For at least three hundred years, the area of Virginia now called Fort Lee has been inhabited.

In the summer of 1864, General Grant decided the capture of Petersburg was essential to the Union cause in order to cut the important supply lines into Richmond and force General Lee out into the open.

General Lee moved his headquarters to "Violet Bank," now Colonial Heights, and Grant's headquarters and supply depot were at City Point. The struggle for Petersburg continued for ten months before Lee evacuated to the city.

Just 18 days after a state of war with Germany was declared, the first Camp Lee was selected as a state mobilization camp and later became a division training camp.

In October 1940, the War Department ordered the construction of another Camp Lee on the site of the earlier installation.

When World War II ended, the fate of Camp Lee was in question. In 1946, the War Department announced that Camp Lee would be retained as a center for Quartermaster training. Official recognition of its permanent status was obtained in 1950 and the post was redesignated as Fort Lee.

Fort Lee changed from an installation of temporary wooden structures to a modern Army post with permanent brick and cinder block buildings. In July 1973, Fort Lee came under the control of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.