THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



451 



Camp Dix is situated, is the marl region 

 of New Jersey. The marl (an earthy, 

 crumbling deposit consisting chiefly of 

 clay, and greatly valued as a fertilizer) 

 is found at various depths and sometimes 

 lies in beds 30 feet or more thick. The 

 ground above it is rich and highly pro- 

 ductive. 



When the construction forces started to 

 work on the buildings for Camp Dix they 

 found themselves among great ^fields of 

 growing corn and ripening wheat. Some 

 of the farmers were very reluctant to 

 move away from homesteads which had 

 been in their families since the days be- 

 fore Washington crossed the Delaware; 

 but the military authorities were patient 

 with them and afforded them every con- 

 sideration that the exigencies of the hour 

 would permit. It is told that one farmer 

 took the money he received and made a 

 long-deferred trip with his family to the 

 West. When he came back the transfor- 

 mation was so marked that, although he 

 and his father and his father's father, 

 had lived and worked upon his farm, he 

 found difficulty in finding his way around 



While Camp Dix is situated in a rich 

 agricultural community, it has the advan- 

 tage of being contiguous to the pine-bar- 

 ren regions, where ideal grounds for tar- 

 get practice are available. Thousands of 

 acres of these pine barrens have been 

 cleared, so as to permit the training of 

 men in the handling of big guns, as well 

 as small arms. 



Gen. John A. Dix, in honor of whom 

 this camp was named, was an ensign in 

 the War of 1812 at the age of 14, and 

 lived to become major general of volun- 

 teers in the Civil War. As the President 

 of the Union Defense Committee during 

 the latter conflict, he organized 17 regi- 

 ments and was instrumental in saving 

 Maryland for the Union. At the out- 

 break of hostilities he was Secretary of 

 the Treasury. Two revenue cutters were 

 ordered home from New Orleans by him. 

 One of the commanders refused to obey. 

 He was ordered placed under arrest, 

 and Secretary Dix telegraphed the now 

 famous command, "If any one attempts 

 to haul down the American flag, shoot 

 him on the spot." 



CAMP MEADE 



Camp Meade was built for the National 

 Army forces drafted from eastern Penn- 

 sylvania, Maryland, and the District of 

 Columbia. It has a housing capacity 

 greater than that of any city in Mary- 

 land except Baltimore. Indeed, its popu- 

 lation is twice as large as that of the 

 State's second city — Cumberland. 



Situated midway between Washington 

 and Baltimore, the climatic conditions 

 are largely the same as those prevailing 

 at Camp Dix, New Jersey. The average 

 annual temperature is 58, and there are 

 131 days of cloudless weather a year, 

 with 124 days partly cloudy. 



The region around Camp Meade is a 

 quiet, pastoral community, but when the 

 men secure camp leave they are only an 

 hour's ride from Baltimore or Washing- 

 ton. Only a little more than 20 miles 

 away is Annapolis, capital of the State 

 and dear to the heart of every American 

 as the home of the U. S. Naval Acad- 

 emy, where such defenders of the Na- 

 tion's flag as Farragut, Dewey, Sampson, 

 and Evans were graduated. Within 50 

 miles as the crow flies are Gettysburg and 

 Antietam, two of America's greatest bat- 

 tlefields. 



Camp Meade was named in honor of 

 Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade, the 

 commander of the Union forces at the 

 battle of Gettysburg, where the tide was 

 finally turned against the Southern Con- 

 federacy by the defeat of Gen. Robert E. 

 Lee's forces and the shattering of South- 

 ern hopes of success on Northern soil. 

 General Meade was born in Cadiz, Spain, 

 of American parentage, the year that Na- 

 poleon was defeated at Waterloo. After 

 the war citizens of Philadelphia presented 

 him with a house, and after his death, in 

 1872, a fund of $100,000 was raised and 

 presented to his family as a testimonial to 

 his services in saving the Union. 



CAMP IvEE 



Situated three miles due east of Peters- 

 burg, on the electric railroad to Hope- 

 well, the magic munition city, and on the 

 Norfolk & Western Railroad's main line 

 to Norfolk, Camp Lee, housing most of 

 the troops of western Pennsylvania and 



