Richard Hyatt: Columbus, Benning fit hand in glove

The loving marriage of Columbus and Fort Benning has survived nearly a century despite threats of political divorce.

This week Pentagon brass in dress blue uniforms came to town to reassure city leaders that talk of personnel cuts at the installation is premature and that $6 billion spent on improvements are safe.

This hearing harkened back to 1916 when local officials, competing with other communities, headed to Washington to lobby for construction of an Army outpost.

Cotton was our royal crop. But even in the frontier days, Fort Mitchell was perched on the Alabama shoreline, and during the Spanish-American War, Camp Conrad operated in North Highlands, near the massive Bibb Mill.

People remembered more than patriotism.

"With the influx of several thousand troops, business became brisk and Columbus became quite military minded. Dress parades and reviews became a part of the city's social life, and ball games and barbecues were planned for the soldiers' entertainment," a history of the city recorded.

Remembering the cash Camp Conrad generated, the city began its push. Developer Josiah Flournoy introduced a resolution to the chamber of commerce proposing the city as a military site because of rail lines "radiating in seven directions to all points of the compass."

It was nearly two years before Columbus made any headway. Ultimately, it took old-fashioned Georgia hospitality and some of Frank Lumpkin Sr.'s finest corn whiskey.

Temporary quarters were established, but a permanent presence did not come until later. Approval came at a Congressional hearing where Col. Henry Eames testified that, "There is no other place that I know of where we could put this school."

In 1919, the post moved to its present location, a maneuver designed to save the camp. It worked, and since then Fort Benning has prospered in partnership with a community that wanted it so badly.

Technology has changed. Ways a soldier fights have evolved. But the need for training men and women is as real now as it was when Doughboys first complained about the Georgia heat.

As the Pentagon considers what to do about cuts, they should listen to Col.

Paul Bernard Malone, an early advocate of Fort Benning: "The Infantry School is one of the 12 absolutely necessary education institutions to be preserved in time of peace, no matter what the size of the army may be."

Richard Hyatt is an independent correspondent. Reach him at hyatt31906 @knology.net.

This story was originally published February 21, 2015 at 9:50 PM with the headline "Richard Hyatt: Columbus, Benning fit hand in glove."