In May 1907, a 1,300-acre tract of land was authorized by the Florida Legislature for a state military camp at Black Point, known as Philbrofen, on the St. Johns River. The Florida National Guard established a base there in 1909, and occupied it until 1917, when the federal government took it over to establish a World War 1 training base, Camp Joseph E. Johnston (named after Confederate general Joseph Eggleston Johnston). Construction began on the Camp (near Yukon) in October 1917, and the first group of enlisted men and officers arrived on November 19, 1917. The Camp developed into a major training center for Army quartermasters, with a complex of over 600 buildings. On April 18, 1918, a trolley line from Jacksonville to the Camp's front gate was completed, and soldiers were finally able to visit the "big city" of Jacksonville on a regular basis. Other local duties of Camp soldiers in 1918 included the guarding of Jacksonville's public utilities. A major event chronicled in Bouslog's letters were the visits of Florida Governor Sidney Johnston Catts. The Camp officially closed on May 16, 1919, and the site was renamed Camp J. Clifford R. Foster in 1928. In 1940, it became a training camp for World War II soldiers and was renamed as the Naval Air Station Jacksonville (NAS Jacksonville). The principal correspondent, Wesley "Lee" Bouslog, was born on October 18, 1891 in Sulphur Springs, Indiana. His parents were Sanford M. Bouslog and mother, Mary J. Yost. Little information is available on Wesley Bouslog, other than his World War 1 draft registration listing as a "mailcarrier on a rural route." He was twenty-six years old in 1917, at the time of this correspondence. In one of the last letters in the series, he discusses his assignment overseas, and lists in detail his embarkation clothing. Bouslog was sent to France in June 1918 with Army Supply Company 311. Opal Valentine Baker Bouslog, his girlfriend (later wife) and the recipient of the letters, was born on February 14, 1901, and died in September 1966. No other information is known about her.

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