle of the Alamo—the Alamo Church and the Long Barrack, which houses a museum displaying artifacts from the time of Texas’s war for independence.
Many more soldiers died at the Andersonville Prison in Georgia, a Confederate detention center for Union troops during the Civil War. The facility was overcrowded, unsanitary, and lacked adequate supplies of food and water. As a result, of approximately 45,000 soldiers held there, nearly 13,000 did not survive. The adjacent Andersonville National Cemetery is their final resting place. The National Prisoner of War Museum nearby honors American POWs from the Revolution to Vietnam.
People also died during the mid-19th century as settlers migrating from eastern states moved into territory inhabited by Plains Indians. Fort Scott, Kansas, was one of a chain of fortifications established on the frontier to provide security. Its most active period was 1842 to 1853, and it also saw service during the Civil War. The National Historic Site that the fort occupies today encompasses 20 structures and a parade ground.
Army history also is recalled at the General Patton Memorial Museum in California. Patton earned fame first for his role in the development of the Army’s armored warfare and creation of the Desert Training Center, then for his exploits during World War II. At times, his successes on the battlefield were overshadowed by his hard-driving personality and occasional challenges to authority.
The museum now occupies the site of the former Desert Training Center. Along with memorabilia from Patton’s life and career, it has a large collection of tanks that were used during World War II.
No story about places associated with the country’s military would be complete without a salute to the U.S. Navy. One place where that branch is recognized is the U.S. Navy Submarine Force Library and Museum, located on the Thames River in Groton, Connecticut.
