Jefferson Barracks Historic Site began in 1826 when Major Stephen Watts Kearny arrived and construction began, and the new post was named in honor of Thomas Jefferson. In 1828 its troops were involved in Native American insurrection and in protecting traders between Missouri and Santa Fe. In 1832 the 1st Dragoons, the first permanent cavalry in the United States Army, were formed there and trained to fight mounted or dismounted, and troops engaged in the Fox Sac Indian War while Zachary Taylor led troops to confront Chief Black Hawk. From 1846 to 1848 Jefferson Barracks served as a rest and supply station for troops heading to the Mexican-American War, and in 1851 the Old Ordnance Room, Laborers house, and Barn were built. During the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865, Jefferson Barracks served as a military hospital for both sides and as a recruitment depot for the North, and in 1862 construction started on the Western Sanitary Commission's hospital facilities. In 1912 it was the site of the first successful parachute jump from an airplane, and in 1917 it was the largest induction and demobilization center for troops during World War I. In the 1930s, the Citizens Military Training Camp and the Works Progress Administration both had camps there. During World War II from 1941 to 1945, Jefferson Barracks served as an induction and separation center, a basic training camp, and the largest technical training school for the Army Air Corps, and with the end of the war in 1946 it was decommissioned as a military post. In 1950 Air Guard units were activated for the Korean War, five hundred acres were taken over by St. Louis County Parks, and 250 acres were added to the National Cemetery. In 1970 all Missouri National Guard units in St. Louis were moved to Jefferson Barracks, and in 1990 Naval Reserve units were also moved onto the base. From 1995 to 1998 Army Reserves were activated for rotations of Joint Endeavor Guard in Bosnia, and from 2001 to the present members of the Air National Guard, Army Guard, and Army Reserve have been mobilized and deployed in support of Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom.
