Editing Fort Bragg (section)

===World War I===
'''Camp Bragg''' was established in 1918 as an artillery training ground. The Chief of Field Artillery, Major General [[William J. Snow]], was seeking an area having suitable terrain, adequate water, rail facilities, and a climate suitable for year-round training, and he decided that the area met all of the desired criteria. Camp Bragg (later '''Fort Bragg''') was originally named after [[Braxton Bragg]], a former [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] artillery commander and West Point graduate who later in life became a well known [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[General officers in the Confederate States Army|general]] during the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/north-carolinas-fort-bragg-drops-confederate-namesake-renamed/story?id=99786101 |title=North Carolina's Fort Bragg drops Confederate namesake, renamed Fort Liberty |date=2 June 2023 |first=Nakylah |last=Carter |publisher=ABC News|location=United States}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Fort Bragg History |url=https://home.army.mil/bragg/about/mission |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130702102629/http://www.bragg.army.mil/Pages/History.aspx |archive-date=2 July 2013 |access-date=16 July 2013 |website=Fort Liberty |publisher=United States Army Fort Liberty}}</ref>

The aim was for six artillery brigades to be stationed there and $6,000,000 was spent on the land and [[cantonments]].<ref name="AA1">{{cite web|title=1919–1939|url=http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/Founding1919through1939.htm|publisher=XVIII Airborne|access-date=13 July 2010|archive-date=4 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304190522/http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/Founding1919through1939.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> There was an airfield on the camp used by aircraft and balloons for artillery spotters. The airfield was named Pope Field on 1 April 1919, in honor of First Lieutenant Harley H. Pope,<ref name="AA1" /> an airman who was killed while flying nearby. The work on the camp was finished on 1 November 1919.<ref name="AA1" />

The original plan for six brigades was abandoned after [[World War I]] ended<ref name="AA1" /> and once demobilization had started. The artillerymen, and their equipment and material from [[Fort McClellan|Camp McClellan]], Alabama, were moved to Camp Bragg and testing began on long-range weapons that were a product of the war.<ref name="AA1" /> The six artillery brigades were reduced to two cantonments and a [[garrison]] was to be built for Army troops as well as a National Guard training center.<ref name="AA1" /> In early 1921 two field artillery units, the 13th and 17th Field Artillery Brigades, began training at Camp Bragg. The same year, the [[Long Street Church]] and six acres of property were acquired for the reservation.<ref name=nrhpinv>{{Cite web |author=Survey and Planning Unit Staff |title=Long Street Church |work=National Register of Historic Places – Nomination and Inventory |date=October 1973 |url=https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/HK0002.pdf |publisher=North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office |access-date=1 January 2015 |archive-date=27 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200827193840/https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/HK0002.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> The church was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1974.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

Due to the post-war cutbacks, the camp was nearly closed for good when the War Department issued orders to close the camp on 7 August 1921. Brig. Gen. [[Albert Jesse Bowley Sr.|Albert J. Bowley]] was commander at the camp and after much campaigning, and getting the Secretary of War to visit the camp, the closing order was canceled on 16 September 1921. The Field Artillery Board was transferred to Camp Bragg on 1 February 1922.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Camp Bragg was renamed Fort Bragg, to signify becoming a permanent Army post, on 30 September 1922. From 1923 to 1924 permanent structures were constructed on Fort Bragg, including four barracks.<ref name="AA1" />