Fort Hoskins and Yamhill were two of the earliest uses of the U.S. Army in the newly acquired Northwest lands gained in the middle 1840’s. The sites, long abandoned, have undergone extensive archaeological excavations. Protected as public parks today, a visit gives a fascinating insight into the antebellum Regular Army and the interactions between Native Americans and newly-arrived white settlers intent on occupying new grounds.

THE ARMY COMES TO OREGON

LOWS AND HIGHS

The Army slowly pushed into the newly formed Oregon Territory after the borders solidified second to a treaty signed by England and the US in 1846.  Initially, early emigrants worked together to form militia companies for the purpose of guarding against both potential problems against Native Americans living in the Territory and possible insurrection from French Canadians left over from Hudson Bay Company days.  Not until the Whitman Massacre – 30 November 1847 – and the ensuing Cayuse War of 1848, did the US Army finally get involved.

Even with the army’s entrance into the Northwest, it was an uneven entrance.  The first regiment – the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen – arrived at about the same time – 1849 – as two companies of the US First Artillery.  The Riflemen lasted a year before they were off to Texas and the Mexican frontier, at least those soldiers who had not deserted to the goldfields of California.

The number of troops dropped from 478 in November 1850 to only 139 the following year.  Disturbances between settlers, miners and Natives would bring back the troop – 655 with another 175 on the way in November 1852 and eventually over 1,800 by mid-1856. 

A NEW GROUP OF FORTS

Most of the soldiers were involved in activities in the new Washington Territory against the Yakama tribes. Three new forts – Fort Yamhill, Fort Hoskins, and Fort Umpqua – were established in Oregon during the summer of 1856. Built for the purpose of guarding the exits from the Grand Ronde and Siletz reservations – the Oregon Coast Reservation – to which most of the tribes from western Oregon, including the recent tribes involved during the Rogue battles. 

I am talking about the first two forts today and in the next blog because they are easy enough to reach in a quick day trip from home.  They both have parks arranged on the sites of the old forts, as well.  Fort Umpqua’s site is buried in shorepine and sand on the north side of Winchester Bay at the mouth of the Umpqua River.  Lying in National Forest land, the site has been searched by archaeologists, but has not been developed into a site for the casual visitor.

COAST RESERVATION

Oregon settlers wanted Native lands and to have them moved away – or exterminated.  The Army came into help, first establish the Grand Ronde Agency in early 1856.  Grand Ronde was established by Oregon Superintendent of Indian Affairs Joel Palmer with the help of soldiers from Fort Vancouver as a way station for tribes in the Willamette and southern Oregon areas to live while the Coast Reservation was being made habitable.

Palmer began negotiating treaties which his predecessor, Anson Dart had already accomplished only to have the Secretary of Interior, Alexander H. H. Stuart block.  Seven treaties were signed starting in 1853 with the tribes of western Oregon.  The Natives gave up rights to lands throughout western Oregon in exchange for money and supplies to start anew in what became the Coast Reservation.  The reservation was the new home for all western Oregon’s tribes –twenty-seven.

separation

Most of the Willamette Valley Natives remained at Grande Ronde when the coast Reservation opened the following year.  Those from what Palmer considered “warlike” tribes – many of the Rogue River peoples – were moved to the Siletz Agency further into isolation.

Two major agencies, the Grande Ronde and Siletz agencies administered the reservation with subagencies at Alsea, Yaquina and Salmon River.  The reservation contained over a million acres – more than 4,047 square kilometers, 405,000 square hectares, 1,563 square miles – but would be doomed in the intervening years.  In 1857, the Grand Ronde separated with its 108 square miles centered around the Yamhill Valley. 

The discovery of oysters in Yaquina Bay and the commercial value led to removal of two more large areas from the Coast Reservation at the end of 1865.  In 1875, the Coast Reservation closed and remaining Natives who wished to remain on-reservation removed to the surviving and much reduced Siletz Reservation. (Of course, the federal government eliminated both the Grand Ronde and Siletz Reservations, in 1954, for Cold War reasons and simple commercial reasons by forest interests, only to be reinstated in the late 1970-1980’s.  That is another story.)

FORT YAMHILL

At the time, there were only a couple of trails leading across the Coast Range from the Willamette Valley over to the Coast.  The main trail went up the Yamhill River valley and through Grand Ronde.  To keep an eye both on the Natives and to also protect them from incursions from the white settlers, the first of the three forts – Fort Yamhill – was established. Erected on Fort Hill where the present State Park is located just north of Oregon Highway 18 and the large casino of Spirit Mountain.  The grounds below include the Uyxat Powwow Grounds and the

the army comes

Fort Yamhill was occupied by the federal army – Companies F and later E Fourth Infantry – from only 1856 until 1861.  State militia from California, Washington and Oregon stayed there during the Civil War when the Regulars went away to fight in the East.  The fort closed in 1866.

Both Fort Yamhill and Fort Hoskins were designed to accommodate two companies of soldiers – up to 160 or so men, but they rarely had more then 60 to 80 on post at any one time. There were even fewer militia volunteers on station at the forts during the Civil War.

BEGINNINGS – A WEST POINT AFFAIR

William B. Hazen – West Point Class of 1855 – early in his career was assigned to conduct Rogue River tribes to Grand Ronde in 1856.  At Grand Ronde, he helped site and oversee the construction of the blockhouse and other buildings making up Fort Yamhill.  Hazen left in April 1857 transferred from the Fourth Infantry at Fort Davis in the far west of Texas.  He would go on to play a big role during the Civil War and afterwards.  But then so would his successor at Fort Yamhill, First Lieutenant Philip H. Sheridan.

Actual commander of Fort Yamhill originally was Captain Andrew J. Smith – West Point Class of 1838 – of the First Dragoons. This regiment spread out in the territory alongside the Fourth and then briefly the Ninth Infantry.  Smith would also become a major general of US Volunteers in the war ahead before resuming a role as colonel of the 7^th Cavalry after the war. 

Serving alongside Smith was Captain DeLancey Floyd-Jones – West Point Class of 1846 along with George McClellan and George Pickett – of the Fourth Infantry.  Floyd-Jones would stay with the Regular Army during the Civil War gaining a brevet to Brigadier General at the war’s end.  He would serve different roles post war with the 6^th Infantry, the 3^rd Infantry and a couple of years as Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Idaho Territory before retiring in 1889 and spending the rest of his life travelling the world and writing about it.

SHERIDAN

Philip Sheridan – West Point Class of 1853, one year late because of a one-year suspension along the way – came to Fort Yamhill near the end of April 1857. He previously played a role in saving Fort Cascades, a blockhouse on the north side of the Columbia River close to where Bonneville Dam is today.  Shortly after arrival, Sheridan was promoted to first lieutenant.  He served here at Fort Yamhill as quartermaster and oversaw the completion of the construction. He lived here at Fort Yamhill until he left for the Civil War in 1861 except for a nine-month stint when he sent south to help Fort Hoskins get established west of Corvallis.

Unlike a story at the end of this blog, Sheridan had better luck with his relations with local women. The actual story remains a bit of a mystery.

With the onset of the Civil War, Sheridan, like many other young officers, looked to leave the mostly boring life on the frontier for the war in the east.  He left in September 1861 – he spent a couple extra months not wanting to give up the post to Captain James Archer who was going to declare for the South – exclaiming “I am going into this to win a captain’s spurs, or die with my boots on.  Goodbye, boys, I may never see you again.” He would be one of the most successful Federal generals of the war, a trusted lieutenant of U.S. Grant.  Following the war, he went on to become the commanding general of the Army after the retirement of William Sherman.

FINIS

Sheridan’s replacement as commander at Fort Yamhill was First Lieutenant Philip A.Owen with his Company D of the Ninth Infantry. Owen, a graduate of the University of Alabama, was married to the daughter of Colonel George Wright, the commander of the Ninth. Owen and his company were soon withdrawn, as well. Most of the Ninth would spend the Civil War in California to help quell any unrest on the part of former Southerners who had moved west. Owen would be the only member of his family to remain with the Federal side during the war.

During the Civil War, as the Regular troops withdrew to the east, their places were taken by local militia. In Oregon, the militiamen were mostly men of the Fourth California Volunteers since there was not enough local men to cover all the young State’s militia needs – most of the First Oregon Volunteers were serving along the east side of the Cascades. 

The fort was abandoned, as were all the other forts established for the Coast Reservation, in 1866.  Material from the forts were sold off to locals. 

FORT YAMHILL’S BLOCKHOUSE

Fort Yamhill, unlike Fort Hoskins, featured a blockhouse which followed a common defensive design.  The second story turned 45 degrees from the first floor allowing for no blind corners to soldiers manning the blockhouse window slits.  Blockhouses served as central points of defense during dire times.  Men garrisoned the fort only for short periods of time when under direct attack.  There was never such a need here at Fort Yamhill or any of the other Coast forts.  The blockhouse stood at the apex of Fort Hill on the west end of the Parade Ground.

After the fort closed in 1866, the blockhouse moved first to serve as the Grand Ronde Agency jail.  In 1911 the blockhouse moved again, this time to the city of Dayton.  Dayton had served as a supply depot for the fort. Supplies from Fort Vancouver, came up the Willamette and Yamhill Rivers.  Wagons carried the supplies on to the fort.  Palmer cofounded the town and in his honor, the townspeople gained blockhouse to avoid its demolition.  The blockhouse disassembled and reconstructed, sits thirty miles away from its former site in the town’s central square. 

THE FORT TODAY

The Fort Yamhill site was purchased by the State of Oregon in 1988 was developed into a State Historical Park in 2006.  Plans are for ‘ghost structures’ to be developed – open metal fabrications to give a better sense of the former fort buildings.  A return of the landscape to the more open savannah vegetation of the period is contemplated, as well.  Natives used to burn areas to make for better hunting and traveling.  As the fires stopped, the firs moved in.

There is thought to rebuilding a blockhouse on site.  A picket fence used to enclose the fort and is in the plans for reconstruction.  Restoration of the Old Killimuck Trail is an option as well as restoring the “Sheridan House” to the Officers’ Row.  Lots of plans – some have been fulfilled and others wait their turn.

Fort Yamhill – similar to Fort Hoskins – resembled many other Army posts with Officer’s Quarters aligned on one side of a Parade Ground.  Barracks, mess hall, Quartermaster’s store, Adjutant’s office, guard house surrounded the other sides of the Parade Ground.  Lower down were homes for laundresses and a bake house, a hospital, horse stables, granary, blacksmith, and carpentry shops.  A sentry box checked traffic coming up from the Willamette Valley along the Killimuck Trail which was the road predating today’s present road to the west.

SHERIDAN HOME

Near the entrance to the fort a little house previously thought to have no connection to the fort is located.  The house was scheduled to be demolished after the State acquired the old fort site in 1988.   Luckily, a park ranger noted the house was a later modification of an earlier military structure.  The house, extensively remodeled, was moved here in 1915 with new siding.  Internally, the home is consistent with the floor plans of an Officer’s Quarter.  For a long time, the home has thought to have been the home of Phil Sheridan.

SUTLER’S STORE

Just outside the fort was a sutler’s store. This served as a general store for soldiers, Natives, and the few settlers in the area.  Benjamin Simpson ran the store and also a sawmill nearby, as well. 

Benjamin was a bit restless, out originally from Missouri. He helped lead part of a large emigrant train over the south side of Mt Hood on the rough Barlow Road.  He served in the Oregon Legislature four times from four different counties. 

After Fort Yamhill closed, he moved to become the Indian Agent for the Siletz Reservation.  During his time there he built a sawmill on Yaquina Bay also opening a store and post office; oversaw construction of the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse; served for four years as surveyor general for Oregon; helped build a military road over the Cascades from Eugene to southeastern Oregon.

SAMUEL SIMPSON

While the family lived at Fort Yamhill, Benjamin put his 15-year-old son Samuel to work as bartender.  Here the officers spent their evenings.  Sheridan gave the young man a copy of Lord Byron’s poems starting Sam on a career of writing to go along with the drinking habit also acquired.  Sam wrote as a journalist until his death in 1899, selling poems and short stories along the way. 

Many writers are more beloved in death than life as was the case for Sam.  It seemed his alcoholism was a severe hindrance and embarrassment to the family.  His most famous poem “Beautiful Willamette” was his first published poem – age 22.  Joaquin Miller described it as “the most musical poem written on the Pacific Coast.”

fort layout

You walk up past the shops, stables, laundress’ quarters to the enlisted men’s quarters and mess hall. Then comes the former blockhouse site and across the Parade Ground to the business side of the fort – Adjutant’s office, commissary and quartermaster stores and guardhouse. The officers lived in houses on the east edge of the fort. Just beyond, a sentry box checked traffic passing by along the one road leading from the Willamette Valley into the Grand Ronde.

FORT HOSKINS

Second of the forts controlling access to the Coast Reservation was Fort Hoskins.  This was on the west side of a “trail” over the Coast Range to the Siletz Prairie. The Prarie was to be one of the main settling points for Natives from southern Oregon.  The path leading over the mountains was very rough in the mid-19^th century.  Even today, much is still gravel while US Highway 20 parallels the route several miles to the south.

location??

Captain Christopher C. Augur – West Point Class of 1843 and classmate of U.S. Grant – went sent south with his Company G Fourth Infantry from Fort Vancouver. He was to establish and run Fort Hoskins at the same time Fort Yamhill was erected further north.  Augur named the post after a fellow officer, Charles Hoskins. Hoskins was a lieutenant with the Fourth Infantry who fell in the Battle of Monterrey during the Mexican War.  Philip Sheridan scouted the location for the fort with Joel Palmer serving as his guide.

decision

Commanding General of the Department of the Pacific, John E. Wool, argued for a post inside the reservation.  Augur was able to convince Wool of the Luckiamute position.  The cost of an actual post at the Siletz Prairie – twenty-five miles to the west – would have been exorbitant in cost to both supply and build. Augur proposed building only a blockhouse at the Prairie while keeping the main post east on the Luckiamute.  After this proposal was accepted, Augur sent Sheridan – dispatched from duty at Fort Yamhill to help at Fort Hoskins – to the Prairie to erect a blockhouse to protect the Indian Agent, if needed – it never was.  He was also to build a wagon road. The “road” was only traveled by one wagon which was destroyed at the end of its journey.  Mule trains shuttled supplies over the hard terrain to the Siletz.

the fort

Building on the fort did not start until early 1857.  The fort was constructed much like other western forts. Buildings were set around a parade ground – officers’ quarters on one side and barracks for enlisted men on the other.  One of the officer’s homes was moved after the fort was abandoned in 1866 to nearby Peedee.  That house is back to the old fort site today.  Another house stands on the site of the old hospital.

layout

Like at Fort Yamhill, Fort Hoskins featured laundress’ quarters, stables, an adjutant’s office, and quartermaster building.  Outside the fort was a sutler’s store.  A sawmill and grist mill were also located not far away.  Supplies for the fort came by boat from Portland to Corvallis and the by wagon to the fort.  With no direct threats, no blockhouse was ever built.  There was a guardhouse to hold the occasional drunk or deserter.

Seventeen buildings comprised the fort with the enlisted barracks being the largest.  A two-story affair with the men sleeping upstairs and cooking and eating downstairs.  Behind the post on a hill, a spring dammed provided the post with water through piping. The feature unique held a drawback built of lead.

siletz blockhouses

Sheridan originally sited a blockhouse on the upper Siletz Prairie in a location not favored by the transplanted Natives.  A year later, the building was disassembled and floated down river about six miles to the lower Prairie. Reassembled, it sat atop newly christened Fort Hill. Normally, the blockhouse was manned by forty to fifty men rotating back and forth from Fort Hoskins.

Sheridan erected a second blockhouse, merely a log building, near where US 101 and US 20 meet just north of Yaquina Bay in the heart of Newport. After about nine months at Fort Hoskins, he returned to Fort Yamhill.

augur after hoskins

Augur commanded the fort for most of the period of use by the federal army.  Captain Frederick T. Dent relieved Augur near the end of June 1861 and sent with a new rank of major. 

Augur served as West Point’s Commandant of Cadets for six months. Following the short time at the Point, he became a brigade commander of volunteers and soon was leading a division.  He was wounded at the Battle of Cedar Mountain in August 1862.  Recovering, President Lincoln nominated him to the rank of major general. In that capacity, he served first in Louisiana and later commanded the military district around the capital.

After the war, he returned to the western frontier retiring from the Army in 1885 as a brigadier general.

the last regular

Dent – West Point Class of 1843 – served as the last federal commander at Hoskins from June 1861 to November.  Dent’s Company B Ninth Infantry replaced Augur’s company who went to the east in 1861.  Dent had spent much of his time in the Oregon region operating out of Fort Dalles and Fort Walla Walla.  He eventually came to the east in March 1863. In 1864 he began serving as aide-de-camp to newly appointed federal commander Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant – his brother-in-law.

Dent served alongside Grant on his staff after the war and as his secretary during Grant’s first term in office.  He retired as Colonel in 1883 after 40 years’ service.

love lost

The Lieutenant

The men of Fort Hoskins were healthy for the most part, meaning only one man died during the Army’s occupation of the fort. His story seems to always get told – though in slightly different ways.

Second Lieutenant Hezekiah H. Garber’s life and career started off low – he finished last in his Class of 1852 at West Point – and finished worse.  Serving at Fort Vancouver in Company F Fourth Infantry, Garber passed through Fort Hoskins in the spring of 1857 as a paymaster en route to the blockhouse at the Siletz Agency.  On his way back, a Native woman accompanied him without the consent of the Indian agent at Siletz nor her family.  Complaints were registered and Captain Augur found himself at Fort Vancouver where he told Garber he had to return the woman to Siletz which he did.

Bad Posting

The next year, Garber’s company went to Fort Hoskins, after a short stint at Fort Yamhill.  Captain Augur was away when the company arrived.  On his return, he found Garber had the woman on post.  Augur told him she must return to Siletz.  Garber refused and quickly placed under arrest.  The woman returned to the reservation.  Now Garber tried to cover up his affair with the woman saying she was his ‘servant’.  Augur did not buy the argument, though he referred the matter to the Commanding General for possible punishment.  While they were awaiting the results of the General in Washington, Lieutenant Garber was confined to the area of the post.

Results of the Army

General Order No. 7 issued 23 December 1858 suspended Garber from rank and pay for six months starting 10 January 1859.  The Army Quartermaster Department also got wind of the affair – Garber carried his ‘servant’ on his pay accounts for quite some time – and it was recommended Garber owed $7,095.38 to recompense the Army for his ‘servant’.

The Army is the Army.  Reinstated in June, Garber actually commanded the fort for a short time in the summer of 1859, but in October he died after a short illness in the hospital.  He is the only known fatality from the Army period. And Luck being luck, the tombstone funded by fellow officers misspelled his name making him “H. H. Gasper” instead of Garber.

CIVIL WAR PERIOD

Fort Hoskins was manned by men from the Second and Fourth California Volunteers and other units from Washington and Oregon. The post was much reduced in numbers of soldiers on site, however. Brigadier General Benjamin Alvord tried to close the fort completely a couple of times but locals prevailed. They were afraid the Natives might erupt over the mountains with no one left to protect them.  After the war, in 1866, the fort did close with post buildings sold off.

FORT HOSKINS SITE DEVELOPMENT TODAY

Fort Hoskins under consideration for purchase by the State but locals were wary of increased traffic a State Park would bring were able to bring about County Purchase – Benton County – instead in 1992.  The Park opened in 2002.  Two trails exist, one circles around the old post giving a historical bent.  Tablets erected along the path explain the various sites along the way and how they relate to Fort history or post-Fort.  The second trail extends uphill covering 1.2 miles to a viewpoint over the Luckiamute Valley on the other side – east – of the hill Fort Hoskins sits on.