Fort Slocum (New Rochelle, New York)
New Rochelle · New York · Civil War, World War I, World War II
History & Significance
De Camp General Hospital was established at the site to serve thousands of wounded individuals from the American Civil War, becoming by late 1862 the Army's largest general hospital, housing more than 2,100 patients. Following the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, the War Department opened it to care for hundreds of wounded Confederate soldiers.
After 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, with the Federal government establishing its own ferry service to Neptune Island, and in July 1878 the island was made a principal depot of the U.S. Army General Recruiting Service, marking the beginning of the installation's longstanding mission as a recruitment and training center. 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.
After American entry into World War I, Fort Slocum became one of the busiest recruit training stations in the country, processing 100,000 soldiers per year, with over 140,000 recruits passing through between 1917 and 1919. 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.
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. Fort Slocum was deactivated on November 30, 1965, and beginning in 2004, Congress appropriated funds to remove the ruins; during the summer of 2008, the city of New Rochelle demolished all remaining structures on the island.
Key Facts
Map
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Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Slocum
- https://davidsisland.westchesterarchives.com/
- https://museum.dmna.ny.gov/forts/slocum
- https://www.army.mil/article/51168/historic_fort_not_forgotten_on_website
- https://www.fortwiki.com/Fort_Slocum_(2)