Camp William Penn
Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Here was Pennsylvania's only training camp for African American soldiers -- and the largest of 18 in the nation -- during the Civil War. Comprising over 10,000 men, 11 regiments of U.S. Colored Troops were trained here: the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 22nd, 24th, 25th, 32nd, 41st, 43rd, 45th & 127th. Recruits first arrived on June 26, 1863; many were to fight in Virginia, South Carolina, Florida & elsewhere. The camp closed August 14, 1865.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Established in 1863 in Cheltenham Township, Camp William Penn was Pennsylvania's only training camp for African American soldiers and the largest of eighteen such camps in the nation. Over 10,000 men in eleven regiments of United States Colored Troops trained here before shipping out to fight in Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, and beyond; the camp closed in August 1865 as the war ended.
Why it matters
Camp William Penn helped transform the Civil War into a struggle for freedom, arming and training thousands of Black men who fought for the Union and their own liberty.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
When the Civil War began, the United States Army did not accept Black soldiers into its ranks. That changed as the war deepened and its purpose broadened: by 1863, following the Emancipation Proclamation, the federal government began organizing regiments of United States Colored Troops, opening military service to African American men on a large scale for the first time in the nation's history.
Those men needed places to train, and camps sprang up across the North to muster and drill them. Pennsylvania—a free state with a large and active Black community, and a long history of abolitionist organizing—became an important center for that effort. Cheltenham Township, just outside Philadelphia, was chosen as the site of the state's camp.
It was a charged moment. Black men stepping forward to fight did so knowing that the stakes were not abstract for them—the war's outcome would decide the fate of slavery itself, and their own service was proof of their claim to full citizenship.
People & events
Camp William Penn opened when its first recruits arrived on June 26, 1863. It was Pennsylvania's only training camp for African American soldiers—and, as the marker records, the largest of eighteen such camps in the entire nation.
Over its two years of operation the camp trained more than ten thousand men, organized into eleven regiments of United States Colored Troops: the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 22nd, 24th, 25th, 32nd, 41st, 43rd, 45th, 127th. Behind each of those numbers were companies of men learning to drill, to march, and to fight, many of them taking up arms in a cause that was intensely personal.
From this ground the regiments went out to the war. Soldiers trained here served in Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, and elsewhere, carrying the camp's name into the campaigns of the war's final years. Camp William Penn closed on August 14, 1865, its work finished as the war itself came to an end.
Its place in the American story
Camp William Penn stands at the heart of one of the most profound transformations of the Civil War: the moment the struggle to preserve the Union became inseparable from the struggle to end slavery. The men who trained here were fighting not only for their country but for their own freedom and that of their families, and their service helped make emancipation a fact on the ground and not merely a proclamation on paper.
As the largest camp of its kind in the country, this site had an outsized role in that story. Thousands of the Black soldiers who fought for the Union passed through here, and their courage under fire became a powerful argument—one that could not be ignored—for the citizenship and equality that Black Americans were demanding.
The camp is a cornerstone of both Civil War history and African American history, a place where the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation was turned into trained regiments who carried it into battle.
If you visit
This marker in Cheltenham Township invites you to stand where thousands of United States Colored Troops learned to be soldiers before marching off to war. Read the roll of regiments on the inscription slowly—each of those numbers represents hundreds of men who came here to train for a fight that would help decide the future of freedom in America.
Let the ordinary surroundings just outside Philadelphia deepen the story rather than diminish it. What is a quiet township today was once the largest training ground of its kind in the nation, alive with drilling companies and departing regiments. History like this is best felt when you imagine the crowds and the purpose that once filled the ground beneath your feet.
Make it a thoughtful stop on a tour of the region's Civil War and African American heritage. This is a place to slow down and honor the men who trained here—and to remember that their service turned a war for the Union into a war for liberty.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- National Constitution Center7.8 mi away · 525 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- African American Museum in Philadelphia7.8 mi away · 701 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Betsy Ross House7.9 mi away · 239 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Illadelph Glass Gallery7.9 mi away · 68 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Independence Visitor Center7.9 mi away · 599 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Muse Gallery7.9 mi away · 52 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA
Attractions
- Harbison's Dairy Milk Bottle5.9 mi away
- Discovery Center at East Park Reservoir6.4 mi away
- Pennsylvania Railroad, Connecting Railway Bridge6.8 mi away
- Philadelphia Zoo7.1 mi away
- Philly Gun Range7.2 mi away · North Percy Street
- Rocky Steps7.3 mi away
Food & drink
- Independence Mall Cafe7.9 mi away · 50 North Independence Mall East, Philadelphia
- Dunkin'8.0 mi away · 634 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- La Colombe Coffee Roasters8.0 mi away
- Bubble Tea Room8.0 mi away · 319 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- 3J's Cafe8.0 mi away · 317 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Burger King8.0 mi away
Places to stay
- Days Inn Philadelphia Convention Center - Philadelphia7.7 mi away · 1227 Race Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Four Points by Sheraton Philadelphia City Center7.7 mi away · 1201 Race Street, Philadelphia
- Clarion Suites Philadelphia7.7 mi away · 1010 Race Street, Philadelphia
- Sleep Inn Center City7.8 mi away · 1020 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Home2 Suites by Hilton Philadelphia - Convention Center, PA7.8 mi away · 1200 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Holiday Inn Express Philadelphia E - Penns Landing7.9 mi away · 100 North Christopher Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia
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Related events
- · Civil War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Village of La Mott
Cheltenham Township, PA · est. 1973
Laid out at the close of the Civil War, the village originally called Camptown rose on the grounds of Camp William Penn. From 1863 to 1865 the camp trained African American soldiers—among the largest such training stations in the North—preparing thousands of United States Colored Troops for service in the Union Army. The community that grew here carried forward the legacy of those who fought for freedom and their own citizenship.
Lucretia C. Mott
Cheltenham Township, PA · est. 1974
Near here stood "Roadside," the home of Lucretia Mott (1793–1880), a Quaker minister whose moral force helped drive some of the century's great reform movements. A tireless abolitionist, she helped organize the 1848 Seneca Falls convention and championed women's rights, temperance, and peace. Her faith and eloquence made her a leader when few women spoke publicly at all.
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Cheltenham Township, PA · est. 1992
Consecrated in 1861, St. Paul's is the oldest church building in Cheltenham Township, founded by Jay Cooke, the banker whose bond-selling campaigns earned him the nickname "financier of the Civil War." Its cemetery, laid out in 1879 and enlarged in 1905, holds Cooke's mausoleum among the graves of prominent residents. The original design by Sidney & Merry was later expanded by the celebrated Gilded Age architect Horace Trumbauer.
Benjamin Lay (1682-1759)
Abington Township, PA · est. 2018
Long before abolition became a mass movement, Benjamin Lay—a Quaker, a dwarf, and a man of ferocious conviction—was denouncing slavery in colonial Pennsylvania. He staged dramatic public protests, boycotted everything made by enslaved labor, and wrote a blistering pamphlet against Quaker slaveholders that got him disowned by his own meeting. He lived simply, reportedly in a cave, and his moral witness helped push Quakers to become the first religious body in America to renounce slavery within their ranks by 1776.