Images of old Camp Scott: a Civil War training facility in York, PA.
During the first couple of years of the American Civil War, Camp Scott in York PA was one of the leading training facilities in southern Pennsylvania for the Union army. Thousands of soldiers from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and other Northern states received their first strong dose of military protocol and drills at the camp, which was located in the eastern outskirts of old York near the intersection of King and Queen streets. This was, at the time, the fairground of the York Agricultural Society.
Several artists sketched the camp during its heyday. A sampling of these images are presented here on the Cannonball blog. All are believed to be in the public domain. They appeared in a variety of weekly newspapers and other periodicals in 1861 and 1862. During the Gettysburg Campaign, I. E. Avery’s Confederate brigade from North Carolina, and a battery of artillery from Charlottesville, Virginia, occupied Camp Scott.
Many accounts of old Camp Scott describe how the townspeople of York frequently came out, particularly on weekends, to visit with the soldiers and watch the drills.
The above sketch is from the New York Illustrated News, May 25, 1861.
