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Panama Canal Department
The Panama Canal Department was a geographic command of the United States Army. It was responsible for the defense of the Panama Canal Zone between 1917 and 1947.
The first U.S. troops in Panama were U.S. Marines. They arrived in 1903 to ensure U.S. control of the Panama Railroad connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across the narrow waist of the Panamanian Isthmus.
The Marines protected the Panamanian civilian uprising against the government of Colombia led by former Panama Canal Company general manager Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, thereby guaranteeing the separation of Panama from Colombia and his creation of the Panamanian state. Following the signing of the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty granting control of the Panama Canal Zone to the United States, the Marines remained to provide security during the early construction days of the Panama Canal.
In 1904, Army Colonel William C. Gorgas was sent to the Canal Zone (as it was then called) as chief sanitary officer to fight yellow fever and malaria. In two years, yellow fever was eliminated from the Canal Zone. Soon after, malaria was also brought under control.
In February-March 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt created the Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC), composed primarily of Army officers, to govern the Canal Zone and to report directly to the Secretary of War. With the appointment of Army Lieutenant Colonel George W. Goethals to the post of Chief Engineer of the Isthmian Canal Commission by then President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907, the construction changed from a civilian to a military project.
To more adequately protect the Canal from external threats, the Army conducted an on-site survey in 1910 and began building defensive fortifications in 1911—to include Fort De Lesseps, Fort Randolph, and Fort Sherman on the Atlantic side, and Fort Amador and Grant on the Pacific side. On 4 Oct. 1911, the U.S. Army's 10th Infantry arrived at Camp E.S. Otis, on the Pacific side of the isthmus. They would form the nucleus of a mobile force that grew to include other infantry, cavalry, engineer, signal, and field artillery units, as well as a Marine battalion that had protected the Canal since 1904. They assumed primary responsibility for Canal defense. Together these troops, under the control of the ICC, were known as the Panama Canal Guard.[citation needed] In 1914, the Marine Battalion left the Isthmus to participate in operations against Pancho Villa in Mexico. On 14 August 1914, seven years after Goethals' arrival, the Panama Canal opened to world commerce.
The first company of coast artillery troops arrived in 1914 and later established fortifications at each end (Atlantic and Pacific) of the Canal as the Harbor Defenses (HD) of Cristobal and HD Balboa, respectively, with mobile forces of infantry and light artillery centrally located to support either end.
By 1915, a consolidated command was designated as Headquarters, U.S. Troops, Panama Canal Zone. The command reported directly to the Army's Eastern Department headquartered at Fort Jay, Governors Island, New York. The headquarters of this newly created command was first located in the Isthmian Canal Commission building in the town of Ancon, adjacent to Panama City. It relocated in 1916 to the nearby newly designated military post of Quarry Heights, which had begun construction in 1911.
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Panama Canal Department
The Panama Canal Department was a geographic command of the United States Army. It was responsible for the defense of the Panama Canal Zone between 1917 and 1947.
The first U.S. troops in Panama were U.S. Marines. They arrived in 1903 to ensure U.S. control of the Panama Railroad connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across the narrow waist of the Panamanian Isthmus.
The Marines protected the Panamanian civilian uprising against the government of Colombia led by former Panama Canal Company general manager Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, thereby guaranteeing the separation of Panama from Colombia and his creation of the Panamanian state. Following the signing of the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty granting control of the Panama Canal Zone to the United States, the Marines remained to provide security during the early construction days of the Panama Canal.
In 1904, Army Colonel William C. Gorgas was sent to the Canal Zone (as it was then called) as chief sanitary officer to fight yellow fever and malaria. In two years, yellow fever was eliminated from the Canal Zone. Soon after, malaria was also brought under control.
In February-March 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt created the Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC), composed primarily of Army officers, to govern the Canal Zone and to report directly to the Secretary of War. With the appointment of Army Lieutenant Colonel George W. Goethals to the post of Chief Engineer of the Isthmian Canal Commission by then President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907, the construction changed from a civilian to a military project.
To more adequately protect the Canal from external threats, the Army conducted an on-site survey in 1910 and began building defensive fortifications in 1911—to include Fort De Lesseps, Fort Randolph, and Fort Sherman on the Atlantic side, and Fort Amador and Grant on the Pacific side. On 4 Oct. 1911, the U.S. Army's 10th Infantry arrived at Camp E.S. Otis, on the Pacific side of the isthmus. They would form the nucleus of a mobile force that grew to include other infantry, cavalry, engineer, signal, and field artillery units, as well as a Marine battalion that had protected the Canal since 1904. They assumed primary responsibility for Canal defense. Together these troops, under the control of the ICC, were known as the Panama Canal Guard.[citation needed] In 1914, the Marine Battalion left the Isthmus to participate in operations against Pancho Villa in Mexico. On 14 August 1914, seven years after Goethals' arrival, the Panama Canal opened to world commerce.
The first company of coast artillery troops arrived in 1914 and later established fortifications at each end (Atlantic and Pacific) of the Canal as the Harbor Defenses (HD) of Cristobal and HD Balboa, respectively, with mobile forces of infantry and light artillery centrally located to support either end.
By 1915, a consolidated command was designated as Headquarters, U.S. Troops, Panama Canal Zone. The command reported directly to the Army's Eastern Department headquartered at Fort Jay, Governors Island, New York. The headquarters of this newly created command was first located in the Isthmian Canal Commission building in the town of Ancon, adjacent to Panama City. It relocated in 1916 to the nearby newly designated military post of Quarry Heights, which had begun construction in 1911.
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