The Army Motors Across America - The Tale of the First Transcontinental Motor Convoy (a road trip)
The Army Motors Across America - The Tale of the First Transcontinental Motor Convoy (a road trip)
By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures
I think I’ve mentioned before that I want to take a Great American Road Trip. Despite the logistics, the planning, and the inevitable detours, it’s still something I fully intend to do.
While daydreaming about that future drive, and perhaps engaging in a little pre-planning, I began to wonder where the idea of a cross-country American road trip even came from. At what point did we decide that traversing the continent by vehicle was not only possible, but desirable?
As it turns out, one of the earliest American road trips was organized by the U.S. Army.
In 1919, in the aftermath of World War I, the Army launched the officially named First Transcontinental Motor Convoy. The war was over, the soldiers were home, and the military had a practical problem to solve: could American roads actually support modern motorized transport?
The answer, it turned out, was barely.
The convoy, consisting of roughly 100 vehicles, including motorcycles, trucks, ambulances, and even a tank, departed Washington, D.C., on July 7, 1919, heading west toward the Presidio in San Francisco. They didn’t make it far before encountering their first mechanical failures, not even fully escaping the capital’s outskirts before things began to go wrong.
Somewhere along the way in Maryland, a young lieutenant colonel named Dwight D. Eisenhower joined the convoy. At the time, he was just another officer along for the ride, though history would later make him considerably more famous.
What followed was a slow, grinding journey across a country that was largely unprepared for wheeled travel. Roads were often unpaved or nonexistent. Vehicles slid into ditches, bridges collapsed under the weight of military trucks, and breakdowns were a daily occurrence. The convoy averaged a staggering six miles per hour.
In Wyoming, things took a particularly chaotic turn. Through a series of ill-advised pranks involving staged “war cries” and exaggerated warnings, parts of the convoy were led to believe they were in danger from hostile local populations. Shots were fired before cooler heads prevailed, and Eisenhower found himself racing to the nearest telegraph office to clarify the situation.
By the time the convoy finally reached San Francisco on September 6, 1919, it had taken 62 days, caused more than 230 road incidents, and damaged or destroyed 88 bridges along the way.
Oddly enough, or perhaps not, President Dwight D. Eisenhower later became best known domestically for championing the Interstate Highway System, fundamentally reshaping how Americans move across their country.
I can’t help but wonder where he first got the idea.
xoxo,
a.d. elliott
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.
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