Camp Meigs is a formerAmerican Civil War training camp that existed from 1862 to 1865 inReadville, Massachusetts.[1] It was combined from the formerCamp Brigham (formed to train the18th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry)[2][3] andCamp Massasoit (formed to train the24th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry)[4][5] and trained the54th Regiment Massachusetts 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.[6] Camp Meigs was named forMontgomery C. Meigs.[7]
Other units that trained there include the11th,43rd,44th,45th,47th,48th,55th,56th,58th,59th,60th and62nd regiments of infantry; the1st,2nd,4th and5th regiments of cavalry; the2nd regiment of heavy artillery; and the5th,9th,11th,12th,13th,14th, and16th batteries of light artillery.[6] The 6th, 18th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, and 26thUnattached Companies Massachusetts Volunteer Militia were also at the camp during the war.[8] It was the busiest training camp in Massachusetts.[6]
In 1869, the land was obtained by the Norfolk Agricultural Association, improved upon, and ultimately became theReadville Race Track. On December 12, 1915, the newly formedSturtevant Aeroplane Company tested its new A-3 Battleplane prototype on the Readville field, becoming the first American airplane engineered specifically for air combat.[9] The A-3 was designed byGrover C. Loening, most recently the Army’s aeronautical engineer at San Diego and hired by Sturtevant. TheBattleplane featured a water-cooled 140 hp Sturtevant V-8 engine with two removable 8-foot × 2.5-footnacelles 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 theirStearman biplanes would practice "touch and go" landings on the remnants of the old oval track.[10]
42°13′50.13″N71°8′3.00″W / 42.2305917°N 71.1341667°W /42.2305917; -71.1341667
Former military forts, reservations, and camps inMassachusetts | ||
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