As we celebrate Veterans Day on Tuesday November 11, it’s worth remembering why this became a holiday—originally intended solely to commemorate the end of World War I. The headline above declaring the end of the war is from the Boston Globe because, in 1918, the Cambridge newspapers published only weekly on Saturdays.
The United States had entered the “Great War” on 6 April 1917. A year and a half later, the Armistice between the Allies and Germany was agreed to on “the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.” Cambridge Mayor Edward W. Quinn issued a proclamation on November 11, which was published five days later in TheCambridge Chronicle:
The Cambridge Chronicle November 16, 1918
And, as everywhere across the nation, the city celebrated:
The Cambridge Tribune November 16, 1918
President Wilson agreed with the idea of commemorating Armistice Day, and he urged governors to do the same. But getting Congressional support for the holiday took some time. In 1926, after much lobbying by the American Legion, a Congressional resolution requested of President Calvin Coolidge that he agree to making this an annual commemoration day. It was not until 1938 that this request to honor WWI dead was finally approved by President Roosevelt. Years later, World War II veteran Raymond Weeks of Alabama proposed changing the name to “Veterans Day” to honor all veterans of all wars. This change was approved by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954.
1917: The Looming War
Months before the United States joined the cause, this topic was top of mind across the nation. In the early spring, recruiting efforts were already under way:
The Cambridge Tribune March 10, 1917 (excerpt)
Many Cambridge men joined up with Canadian forces. In Cambridge, enlisting options included the Navy, Marines, the Massachusetts National Guard, and the Army. MIT President Richard C. Maclaurin established a ground aeronautical school for the Navy in 1917, and in 1918 the Army had an “air service” branch—a predecessor to the Air Force—sometimes referred to as the “Signal Corps.” On August 18, 1917, TheCambridge Chronicle reported that “George W. Cooper, of 100 Magazine Street, was the 1000th New England applicant for the position of first lieutenant as aviator or observation balloon pilot.”
Initially many troops came from the National Guard, which had previously been limited to serving only as a domestic security force. With the advent of the Great War on August 5, 1917, according to the U.S. Government military history, “the entire National Guard was drafted into U.S. Army service for World War I.”
Brigadier Clarence R. Edwards was deployed to execute the organization of the 26th Division of the Army, known as the “Yankee Division,” made up primarily of units from the Massachusetts National Guard. The task was daunting. In May of 1917, he spoke at a meeting of the Cambridge Lodge of Elks:
The Cambridge Tribune May 26, 1917 (excerpt)
(There are some claims that in September 1917 the Yankee Division was the first complete division to deploy to France.)
In Cambridge, Mrs. William Carey Cole was instrumental in organizing recruiting stations, which she caused to be set up in polling booths. Some of these were located on Quincy Square, Sherman, Cowperthwaite, Banks, and Hudson Streets.
The Cambridge Chronicle April 7, 1917
The Cambridge Chronicle April 28, 1917
Recruiting was not limited to native born Americans. According to the U. S. Citizen and Immigration Services, “Foreign-born soldiers composed over 18 percent of the U.S. Army during World War I. Almost one in five draftees was born overseas.”
Notable among the Cambridge African Americans who joined up was Clifton Merriman (1893-1989). Merriman was a Corporal in an African American unit of the 372nd Infantry. He received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Purple Heart, the French Medaille Militaire, the Croix de Guerre with Palm, and the Verdun Medal. He was discharged in 1919 as a staff sergeant, came back to Cambridge, and eventually became the Assistant Superintendent of the main Post Office, where he worked for 35 years. The Post Office building in Central Square is named after him. He died in 1989 at the age of 95.
Photograph of Sgt. Clifton Merriman, 372nd Infantry. Photo courtesy State Library of Massachusetts.
The Cambridge Chronicle January 11,1919
There is a connection between Merriman and Isaac Wilson Taylor (image below), another African American from Cambridge who joined up. Merriman belonged to Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2443, named after Taylor.
Memorials and Commemoration
At least 264 Cambridge men are known to have died in WWI. (This does not include students at Harvard or MIT who did not originally come from homes in Cambridge.) The true number is probably higher. Some were killed in action, some died of wounds or of accident, some died while with the Canadian Forces, some died anonymously. About 169 of these men (and a few women) are memorialized in the collection of Cambridge WWI Memorial Plaques in the historical collections at the Cambridge Public Library: “This set of wood plaques honors soldiers from Cambridge, Mass. who died in World War I. The plaques were dedicated in 1928 by Edward W. Quinn, Mayor (1918-1929) and put on display in the War Memorial Athletic Facility in Cambridge, Mass. Each plaque bears an image of the solider on a copper alloy plate, a name plate (also copper alloy), the date of the year s/he died, and the following text: ‘In grateful remembrance of her War Dead, Presented by the Cambridge City Government, 1928, Edward W. Quinn, Mayor.’ A memorial plaque to the soldiers was dedicated on May 30, 1936, by Edward W. Quinn and John D. Lynch, Mayor (1936-1937). The plaques were made by Imperishable Arts, Inc. in New York City…”
As noted, it took 8 years from inception to display of the collection. This was due to extensive haggling over the budget, and the appropriate place to display the plaques.
Images: Cambridge Public Library Archives/Digital Commonwealth
Another means of honoring the WWI war dead was changing the name of Charles River Drive to Memorial Drive. The American Legion initially floated this idea in 1920, and for three years the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), which owned the property on which the Charles River Drive had been built, objected. The only reason provided was simply that the MDC deemed it “inexpedient.” More specific reasons for their opposition are not entirely clear. One of the ideas to advance the cause was to open the commemoration to all veterans of wars—not just WWI Veterans. After several committee meetings, multiple hearings, and citizens petitions, finally, on February 9, 1923, Governor Channing H. Cox signed the bill authorizing the change.
Charles River Approaching Harvard University. Cambridge Historical Commission Postcard Collection
The formal peace agreement ending the war was signed seven months after Armistice Day at the Treaty of Versailles on June 19, 1919.
Today’s post was written by volunteer Kathleen M. Fox.
We write this post in honor of Veterans’ Day, November 11, and to shine light on a comparatively little-known Cambridge chapter in the Civil War: that of Camp Cameron, the militia camp established in North Cambridge in 1861 and not to be confused with Camp Cameron in Washington, D. C. We tell the story as reflected in the newspapers of the day…seeing the actual print image – even if a little blurry – most viscerally conveys the feeling of the times.
Picture this: You are walking north on Mass Ave between Porter Square and Alewife. About a half a mile up, directly across the street from the Friendly Corner Convenience store on the left, you see the Law Offices at 2409 Mass Ave, shown below. This is the exact location of Camp Cameron.
Google street view, March 2022
On April 15, 1861, three days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for state militias to raise a total of 75,000 troops. Months before that proclamation, Cambridge attorney James Richardson saw what was on the horizon and had already begun recruiting men for a volunteer militia:
Cambridge Chronicle January 26, 1861
Col. James P. Richardson in his captain’s uniform in 1861 and Richardson’s recruiting broadside. Courtesy of Mrs Edwin R. Sparrow, “Colonel Richardson and the Thirty-Eighth Massachusetts,” by Richard C. Evarts, Proceedings of the Cambridge Historical Society, Vol. 39
But before we get to the story of Camp Cameron: the very first militia camp was established in 1861 on Fresh Pond: an abandoned icehouse previously owned by ice dealers Reed and Bartlett was fixed up for barracks to hold 1,000 men. It was called Camp Ellsworth after Col. Elmer Ellsworth, a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln, and the first Union officer killed in the Civil War.
Detail of Map of the city of Cambridge for 1865 by J.G. Chase, courtesy Harvard Map Collection
Cambridge Chronicle June 8, 1861
Very damp, indeed. In fact, a marshy disaster. Lt. Amory of the army declared that the quarters were “unfit for the troops.” So, on June 13th, after only two weeks at Fresh Pond, the units departed for Camp Cameron on North Avenue in Cambridge, led by Col. Robert Cowdin (1805-1874).
Robert Cowdin, Civil war photographs, 1861-1865, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Camp Cameron, June 1861-January 1863
The new site consisted of 140 acres along the northeastern section of Mass Ave between Shea Road and what is now Clarendon Ave, extending up the hill to Holland St in Somerville. The land was leased every six months by the government from the Union Horse Railroad and real estate investor Gardner G. Hubbard, namesake of Hubbard Park off Brattle Street, and subsequent son in law of Alexander Graham Bell.
The camp was named after the Secretary of War Simon Cameron. That was another bad choice. Cameron’s reputation for corruption precipitated renaming the camp just a year later in August 1862 to Camp Day. The new designation honored Ralph Day (1802-1887), a successful Cambridge builder who was involved in projects like Porter’s Hotel. Active in Cambridge politics, Day had owned a substantial portion of the land since 1842. Day Street is named after him. By 1854, Day had also sold a large portion of his holdings to George Meacham, a local real estate developer and commissioner of the Cambridge Cemetery. Meacham served as a Colonel in the war, was wounded, and died in 1864. Meacham Road is named for him.
Detail: Map of the city of Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts by H.F. Walling (1854), Harvard Map Collection
Eventually the 30 buildings on the site housed about 1,000- 2000 recruits!
Daily Evening Traveller July 2, 1861 (Excerpt)
Detail: Russell’s Horse Railroad Guide for Boston and Vicinity, May 1862. Cambridge Historical Commission.
Just think of the noise and the smells! Up to 2000 men drilling, marching, and firing arms for target practice. There would be supply wagons clanking through the area, the smell of 30 fires cooking food, latrines, burning trash, and 90 baggage carts clattering down Mass Ave accompanying a regiment on the way to war. Not to mention bellows of up to 1,000 heads of cattle from the nearby Cattle Market at Porter Square, and the smell of the tannery near Alewife Brook.
An official flag raising ceremony took place at Camp Cameron on June 28, 1861. The event was reported on in this sentimental piece describing solders walking “arm in arm with ladies, …whispering loving words into the ears of those who were soon to be separated from them, never, perhaps, to meet again”:
Daily Evening Traveller June 29, 1861
Boston Herald September 28, 1861
The camp served as a short-term boot camp for the inexperienced volunteers from New England and New York before they shipped out to the war. Numbers fluctuated weekly as troops arrived and departed for the front:
Boston Evening Transcript July 1, 1861
Boston Evening Transcript August 11, 1861
Cambridge Chronicle August 17, 1861
Cambridge Chronicle September 28, 1861
Cambridge Chronicle December 28, 1861
Complaints soon arose around two issues at Camp Cameron. Despite the hopeful newspaper article below, the culinary situation at the camp was nearly intolerable, driving soldiers to regularly leave camp without a pass in search of edible sustenance.
Boston Evening Transcript June 21, 1861
One solder wrote “Nine days I have been in camp with a hard board to lie on, without any blanket to cover me at night, and insufficiency of food by day.” (Excerpt from Boston Herald September 3, 1862). The same article described how “many of the men are compelled to come into the city to get food enough to satisfy their hunger.”
Boston Herald September 3, 1862 (excerpt)
It was a letter to the editor from E. R. Mudge, a wealthy Boston dry goods merchant whose son had been in the army for a year, that triggered the above article. Mudge noted that not only were the rations bad, he called attention to the large number of deserters: Out of 61 recruits for the 2nd Regiment, who had enlisted and been sent to camp since …only 31 could be found on Saturday. The rest had deserted.” A year later, Mudge generously put his financial resources behind the recruiting effort for the 2nd Massachusetts Volunteers.
Deserters? That was the second and more serious problem at Camp Cameron. With no perimeter fence nor gate, it was easy for recruits to become “bounty jumpers.”
Here is how the system worked: In addition to their pay—generally about $13 per month—each recruit received a “bounty” of $25 paid by the U. S. Government, and an additional $100 paid by the City of Cambridge. When the need arose for specialized troops, additional bounties would be offered:
Boston Journal October 7, 1862
On top of these amounts, some businessmen such as Mudge also contributed to supplementary bounties from their private funds to increase recruitment. $1,000 was a pretty handsome supplement!:
Commercial Bulletin August 23, 1862
Inevitably some ne’er-do-wells took advantage of the loose security at camp to take off for parts unknown. Showing up in another town, they repeated their scam.
Boston Semi Weekly Advertiser November 5, 1862
Col. Hannibal Day (no relation to Ralph Day) was the General Superintendent of the Recruiting Services for the State of Massachusetts in 1861. Day also was aggrieved at the bounty jumping situation, which ultimately led to him closing the camp in January of 1863.
Who were these enlisted men?
On August 9, 1862, Congress passed the Recruitment Act, ordering a draft of an additional 300,000 militia. Each state was assigned a quota by the then Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton. If the state could not meet the quota, the government would establish a draft in that state to complete the roster. A second Enrollment Act, passed in 1863, increased the bounty paid to recruits, and, astonishingly, allowed individuals to avoid military service by paying someone else $500 to join in their place.
The newspapers published the names of those who had chosen to pay for another man to fight the fight:
Cambridge Chronicle August 9, 1862
This category of replacement is not to be confused with “Representative Recruits.” In 1864, the War Department allowed for those men “not fit for military duty, and not liable to draft, from age or other causes…to procure at their own expense, and present for enlistment, recruits to represent them in the service.” These were called “Representative Recruits.” They were also listed in the papers:
Cambridge Chronicle August 9, 1862
A good description of the men volunteering appeared in theCambridge Chronicle of September 7, 1861. These were the men who made up Company C, 3rd Recruitment, Cambridge Volunteers, led by the above-mentioned James P. Richardson of Cambridge, during the three months the unit was stationed on the coast at Fort Monroe, VA.:
“Whole number composing the Company, 94. Born in Cambridge, 17; Boston, 16. In thirteen other cities and towns in Mass, one each. Total born in Massachusetts, 46. Born in New Hampshire, 10; Maine, 8; Vermont, 3; Connecticut, 1; New York, 4; District of Columbia, 1. Total American, 73 New Brunswick, 4; Nova Scotia, 3; Ireland, 7; England, 6; Scotland, 1. Ages. – Oldest man, 39 years; youngest man, 18 years, average age, 22-3-95 years. [sic] Tallest man, 6 feet 2 inches; shortest man, 5 feet 3 inches; average height, 5 feet ,7 one-half inches. Occupations. – Clerks, 15; printers, 9, carpenters, 7; cigar makers, 6; book binders, 6; shoemakers, 5; painters, 4; soap makers, 2; plumbers, 2; bacon curers, 2; butchers, 2; farmers, 2; teamsters, 5; laborers, 2; wheelwrights, 2; sash and blind makers, 2; confectioners, 2, lawyers, 2; policeman, baker, stereotype finisher, carriage maker, machinist, hack driver, blacksmith, sawyer, physician, silversmith, barkeeper, tinman, cook, tailor, provision dealer, harness maker, 1 each.”
Some recruits belonged to regiments with interesting nicknames. For example, The Irish Brigade – the Massachusetts 28th Regiment,” recruited at Camp Cameron, was made up primarily of Irish men – by birth or descent. Its nickname was the “Faugh-A-Ballagh,” Irish for “clear the way.”
Boston Herald January 2, 1862
28th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers flag, via Massachusetts State House Battle Flag Collection inventory
Boston Evening Traveller November 18, 1861 (excerpt)
It is not hard to image in the emotional impact made on citizens by the daily drumbeat of newspaper announcements concerning the camp:
Boston Evening Transcript September 6, 1861
Boston Semi Weekly Advertiser September, 1861
Frequently, notices included where the troops were being deployed. Today, reading these announcements, we recall the famous battles so familiar to us. But to soldiers at the time, places like Harper’s Ferry, Newbern, or Bull Run, or the Wilderness may have been unfamiliar or even unknown.
Boston Herald August 5, 1861
The Cambridge Chronicle June 15, 1861
Cambridge Chronicle May 17, 1862
Boston Evening Traveller June 24, 1861
Boston Semi-Weekly Advertiser February 15, 1862
Boston Evening Transcript March 15, 1862
Boston Herald June 13, 1862
Boston Morning Journal August 1, 1862
Boston Evening Transcript August 11, 1862
Boston Evening Traveller August 25, 1862
Boston Evening Traveller September 5, 1862
The Denoument
Camp Cameron/Day closed in January of 1863 and remaining soldiers were transferred to the more secure Fort Independence on Castle Island in Boston:
Boston Evening Transcript January 22, 1863
Perhaps in preparation for its closure, camp items were auctioned off in 1862 ahead of its close in 1863.
Boston Morning Journal April 26, 1862
“One Wooden Building, 50 feet by 20. Ten temporary framed Wooden Buildings, battened and shingled, about 12 feet square. 29 Cast Iron Cylinder stoves, 3 sizes 600 feet 5-inch English Iron Funnel A lot of 8-inch Funnel 10 Cauldrons, with Russia Iron Covers 2 Iron Bedsteads 2 Husk Mattresses 4 Pair Sheets 2 Pillows 4 Pillow Cases 2 Chairs Half dozen Axes A quantity of Raye Straw, &c.
By order of Lieut. Col. H. Day, U. S. A., General Supt. Recruiting Services state of Mass. Terms of sale, cash.”
Between 1861 and 1865, 4,588 Cambridge men enlisted in the Union Army and Navy. (Cambridge Historical Commission)
In the 1890s, Camp St and Cameron Ave were named after the camp. Fair Oaks St, Seven Pines Ave, Glendale Ave, Malvern Ave, and Yorktown St in the same neighborhood were named after Civil War battles.
An historic marker honoring James S. Richardson and Company C can be found in Central Square near the site of Richardson’s former law office on Richard B. Modica Way—otherwise known as “Graffiti Alley,” the passageway between Central Kitchen and Tent City on Mass Ave. True to its location, the marker is now covered with graffiti. A mockup can be seen here:
Richardson, with a white beard, appears front center in the photograph below, depicting of a reunion of Company C in 1886.
Surviving members of Company C posed for a photograph in front of City Hall, 1886. City of Cambridge Annual Report, 1940.
To Richardson’s left is Lieutenant Chamberlain. To the far left as you look at the picture stands drummer Charles Cobb, holding the drum he had carried throughout the war.
It was not until 1866 that President Andrew Johnson issued a formal proclamation announcing the end of the Civil War.
Where once there were thousands of men training for war, today there are baby strollers, bikes and pedestrians.
Photographed by Kathleen Fox
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen M. Fox
