WWI Casualties at Gettysburg

[ewc]

Thought that might grab your attention! We here in Pennsylvania are cursed with this state guv'mint, but blessed with our state cable network (PCN). PCN frequently shows historical lectures and tours of state sites and subjects. A frequent topic is Gettysburg; ranger walks and lectures and talks by authors are taped and broadcast, mostly early summer but also throughout the year. I recently watched a ranger tour about Camp Colt in Gettysburg.

Camp Colt (named for legendary Samuel Colt) was an installation created by the US Army in 1917 to train its fledgling Tank Corps. Its' commander was Capt Dwight David Eisenhower. Tanks were taking a prominent place on the European battlefields and the US Army did not want to be left behind in this development. Though the Americans made their appearance on the Western Front under General Black Jack Pershing, Capt Eisenhower and the Army Tank Corps, to his great regret, never made it overseas. The camp was disbanded after the war.

The camp was located to the west of the Emmitsburg Road, at the site of the Great Camp of the 1913 Reunion (and 50th Anniversary of the great battle,) near the Bliss Farm. This was the area traversed by Pettigrew's and Trimble's divisions in Pickett's Charge. Tanks and tracked vehicles clomped and tore up terrain all through this area during training procedures through 1917 and '18.

Up to 15,000 servicemen served in the Tank Corps at Camp Colt. The Spanish Influenza Epidemic whipped through the States in 1917 and '18, killing 600 to 700 thousand Americans. 45 thousand American soldiers died of the epidemic, accounting for a little less than half of all US war casualties. 150 American soldiers died at Camp Colt of the flu.

Though nothing remains of the camp, there is a plaque along the Emmitsburg road close to where the camp was located commemorating Camp Colt and its' honored dead. Another camp, Camp Sharpe, came into existence on the site in WWII to hold some 600 German prisoners of war in 1944. These men were used as labor to pick crops and build roads in the area. Nothing remains of Camp Sharpe either.

[scone]

Interesting thanks for sharing the info..

I remember reading some where that the Chickamaga battlefild was used for traing of some sort i think for the spaniish american war i think it was..

Also the town just east of where i live (Lebanon) on may 5th 1863 Morgan foght the a small battle there.

But durring wwII they did traing there as well .. Patton even came to town..

I wonder how many other battlefields severd as varous military sights through out history

[lrd89]

Thanks EWC, I never knew that and yes, the title got my attention. Eisenhower bought a farm near Gettysburg in 1950. I plan to visit the Eisenhower historic site when I do get the chance to go to Gettysburg.

[ewc]

lrd- The ranger walk I was watching was actually tracing Eisenhower's involvement in the history of Gettysburg. Of course, a good deal of that and what really made my ears perk up was the Camp Colt stuff. Eisenhower had been to Gettysburg before then first as a cadet from West Point the times his class came to Gettysburg to study the battle and battlefield. And later on his way to the west coast as a young commissioned officer given the task of studying the feasibility of troop movement in the continental United States. This mission took him as i recall some two months, enough time for him to realize that under current conditions (pre-WWI again IIRC)this was an untenable situation demanding serious attention- ultimately laying the groundwork for the interconnected system of US Highways and later the interstate superhighway system established under his presidency.

He fell in love with the area from his first days there. The Eisenhower Farm is now a national historic site and encompasses 690 acres abutting the National Battlefield Park, west of Pitzer Wood and Warfield Ridge (generally the Peach Orchard/ Devil's Den part of the battlefield)- the area where Longstreet's Divisions would have deployed for their July 2nd assault on the Union left. The Eisenhower Park is open year round from 9- 4 with a nominal fee. However there is no parking; a shuttle service runs regularly from the Battlefield visitors Center.

lrd- enjoy your visit. We expect a full report!! regards, ed

[whitworth]

The Confederate army was as little prepared for war and an invasion of Pennsylvania, as was the "U.S. Tank Corps" for WWI.

I recall a picture of George Patton standing in front of his WWI tank, a Renault tank made by France.

Gettysburg was a good place for unpreparedness, as it turned out.