On March 26, 1918, while studying Base Hospital organization and management at Camp Lewis under Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Northington, Dr. James Eagleson received the much-anticipated "telegram from the War Department instructing him to proceed at once with the mobilization of Base Hospital No. 50 for active training."1Northington came to Camp Lewis in June, 1917, with the task of not only commanding the Camp Hospital but building it. Eighteen days after construction began on August 20, 1917, it was ready for 405 patients.2
At the meeting of the Base Hospital 50 "personnel at the State Armory on March 27 the order to mobilize the Unit at once was announced, and was received with great glee. Telegrams were sent to those living outside of Seattle to report at once for duty. At the request of Major Eagleson the men were ordered to mobilize at Fort Lawton," in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood.1
References:
- United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The History of Base Hospital Fifty: A Portrayal of the Work Done by This Unit While Serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922. Page 63.
- Henderson, Alice Palmer. The Ninety-first, the First at Camp Lewis. Tacoma, Wash. : John C. Barr, 1918. Page 44.
- "Seattle Hospital Unit to Mobilize." Tacoma Daily Times, Wednesday, March 27, 1918. Page 5.