Monday, July 28 marks exactly 111 years since the start of World War I. While the lion’s share of the action took place in Europe, soldiers from 30+ nations across the globe fought. Many of them — an estimated 9.7 million — did not return.
For some of the soldiers who lined those battlefields, their journeys began in Greenville.
The camp
Located just southeast of Paris Mountain, Camp Sevier opened its doors in July 1917, just a few months after the United States joined the conflict. Its purpose: a training facility to prepare men for combat.
For months, each young soldier slept in tents + barracks, built camaraderie, improved physical fitness, and learned infantry skills including drill, weapons handling, and gas defense. There was a hospital and a library on-site within the camp’s ~2,000 acres, meaning thousands of civilian employees were also part of the effort — nurses, custodians, maintenance workers, construction crews, office staff, food servers, engineers, and more were needed to keep the place running.
Camp Sevier was also pivotal in the rise of Duke’s Mayo. That’s where Eugenia Duke started selling her homemade sandwiches to army canteens in 1917, before selling jars of mayo as a standalone product some six years later (much to the delight of the soldiers).
“Old Hickory”
Troops from South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee formed The 30th Infantry Division at the camp, nicknamed “Old Hickory” in honor of US President Andrew Jackson. The division, comprised of 27,000 men, played a key role on the European battlefront.
It was deployed in May 1918. Four months later, they cemented their place in history, breaking through the Hindenburg Line — a previously impenetrable, crucial German defensive front. Australian allies then capitalized upon this breakthrough and made further inroads, providing a decisive blow in what was increasingly considered a stalemate.
A mere six weeks later, the war was over. Armistice Day came on November 11, and the division returned to US shores. A dozen of its members received a Medal of Honor, more than any other division received following the war.
An enduring legacy
Camp Sevier then served as a demobilization center for several months — a place where soldiers could de-enlist after the war. Soon after, it was closed down as a military facility. Despite its closure, Greenville experienced a population boom during the war as a result of the camp’s existence, starting the 1910s with ~15,000 inhabitants, and ending the decade with ~23,000. That’s a staggering increase of ~47%.
Nowadays, you would hardly know the camp was ever there. On that same land there are now schools, supermarkets, parks, and homes. Greenvillians go about their daily lives, often unaware of what came before.
But if you know where to look, you can find it. The Camp Sevier WWI Training Memorial sits on a small triangle patch of grass in Willow Heights between Pine Knoll Drive and West Lee Road. Despite the camp’s significance, there is just one review on Google, and it’s a beautiful one:
“A piece of history where you would least expect it, a tribute to those who trained here for “The Great War,” WWI. Although the location is noisy from traffic, a nearby business, and railway, this simple memorial evokes a solemn, almost sacred respect with reflection. With everything going on around it, it reminds us not to forget.” — Paula Powers.
