Camp Cameron closes!

Like most camps through out the Union, Camp Cameron was plagued with a bounty jumping problem. Soon after Hannibal Day assumed command of the Boston area he petitioned Washington to close the camp. He was given it if he saw fit with the right to replace the camp with either Ft. Independence or Ft Warren on the Harbor.
First he needed to wait until the lease ended on Nov, 21, 1862. He then had to find a new home for the Southern prisoners  at Ft. Independence. Because of this the Army stayed at Cameron until Jan. 22, 1863. On that date the final 75-100 recruits were transferred to Boston. Counting Camp Ellsworth,  this ended almost 21 months of military recruiting and training in the area.

Whenever the reasons for closing the camp came up the practice of bounty jumping is given. I have come to believe that this is only part of the reason. Bounty jumping was also practiced in camps that did not close. Desertion was exaggerated at Cameron by the lack of a fence. Fences though not universal in the camps were not unheard of. What was the difference between this camp and other camps that stayed open and those that had erected fences? When the regular army took over other options were now available. Yes, they had a problem with desertion. Yes, a fence could have lessened this problem. The Army had other facilities in the area, namely the harbor forts and they were not far away. Even without the problem of bounty jumping Camp Cameron may have seemed redundant. It was an expense to rent when they already owned other bases. The harbor forts where crowded so it is possible that the army did not go into this already thinking of closing the camp.  Discussion of this did begin quickly. (3) It may not have been a predetermined result, but why would the army want to continue an extra expense to maintain a property that was not working well when other option where at hand. This only becomes clearer when you consider that they would have to incur more expense to improve the camp by building a fence. Remember the forts by their very nature already had walls around them. Hannibal Day also had an office in Boston so the Fort Independence would have been closer.


DAN SULLIVAN

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

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

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

Sgt. Andrew Sproul, Cambridge Police

On Saturday, October 29, 1899 Andrew Sproul passed away. His obituary ran in the Nov. 4th edition of the Cambridge Chronicle. He was 76 years old. This not only made him the oldest man in the department but he was also the longest serving member, having joined on Jan. 30, 1861. When Sproul joined he was assigned to the section of North Cambridge known as "Dublin" because of its large Irish population. At this time the Cambridge police force consisted of about forty men. His shift started at sunset and lasted until the sun came back up. His beat was a tough neighborhood and he had to deal with a lot of drunken fist fights. His work on this beat started just before Camp Cameron opened. He remembered this time as "exciting days, at the opening of the war, and I had a good deal of trouble. In my section of the city rum was sold openly and without a license, and it made trouble for me."
"I had my experiences, but when I went onto the police force I was as able physically as any man in the city and rather liked a chance to use my muscle. I had a beat in a pretty tough community up there at Camp Cameron , in North Cambridge. For ten years I was in the district called "Dublin," but I got along pretty well. The soldiers would get drunk often and sometimes four or five would go in together and put out the owner of the saloons and then trouble followed. Fights between soldiers and citizens were frequent. I generally succeeded in making things quiet. I never felt afraid, but rather relished the work."
"As a matter of fact, in my thirty-six years of experience I have used the billy with effect only three times, and then to save myself. I always was careful not to hurt anybody if I could help it and when I struck with the billy it was invariably in self defense. I have been many times in a row, but would rather get hurt than hurt anybody."

Camp Cameron officers give product endorsements

I have found two different instances when an officer related to the camp publicly endorsed a commercial product.
The first was by Col. Robert Cowdin of the 1st Regiment. The ads I have found have been in the Lowell Daily Courier and ran after his regiment left the camp. The earliest is from Dec. 28, 1861 is for  Gardner's
Rhuumatic and Neuralgic COMPOUND and is reads as follows:

"After suffering several years with Rheumatism, one bottle of Compound cured me, and I heartly endorse all that has said in its favor."

The next is more involved. Not only was it an endorsement but also a product test. The Nov. 19, 1862 Boston Evening Transcript ran a letter from Capt. William Plummer of the first Sharpshooters to William Read & Sons of Boston, sellers of Smith's bullet proof vests. On their behalf he and his men tested on of these metal vests. They used a colt revolver from 12 and then 4 paces with no damage, they then used a telescopic rifle from a distance of 200 yards the vest suffered a slight fracture and dent. After adding a greater than normal amount of powder and hitting the vest in the same area three times they succeeded in cracking it but still the bullet did not penetrate the vest. They had similar result with different types of rifles. They also tried a bayonet.
Here is his endorsement for this product:
"I am perfectly convinced, from these experiments, that at any ordinary distance there is no musket or rifle used in service which can break this armor, unless repeatedly hitting in the same spot.... The above results should convince any soldier of the importance of providing himself with one of these bullet proof vests, which, nine times out of ten, will certainly save him harmless. Instead of the vest being an encumbrance on a march, I should judge it would be found a great support in equalizing the weight of the knapsack, and preventing the straps from compressing the chest. Under no circumstances would I or my men be willingly without them, and you will please fill immeadiatly an order for the following list." The order was not included but it is very interesting. The results of the target practice on the vest may very well true. It is hard to believe that an experienced soldier would give the last part of the endorsement though. These vest were purchased by raw recruits and discarded by the side of the road very quickly after they began to march. They simply were too heavy to be practicle.

DAN SULLIVAN

The Camp Cameron Menu

This is from an article in the Lowell (MA) Daily Courier, Thursday, July 18, 1861.

The Courier sent a correspondent to Camp Cameron, most likely because Companies D & H of the MA 16TH regiment were from Lowell. In the story the writer gives a detailed description of the food the recruits received each day.
He began with a brief description of the camp. "The locality is delightful, and everything seems to have been done to make the soldiers contented and as happy as can be expected to be in camp life." Some of the men busied themselves by cleaning their muskets, barracks or clothing in Tannery Brook. He mentions that the brook is behind their cooking tents. This is the first mention of tents, in addition to wooden structures, I have found, Though I have suspected that at least temporary tents were used at times. The camp is described a "Neat."
The men had more food available to them than they could eat in a day. The pork smelled sweet and was Extra Clear Brand, The bacon was first quality Boston cured, he described the potatoes as "sound." The bread was baked outside of the camp, but close enough that it was still warm when it was delivered each morning. Fixings for soup, tea and coffee was also made available.
As far as portion size goes, each man received 21 ounces of meat each day, a pint of coffee and three ounces of bread made up breakfast. Another 3 ounces of bread, or a third of a loaf, was added to the evening meal. No mention is given to the size of lunch or the size of the "extras", the soup, potatoes and tea etc. It is made clear that the food was both sizable and of high quality.


DAN SULLIVAN