Thursday, December 20, 2012

It's The End Of The World As We Know It (Again) And I Feel Fine.

Many people who believe in the end of the Mayan calendar are telling us the world will end tomorrow. This is not the first time that a date has been given for the end of the world. The Sept. 28, 1861 Cambridge Chronicle printed this story.
"THE END OF THE WORLD, postponed from 1843, is to take place on Saturday, the 12th of October, a fortnight from to-day, at least so say the Millerites. Unless the end comes before breakfast in the morning, we shall publish the Chronicle as usual on that day."
William Miller had predicted that the world would end in 1843 and later other dates, made another prediction of 1861. It came and went with obvious a comic tone from the Chronicle.
People never change.

DAN SULLIVAN


Wednesday, December 19, 2012

A baby is born at Camp Cameron

On August 15, 1861 the Sixteenth Regiment had a very special visitor. According to the Woburn Weekly Budget, of August 23, Neal McLaughlin and his wife, of Woburn, MA, visited her brother. While at the camp Dr. Charles C. Jewett was called to deliver her daughter. The story , which was picked up from the Boston Journal suggested she be named the "Daughter of the Regiment."
It also states that she was born "in one of the soldier's tents, or barracks." This could simple be due to the fact that the writer was not familiar with the camp but it gives one more hint that the camp had some tents. I have found that cooking tents were set up for at least a time. Also during at least some of the "Replacement" phase of the camp it was very crowded. I have found no mention of tents at this time but it would have been a logical solution to the overcrowding, along with furloughing the local recruits.
The book "A Union Town During The Civil War: Woburn, Massachusetts Volume One" by Leon Edmund Basile the baby was named Mary and the uncle her parents visited was Private James McCarron of Co "F". McCarron was 20 years old when he enlisted.


DAN SULLIVAN

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Update on the Camp Cameron Barracks

On July 25, 1861, S. G. Howe of the U. S. Sanitary Commission delivered a report on the troops in the Boston area. This report included Camp Cameron. His findings on the Sanitary condition of the camp was not good. Howe believed that since the enlistees were sacrificing for their country then the government was obligated to take care of them. He saw the purpose of the camps being twofold; the training of troops for drill and maneuvers.  The second ; being the improvement of the recruits physical being. The second he found to be ignored. In fact he believed that the camps hurt a mans well being. The barracks at Camp Cameron were overcrowded and a crowd was always unhealthy and a breeding place for disease. It was the belief of the Commission that the barracks at Cameron were neither large enough or numerous enough.
The ideal living space "should be spacious, dry, and airy. They should have single bunks, and should be so constructed that the men can observe decency with regard to personal exposure."
"The barracks should be provided with shelves, with pegs to hang clothing, and with tables for reading; but not for sleeping, for soldiers should not be allowed to take their meals in the room where they sleep."
It is to be assumed that none of these features were not found at Camp Cameron .
"Now the barracks at Camp Cameron are rough, unsightly, untidy, and cheerless. They are about 100 feet long by 20 feet wide; upright joists, 10 feet; roof, 10 feet. They are built of rough boards, roughly put together, and not battered. They are intended for 125 soldiers, non-commissioned officers, and musicians."
"On one side are three rows of bunks, made of rough boards, one row above the other. These are each seven feet long and six wide, and intended for three men!! On the other side are two rows of single bunks, one above the other, for non-commissioned officers and musicians."
"Such buildings may do upon sudden emergency, but they are utterly unfit for New England men to live in. They are unfit for barracks  for soldiers who are being trained for the army."
"The beds should be separated from each other by at least two or three feet of floor space, and that the rows of beds should be separated by ten or twelve feet of floor space. At least 500 or 600 cubic feet of air... is desirable....The barracks at Camp Cameron are constructed so as to allow our soldiers less than 14 feet floor space, and less than 245 cubic feet of air." Evan though he admitted that at this early time the barracks seldom exceeded 100 men they were still too crowded and if they were almshouses they would have been declared a nuisance.
One thing is interesting. He states that the barracks had 10 foot roofs.  At one time two carpenters fell of a roof they were repairing. The Cambridge Chronicle stated they fell from a height of about 25 feet. The one possible photo I have of Camp Cameron shows peaked roofs. Hardtack and Coffee states the Camp Cameron Barracks were the same style as Camp Meigs in Readville. That camp had peaked roofs. This hints to the possibility of a storage space above the 10 foot line.
Nothing I have found gives any hints that any of Howes'   suggestions were carried out.


DAN SULLIVAN