Camp McClellan, Alabama

Fort McClellan, originally Camp McClellan, was a United States Army post located adjacent to the city of Anniston, Alabama established as Camp Shipp in 1898. During World War II, it was one of the largest U.S. Army installations, training an estimated half-million troops. After the war and until it was closed in 1999, Fort McClellan was home of the Chemical Corps and a Chemical Corps School, which trained soldiers in chemical warfare and used them in human experiments. Storage, use and disposal of chemical weapons and waste contaminated soil and water supply and exposed the population. Prior to its closure by BRAC the base employed about 10,000 military personnel, half of whom were permanently assigned, and about 1,500 civilians. The base has never been classified as a Superfund site; it underwent UXO clean up from 2003–14. Since 2010, about 3,000 acres of the brownfield have been redeveloped as mixed-use community.

Located in the Choccolocco Foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Woodstock, Alabama, Morrisville was founded as a private industrial town by the Woodstock Iron Company in 1872. Morrisville was later renamed Anniston and was opened to the public in 1883; by 1890, it had a population of near 10,000 persons. While Fort McClellan was the first and only long-lived United States Army post near Anniston, a temporary facility named Camp Shipp existed there during 1898–1899.

The Spanish–American War ended in 1898, but with a final peace settlement still in the future, the U.S. Army had an immediate need for a facility to quarter a Military reserve force from Alabama should the hostilities start anew. Anniston was on a north-south railroad that continued to Mobile, Alabama, a major seaport for Cuba-bound departures, and successfully sought the reserve facility. Camp Shipp was established in August 1898 within the northwest city limits of Anniston; an artillery range was planned to be on the nearby Blue Mountain. By October, nearly 10,000 troops of the 3rd Alabama Volunteer Infantry were at Camp Shipp, but by the end of the year they began to rapidly move out. The camp never fully realized its intended purpose; it was used temporarily as a hospital for patients of the influenza epidemic sweeping Army posts, and then phased out in March 1899. The camp was named for Lt. William E. Shipp of the 10th Cavalry Regiment who was killed in action at Santiago, Cuba while leading a charge in the Battle of San Juan Hill.

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