World War I Just 18 days after a state of
war with Germany was declared on April 6, 1917, the first Camp Lee was established as a state mobilization camp; it later became a division training camp.. Depot brigades also received soldiers returning home at the end of the war and carried out their mustering out and discharges. When construction work ended, there were accommodations for 60,335 men. Camp Lee was one of the largest "cities" in Virginia in 1917, with more than 60,000 soldiers ("Doughboys") trained there prior to their departure for the
Western Front. Camp Lee was the mobilization center for the
80th Division, the Blue Ridge Division, which was organized there in August 1917. Because of significant common heritage in the past (Colonial Wars,
Revolutionary War, and
Civil War), units of the division were primarily residents of
Pennsylvania,
Virginia and
West Virginia. The 80th Division then deployed to France; its approximately 23,000 soldiers arrived there by June 8,1918; it then saw major combat in the
Second Battle of the Somme (1918) and the
Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Following the 80th Division's departure, the 37th Division began training at Camp Lee; however, their training was halted after the Armistice ended the need to continue deployment. During World War I, the YMCA played a key role at Camp Lee by providing moral, recreational and lodging services for the thousands of young soldiers training there. For example, the YMCA downtown Richmond building regularly hosted nearly 300 men on Saturday nights and offered free stationery for soldiers to write home. Included among the many facilities on the base was a large camp hospital situated on 58 acres of land. When the worldwide
influenza epidemic reached Camp Lee in the fall of 1918, an estimated 10,000 soldiers were stricken; nearly 700 died during only a few weeks. The U.S. Census of 1920 showed many soldiers stationed at Fort Lee. Ownership of the land was transferred to the Commonwealth of Virginia and designated a game preserve. Later, portions of the land were incorporated into the
Petersburg National Battlefield and the
Federal Correctional Institution, Petersburg. In 1921, the camp was formally closed, and its buildings were torn down, except one – the so-called "White House". During the war, this two-story wood-framed structure had served as 80th Division Headquarters and as temporary residence for its Commander, Major General
Adelbert Cronkhite. Years later, it became known as the "Davis House" in honor of the family that lived there in the 1930s and 40s. Additionally, the
U.S. Army Logistics Center was established in 1973 to serve as an "integrating center" for the Quartermaster, Transportation, Ordnance, and Missile and Munitions Centers and Schools – the traditional
Combat Service Support branches. Again in 1990, there was a post reorganization and restructuring and the U.S. Army Logistics Center was re-designated the
U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM), and the CASCOM Commander became the Fort Lee Installation Commander as well.
2001–2020: 9/11, BRAC, and Sustainment Center of Excellence In May 2001, the
U.S. Army Women's Museum (AWM) relocated to Fort Lee. It offered more than 13,000 sq. feet of gallery space and thousands of artifacts used to tell the long, proud history of women in the Army. Additionally, the installation hosted a growing number of tenant activities such as the
Army Logistics Management Center (ALMC), Readiness Group Lee, Materiel Systems Analysis Activity, the
General Leonard T. Gerow U.S. Army Reserve Center, the
Defense Commissary Agency (DECA), USAR 80th Division, and several other Department of Army and Department of Defense activities. The transfer of artifacts from Aberdeen to Fort Lee began in August 2009, with the former museum now designated the
U.S. Army Ordnance Training and Heritage Center at Fort Lee. Fort Lee is the country's first army post to host a 'full-size' statue commemorating the service of women in the Army. The statue was unveiled in 2013. The installation emerged as the center of logistics and sustainment for the U.S. Army. With the completion of the BRAC construction projects, the installation acquired 6.5 million square feet of new facilities and about 70,000 troops now train at Fort Lee each year. In 2017, the post marked its Centennial with a year-long celebration themed "A Century of Support to the Nation."
2020s: Operation Allies Refuge and name changes In July 2021, the post was tasked to support
Operation Allies Refuge, with a goal of helping Afghan evacuees transition to a new life in the United States at the conclusion of the war in Afghanistan. The
Department of Defense, through
U.S. Northern Command, and in support of the
Department of State and
Department of Homeland Security, provided transportation, temporary housing, medical screening and general support for Afghan evacuees at military facilities across the country. the name of Fort Lee was changed to Fort Gregg-Adams (see above) in honor of two African American officers, Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams. Other infrastructure on the base was also renamed, including the officers' club into which Gregg had been denied entrance in 1950 as a young second lieutenant, at a time when discrimination and segregation were still being practiced against African American uniformed personnel despite an executive order to the contrary, signed by
President Truman two years prior.
Renaming to Fort Lee In June 2025, the U.S. Army announced that Fort Gregg-Adams would return to its former name, Fort Lee, but with
Fitz Lee (1866–1899) as the new namesake. Fitz Lee served in the U.S. Army as a
Buffalo Soldier during the
Spanish–American War and was a
Medal of Honor recipient. == Geography ==