Camp Atterbury-Muscatatuck
Indiana National Guard training base
Camp Atterbury-Muscatatuck is a federally owned military post, licensed to and operated by the Indiana National Guard, located in south-central Indiana, 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Edinburgh, Indiana, and U.S. Route 31. The camp's mission is to provide full logistical and training support for up to two brigade-sized elements simultaneously. The camp offers a variety of training ranges, live-fire venues, managed airspace with air-to-ground fighting capabilities and a live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) simulation and exercise center. It is also the normal Annual Training location for National Guard and Reserve forces located in Indiana.
Established in 1942, Camp Atterbury's nicknames include "CAIN" and "The Rock." Its motto is Preparamus, meaning "We Are Ready."
History
Site selection and construction
In January 1941 the U.S. War Department issued orders to consider potential sites for a new U.S. Army training center in Indiana. After the Hurd Engineering Company surveyed an estimated 50,000 acres (200 km2), an area was selected for the camp in south-central Indiana, approximately 30 miles (48 km) south of Indianapolis, 12 miles (19 km) north of Columbus, and 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Edinburgh. The site, which includes portions of Johnson, Bartholomew, and Brown counties, was selected because of its terrain (some of it is level; other parts are hilly), its location near larger urban areas (such as Indianapolis, the state capital, and Columbus, the Bartholomew County seat of government), and its proximity to transportation (adjacent to a Pennsylvania Railroad line and U.S. Highway 31). On 28 April 1941, the U.S. War Department announced its intention to establish a military training camp that would be capable of housing 30,000 soldiers.
On 6 January 1942, one month after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States' entry into World War II, the U.S. War Department announced its decision to proceed with its plan to build Camp Atterbury. Initial land acquisition for the camp encompassed 40,351.5348 acres (163.296868 km2) in 643 tracts.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Camp Atterbury-Muscatatuck” is indiana National Guard training base. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Camp, Atterbury-Muscatatuck and Indiana, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “indiana National Guard training base” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5026987. Authority coordinates are 39.290, -86.041. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1942 and 1941.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Camp Atterbury-Muscatatuck”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Camp Atterbury-Muscatatuck primary sources, Camp Atterbury-Muscatatuck archive and Camp research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Camp Atterbury-Muscatatuck”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Camp Atterbury-Muscatatuck” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.