Camp Grant was a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

facility located in the southern outskirts of Rockford, Illinois named in honor of

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

general

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

. Camp Grant covered an area of 5,600 acres during World War I and 3,200 acres during World War II, and was in operation from 1917 to 1946.

World War I

Established in 1917, Camp Grant saw its first "selected men," or draftees, arrive in September of that year. Primarily a location for training infantry, it became one of the largest military training facilities in the United States during World War I. The 86th Infantry Division ("Black Hawk" Division) was formed there. Men of the 86th, after their initial training, were sent to other units. While never serving as a division in combat during World War I, elements saw combat. The 172nd Infantry Brigade was organized at Camp Grant. In 1918, the

Spanish Influenza Pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

affected over 4,000 men at the camp, taking the lives of over 1,000 between 23 September and 1 October. Camp Grant was closed as an active U.S. Army facility by December 1923, but in January 1924, it was turned over to the Illinois National Guard.

Civilian Conservation Corps

The interwar period also saw Camp Grant used by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

between 1933 and 1935.

World War II

In February 1941, Camp Grant was re-activated as an induction center and Army Medical Service individual training center, being transferred by Illinois back to the federal government. Providing physical and medical exams for new U.S. Army soldiers was the main focus, although a large number of personnel also went through Camp Grant for their Army basic training. It is estimated that 100,000 medical personnel were trained at the camp. During the war, Camp Grant also served as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

detention center, employing upwards of 6,000 civilians, boosting Rockford's economy. It is estimated that 2,500 POWs were held in the camp. After the war, Camp Grant also served as a separation center for returning GIs. Camp Grant, Rockford

Post war

In 1946, Camp Grant was permanently closed. The

Chicago Rockford International Airport Chicago Rockford International Airport , typically referred to as Rockford International Airport, Chicago Rockford, or by its IATA call letters, RFD, is a commercial airport in Rockford, Illinois, located northwest of Chicago., effective April 26 ...

occupies much of the land that used to be Camp Grant. For a few years after the war, the barracks buildings of Camp Grant were converted into makeshift apartments. These 'homes' were utilized by returning GIs that had young families. By the late 1940s, many of Camp Grant's buildings were torn down and residents moved out. In the 1950s, much of the remaining camp land was in the possession of Seth B. Atwood, who would later donate the former Camp Grant rifle range to the Rockford Park District, who would name it the Seth Atwood Park. Edit: There were still apartments in 1979.

In fiction

Camp Grant serves as the setting for the book, ''Taps for Charlie'' by Carl Brown.Brown, Carl. ''Taps for Charlie.'' Rockford, Illinois: Walnut Hill Press, 2006. It was mentioned in ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. Th ...

'' Season 5, episode 17 and episode 23 by Colonel Potter. The camp was also mentioned in the series '' Boardwalk Empire' by James "Jimmy" Darmody as his basic to a young Al Capone in the pilot episode. In '' Roots: The Next Generations'', it is revealed that Simon Haley, father of Alex Haley, was stationed there in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Footnotes

External links

Atwood Park info on GrantIllinois Historic Information
{{coord, 42, 12, 30, N, 89, 04, 56, W, display=title Closed installations of the United States Army Forts in Illinois Rockford, Illinois Civilian Conservation Corps in Illinois Civilian Conservation Corps camps