Camp Doniphan was a military base

Military base

A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. In general, a military base provides accommodations for one or more units, but it may also be used as a...

 adjacent to Fort Sill

Fort Sill

Fort Sill is a United States Army post near Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.Today, Fort Sill remains the only active Army installation of all the forts on the South Plains built during the Indian Wars...

, just outside of Lawton

Lawton, Oklahoma

The city of Lawton is the county seat of Comanche County, in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Located in the southwestern region of Oklahoma approximately southwest of Oklahoma City, it is the principal city of the Lawton Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, in Comanche County

Comanche County, Oklahoma

Comanche County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Built on former reservation lands of the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache in Indian Territory, Comanche County was open for settlement on August 16, 1901 by lottery. The region has three cities and seven towns as well as the Fort Sill...

, Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

, that was activated for use in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 for artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 training.

The camp was named for Alexander William Doniphan

Alexander William Doniphan

Alexander William Doniphan was a 19th-century American attorney, soldier and politician from Missouri who is best known today as the man who prevented the summary execution of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, Jr. at the close of the 1838 Mormon War in that state...

, a hero of the Mexican-American war from the Missouri Volunteers of Northwestern Missouri.

It was from this camp that thousands of soldiers, from Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, were given basic training prior to being sent to Camp Mills, Mineola

Mineola, New York

Mineola is a village in Nassau County, New York, USA. The population was 18,799 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from a Native American word meaning a "pleasant place"....

, Long Island, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

; or Camp Merritt

Camp Merritt, New Jersey

Camp Merritt was a military base in Cresskill, in Bergen County, New Jersey, that was activated for use in World War I. It was from this camp that thousands of soldiers were deployed to Hoboken, New Jersey before being shipped off to Europe. Approximately four million troops were sent to the...

, Dumont, New Jersey

Dumont, New Jersey

Dumont is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. The population was 17,479 at the 2010 Census.Dumont was formed on July 20, 1894, as the Borough of Schraalenburgh from portions of Harrington Township and Palisades Township, at the height of the "Boroughitis" phenomenon then sweeping...

, for disembarkation to France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. The camp contained 1,267 buildings, the majority of which were tents, over a 2000 acres (8.1 km²) area.

The camp was home of the 35th Infantry Division, made up of the National Guard of Kansas and Missouri.

The camp became part of the United States Army Field Artillery School

United States Army Field Artillery School

The United States Army Field Artillery School trains Field Artillery Soldiers and Marines in tactics, techniques, and procedures for the employment of fire support systems in support of the maneuver commander...

, and included the 128th Field Artillery Regiment and 129th Field Artillery Regiment of Missouri, 130th Field Artillery Regiment of Kansas, and the 158th Field Artillery Regiment of Oklahoma.

Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

 was stationed here, from September 1917 until March 1918, and was assigned to run the regimental canteen. It is here that he made Edward Jacobson

Edward Jacobson

Edward Jacobson was an American-Jewish businessman. He was also a U.S. Army associate, business partner, and close friend of President Harry S. Truman....

his partner.