Qualla: Camp Merritt, New Jersey

Camp Merritt, New Jersey: Introduction

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mmckeary, CC BY 3.0. One million men walked this ground and left almost nothing behind. Camp Merritt, sprawling across the Bergen County towns of Dumont and Cresskill, processed roughly a quarter of all American troops sent to fight in World War I -- yet today, only a stone monument at the corner of Madison Avenue and Knickerbocker Road marks the place where so many soldiers took their last steps on American soil. The camp existed for barely two years, from 1917 to 1920, a temporary city of 38,000 that appeared, served its purpose, and was dismantled as if it had never been.

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Image: Mmckeary | CC BY 3.0

Camp Merritt, New Jersey: From Tenafly to the Western Front

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Vikas Bhardwaj, CC BY 2.0. The camp was originally called Camp Tenafly, after the New Jersey town where negotiations for its construction took place. It was soon renamed for Major General Wesley Merritt, a career soldier who had fought from Gettysburg through the Spanish-American War and served as Governor...

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Image: Vikas Bhardwaj | CC BY 2.0

Camp Merritt, New Jersey: The March to Alpine Landing

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jawny80 at English Wikipedia, Public domain. What made Camp Merritt distinctive was not its barracks but its route to the sea. As one of three camps under the New York Port of Embarkation, it funneled soldiers toward the troopships docked at Hoboken. Some rode local railroads south. But the more dramatic path sent contingen...

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Image: Jawny80 at English Wikipedia | Public domain

Camp Merritt, New Jersey: The Plague Before the Crossing

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown photographer, Public domain. In September 1918, the influenza pandemic arrived at Camp Merritt. The first soldier in New Jersey to be diagnosed had been at Fort Dix, and the disease spread fast across the state. On September 19, fifty-eight soldiers were admitted to the camp's hospital. Three weeks later, ro...

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Image: Unknown photographer | Public domain

Camp Merritt, New Jersey: Dismantled and Remembered

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0. Camp Merritt closed officially in January 1920. The last overseas troops to arrive while it was still active came on January 26. After that, the military ordered it dismantled, and the remaining soldiers transferred to Fort Dix. The wooden barracks, the hospital, the warehouses -...

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Image: Beyond My Ken | CC BY-SA 4.0