Errors on the Camp Cameron Historical Marker.

These mistakes are more of a reflection of the lack of information and the contradictory nature of a lot of the information that does exist about the camp.

1 & 2:  "Camp Cameron occupied a 140-acre tract along Massachusetts Avenue  between Shea Road and Claredon Avenue that extended up the hill to Holland Street in Somerville."

The first mistake is the 140 acre statistic. This comes from the Cambridge Chronicle. (1) It has also been quoted as 40 (2) & 50 acres. The 40-50 acre number is the right range when you compare it to other places. Look at the map of Cambridge. Compare it to Danehy Park that is 50 acres(3) it is very close. This may not be exact but it is not one third the size of the camp neighborhood. Also if you use one of those internet sites that measure the length of you walk/run and trace the outline of the camp you come out with the 40/50 acre measurement.
The second is that the northern boarder is Holland Street in Somerville. The road shows up on the period map of the camp. Holland St did not exist yet. Also The History of the 1st Light Battery described the road on the northern border as the "the Old Lexington Pike,   which crosses Winter Hill and thence over the ridge in Somerville to Arlington." This describes Broadway.(4)
3: "Thirty wooden barracks sheltered about a 1,000 recruits." Fifteen of the building where barracks for enlisted men. The others where a gate house, brig, stables, hospital, cookhouses, and officer barracks. The barracks for just the troop barracks held 100-125 men. Hard Tack And Coffee quotes the 100 number. (5)
A report from the Sanitary Commission quotes 125 enlisted men and non-commissioned officers. It is a very detailed description of the barracks. (6) This puts the troop barracks alone at 1500-1875, then add the commissioned officers.
4: "So Late in 1862 operations were transferred to the security of Fort Independence."  The final troops did not leave (by then) Camp Day until 1/22/63. (7)

(1) Cambridge Chronicle, June 15, 1861
(2) Boston Evening Transcript, June 10, 1861, pg. 2
(3) http://www.cambridgema.gov/CityOfCambridge_Content/documents/danehy.pdf
(4) (3) Story of the First Massachusetts Light Battery, Attached to the 6^th Army Corp. , Andrew J. Bennett, 1886, Press of De Land & Barta, Boston, Ma
(5) Hardtack and Coffee, Billings, John D., 1888, George M. Smith & Co. Boston
(6) Report on condition of troops in the Bostom area.  July 25, 1861, S. G. Howe of the U. S. Sanitary Commission
(7) Boston Evening Transcript, 1/22/63, pg. 3


DAN SULLIVAN

Update on the Watertown, Ma, local History Story

Historical Society of Watertown, Watertown MA

July 18

A rebuttal to the Historical Society's letter. Posted in Boston.com.

Library trustee defends culling of historical volumes, despite public outcry
Posted by Jaclyn Reiss July 17, 2013 10:15 AM
A Watertown library trustee last night defended her board's June decision to move some historical books out of the local library's history room to clear shelf space, despite the uproar it has caused among local genealogy and historical experts.
"There just isn’t enough room," said library trustee Raya Stern in a Town Hall hallway Tuesday night. “This is stuff no one looks at. Not everything in there is valuable to Watertown.”
The volumes are not directly related to Watertown's history. However, the decision has prompted a letter and email campaign by local historians, and brought nearly a dozen protesters to Tuesday's Town Council meeting to rail against the move.
Many said that even volumes not directly related to Watertown could be monumental to historians and genealogists researching in the library's history room. The historians pointed to the valuable nature of many of the volumes, including the journals John Winthrop, an early Massachusetts founder.
"This is some of most important material historically in the Commonwealth," said David L. Smith, president of the Civil War Round Table of Greater Boston. "To get rid of it is outrageous and irresponsible."
The books are being cleared to make space for the Army's Arsenal property cleanup records - which are federally mandated to be housed there - as well as new incoming historical volumes, Stern said.
"This is a federal mandate that was dumped on us," Stern said. “There are no tucked away places in the library to put the Arsenal papers. All our rooms and shelves are being used.”
The non-Watertown materials would either be moved to general shelves in the library, offered to various communities' libraries and historical societies, digitized for online use, or put in the local circulation network, Stern said.
“We’re not throwing anything away,” she said. “We’re just finding other places for them.”
Although the library has offered any of the titles to the Watertown Historical Society, board member Joyce Kelly said the organization does not have room to house the books.
"We believe the library can house both the Arsenal material and the research collection," she said, noting that the Arsenal cleanup documents could likely be digitized faster and easier than any of the research volumes.
Supporters of the historical volumes also worried that since the decision was already made at the library trustees' June 4 meeting, valuable titles could begin disappearing from the history room at any time.
"It took 150 years to put this collection together, and in another month or so, it could all be gone," said Bob Erickson, former veteran's agent for Watertown.
But Stern said the decision, while discussed in detail last month, has been in the works since last fall.
"This policy has been in the works since October," she said, adding that the board will likely uphold their decision. “They can come to our meetings. Some got all excited and now they’re overreacting.”
Stern said the library is still deciding what books to move out of the history room, and said the process is continuous and has no firm deadline.
“We’re working on this constantly,” she said.
The next Board of Library Trustees meeting is Tuesday, Aug. 6 at 7 p.m.

From Historical Watertowns FaceBook page.

DAN SULLIVAN

Video of Possible Camp Meigs officer barracks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97j4sqVUG0w

I have not verified this, nor have I found it referenced anywhere else, so take it as you will. It you Google Earth the address you can also see the side view. If it is authentic then it would give you an idea of the size of the officers barracks at Camp Cameron.


DAN SULLIVAN

Troop Tents at Camp Cameron

I have always suspected that temporary tents may have been brought in for times of over crowding. In rereading Hard Tack and Coffee I came across this "a still larger number found shelter in tents prior to their departure for the field. These tents were of various patterns, but the principle varieties used were Sibley, the A or Wedge Tent, and the Hospital or Wall Tent."

Once again this shows the importance of rereading your sources. You always miss something. 

Watertown Ma. Library Local History Room collection in danger!

This message is from the Historical Society of Watertown's Facebook page.

Please help!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Historical-Society-of-Watertown-Watertown-MA/115394905142815

Watertown Library Local History Room Collection in Danger

Dear Watertown History Enthusiast, July 2013

I’m writing on a matter of concern to many of us here in Watertown. The Library Trustees intend to do away with of a large part of the current History Room collection as the footage of the June 4, 2013 Trustees meeting makes clear. (This is available for viewing at www.wcatv.org as “Library Trustees Meeting” 6/4/13, with the discussion about the History Collection taking place from about 24 min. 30 sec. to 43 min 15 sec.)
The current collection, the fruit of many generations, not only has proven its continuing usefulness, but includes many rare, irreplaceable volumes. It is consulted by locals, people from a distance researching their Watertown connections, and even people from other nations (France, Scotland, etc.) studying New England life. Other institutions, such as lecturers representing the New England Historic Genealogical Society, often recommend this well-rounded resource. The History Collection is not only one of Watertown’s valued assets, but also makes our town a destination.
The stated purpose of the de-accessioning, as stated in the Library Director’s email to Clare Murphy, is primarily to provide space in the History Room for the many binders of paperwork relating to the Arsenal clean-up. To do this, the Trustees decided to remove all “non-Watertown” material, even works about towns that were once part of Watertown’s original territory (such as Weston, Waltham and Belmont), or towns directly settled by Watertown people (Watertown has long been called “the Mother Town.”) Some examples of the towns settled in the 1600s partly by the founders of Watertown are Brookfield, parts of Cambridge, Lexington, Lincoln, Dedham, Hingham, Sudbury, Concord, Wethersfield CT and other CT towns, Newport RI and Providence RI.
Other works on relevant New England topics, such as The Journal of John Winthrop, 1630-1649, which for 350 years has been recognized as the central source for the history of Massachusetts in the 1630s and 1640s, would also be banished from our Local History Room. These books and manuscripts would either be sold, placed in circulation (some are fragile and many are rare and valuable) or offered to the Historical Society.
A good research collection provides background material as well as matter specific to the topic. The Local History Collection Policy, as approved by the Trustees January 7, 2013, includes within its scope “a selection of materials about other towns and genealogical materials about Massachusetts and the United States that relate to Watertown.” The Collection Policy can be read thru this link.http://www.watertownlib.org/sites/default/files/LH%20Collection%20Development%20Policy%20%28Local%20History%29.pdf
The targeted material either refers to the original territory (and thus clarifies what the town records discuss), or else provides information on Watertown-related individuals, families, or events in related locations. History, like the rest of human activity, spreads beyond political bounds (as it certainly did in 1775-1776 when Watertown was the Massachusetts capital and seat of the Legislature). The Arsenal clean-up material can still be stored within the Library (as federally mandated), even adjacent to the History Room, without eliminating so large a part of the collection. 
The recorded discussion on WCATV assumed that much of the target material was available on-line, when in fact few of the titles are. Works that are on-line are often in a form difficult to peruse and even the best are not as convenient as books in hand. Instead of referring from one existing book to another, the advice was for researchers to drive from town to town to consult other local histories (most towns are inaccessible by public transportation), or to request titles through inter-library loan (such reference collections do not circulate at all, much less by inter-library loan).
No one can be expected to understand every scholarly pursuit, but with all due respect, the board of Trustees seems unfamiliar with historical research and unaware of the most productive way to go about it. While the Historical Society has been offered this material, we lack the space and the volunteers to make the books publicly available. We believe that having the intact collection, this valuable and valued town resource, preserved within the Public Library, is of far greater advantage to Watertown.
We hope that the Trustees will reconsider their interpretation of the collection’s value before disbursing a public resource that once gone, would be impossible to reconstruct. Letters, phone calls and meetings with the Trustees/Library Director, voicing our concerns about losing this valuable collection have been fruitless. Now we need the help of Watertown residents who value our town’s important place in American history or simply love our public library.
If you share this concern, we hope that you will voice your opinion. Email your support to me at mkr12y@yahoo.com, or write a Letter to the Editor to the Watertown Tab. Time is fast running out, because the trustees have already voted to allow this disaster to occur and the library director is on board. 
Like the recent debacle in Peru, when an ancient Pyramid was bulldozed by developers, the people may realize that although it is fast and easy to destroy it is impossible to reconstruct. Please call Marilynne Roach at 617-924-3559 with any questions or need for clarification.

Respectfully,
Marilynne K. Roach, President Historical Society of Watertown
Joyce Kelly, Collections Manager Historical Society of Watertown
Clare Murphy, Genealogist Historical Society of Watertown 
Audrey Jones Childs, Vice President Historical Society of Watertown
Ruth Arena, Treasurer Historical Society of Watertown
Mary Spiers, Recording/Correspond. Secretary Historical Society of Watertown
Peggy Anderson, Councilor Historical Society of Watertown
Robert Childs, Councilor Historical Society of Watertown
Jon Spector, Councilor Historical Society of Watertown



DAN SULLIVAN