Right at the heart of Louisiana—smack-dab in its center—are the sprawling Kisatchie pine forests fed by the Red River. Rich in beauty and resources, this landscape has served as a strategic outpost since the first European settlers arrived at the beginning of the 18th century, and for centuries before that for the many Native American tribes who lived and traded in the area.
Early History of Alexandria and Pineville, Louisiana
Where these two cultures clashed at the river’s rapids, the French Inspector of Troops in Louisiana, Diron d’Artaguette, established a fort in 1770 that he called Post du Rapide—which is where Rapides Parish got its name. You can still visit this site, which is now part of the Rapides Cemetery on the banks of the Red River—the oldest still-active burial ground in the parish. This settlement later became the city of Pineville, which was officially incorporated in 1878.
Around the same time, the site that would come to be known as Alexandria was being organized as a settlement by the trader Alexander Fulton, who acquired the town’s property through a Spanish land grant, and then expanded it by purchasing additional land from the Choctaw, Tensas, Appalachee, and Pascagoula tribes. After he laid out the town’s plan, the settlement grew rapidly and was officially incorporated in 1819.
The Original Home of Louisiana State University
In 1860, based on its centralized location, Pineville was chosen as the site for the Louisiana Seminary of Learning and Military Academy, the Louisiana General Assembly’s new institution of higher education. The college’s first superintendent was Colonel William T. Sherman, who would go on to lead Union forces in the Civil War to come. After the war, and following a devastating fire in 1869, the college relocated to Baton Rouge, where it became known as Louisiana State University.
Visitors can visit the original campus site within the Kisatchie National Forest. Just beside the Forest Service’s office is the “Old LSU Walking Trail,” which features signage describing the school’s history and fences designating where the building once stood. A few bricked remnants remain, as does a commemorative stone placed in 1926.
Alexandria and Pineville during the Civil War
In the spring of 1863, tens of thousands of Union soldiers were moving up through the Red River Valley with the goal of conquering Shreveport, at the time the capitol of Confederate Louisiana. By May, 1864 the Red River Campaign, as it had come to be known, had been deemed an utter failure. Union forces ceased their occupation of Alexandria, but rather than allowing the territory to fall back into Confederate hands, they set it ablaze. Ninety percent of the city burned that day, as did all of its public records.
Shortly after this attack, the Confederate army built two earthen forts on the Red River at Alexandria to prevent future Union attacks. Overseen by Captain Christopher Randolph and Lieutenant Alphonse Buhlow and constructed by enslaved individuals from nearby plantations, the construction was completed by March 1865 and fortified with cannons and over 800 soldiers. No fighting ever took place, though, because in May of that year the Confederate army surrendered, bringing the Civil War to an end.
See the preserved Forts Randolph & Buhlow, as well as the famous Bailey’s Dam—an engineering feat that enabled the Union fleet to escape the Battle of Mansfield below the rapids on the Red River—at the State Historic Site at 135 Riverfront Street. In the Visitor’s Center, you’ll also find exhibits on the entire Red River Campaign, an overlook of the river near the dam site, and a field that frequently hosts Civil War re-enactments.
Alexandria and Pineville as a Military Training Ground
In 1905, the Louisiana State Legislature ruled that the state establish a permanent site for annual National Guard training. Originating in the original site of the Louisiana Seminary of Learning and Military Academy, Camp Stafford trained National Guard troops from 1905–1913. In 1917, when the United States War Department sought out sites to train soldiers for World War I, Louisiana politicians lobbied for Camp Stafford—which was later renamed Camp Beauregard and expanded to 3,000 acres beyond the original site. Over the course of fifteen months, over 44,000 soldiers from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi trained there until the armistice was signed.
In 1939, when World War II began, the United States Army designated Camp Beauregard as “Headquarters” for new trainings in mechanized warfare. In 1940, over 70,000 troops came to Central Louisiana to train in what would come to be called the “Louisiana Maneuvers”. After France fell to Nazi Germany, the operation expanded to include a hospital, mess halls, a parade ground, and a more advanced airfield. More camps were opened to accommodate more soldiers, including Camps Livingston, Claiborne, and Polk—eventually encompassing over 50,000 acres. Central Louisiana suddenly became the largest military training area in the nation. Among soldiers who trained there were the future American generals George S. Patton, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, who became the 34th president of the United States.
Camp Beauregard is still in operation. Now known as Training Center Pineville, it is the largest National Guard post in Louisiana, and hosts the Louisiana Maneuvers & Military Museum in a replica World War II barracks. The museum’s collections date back to colonial Louisiana, focusing on the military operations in the region.
Discover more of Alexandria/Pineville’s rich history at the Louisiana History Museum, which maintains a collection of over fifty displays and exhibits on the ground floor of the circa 1907 Alexandria Public Library.
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