Camp
Wadsworth
was constructed for the purpose of training the New York National Guard. Originally numbered the Sixth Division, it was
re-designated the 27th Division in October of 1917.1 The
New York National Guard was an unusually large organization. It was one of only three National Guard
outfits
able to meet United States Army war time division strength requirements
without
being merged with other state National Guard organizations (Pennsylvania
and Illinois were the
other two). This made the 27th Division
almost
exclusively a New York
organization. After serving on the
Mexican border, the New York National Guard was called back into
Federal
Service on July 12, 1917. The 27th Division was commanded by Major
General John Francis O'Ryan.2 In
many
ways, General O'Ryan was an exceptional figure. A
lawyer in private life, he was the youngest major
general in the
army. The only National Guard general to
maintain his original command until the conclusion of the war, O'Ryan
was well
liked and respected by the men he led.3
Prior
to departing for Camp Wadsworth,
the 27th Division was given one of the largest send off parades that New
York City had ever seen. A
member of the 102nd Ammunition Train
recalled that "On the morning of August 30, 1917, we left camp to take part in the
'Farewell Parade' of the
27th Division. What a parade it
was! Throngs of people lined the streets
the entire length of Fifth Avenue
from 110th Street
to Washington Square,
cheering themselves hoarse, waving flags
and banners, and bombarding us with candy, chewing gum, and all kinds
of fruit,
cigars and cigarettes. We reached the
end of the march at Washington Square
late in the afternoon, tired but happy. After
a little lunch we boarded the elevated line
and were soon back in
camp to rest up for the trip to the training camp in the South."4 The first large formation to leave for Camp
Wadsworth was
the famous 7th New
York Infantry Regiment. The 7th Regiment
was popularly known as the "Silk Stocking Regiment" because of the
large number of wealthy New Yorkers serving in its ranks.
On September
11, 1917, the 7th Regiment began its journey to Camp
Wadsworth. Sergeant Gerald F. Jacobson would later write:
"When
assembly was blown at 1.50 o'clock
the visitors retired to and filled to overflowing
the great gallery around the drill floor. The
regiment was formed promptly,
attendance reports were made, the command was given which started New York's 'aristocratic' regiment for the
Southland, the band played 'Auld Lang Syne,'
and off we went while our friends and loved ones shrieked and shouted, laughed and cried, waved their handkerchiefs
and stamped their feet. Colonel Willard
C. Fisk led us out of that
deafening roar, down Park avenue to 57th
street, west
to Fifth avenue,
down Fifth avenue
to 23d street,
and west to the Pennsylvania
ferry slip at the Hudson River.
The regiment boarded a ferry, crossed
to Jersey City, and
entrained… Perhaps only on the occasion of
the homecoming parade of the 27th
Division, of which the Seventh Regiment became a
part, was a larger crowd massed along Fifth avenue than on the day the
Seventh went away."5
Upon reaching their
destination, the 7th Regiment and the
units that followed it would soon find themselves in a world very
different
from New York. This was true not only of military life at Camp
Wadsworth, but
of Spartanburg
itself. Endless cotton fields,
African-American spirituals, the state wide prohibition of liquor, and
conservative
Southern values were just a few of the striking differences between New
York and Spartanburg. Yet, from September of 1917 to May of 1918,
the
Yankees of the 27th Division and the citizens of Spartanburg
would experience each others similarities and differences first hand. The experience would largely influence both
parties for the better, and earn the New York National Guard a
permanent place
in the hearts of the people of Spartanburg.
For Notes please see Appendix C - Bibliography |