On Saturday (November 23), about 100 people gathered at the Philadelphia Country Club to commemorate the Union Army’s Camp Discharge, located there, toward the end of the Civil War.
In 1864 and 1865, as many as 1,100 Union Soldiers were housed at Camp Discharge. The camp was established by the Army to manage Union soldiers, primarily Pennsylvania volunteers, who were released from Confederate prison camps and were awaiting discharge, as their terms of duty expired. Many of these soldiers were in poor condition upon arrival at the camp.
Camp Discharge was all but forgotten until two Lower Merion residents, Brad Upp and Jim Remsen, told its story in their 2021 book, “Back From Battle: The Forgotten Story of Pennsylvania’s Camp Discharge and the Weary Civil War Soldiers It Served.”
Camp Discharge Commemoration Civil War Re-Enactors Approach
Grew up in the nieghborhood – First learned about Camp Discharge in a 1979 Main Line Times article. Has been interested in the place ever since.
“This is a place of recreation now, but back in the day it was not a happy place.”
Back from battle in Iraq
Closing Ceremonies of Camp Discharge Commemoration
Jim Remsen, I appreciate how you speak of the soldiers in a way that promotes honoring of individuals of our areas past in ways we had not known
Well done, Gerry!
I agree, Jim Remsen. Thank you very much, Gerry, for these posts. These stories deserve to be told.