History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

History - Essay Example Seven years later, Colonel Fairfax constructed a mansion situated on a high slope of land overlooking the river of Potomac in which he subsequently named Belvoir. At 16 years of age, George Washington stayed in Mount Vernon with his elder half brother and he became friends with George William Fairfax, the Colonel’s eldest son. He was a constant guest at the mansion in which the manor was developed and changed by George William and his wife Sally Cary into a center of culture and aristocratic elegance. Sixteen years after his father died in 1757, George William Fairfax and his wife rented out the manor as they went back home to England. The manor was rented for a decade where most part was destructed due to the War in 1812. The conflict continued and in 1814 the mansion was further destroyed by British cannons. In 1840, the Belvoir peninsula was bought by Philip Otterback family and made fisheries out of the Potomac River. In 1910, 1 500 acres of the land was sold to District o f Columbia where it was intended to be converted to a prison. The local citizens opposed to the project and for this reason, in 1912, the land was transferred to the war Department. In 1915, the land was named Camp Belvoir where engineer troops from Fort McNair, formerly called as Washington Barracks, conduct their trainings and became their rifle range. In 1917, the old name was changed to Camp A. A. Humphreys as a training camp for engineer troops for Word War I. The name was again changed to Fort Humphreys in 1922 and in 1935, post colonial era, it was permanently re-designated as Fort Belvoir. In 1938, the US government begins preparing for the possibility of being involved in enlarging world conflicts, at which time was the outbreak of World War II. In 1940, there was a massive influx of military trainees which prompted the government to purchase an additional 3 000 acres of land located north of U.S. Route 1. One training scheme is composed of an obstacle course which is a sim ulation of the field condition. With the war receding in 1945, activities of the Replacement Training Center and the Engineer Officer Candidate School were aborted and were not reactivated until 1950 with the Korean Conflict and in 1960 with Vietnam build up. During those times, distinguishable transformations in the manner of training programs were determined. From training, technology through research and development was incorporated in warfare. The transformation consisted of establishment of chemical/biological/radiological school on the North Post while a close combat range was formed south of the village of Accotink. The laboratories formulated and trialled new techniques for electrical power generation, camouflage and deception, methods of handling materials and fuel, bridging, and mine detection. Other experimentations also included portable map copying machines, fungicides for use in tropical environments, and heavy earth-moving equipment. One breakthrough in the field of r esearch and development is the construction of SM-1 (Stationary, Medium Power, and First Prototype) Nuclear Plant. This was intended to provide commercial electricity and decrease the Department of Defense’s dependency on fossil fuels. The SM-1 Plant was first used on 1957 and its operations lasted for 16 years. For 30 years, from 1950 to 1980, the expansion of Fort Belvoir was witnessed. The post became