1st Battalion 22nd Infantry

The Syracuse Recruit Camp 1918

Overview

With the entry of the United States into World War I nation-wide conscription was instituted
under the Selective Service Act of May 18,1917. Under this act some 2.8 million men were eventually
drafted into military service. Four physical qualification groups were constituted by the Selective Service
System. Group "A" consisted of men physically fit for full military service. Group "B" was men with physical
defects which could be remedied. Group "C" was men with certain defects which could prevent them from full
military service yet still serve in some capacity. Group "D" were those rejected completely for any military service.

The necessity of quickly raising a large Army led to the utilization of men who might otherwise be exempted or deferred
because of physical or other defects. Though such defects could prevent their use as front line soldiers they could still
be employed in rear and support areas performing jobs and positions important to the overall function of the military.
Therefore a special class of inductees was comprised of such men and was termed
"The Special or Limited Service Group of Recruits."

*

As can be seen in the above passage there were some 269 conditions which caused an inductee to be included in Group "C",
the class of recruits known as the "Special or Limited Service Group." Examples of those conditions were: curvature of the
spine, arthritis, mental deficiency, defective vision or hearing, heart disorders, flat feet, underweight, obesity, asthma and
blindness in one eye. Extreme cases could be cause for rejection altogether but those who possessed any of the defects
listed in the category of Group "C" and deemed unfit for front line service could still be assigned to rear echelon duty.

In 1917 a Mobilization Camp was established on the outskirts of Syracuse, New York to process inductees into the Army.
Elements of the 9th Infantry, 16th Infantry and the 5th Machine Gun Battalion were stationed there to operate the camp.

On July 19, 1918 the camp was renamed The Syracuse Recruit Camp and taken over by the 22nd Infantry.

The Syracuse Recruit Camp was established to process a segment of the draftees who were classified as members of the
Special and Limited Service Group. It was estimated that once operational the Camp would handle a total of approximately
26,000 recruits. The permanent military organization at the Camp consisted of Companies G, K and M of the 22nd Infantry,
the Machine Gun Company and the Supply Company of the 22nd Infantry, a detachment of the Quartermaster Corps, and
a detachment of the Medical Department.

Major (Temporary) Samuel G. Talbot, newly assigned to the 22nd Infantry in June, 1918 was the Commanding Officer of the
Camp at its opening on July 19, 1918 and held command until August 19 when he left for other duties, having received a further
promotion to the temporary rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel (Temporary) Brady G. Ruttencutter
who remained in command of the Camp until its closure. Ruttencutter had been with the 22nd Infantry for a year, had commanded
Company G, and held the permanent rank in the Regular Army of Major, his temporary promotion to Lieutenant Colonel occurring
on August 5, 1917, the same date he was assigned to the 22nd Infantry. Ruttencutter would be the Commander of the Camp
during the flu epidemic of 1918. Ruttencutter's second in command at the Camp was his adjutant Captain Sidney F. Mashbir
who had been commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the 22nd Infantry on March 21, 1917. On October 2, 1918 Mashbir was
promoted to the temporary rank of Major.

During the years 1918-1920 a world-wide pandemic of influenza devastated the globe, killing more people than were killed
during the four years of World War I. With large scale movements of personnel and material across the shipping lanes of
the world's oceans, the influenza virus rapidly spread across the planet with alarming speed.

In the United States the disease first appeared in Kansas among the civilian population
and at Fort Riley, and quickly spread to other military camps during the period of January to March 1918.

In August, 1918 a second wave of the pandemic struck the United States, first arriving in Boston, Massachusetts and
swiftly moving throughout military camps across the country. This second wave was caused by a mutated form of the
influenza virus which was especially infectious and particularly deadly among those of military age. Because of the war
military medical resources in the United States were limited and as soldiers and recruits were moved to civilian hospitals
and medical care facilities the flu spread further into the already infected civilian population as well.

At the outbreak of the epidemic in the Syracuse Recruit Camp on September 12, 1918 the total number of personnel
under Ruttencutter's command at the Camp was 14,114 of which 11,604 were recruits of the Special and Limited
Service Group qualification.

At the Recruit Camp there were five infirmaries with a total of forty-five beds set up to handle sick call and to give temporary care
to those deemed too sick for duty. On August 3, 1918 the first case of influenza was reported at the Camp. Between September 4
and September 10 approximately 10,000 new recruits reported to the Camp. Between August 3, when the first case of influenza
occurred, and September 12 a total of seven cases of influenza were diagnosed. However, after the influx of new recruits in September
cases of the disease began to climb rapidly. Most of the recruits reporting to the Camp in September came from Massachusetts,
the area from which the second wave of the nationwide pandemic of influenza started, and the majority of those who were infected
during the epidemic at the Camp were from that group of recruits or otherwise came in contact with that group.

A large number of men made ill by the epidemic were transferred to hospitals and medical care facilities in the nearby city of
Syracuse. Some were sent to the military hospital at Fort Ontario some thirty-five miles away. Eventually some mess halls at the
Recruit Camp were converted into hospital wards and an exhibit building at the New York State Fair Grounds nearby was
also converted into a makeshift hospital.

Eventually 2289 cases of influenza would occur at the Syracuse Recruit Camp during the 22nd Infantry's tenure there
and of those 208 would result in death. The official dates of the epidemic at the Camp were from September 12 through October 15, 1918.

Once the epidemic at the Camp was deemed to have ended in mid-October it was decided to close the Camp. Though this website
could not find the actual date of its closing, that date appears to be sometime in November 1918 after a period of quarantine to be
sure no new cases of influenza occurred.

The 22nd Infantry left the Syracuse Recruit Camp in three increments. Company G was transferred to Anatol, New Jersey, October 19.
Companies K and M were transferred from the Syracuse Recruit Camp to Fort Jay, N. Y., November 18-19, 1918;
the Supply and Machine Gun Companies went from Syracuse to Fort Hamilton, N. Y., the following day.

* Defects Found in Drafted Men: Statistical Information Compiled from the Draft Records Showing the Physical Condition
of the Men Registered and Examined in Pursuance of the Requirements of the Selective-Service Act
by Albert Gallatin Love, United States Surgeon-General's Office, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1920 pp. 197-198

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