As the long-time home of the United States Army’s Field Artillery, Fort Sill is a major army training installation located in southwest Oklahoma. A mere 90 minutes from Oklahoma City, the fort encompasses over 94,000 acres and is adjacent to Lawton, which is the county seat of Comanche County. Fort Sill is the nation’s most complete original fort remaining from the Indian Wars period, and the site was designated as a national historic landmark in 1960.
The installation hosts the Marine Corps’ Field Artillery MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) school and the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery School, and is home to the 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade and the 75th Field Artillery Brigade. Fort Sill is one of four locations for Army Basic Combat Training and many other tenant activities.
Since 1869, Fort Sill has played a significant role in American conflicts.
“During World War I, more than 50,000 soldiers trained at Fort Sill, and in 1917, the Army Air Service constructed Post Field as a home for army aviation,” says Lance Janda in the Oklahoma Historical Society’s Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. “The Infantry School moved to Camp [now Fort] Benning, Georgia, in 1918, but the School for Aerial Observers took its place, and in 1919, the School of Fire became the Field Artillery School.”
In World War II, thousands of students took courses at the fort. In 1945, the U.S. Army Aviation School was added, and in 1946, the U.S. Army Artillery Center emerged to test new equipment and doctrine.
“During the 1950s, Fort Sill lost its aviation school to Camp [now Fort] Rucker, Alabama, but remained active, supporting U.S. forces during the Korean War and expanding its artillery mission by acquiring responsibility for army missile and atomic warhead training,” says Janda. “As part of that training, soldiers from Fort Sill fired a live 280-millimeter atomic round at Frenchman’s Flat, Nevada, in 1953; it was the only time a live atomic artillery shell was ever tested.”
The fort supported American activities in Vietnam and globally throughout the latter half of the 20th century. With a host of famous names moving through its gates through the decades, the fort is now home to tens of thousands of military and civilian personnel and military family members.
Open to the public, the Fort Sill National Historic Landmark and Museum is located on site. It is a 19th century frontier army post with approximately 50 buildings and grounds.
A Divisive History
Amidst westward expansion after the Civil War, violent exchanges increased between settlers and Native American tribes. So, in 1869, the military established Fort Sill as a frontier cavalry post. In an area frequented by tribes, and initially known as Fort Wichita, the tribes called the fort “the soldier house at Medicine Bluffs.”
The fort was meant to provide support for federal tribal pacification policies, and the construction is entwined with the controversial and disruptive Indian Wars of the latter 19th century, giving the fort a divisive origin story. During the 1870s, the renowned Buffalo Soldiers helped construct the fort, which is the only active army base remaining from installations built during the Indian Wars of the 1860s and 1870s.
