Birth and death of a camp

Fred A. Olds

The author describes his childhood fascination with old soldiers' camps and describes the rise and subsequent abandonment of Camp Polk, just outside of Raleigh, N.C., located on the same spot as the old Confederate Camp Mangum. Camp Polk was started with the intention of making it the only Tank camp in the U.S. and was designed to hold 16,000 men. The author describes the barracks, drill field, trenches, pistol school, and, finally, the stop work order that resulted in the camp's dismemberment before it was completed.