Camp Scott (Pennsylvania)

Camp Scott was a recruiting and training base in York, Pennsylvania, for newly raised regiments in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

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 crush what he perceived was open 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]

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.

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.

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.^[2]

References

Harpers Weekly, June 8, 1861.

Notes

1 2 Harpers Weekly, June 8, 1861.
↑ http://www.yorkblog.com/cannonball/2007/09/york_farigrounds_during_the_ci.html York in the Civil War website]

Pennsylvania in the American Civil War

Category Commons category American Civil War

Campaigns and battles	Gettysburg Campaign (template) Fairfield Gettysburg (template) Hanover Hunterstown

Fights and skirmishes	Carlisle Chambersburg Monterey Pass Greencastle skirmishes

Cities and counties	Harrisburg Philadelphia Pittsburgh Franklin County

Units and people	Monongahela department Susquehanna department Regiments

Posts and hospitals	Camp Letterman Fort Mifflin Camp Curtin Camp Scott Camp Union Camp William Penn Carlisle Barracks Mower General Hospital Satterlee General Hospital York General Hospital

Manufacturers	Frankford Arsenal Phoenix Iron Works

Civil War museums and historic sites	Civil War Museum of Philadelphia National Civil War Museum Gettysburg Battlefield Gettysburg National Cemetery Gettysburg Address Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center

Monuments and memorials	North Carolina Monument The Pennsylvania State Memorial Smith Memorial Arch 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Monument

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