Soldiers from Fort Riley ill with Spanish influenza at a hospital ward at Camp Funston, Kansas in 1918.
America's entry into World War I resulted in many changes at Fort Riley. Facilities were greatly expanded, and a cantonment named Camp Funston was built five miles (8 km) east of the permanent post during the summer and fall of 1917. This training site was one of 16 across the country and could accommodate from 30,000 to 50,000 men.
The first division to train at Camp Funston, the 89th, sailed for France in the spring of 1918. The 10th Division also received training at Funston but the armistice came before the unit was sent overseas.
The camp was commanded by Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood. A Military Officers Training Camp was established in the Camp Whitside area to train doctors and other medical personnel.
Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, beckoned to a world made safe for democracy but also one that heralded a new day for the horse cavalry. The War Department directed service schools be created for all arms of service.
As a result, in 1919, the Mounted Service School as it was known since 1907 and which had ceased to function during the war, was redesignated as the United States Army Cavalry School. The change was sudden and abrupt.
The new school met the need for courses both broader in scope and more general in character