Camp Merritt (2)

Camp Merritt (2) (1917-1920) - A U.S. Army World War I Embarkation Camp first established in 1917 near Cresskill, Bergen County, New Jersey. Named Camp Merritt after Major General Wesley Merritt (Cullum 1868), U.S. Civil War cavalry officer. Abandoned in 1920.

Camp Merritt Panorama Left
Camp Merritt Panorama Middle, with portrait of the camp commander, Lewis S. Sorely (Cullum 3448)
Camp Merritt Panorama Right

World War I

A U.S. Army Embarkation Camp established in 1917 to process U.S. military units for sea transport to the war front in Europe through the Hoboken Port of Embarkation. Camp Merritt was opened 1 Oct 1917 on a site of about 770 acres at a cost of about $ 10,000,000. The camp processed about one million of the two million troops sent to Europe during the war.

The embarkation process usually began at one of the 32 divisional training camps (16 for the National Army (draftees) and 16 for the National Guard) with troops riding to the Embarkation Camps by train and spending a variable amount of time at the Embarkation Camp. From the Embarkation Camp troops usually moved by rail to the Hoboken Embarkation Port and onto troop ships.

Divisions were too large to move intact on single ships so it could take a division a month or two to reassemble on the European side. The typical U.S. infantry division contained about 1,000 officers and 27,000 enlisted men. The largest available ship, the Leviathan, could deliver 12,000 men a month. Troops were sent directly to France or via England. Some 2,084,000 U.S. troops reached France and 1,390,000 saw active service in the front line.

At the end of the war the camp became a disembarkment center, reversing the process until it was abandoned in 1920.

In 1924 a monument to the 563 personnel who died at Camp Merritt during the 1918 influenza epidemic was placed at the former center of the Camp.

Camp Merritt (2) Partial Commanders List (edit list)

Assumed	Relieved	Rank	Name	Cullum	Notes
1918-03-18	1918-06-22	Colonel	Irons, James A.	2808
1918-11-30	1919-05-20	Colonel	Sorley, Lewis S.	3448
Dates are formatted in yyyy-mm-dd to sort correctly. The Cullum Number is the graduation order from the United States Military Academy by year and class rank and links to a page for the officer on the website version of the Cullum Register. Listings without a Cullum Number indicate that the person was not a graduate of the United States Military Academy.

Current Status

Monument in Merritt Memorial Circle, Bergen County, New Jersey.

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Location: Merritt Memorial Circle in Cresskill, Bergen County, New Jersey. The memorial is at the former center of Camp Merritt. Maps & Images Lat: 40.941145 Long: -73.976827 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: .....'

Sources:

• Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 512

Links:

• North American Forts - Camp Merritt
• Wikipedia - Camp Merritt
• Bergan County Historical Society - Camp Merritt
• Cresskill Monument
• Hstorical Marker Database - Camp Merritt

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