Camp Wadsworth was a World War I-era training facility for the United States Army. Located near Spartanburg, South Carolina, the post was in operation from its opening in July 1917 until it was inactivated in March 1919, following the Armistice that ended the war.
Creation
As the United States began to expand the United States Army in preparation for entry into World War I, the United States Department of War planned to enlarge the peacetime Regular Army through a combination of mobilizing units of the National Guard and drafting men into the wartime National Army. This plan called for the creation of 32 new mobilization and training centers, evenly split between the National Army and the National Guard. Each post was to be responsible for organizing and training a complete army division. The National Army camps were equipped with heated barracks and other facilities, while the plan called for National Guard camps, which were needed sooner because National Guard members could be available for training more quickly than draftees, to consist primarily of tents and a small number of temporary structures. As a result of these construction requirements, the War Department intended for most National Guard training sites to be located in the southern United States, where milder winters and warmer temperatures were more prevalent than in the north.
Many cities and towns lobbied to have one of the wartime encampments located nearby, anticipating the temporary economic boom such a facility might bring to the local area. The city leaders of Spartanburg were among those who vied for one of these training facilities; their lobbying and marketing efforts were successful, and Newton D. Baker, the Secretary of War, and Leonard Wood, the commander of the Army's Eastern Department, approved Spartanburg for a National Guard camp in May 1917, after having made personal inspection tours of the area.
The area chosen for the camp was approximately three miles outside of the city; at the time, a small number of African-American cotton farmers leased part of the land, but most of it was undeveloped and heavily wooded. On July 4, 1917, the landowner leased a 2,000-acre tract to the city; two days later, the mayor conveyed to the federal government permission to use the land.
Description
The land approved for construction of the training camp was a large plateau with rolling hills and small streams. On the east, the selected site was bordered by Fairforest Creek, the largest stream in the area. On the west, it was bordered by Blackstock Road. At its northern edge, the proposed facility included the Piedmont and Northern Railway, an interurban electric railroad which became its primary rail line. To the south, the future Camp Wadsworth was bordered by Holston's Creek.
Construction
On July 13, 1917, the War Department indicated that a division of the New York National Guard would be organized and trained at the new Spartanburg-area camp. Later in the month, the Department of War announced that the facility could be called Camp Wadsworth in honor of James S. Wadsworth, a prominent resident of New York who had served as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and had been killed during the Battle of the Wilderness.
The contract to build Camp Wadsworth was awarded in mid-July, and construction started immediately, with a two-month deadline for completion. Thousands of civilian workers cleared trees, laid pipes for water and sewage, built roads, and erected temporary warehouses and other structures; they were later assisted by an engineer regiment from North Carolina.
Occupation
Occupation of the post began in August; all the units of the New York National Guard's 6th Division, later federalized as the 27th Division had assembled at Camp Wadsworth by the end of September, and trained there until departing for France in May 1918.
Camp Wadsworth was used for individual training, including drill and ceremony and bayonet practice; it was also used for unit-level exercises that gave commanders and staff practice at planning and executing large scale maneuvers. In addition, the 27th Division created live fire ranges in the Glassy Mountain area of Greenville County, which served as the primary training sites for rifle, machine gun, and field artillery; these ranges permitted soldiers to gain the live fire experience required for service on the front lines.
The Camp Wadsworth cantonment also included facilities for improving soldier welfare and morale, including YMCA and YWCA buildings which housed education and training programs, a post theater which featured live performances, and several gymnasiums and athletic fields.