| Camp Scott (renamed "Camp Franklin", c. 1863) | |
|---|---|
| Part of United States Army (Union) | |
| Fairgrounds, York, Pennsylvania | |
| Type | recruiting and training base |
| Site history | |
| Built | April 1861 |
| In use | 1861-1865 |
| Demolished | 1865 |
Camp Scott was a recruiting and training base in York, Pennsylvania, for newly raised regiments in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
York, known as the White Rose City, is the county seat of York County, Pennsylvania, United States, located in the south-central region of the state. The population within York's city limits was 43,718 at the 2010 census, a 7.0% increase from the 2000 count of 40,862. When combined with the adjacent boroughs of West York and North York and surrounding Spring Garden, West Manchester, and Springettsbury townships, the population of Greater York was 108,386. York is the 11th largest city in Pennsylvania.
A regiment is a military unit. Their role and size varies markedly, depending on the country and the arm of service.
During the American Civil War, the Union Army referred to the United States Army, the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. Also known as the Federal Army, it proved essential to the preservation of the United States of America as a working, viable republic.
Following the secession of several southern states and the bombardment of Fort Sumter in South Carolina in April 1861, President Abraham Lincoln called for volunteers to suppress the rebellion. In response to this summons to arms, eager volunteers throughout the North flocked to recruiting stations in larger towns to enlist in the military, many in regiments that were originally intended to serve only for three months. Many believed that would be the maximum amount of time it would take before the Confederacy collapsed. [1]
Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Threats of secession can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals. It is, therefore, a process, which commences once a group proclaims the act of secession. It could involve a violent or peaceful process but these do not change the nature of the outcome, which is the creation of a new state or entity independent from the group or territory it seceded from.
The southern United States, also known as the American South, Dixie, Dixieland, or simply the South, is a region of the United States of America. It is located between the Atlantic Ocean and the western United States, with the midwestern United States and northeastern United States to its north and the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico to its south.
Fort Sumter is a sea fort in Charleston, South Carolina, notable for two battles of the American Civil War. It was one of a number of special forts planned after the War of 1812, combining high walls and heavy masonry, and classified as Third System, as a grade of structural integrity. Work started in 1829, but was incomplete by 1860, when South Carolina seceded from the Union.
The country was unprepared for the onslaught of volunteers, and the U.S. Army hastily began establishing training sites where these new recruits could be organized into formal units and subsequently trained in military tactics and drills. A wide series of regional camps and bases were established across the North. One such camp was located immediately east of downtown York, a center of commerce and transportation for south-central Pennsylvania. The York Agricultural Society allowed the army to use its fairgrounds as the new base, which was named Camp Scott in honor of General Winfield Scott. Dozens of new regiments arrived over the first few months for training before moving further southward to their field assignments. [1] At its peak in late May 1861, the camp held between 6,000 and 7,000 new soldiers. [2]
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle. The Commonwealth is bordered by Delaware to the southeast, Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, Lake Erie and the Canadian province of Ontario to the northwest, New York to the north, and New Jersey to the east.
Winfield Scott was an American military commander and political candidate. He served as a general in the United States Army from 1814 to 1861, taking part in the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the early stages of the American Civil War, and various conflicts with Native Americans. Scott was the Whig Party's presidential nominee in the 1852 presidential election, but was defeated by Democrat Franklin Pierce. He was known as "Old Fuss and Feathers" for his insistence on proper military etiquette, and as the "Grand Old Man of the Army" for his many years of service.
As the war progressed, Camp Scott was renamed Camp Franklin in honor of York native William B. Franklin, a prominent corps commander in the Army of the Potomac. During the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign, Camp Franklin was occupied for two days by a Confederate brigade under Colonel Isaac E. Avery.
William Buel Franklin was a career United States Army officer and a Union Army general in the American Civil War. He rose to the rank of a corps commander in the Army of the Potomac, fighting in several notable battles in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War. He also distinguished himself as a civil engineer before and after the war.
Corps is a term used for several different kinds of organisation.
The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in May 1865 following the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in April.
Following the war, the camp was decommissioned and the grounds restored to the Agricultural Society for the resumption of their annual fairs. Eventually the fair moved to a new location west of York, and the site of Camp Scott was swallowed up in urban expansion. [3]
