Fort Myer
Fort Myer is the previous name used for a U.S. Army post next to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, and across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.. Founded during the American Civil War as Fort Whipple, the post merged in 2005 with the neighboring Marine Corps installation, Henderson Hall, and is today named Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall.
History
Fort Myer was established as Fort Whipple, after Brevet Major General Amiel Weeks Whipple, who died in May 1863, during the Civil War. Whipple Field was named in his honor. It had a perimeter of 658 yards, and places for 43 guns.
On Feb. 4, 1881, the post was renamed for Brigadier General Albert J. Myer, who established the Signal School of Instruction for Army and Navy Officers there in 1869. Since then it has been a Signal Corps post, a showcase for the US Army's cavalry, and, since the 1940s, home to the US Army's elite ceremonial units—The US Army Band ("Pershing's Own") and the US Army's 3d Infantry Regiment ("The Old Guard").
