Qualla: Fort Sam Houston

Fort Sam Houston: Introduction

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Renelibrary, CC BY-SA 4.0. San Antonio calls itself the 'mother-in-law of the Army,' and the nickname starts here. A young lieutenant named Dwight Eisenhower arrived at Fort Sam Houston in 1915, met a girl named Mamie Doud, and married her within two years. He was posted here again in 1941, and was sitting on this post when word came that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. Their first home on the base is still standing, preserved as a historic monument -- one of more than 900 buildings in a sprawling military complex that has served continuously since the first soldier arrived in 1845, making it one of the oldest installations in the entire United States Army.

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Image: Renelibrary | CC BY-SA 4.0

Fort Sam Houston: The Quadrangle and Its Ghosts

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit oregonmildep from Salem, Oregon, United States, CC BY 2.0. At the heart of Fort Sam Houston sits the Quadrangle, a limestone courtyard built in the 1870s under the direction of Major General Edward Ord, a West Point-trained engineer. Congress allocated $100,000 for the new post in 1873, and Edward Braden Construction Company won the cont...

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Image: oregonmildep from Salem, Oregon, United States | CC BY 2.0

Fort Sam Houston: Where Every Combat Medic Begins

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ash Carter, CC BY 2.0. Fort Sam Houston earned two nicknames that explain its modern purpose: 'Home of Army Medicine' and 'Home of the Combat Medic.' After World War II, the Army chose this post as its principal medical training facility, and the decision only grew larger with time. The Army Medical De...

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Image: Ash Carter | CC BY 2.0

Fort Sam Houston: A Roll Call of Legends

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jimberg13, CC BY-SA 4.0. The list of officers who served at Fort Sam Houston reads like a textbook of American military history. Arthur MacArthur Jr. -- father of Douglas -- was posted here. So was Leonard Wood, John J. Pershing, and Frederick Funston. Billy Mitchell, the controversial air power advocate...

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Image: Jimberg13 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Fort Sam Houston: One Base, Three Installations

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gaberlunzi, CC BY-SA 3.0. On October 1, 2010, Fort Sam Houston merged with Lackland Air Force Base and Randolph Air Force Base to form Joint Base San Antonio, administered by the Air Force. The consolidation tied together three storied installations into a single entity with an annual payroll and operatin...

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Image: Gaberlunzi | CC BY-SA 3.0