Casualties of War

Casualties of War. Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. , In June 1917, the War Department took possession of the Mound City Group mounds. With President Woodrow Wilson's commitment to fight Germany in World War I, the nation needed places to train its troops. As 2,000 buildings were feverishly built, Mound City Group became part of such a place-Camp Sherman. Five thousand men raced to complete construction in less than three months, erecting a building every 20 minutes. They finished just in time for the first draftees to arrive on September 5, 1917., During the construction fury, local archeologists urged army officials to save the mounds. They convinced the camp commander to reorient one barrack to avoid destroying the largest mound. But the placement of other barracks, roads, and utility lines severely damaged or obliterated the remaining mounds., Mound City Group (left), seen here shortly before the construction of Camp Sherman, underwent 70 years of cultivation prior to the camp., The footprint of Camp Sherman (below) covered 2,000 acres. Chillicothe's population swelled from 16,000 to 60,000 people with the army's arrival., In the early 1920s amid Camp Sherman's barracks, the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society excavated 12 of the Mound City Group mounds. Their efforts ignited a push to restore and preserve the site we know today.