Fort Slocum
Fort Slocum | |
---|---|
Part of Coast Defenses of Eastern New York | |
Davids Island, city of New Rochelle, New York | |
Coordinates | 40°53′02″N 73°46′12″W / 40.884°N 73.770°W |
Type | Coastal defense fort, hospital, training base |
Site information | |
Owner | City of New Rochelle |
Condition | Demolished |
Site history | |
Built | 1862 |
Built by | United States Army Corps of Engineers |
In use | 1867–1965 |
Demolished | 2008 |
Battles/wars | American Civil War World War I World War II |
Fort Slocum, New York was a
.History
Civil War
Military use of the island dates from 1861, when the 3rd Regiment (
Originally, De Camp General Hospital treated only Union soldiers, but following the
Post Civil War
At the end of the war, Congress authorized the island's purchase for military purposes and it was conveyed to the United States as the Davids Island Military Reservation in 1867. From this date, the Federal government operated its own ferry to and from Neptune Island.[4] In July 1878 Davids Island was made a principal depot of the U.S. Army General Recruiting Service, taking over this assignment from Governors Island. This marked the beginning of the installation's longstanding mission as a recruitment and training center.
Late 19th century through 1916
As the post on Davids Island grew, in the 1880s the Army invested in new brick construction of more than 20 new buildings, including officers' quarters, enlisted men's barracks, mess halls, hospital buildings, and support facilities.
Between 1891 and 1904, artillery batteries were erected at three places on the eastern half of the island: Battery Practice near the southeastern shoreline, with 1870s-era weapons for training personnel for older forts, the state-of-the-art Abbot Quad heavy mortar batteries, Haskin and Overton, mounting a total of 16 breech-loading 12-inch mortars, at the southeast end of the island; and two adjoining medium-range breech-loading rifled gun batteries, Fraser and Kinney, on the northeastern shore.[5][1]
Battery Practice had at least one 15-inch smoothbore
Battery Haskin was named for Joseph A. Haskin, a general who served in the Mexican War and Civil War, whose son, Major William L. Haskin, commanded Davids Island 1894–1896. Battery Overton was named for Captain Clough Overton, a cavalry officer in the Spanish–American War. Battery Kinney was named for Joseph Kinney, an officer killed in the War of 1812, and Battery Fraser was named for Upton S. Fraser, an officer killed by the Seminoles in 1835.[1]
With improved
World War I
After the
Fort Slocum's guns were dismounted and transferred to other uses beginning in 1917. Battery Kinney's 6-inch guns were moved to
Between the wars
In 1922 there was a general military drawdown, and closure of Fort Slocum was proposed. It remained open with varying roles. It housed at least one US Olympic Team, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp, and the Army cooks' and bakers' school. The 1884 water tower was replaced in 1929, and a sewage system was installed. In the 1930s most of the coast defense batteries were demolished to make room for three new barracks, the Trivium.[1]
World War II
On 16 May 1941, as war raged in Europe, Fort Slocum became part of the New York Port of Embarkation, becoming a staging area for troops moving overseas. Fort Slocum also trained cadre to set up other staging areas in Greater New York, such as Camp Kilmer and Camp Shanks in 1941 and 1942. Fort Slocum hosted the Atlantic Coast Transportation Officers' Training School, acquainting former civilians from the transportation industries with the Army.[1] The fort was a key element of the Army's Transportation Corps, so named in mid-1942, whose mission was moving huge numbers of men and amounts of materiel overseas.[1]
By early 1944 the need to ship troops to Europe had lessened, and a policy of rotating troops in the US who hadn't seen action to overseas battlefields and the reverse was instituted. Battle-hardened soldiers returning from Europe were put through a "Provisional Training Center" at Fort Slocum to re-acquaint them with the stateside Army, with its surplus of proper military appearance, courtesy, and discipline, along with its deficit of actually shooting Germans. In May 1944 Private Willie Lee Duckworth of Sandersville, Georgia devised the famous "Sound off, one, two" military cadence while attending one of these classes.[10][11][1] In November 1944, as the transportation school wound down, Fort Slocum took on a mission of rehabilitating soldiers who had been court-martialed in Europe and sent home.[1]
Late 1940s
Following World War II, Fort Slocum was briefly considered as a nuclear research center; what became
In July 1960, after only five years of operation, Nike Battery NY-15 was closed.1950-1965
From 1951 to 1962, Fort Slocum was the home of the
After closure
Fort Slocum was deactivated on November 30, 1965. During the decades that followed, the facilities of the former Army post were neglected and deteriorated severely and continued to occupy Davids Island into the beginning of the 21st century. The ruins were among the factors complicating redevelopment of the island. Beginning in 2004, however, Congress appropriated funds to remove the ruins through a Defense Department program that assists communities in reusing former defense facilities. During the summer of 2008, the city of
"Sound off, one, two"
The famous "Sound off, one, two" military cadence was invented at Fort Slocum in May 1944, attributed to Private Willie Lee Duckworth of Sandersville, Georgia.[10][11]
Other uses of the name
Fort Slocum was also the name of a Civil War fort in the
Gallery
-
Rifle squad
-
early barracks
-
Medical corps posing on 15-inch Rodman gun
See also
- Davids Island (New York)
- Hart Island, New York
- List of Civil War POW Prisons and Camps
- Seacoast defense in the United States
- United States Army Coast Artillery Corps
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Fort Slocum at FortWiki.com
- ^ a b c "Hart Island Nike Base History". Retrieved 10 April 2016.
- ^ "Davids Island & Fort Slocum: Some Overviews". Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
- ^ Army Appropriation Bill, 1921: Hearings Before Subcommittee No. 1 of the Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives, Sixty-sixth Congress, U.S. Government, page.322
- ^ a b c "Fort Slocum at New York State Military Museum". Retrieved 10 April 2016.
- ^ a b c Berhow, p. 208
- ^ Coast Artillery Organization: A Brief Overview at the Coast Defense Study Group website
- ^ Rinaldi, pp. 165-166
- ^ Historic Fort Slocum, N.Y., commemorated online
- ^ a b "Slocum Features Bernard Lentz Willie Duckworth Jody". Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
- ^ a b "The Cadence Page". Archived from the original on 2005-04-03.
- ^ "Joe McCusker's Air Force Base List". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
- ^ a b "Nike Battery NY-15, Fort Slocum, NY". Archived from the original on 6 August 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
- ^ "US Army Chaplain School history". Archived from the original on 2016-01-16. Retrieved 2016-10-30.
- ^ Westchester County property records Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Rob Yasinsac. "Hudson Valley Ruins: Fort Slocum and Davids Island, by Rob Yasinsac". Retrieved 10 April 2016.
- ^ Fort Slocum, DC at FortWiki.com
- Berhow, Mark A., ed. (2015). American Seacoast Defenses, A Reference Guide (Third ed.). McLean, Virginia: CDSG Press. ISBN 978-0-9748167-3-9.
- Lewis, Emanuel Raymond (1979). Seacoast Fortifications of the United States. Annapolis: Leeward Publications. ISBN 978-0-929521-11-4.
- Rinaldi, Richard A. (2004). The U. S. Army in World War I: Orders of Battle. General Data LLC. ISBN 0-9720296-4-8.
External links
- Maps of Fort Slocum
- 1920 map of Fort Slocum, Fort Totten, and Fort Schuyler (PDF)
- Fact Sheet - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, December 2007
- Fort Slocum, Davids Island - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2008-06-18
- The short film Big Picture: Opportunity to Learn is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.
- The short film Fort Slocum Drag Show (1942) is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.