“C” is for Camp Wadsworth. This site in Spartanburg County was one of sixteen chosen nationally as a U.S. Army training camp in the summer of 1917. It included two thousand acres on the western edge of Spartanburg. Because the first division assigned to the camp was from New York, it was named for General James Wadsworth, a New York native and Civil War veteran. Military and civilian work crews constructed about one thousand buildings. The influx of thousands of trainees and family members put a strain on Spartanburg, creating crowded conditions and housing shortages but plenty of business. Three divisions trained at the camp: the Twenty-Seventh, the Sixth, and the Ninety-Sixth. After the usual celebrations following the announcement of the Armistice, plans were soon implemented to deactivate Camp Wadsworth and it closed in March 1919.
“C” is for Camp Wadsworth
