Recruiting poster for the Massachusetts 54th regiment

Monument to soldiers who died at Camp Meigs

Camp Meigs is a former

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

training camp that existed from 1862 to 1865 in

Readville, Massachusetts Readville is part of the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston. Readville's ZIP Code is 02136. It was called Dedham Low Plains from 1655 until it was renamed after the mill owner James Read in 1847. It was part of Dedham until 1867. It is served by ...

. It was combined from the former Camp Brigham (formed to train the 18th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry) and Camp Massasoit (formed to train the 24th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry) and trained the

54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was the second African-American regiment, following the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry ...

, among others. The 54th regiment was one of the first official African-American units in the United States during the Civil War. The former camps were merged into Camp Meigs in August 1862. Other units that trained there include the

11th 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first atteste ...

, 43rd, 44th, 45th, 47th, 48th, 55th, 56th, 58th, 59th, 60th and 62nd regiments of infantry; the

1st First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds or 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Second of arc, an angular measurement unit, ...

, 4th and

5th Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...

regiments of cavalry; the

regiment of heavy artillery; and the

, 9th,

, 12th,

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave pl ...

, 14th, and 16th batteries of light artillery. The 6th, 18th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, and 26th Unattached Companies Massachusetts Volunteer Militia were also at the camp during the war. It was the busiest training camp in Massachusetts. In 1869, the land was obtained by the Norfolk Agricultural Association, improved upon, and ultimately became the

Readville Race Track The Readville Race Track located in Readville, Massachusetts had a famous and exciting history for Harness Racing, Motorcycle Racing, Auto Racing and early military combat Aviation.http://www.massaerohistory.org/Sturtevant.html When the track off ...

. On December 12, 1915, the newly formed

Sturtevant Aeroplane Company Sturtevant may refer to: * Aaron Paul Sturtevant (born 1979), better known as Aaron Paul, American actor * Albert D. Sturtevant (1894–1918), American naval officer * Albert Morey Sturtevant (1876–1957), American academic of Scandinavian philo ...

tested its new A-3 Battleplane prototype on the Readville field, becoming the first American airplane engineered specifically for air combat. The A-3 was designed by Grover C. Loening, most recently the Army’s aeronautical engineer at San Diego and hired by Sturtevant. The ''Battleplane'' featured a water-cooled 140 hp Sturtevant V-8 engine with two removable 8-foot × 2.5-foot

nacelles A nacelle ( ) is a "streamlined body, sized according to what it contains", such as an engine, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. When attached by a pylon entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached ...

positioned mid-wing for machine gunners to fire outside the propeller arc. The test flight was piloted by Lt. Byron Jones. By World War II, the site was largely abandoned, although U.S. Navy pilots from Squantum Naval Air Station flying their Stearman biplanes would practice "touch and go" landings on the remnants of the old oval track.

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External links

* * * {{FmrMAForts Military facilities in Massachusetts Hyde Park, Boston 1862 establishments in Massachusetts Military installations closed in 1865 1865 disestablishments in Massachusetts

See also

References

External links