Camp Guernsey’s tradition of military support

CAMP GUERNSEY, WY, UNITED STATES

04.10.2015

Story by Staff Sgt. Daniel Molineaux 

Joint Force Headquarters - Wyoming National Guard

CAMP GUERNSEY, Wyo. - The region where Camp Guernsey, the Wyoming National Guard’s premier training facility, is located has been a source of military protection, action and training for the last 160 years. The first military post in the state was established in June 1849 at Fort Laramie, then called Fort John, 10 miles east of the location of Camp Guernsey. Created to protect westward bound settlers from attacks, to watch over the newly-established railroad lines, and to maintain newly-installed telegraph wires, the military base would serve as the first of several military outposts in the region.

The early years
Southeastern Wyoming has long been the traditional hunting and seasonal camping region for numerous Native American groups. Evidence of this can be seen around Camp Guernsey with the numerous rock circles marking areas used for housing by early hunting groups, stone projectile points and hunting sites. Noted for its unique and varied natural land formations, United States Army officer John Fremont wrote while completing a mapping expedition of the Oregon Trail in 1842, that the region would make an ideal location for a military camp. His early thoughts on the location have proved to be prescient with several military posts created in and around the area by U.S. Army personnel.

The migration of settlers from the Eastern United States beginning in the 1840s would necessitate the mobilization of the U.S. Army for protection of settlers moving west. Evidence of the mass number of people that moved through this region can be seen today at the Oregon Trail Ruts. From 1841 through 1869, an untold number of wagons, draft animals and settlers wore down the sandstone trail from 2- to 6-foot deep ridge; the site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966.

Starting in 1853, a series of skirmishes in the region, beginning at the current location of Fort Laramie, would escalate between European settlers and Native American groups. The Grattan Massacre in 1854 would spark a series of small-scale battles between the military and various native groups in the region, resulting in deaths on both sides, as well as civilians establishing homesteads in Wyoming. These confrontations would continue throughout the 1860s up until 1877, when the last death was recorded at the Battle of Big Bitter Cottonwood Creek. The completion of the transcontinental railroad to the south of the region would end the importance of the area for military purposes, and lead to the gradual reduction of wagon train travel.

Construction begins
As early as 1931, then Wyoming National Guard Adjutant Gen. Rhodolph Esmay began discussing changing the summer training location for the Wyoming National Guard from Pole Mountain Training Area, east of Laramie, to the town of Guernsey to comply with a federal regulation that training areas be accessible year round. Heavy snow would routinely shut down Pole Mountain and much of the area was unusable during the winter months. In 1937 money was authorized by the Wyoming Legislature for establishing a training center in Guernsey. Federal money followed in 1938. Construction would begin the following year when $35,000 was earmarked through the Works Project Administration, a federal program that put money into public roads and buildings, and put millions of mostly unskilled men to work around the country. Throughout the following generations, the camp would acquire additional land, improve their scope of operations and become a major training facility for a wide variety of military and civilian organizations, in addition to the Wyoming National Guard.

Modern Camp Guernsey
Growth, development and modernization are all at the forefront of Camp Guernsey’s current philosophy. From its early days as a setting for annual summer training, the facility has grown into a premier joint training facility. Encompassing nearly 80,000 acres of diverse environmental terrain, the camp can accommodate a wide variety of military maneuvers, including a vast array of field artillery weapons systems and aircraft attack training, along with various aviation operations, state-of-the-art indoor training and meeting facilities.

From its early origin as a frontier fort in the American West, the camp seeks to provide realistic, combat-based training for all manner of military and civilian forces. With an eye to the future, Camp Guernsey is continually seeking new opportunities to grow and meet the changing demands of its diverse clientele. From expanding and developing the north training area’s aircraft landing strips to accommodate larger aircraft, to creating flight opportunities for unmanned aerial vehicles, the camp’s full time staff is dedicated to the ever-expanding utilization of Wyoming’s foremost training facility.

• Date Taken: 04.10.2015
• Date Posted: 04.10.2015 12:32
• Story ID: 159645
• Location: CAMP GUERNSEY, WY, US