The United States’ formal entry into the war on April 6, 1917, set in motion a massive mobilization effort all across the nation. The hundreds of monuments and memorials on the park served not only the curious visitor with an understanding of the battle but offered soldiers a blackboard to understand tactical advantages of ground cover, defense, the importance of supporting arms, and infantry tactics. That same summer was the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, highlighted by the Great Reunion of Union and Confederate veterans. That summer, 159 students representing sixty three colleges and universities spent two weeks at the park studying the tactics of Lee and Meade and walking the ground still trod by a handful of Civil War veterans. Gettysburg National Military Park was selected to host the first-of-its-kind camp for students on the east coast. As far back as the summer of 1913 then Army Chief of Staff Major General Leonard Wood initiated camps of instruction for qualified undergraduate college students destined for Army service. One of the first national military parks in the United States, Gettysburg was administered by the U.S War Department and had long been a training ground for National Guard units and officer training prior to America’s entry into World War I. Infantry train with a Renault FT-17 tank at Camp Colt.
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