US Army Training Center - Yearbook (Fort Eustis, VA)

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Hd Qrr. Camp Fayette Plain: of York 20111 Orzr. I524 Fort Eustis- O-D -Fort Eustis Artillery Corpf for I7ZJ'f7'ZlL'Z l.0IL Orclfrf No. 93. General La Fayette' liar cxprwfed to tlw Lim! Col Coming. hir zlellglzl al the ,inf appearance of the Battalion yexzerday. The Sfcrftary of War har Jignzffd hif mzlirz' ap- prolmtion of the Corpf U liar dl7'6'ClL'dl1'lHl ilbe made lenown to the Ojicerf, Non C017l'l7ll.U lAO71l'd Ojlofrf illuxi- rianr 29' prifoarfr tlza! their fondue! if appmranff generally 55 individually, during llze paradef U Rfoifwf of yn'- Zerday. haw' done honor to llzemrclcfff and to the drniy. The Corjnf will return io Fortran lllonroe under the command of illaj Fanning and will C077l'l7ZE7ZC'L' il: marrlz at Noon. By Order of Lt. Col. liunif f. R. Vinton, Ll E5 fldjz. FORT EUSTIS WVhen, early in 1918, it became necessary to select a site for targets for heavy mobile and railway artillery practice and a training station for troops to be sent overseas, a board under Major John Mathers, after an exhaustive search in a radius of thirty miles of Fort Monroe, unanimously decided that Mulberry Island and the adjacent land proved an ideal location because of railroad facilities and the broad expanse of the James River which made possible the safe firing of long ranges. The limitation of the site to within thirty miles of Fort lXfIonroe was necessary to bring it close to the theoretical schools of instruction of the Coast Artillery. Official approval was given for the new camp, March 19, 1918,and it was named Camp Abraham Eustis in honor of the first Commandant of the Coast Artillery. ' The camp site was so desirable that it argued for permanency and the War Depart- ment finally bought the entire island. 'Work of construction was started in April, 1918, and continued until 1919. As many trees as possible were preserved, even building lines being altered to save some striking specimen. As a result Eustis is today a shady place and lacks the sun-baked expanse of the usual wartime camp. Camp Eustis, including the Balloon Observers School, both in Warwick County, Virginia, and Camp Wallace, of 115.3 acres in James City County, cost the government 5H512,162,143.48. By September 27, 1922, the entire 34th Infantry had arrived at Camp Abraham Eustis. Mulberry Island takes its name from the trees first planted in 1614 and made com- pulsory by statute in 1621. Silk culture flourished briefly, but the increasing cultivation of tobacco brought about its ruin. At Mulberry Island was saved the first permanent English settlement in America when the discouraged Jamestown colonists returning to England were met at Land's End by Captain Edward Brewster, June 8, 1610, with sup- plies from home, and ordered back to Jamestown. The main camp site is to the north of this island, such only at extreme tides. With its 7,983.30 acres included within IVIulberry Island, the camp site proper and the Balloon Observers School, Fort Eustis is the largest military reservation in the Third Corps Area and one of the largest in the United States. WELcoME 1 ,.:..,.. .W . , , Page One Hurzzlrenl Sewizim' 71 :YA 1 . 4 . YY .W V- 41- n'YVVn - Y VVVVninl'uYuVqY1VsY4YnY-'nYn'Nn's'n1'nYuYsVnVsVnYA ' U I g r if

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