Camp Hughes (1907)

The story of Fort Drum began in 1906, when a partnership between the U.S. Army at Madison Barracks and North Country community leaders began looking for local training areas and chose the area in Felts Mills immediately north of the Black River. Between August 31 and September 7, 1907, the New York National Guard established a temporary tent encampment there called Camp Hughes, named for New York Governor Charles E. Hughes, and since that summer U.S. Army soldiers have trained annually at the site of Fort Drum. The following year, Brigadier General Frederic Dent Grant, the oldest son of President Ulysses S. Grant, led thousands of soldiers back to the area north of the Black River known locally as Pine Plains, where he commanded regular army units and National Guard regiments from throughout the Northeast. The camp at Pine Plains formally opened on June 11, 1908, and training continued throughout the summer. Colonel Philip Reade, regimental commander of the 23rd U.S. Infantry at Madison Barracks, was a driving force behind Camp Hughes' selection and success, recognizing that modern military weapons such as bolt action rifles, machine guns, and rapid firing artillery pieces had exceeded the U.S. Army's ability to train at Sackets Harbor; working with local North Country and New York state political leaders, he helped bring about Camp Hughes in 1907, Pine Camp in 1908, and the establishment of the Pine Camp Military Reservation in 1909.

Fort Drum, New York · United States