Camp Merriam, California was a U.S.

military camp A military camp or bivouac is a semi-permanent military base, for the lodging of an army. Camps are erected when a military force travels away from a major installation or fort during training or operations, and often have the form of large cam ...

for American troops destined for the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

during the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

. Located at the

San Francisco Presidio The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former U.S. Army post on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, and is part ...

, the camp, named after Major General

Henry C. Merriam Henry Clay Merriam (November 13, 1837 – November 18, 1912) was a United States Army general. He received the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions as a Union officer in command of African American tro ...

, the Commanding General of the

Department of the Pacific The Department of the Pacific or Pacific Department was a major command ( Department) of the United States Army from 1853 to 1858. It replaced the Pacific Division, and was itself replaced by the Department of California and the Department of O ...

. Camp Merriam was located on the hills just north of the Lombard Street entrance to the Presidio of San Francisco. The camp was established in 1898 to quarter and train volunteer soldiers from California, Iowa, Kansas, and South Dakota for service during the Spanish-American War.

Commissioning

Camp Merriam was established in July 1898 when it became clear that Camp Merrit, which had been used up until then for quartering and training the volunteer armies before being shipped out to the Philippines to support the war effort there, was no longer capable of fulfilling its mission. Major General Merriam had already been given command of the Department of the Pacific, which included all military operations of the western states of the U.S. as well as those currently in operation on the Islands of Hawaii. On July 19, 1898, Brigadier General Marcus P. Miller, the commanding general of the Volunteer Armies being processed through Camp Merritt received a telegram from the

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

directing that "... all commanding officers of regiments at Camp Merritt report to General Merriam for further equipment and instructions ..." and that "... Camp Merritt had been condemned and that all troops will be immediately moved to the Presidio." This was after the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce had determined that "... the location of Camp Merrit is wholly unfit for the purpose to which it is now being put, and that if it is continued as a camp much longer the health of the city will be impaired." According to a different report in the same source, "The sanitary condition of the camp sdaily proving worse, and unless speedy action is taken there is every possibility of a spread of infectious diseases." The source also states that "... within ten minutes after these instructions came from the War Department the initial steps for the removal were taken."

Units processed through Camp Merriam

Confirmed Units processed through Camp Merriam: * 1st Tennessee Volunteer Infantry (Col. William Crawford Smith commanding) (Arrived at Camp Merritt in June 1898 and quickly moved to Camp Merriam)

Decommissioning

See.

References

{{Reflist Former installations of the United States Army Forts in California 19th century in San Francisco Spanish–American War Philippine–American War