Historic California
Posts. Camps, Stations and Airfields
Camp Atascadero
(Camp Ringgold)
The 1904
Joint Encampment for Field Instruction of United States Troops
and the Organized Militia of California
by Sgt Maj (CA) Dan Sebby, Military Historian,
California Military Department
After the Spanish American War and the
Philippine Insurrection, the Army took a long hard look at how
the National Guard faired during those campaigns in the former
Spanish colonies of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippine Islands.
What they found was that National Guard was ill prepared to fight
in long sustained deployments overseas. In the years following
the Civil War the state militias, which had provided a majority
of the soldiers so well for that conflict, had degraded to little
more that organized social clubs or police reserve used for strike
breaking. When these units were activated for duties in the Caribbean
and Asia they were totally unprepared for the rigors of contemporary
warfare.
While most units did perform some sort
of annual training encampment, it was hardly difficult and far
from being uncomfortable. Soldiers would arrive at their campsite
and find that their tents and dining facilities were already
set up by local contractors and local merchants and tavern owners
would set up temporary operations just outside the camp's boundary
to serve the soldiers. Officers would routinely take up residence
in the finest local hotels and often bring their wives. Quite
often these encampments were little more than a social event
with evening dances, concerts and parades conducted after a day
of minimal training. But that was going to change.
In 1903, Congress passed the Dick Act
which totally reorganized the various state militias under the
universal term of National Guard and dictated that they would
be trained to Army standards. It was soon decided by the War
Department that there were going to be four major joint training
exercises with the Regular Army and the National Guard. California
was asked to host one of these sites and Governor Pardee, himself
a veteran of the Civil War and a former Lieutenant Colonel in
the California National Guard, enthusiastically accepted.
Three sites were considered in San Luis
Obispo County, the Naciemento Ranch, Rancho Santa Margarita,
and the Henry Ranch south of Templeton. After considerable study,
the Henry Ranch was chosen. In keeping with Army customs of the
time, the camp was named for the nearest water feature, a small
creek named Atascadero.
Soon over 5,000 soldiers and 1, 000 horses
made their way to Camp Atascadero. Both Regular Army and National
Guard units were joined into a two brigade infantry division
with supporting artillery and cavalry, including the famed Buffalo
Soldiers of the 9th Cavalry Regiment. Commanding the division
and supervising the exercise was the legendary Major General
Arthur Macarthur.
Regular Army Field
Artillery travelling through Templeton
General MacArthur, father of General of
the Army Douglas MacArthur, was the best the Army had. He had
earned the Medal of Honor at the Battle of Missionary Ridge during
the Civil War, promoted to colonel at the age of 20 and was the
last military governor of the Philippines. After decades of fighting
battles during the Civil War, the deserts of Arizona and New
Mexico against the Apache and against Spanish colonial forces
in the Battle of Manila, he knew what had to be done and set
about doing it.
For two weeks in August 1904, the Blue
and Brown armies, named for the blue shirts or khaki jackets
the soldiers would wear, battled on the plains on what today
is the thriving city of Atascadero. At the end of the exercise,
General MacArthur wrote, "From a military standpoint this
encampment been of incalculable benefit to all…. In fact,
it has been a state of war without its tragedies, and lessons
have been learned here that could only have been paid otherwise
in blood"
These joint exercises were to continue
on a biennial basis until 1914 and after that the memories of
the encampment on the plains of the Henry Ranch slipped into
obscurity.
Almost completely forgotten, local historian
Dorothy Lowe stumbled across its story and has written an outstanding
book on the Camp and its soldiers entitled, Camp Atascadero,
1904.
In compliance with War Department General
Orders Number 84 of 1908, a temporary camp of instruction for
troops from various posts was established for the month of October,
1908, at the Atascadero Ranch in San Luis Obispo County. The
ranch was apparently not used in 1909. Troops were again scheduled
for one month's training there, September 15 to October 15, 1910,
after which the ranch was not used again as a military post.
It appears that in 1908 the camp was also called Camp Ringgold
by the 5th and 7th California Infantry.
Regimentsal Headquarters,
5th California Infantry, circa 1908
Camp
Atascadero, 1908
Officers'
mess, Comany A, 5th California Infantry.
Damaged
commemortive medal, 5th California Infantry, circa 1908
Commemorative
medal, 7th California Infantry, circa 1908.
1910 Camp
of Instruction
Guns Thunder at Atascadero:
Flags Wigwag, and Heliographs Flash from Heights as the Troops
Rush Positions
Los Angeles Herald, 17 September 1910
Associated Press, CAMP ATASCADERO, Sept.
17.— "War's alarm" again re-echoed throughout
the beautiful wooded hilli and dales of Atascadero today in the
second field operations of the army maneuvers now going on under
Brig. Gen. Tasker H. Bliss. Heliographs Hashed from height to
height. "Wig-wag" flags denoted the activity of detachments
of the signal corps at points of observation, batteries of field
guns thundered across the flats, columns of cavalry galloped
along under the protection of hills with patrols on the ridges
to the right and left to guard against surprises, and behind
all were the ambulances with their red crosses drawn by plodding
mule?.
Arizonans Arrive Late
This is a kaleidoscopic bird's-eye view
of today's field operations participated in only by the regulars,
the Arizona detachment having arrived too late last night to
take part in the maneuvers today. As a matter of fact, there
was little excitement and less of the spectacular in the "battles
Than this picture- might indicate. There are no cavalry charges
Witt sabers flashing in the sun, no rushing of heights at the
point of the bayonet, nnd so far the roar of artillery lias been
conspicuous by its absence, imn lines of khaki-clad infantry,
inconspicuous against the brown landscape, move forward in skirmish
order, now slowly taking advantage, of every tree and defensive
position, now on the run. A single shot and then a scattering
volley The force may be opposed by a regiment or by no more than
a score of men composing an outpost. That is for the commander
to flml as best he can or deduce from the lay of the ground and
as the situation develops. Vpon the quickness and accuracy of
his judgment, his resourcefulness and the tactical disposition
of his troops will depend the report of the umpire* and the criticism
or praise bestowed upon him.
