Housed at Camp Doniphan, which adjoined the fort, the 11th began intensive artillery and combat training in preparation for overseas assignment. In April 1918, the 11th was ordered to Fort Sill, Oklahoma where it became part of the 6th Field Artillery Brigade, 6th Division. Unfortunately, there were no motor vehicles to replace the departing horses, and the 11th became “foot” artillery until the unit arrived in France. By the end of the year, after much shaking down, the regiment was changed from a horse-drawn unit, equipped with 4.7-inch howitzers, to a motorized unit equipped with 155mm howitzers. The unit paraded for Liberty Bond drives and conducted fifteen-mile hikes to improve esprit de corps and reveal weaknesses in the artillery equipment. Bishop assumed command of the 11th, and led the unit through drill, range firing, classes, and guard duty. The regiment’s first mission was to put out a forest fire in the Chiracahira Mountains, north of Douglas, in late June 1917. Each battalion had two batteries, commanded by captains, and each battery contained four guns, each pair commanded by lieutenants. The regiment, commanded by a colonel, contained three battalions, each commanded by a major. The regiment consisted of 63 officers and 1,496 enlisted men working 24 guns.
WAR OF RIGHTS ARTILLERY FULL
Additional Regular Army soldiers and draftees from New York, Ohio, Missouri and California brought the unit to full wartime strength. Two months later, 10 officers and 200 enlisted men were transferred from the 6th Field Artillery to actually create the new 11th Field Artillery at Camp Harry Jones near Douglas, Arizona. It was Germany’s campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare, along with Germany’s proposal to Mexico that she join a war against the U.S., that brought the nation to declare war on 6 April 1917. The American public was still enraged by Germany’s sinking of the British liner Luisitania, which killed 128 Americans.
Overseas events accelerated the expansion. Included in this expansion was the creation of 21 field artillery regiments. While the new law focused on federalizing the National Guard, creating Reserve Officer Training Corps at universities and granting the federal government emergency powers, it also laid the foundation for a five-year Regular Army expansion. On, the War Department dispatched the National Guard of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico to the border, while Congress passed the National Defense Act of 1916. Pershing led his small army into Mexico to find and capture the bandit Pancho Villa, tensions soared between the two countries, making war seem inevitable.
The United States, while still neutral, was facing its own problems in Mexico.
When the 11th Field Artillery was constituted as a regular unit into the United States Army on paper 3 June 1916, the struggle in Europe had been going on for almost two years. The 11th Field Artillery may have been just another artillery regiment among the vast numbers of American troops and weapons that comprised the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), but the unit distinguished itself by being given the honor of firing the closing shot on 11 November 1918, effectively ending the First World War. Raising his hand, he kept his eye on his watch, waiting for the second hand to reach twelve. An officer, looking at his watch, stepped forward. With the round in place, the men locked it into the breech and prepared to pull the lanyard. The doughboys of Battery E, 11th Field Artillery carefully loaded the 95-pound shell into Calamity Jane, the name of their favorite 155mm artillery piece.