Military Use of the Chickamauga Park
During WW1
Photo courtesy of the National Archives
The Relationship between Fort Oglethorpe and the Chickamauga Battlefield Park
Caption: 1892 topographic map, updated in 1918. Note the rail connection with Chattanooga to the north (top of map) through Rossville. The red boundary line encompasses both the Fort's reservation and the Park's reservation.
The history of Fort Oglethorpe requires an understanding of the military use of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. The Army was attracted to the large open fields and varied terrain where entire regiments could practice combat maneuvers. The Park also had reliable water sources and an agreeable climate. Another major factor in locating Fort Oglethorpe here was its proximity to Chattanooga as a major rail hub with connections extending across the country. All of this meant that large numbers of troops could be trained, housed, fed, comforted, and entertained over extended periods of time. The history of Fort Oglethorpe simply cannot be discussed without understanding its relationship to both Chickamauga Park and Chattanooga.
​The Park was created to preserve two things: 1) the honor of those who fought and died in the battle, and 2) to provide for "professional military study." The layout of the Park, the tablet markers, signs, cannons, and monuments were all painstakingly placed in the exact spots (or as close as possible to) where the action described took place. The purpose was so a Park visitor could personally witness how the terrain, equipment, and troop movements affected both victory and loss. Chickamauga was the first National Military Park, followed by Shiloh (1894), Gettysburg (1895), and Vicksburg (1899).
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In 1896, Congress expanded the 1890 "professional military study" legislation to allow the regular Army and National Guard (state militia) to use the National Military Parks for training. Two years later, Spain declared war on the United States. America was not prepared for international conflict; she barely had an Army. By comparison, the US had about 2,100 officers and 26,000 enlisted men, in the entire Army, while the Spanish fielded about 200,000 troops in Cuba in response to the rebellion. Congress recognized that the Army needed both more troops and somewhere to train them. All eyes turned toward the National Military Parks. Camp Thomas was formed in the South Dyer Field, Chickamauga battlefield, and eventually 60,000-72,000 troops would be scattered throughout the Park for training. The Spanish-American War became a crucial turning point in America's history, setting in motion events that would propel the United States into a world power in the 20th Century.
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Similarly, when World War 1 broke out, America had a small army. Using Fort Oglethorpe as the anchor, basic and advanced training schools were established throughout the Park, and tens of thousands of troops were sent here to learn necessary lifesaving and life-taking battlefield skills.
Caption: Camp Thomas Headquarters formed in the South Dyer Field at the Lytle train stop during the Spanish-American War (1898).
Building an Army for WW1
World War 1 (1914-1918) was undoubtedly the largest buildup of men and equipment in the history of the Fort. In the year and a half of America's involvement (1917-1918), about 60,000 men would pass through the gateway of Fort Oglethorpe and Chickamauga Park.
When the war started in 1914, the Army had about 98,000 men. About 45,000 were Army regulars and the remaining 53,000 were National Guard. There were also not enough officers to lead what the Army anticipated building up to, so officers would have to be trained. To accommodate this massive training effort, about 1,500 buildings were crammed into nearly every open field in the battlefield. These buildings were known as cantonments. Cantonments housed the troops, their classrooms, YMCAs recreation halls, mess halls, storehouses, libraries, infirmaries, etc. Trenches simulating those that the troops would see in Europe were dug along the north slope of Snodgrass Hill, one of the most historically significant locations in the park. Park officials tried to be as accommodating as possible to the Army but were dismayed at the takeover and resulting damage.
Both the park commission and the Army were in the War Department, and there were frequent complaints by one side about the other. Given the Army's urgent need, they often won their requests or simply took without asking, such as cutting down beautiful and historic trees.
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The header photograph at the top of this page was selected to represent this juxtaposition between the Department of the Interior (National Park Service) and the Army. The cantonment buildings were built within feet of the Civil War cannon monuments and tablets, thereby ruining their intent and context. The map below shows the extent to which the Army cantonments sprawled across the battlefield (Bispham 1927). Note the original fort in the lower lefthand corner.​
The American Library Association installed a library for the troops in a cantonment building.
Photo courtesy National Archives.
From Bispham, Wm. N., Col., The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War: Training, US Government Printing Office, 1927, pg, 31.
Three Camps and the Fort:
Camp Warden McLean
The expansion of the Army's presence around Fort Oglethorpe and across the battlefield Park was organized into three camps. The fort itself maintained its own command, as did the War Prison Barracks No. 2.
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Reserve Officer Training Camp (ROTC), later called Camp Warden McLean
The ROTC camp was the first WW1 training camp established on the battlefield. Its construction began about April 20, 1917, and was completed by May 4, thanks to a fury of construction activity by Chattanooga contractors. Maj. E. E. Walton chose the location for the camp to be immediately east of Snodgrass Hill. The ROTC camp's footprint overlapped somewhat with the Civilian Military Training Camp (CMTC), also known as the Southern Military Training Camp, which existed between May-June 1916. In essence, the ROTC camp occupied the space west of the CTMC camp and east of Snodgrass Hill and made use of some of the infrastructure left behind from the CMTC camp.
On Tuesday, July 3, 1917, the Chattanooga News reported that Colonel Slocum, commander of the ROTC camp, officially announced that the name of the ROTC camp would be changed to Camp Warden McLean, in honor of a young lieutenant that was killed in the line of duty at the camp in a horse accident.
This camp specialized in training infantry for trench warfare. This was the camp where the young Captain Dwight Eisenhower was stationed as an instructor from September 23 to November 27, 1917. He would have slept in "Officer's Row," as indicated on Bispham's map.
This is a transparent overlay of the 1916 CMTC map (diagonal lines) and the WW1 camp map above (small buildings, rectangular shapes) showing their spatial relationship. Some of Barnhardt Circle on the original post shown at the top of the map for reference.
Lt. Warden McLean (far right commanding), Photo credit National Archives.
Civilian Military Training Camp: Predecessor of Camp Warden McLean
The CMTC was the predecessor of the WW1 regular Army training camps. It was an opportunity for civilians to spend one month at their own (or their employer's) expense learning what the Army is like. If any of the CMTC graduates later joined the Army, they would be given an officer commission of First Lieutenant. The Fort Oglethorpe/Chickamauga Park CTMC only had margin success, mostly because Southern workers could not afford to miss a month of work, nor pay for the opportunity, which meant that mostly wealthy men attended. It operated for three monthly sessions during the summer of 1916 before being swept aside to prepare for WW1. The Chickamauga CMTC was based on the Plattsburg NY CMTC model, which was wildy successful, mostly because it was located in a wealthier part of the country. The Chattanooga New, April 25, 1916.
Camp Greenleaf: Battlefield Medicine
Medical Officer's Training Camp (MOTC), later called Camp Greenleaf
The MOTC officially opened on June 1, 1917, and was the second camp formed. It was the largest of all the camps. Its commandant was the well-known Colonel Henry Page. On August 14, 1917, it would become known as Camp Greenleaf, named for Brigadier General Charles Ravenscroft Greenleaf (1838-1911), who as a colonel during the Spanish-American War, became the Army's Chief Surgeon of all troops in the field.
Thanks to the innovative leadership of Col. Page, Camp Greenleaf attracted world famous attention and became known as the "West Point of Medicine." Approximately 7,000 officers and 31,000 enlisted men were trained in many different fields of battlefield medicine. Many of these men went to the combat zones where they saved untold numbers of lives or to convalescent centers in the US where they helped numerous wounded veterans come to grips with their new reality.
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Courses taught at Camp Greenleaf included medical subfields such as dentistry, nutrition, anatomy, plastic and oral surgery, urology, ophthalmology, psychology, surgery, neurosurgery, veterinary medicine, and roentgenology (radiology). These courses were about 2-3 months long.
The in-photo caption reads "Retreat, M.O.T.C.,Camp Greenleaf, Fort Oglethorpe, GA, Apr. 22 '18."
"Retreat" is the end-of-the-day bugle call. The credit for this photo is unknown.
The credit for this photo is unknown but it is confirmed to be inside the Fort Oglethorpe post gymnasium, which still exists today as an event venue. Veterinary Co. No. 1 was a part of Camp Greenleaf.
General view of Camp Greenleaf. Chickamauga Park, GA, May 30, 1918. The picture below is what the area looks like today. Photo originally produced by the Miller Studio, Augusta, GA.
Camp Greenleaf occupied what is today the Fairlawn Acres subdivision. In this Google Earth view looking south toward the Chickamauga battlefield, note the Lafayette Road along the right side going into the Park. To the right of this are some of the original Fort Oglethorpe buildings, parade ground (ballfields today), and the National Military Park Visitor's Center in McDonald's Field.
Battlefield Medicine in WW1:
What did Camp Greenleaf Actually Teach the Doctors and Medics?
What did the troops that were trained at Camp Greenleaf actually do once they got to the combat zone in Europe? How did Camp Greenleaf contribute to the war?
Most people know that WW1 in Europe was fought as trench warfare. Extensive networks of trenches were dug by both the Allies and the Axis powers, extending about 475 miles from the English Channel to the Swiss Alps. The front-line trenches were anywhere between a few hundred yards to a half a mile apart with a "no man's land" in between. The front line fighting trenches were connected to the rear by communication trenches that were used for resupply and to move fresh troops forward and the wounded and the dead to the rear.
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The diagram below shows a "textbook" layout of Allied trenches ("A.E.F." = American Expeditionary Force). It shows the system of evacuation for wounded soldiers and the levels of care corresponding to the distance toward the rear away from the front line (at the top of the diagram). Multiple "Evacuation Hospitals" were formed at Camp Greenleaf. These hospitals were located about 2-4 miles behind the front lines and provided rapid advanced care for any injury, whether it was gunshot wounds or psychological wounds ("shell shock").
From The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War, 1925, US Surgeon General, Vol. 8,
pg. 262, Government Printing Office, Washington. Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine.
Photographs: Mechanization of Battlefield Medicine
One common theme throughout Fort Oglethorpe's history was mechanization- the process of transforming the Army's mobility from horses to vehicles. The concept of using a gas-powered ambulance to evacuate wounded was brand new. The first use of this in warfare was during the "Punitive Expedition" into Mexico (1916-1917). Some of the troops who participated in that military operation brought their experience to Camp Greenleaf. For other brand-new troops, they trusted horses more than they did automobiles. Training the men in these new techniques saved many lives on the battlefields of Europe. Photos courtesy of the National Archives unless proven to be of other origin.
Ambulance Inspection Camp Greenleaf 1918
Greenleaf parked ambulances
Veterinary Co. No 1 Truck at Camp Greenleaf, GA 1918
Ambulance Inspection Camp Greenleaf 1918
Camp Forrest
Camp Forrest
Camp Forrest was the smallest of the camps and primarily a training school for engineers. It also comprised any other soldiering that did not fall into medicine or infantry. It was named for the famous Confederate cavalry commander Nathan Beford Forrest.
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The researcher should take caution and not confuse this Camp Forrest with the World War 2 Camp Forrest at Tullahoma, TN.
Resources
Delivery of Medical Care on the battlefield - World War I Centennial site
This webpage provides an excellent layperson's explanation of how the wounded were evacuated from the battlefield in WW1. Many evacuation hospitals were formed at Camp Greenleaf and served to save many lives in Europe.
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This 15-volume set is the official medico-military history of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in WW1. This link takes the reader directly to Volume 8, Field Operations, which discusses in great detail the medical aspects of major operations in the war, for example, the Meuse-Argonne and the St. Mihiel. Both of these famous operations were commanded by Major General Charles P. Summerall. The reader can access the main page of all 15 volumes here at the National Library of Medicine.
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Medical Support for the American Expeditionary Forces in France during the First World War
​This master's degree thesis was written in 1991 by Jonathan H. Jaffin, Major, US Army, to fulfill his degree at the US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS. It provides a scholarly view of the WW1 system of battlefield medicine.
Fort Oglethorpe Medical Officers' Training Camp, 1917-1918
Written by local resident Laura McManus Crawley in 2005. This effort is directed at genealogists looking for their relatives among the Camp Greenleaf trained soldiers.
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Administrative History of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
This is an excellent resource for the entire history of the Park. Chapter VI focuses on the military use of the battlefield through the three wars. However, the reader will note discrepancies between this webpage and the Administrative History regarding the discussion of which of the three WW1 camps was formed first and their locations. This author stands by his conclusions.
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