Camp Merritt, New Jersey

Camp Merritt's location within Port of Embarkation Hoboken (1917–1918)

Camp Merritt was a military base in Dumont and Cresskill, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, that was activated for use in World War I. It had a capacity for 38,000 transient troops and was one of three camps directly under the control of the New York Port of Embarkation.[1] Two routes were used to transport troops, the first being local railroads which would carry the men South. The alternate route involved marching in contingents of two to three thousand men to the North-East and descending the Palisades. These men marched for an hour to board ferryboats at Old Closter Dock, Alpine Landing that took them to the piers at Hoboken, New Jersey, to board troop transports for Europe.[2] Contingents would leave the camp for the landing at half hour intervals to board the ferries for the two hour trip to the embarkation piers where several transports might be loading simultaneously. There they would be joined by troops from Camp Mills and Camp Upton arriving by train at a terminal on Long Island for final transport by ferry to the embarkation piers.[1][3][4] Approximately four million troops were sent to the Western Front during World War I, and about one million of them passed through Camp Merritt. Camp Merritt was decommissioned in 1919.[5]

  1. ^ a b Huston, James A. (1966). The Sinews of War: Army Logistics 1775—1953. Army Historical Series. Washington, DC: Center Of Military History, United States Army. pp. 346–347. LCCN 66060015. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  2. ^ "The March of the Forgotten | Palisades Interstate Park in New Jersey". njpalisades.org. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  3. ^ Crowell & Wilson 1921, p. 269.
  4. ^ Spring, John (2014). "The March of the Forgotten". Palisades Interstate Park Commission. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  5. ^ Camp Merritt Archived 2010-12-29 at the Wayback Machine by Kevin Wright, retrieved December 19, 2005.