“If it weren’t for the training given at Plattsburg, the war would never have ended as soon as it did. Officers who graduated from here formed the backbone of the new army.” — U.S. Army Major Gen. Charles Summerall
The “Plattsburg Idea” was implemented in the summer of 1915 in order to prepare the country for war. That year 1,300 prominent men—including four Roosevelts and the mayor of New York City—enrolled in a summer military training program in Plattsburg, which came to be known as the “Business Men’s Camp.” John Baxter Black, for whom the John Black Room was named, attended the Plattsburg Traning Camp in 1915 and 1916 during his summers off from Princeton. By the time the U.S. entered the war, the Plattsburg Camp was a full-fledged officers’ training school, turning out hundreds of officers for the conflict in Europe.
S O U R C E S
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Myers, Jeff. “North Country Century.” Press Republican Plattsburgh Publishing Company, 1999.
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“When Gentleman Prepared for War” by Francis Russell, American Heritage Magazine, April 1964, Volume 15, Issue 3.
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Black, John II, “A History of the Family of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Blymyer Black of Mansfield, Ohio, Volume One," 1995.
