Category Archives: Military History

FORT SIMCOE – SHORT STORY PAUSE TO THE STORM

Posted on by
1
two pound cannon
Looks like a two-pound cannon, one of two on the east side of the Parade Ground with Officer’s Row on the opposite side. Artillery would have consisted more probably of M1841 mountain howitzers.

Of the many military posts erected by the US Army during the 19th century, few remain as well preserved as the collection of buildings found here in the middle of the Yakama Nation at Fort Simcoe.  The post was only manned for three years before the fort was abandoned; the men sent north to Fort Colville.

Brevet Captain George McClellan’s party, in 1853, found traces of gold along the upper reaches of the Naches or Yakima Rivers.  They searched for a railroad route over the Cascades, something McClellan continually stressed when meeting with Natives from the local Yakama tribes.

Continue reading →

RE-FOCUSING THE ARMY EASTWARD ON THE COLUMBIA – FORT DALLES

Posted on by
7

James Madison Alden’s painting of Fort Dalles from 1857.

Beiniecke Library Yale University.

Fort Dalles was one of the original forts set up by the Army as it came west after the 1846 treaty with Great Britain solidifying borders on the 49th parallel.  Before 1855, the fort was a small fort with room for one or two companies of troops.  The Yakama War changed that.  From the middle of 1856 until the beginning of 1859, the fort became one of the Army’s main centers in the Northwest.  Home for the Ninth Regiment, Fort Dalles became the jump-off point for campaigns, interior explorations, road, and fort building and a supply depot for all these activities.

Continue reading →

BLOCKHOUSE GUARDIAN ON THE COLUMBIA – FORT CASCADES

Posted on by
2
Steamboats making for the Cascade Locks near the Upper Cascades later in the 19th century. Fort Lugenbeel was just around the corner to the left.

Fort Cascades served as the main post comprising several blockhouses set up to defend the vitally important transportation corridor along the Columbia River through one of the treacherous points along the river.

The Oregon Trail was a long and perilous route.  Perhaps the most difficult section lay almost at the trail’s end as it made its way through the Cascade Mountains to the promised lands of the Willamette Valley.  Once the Trail dropped down out of the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon, it followed along the Columbia River.  It was possible to float your wagons down much of the river, but most kept to the road leading up and down along the south side of the Columbia.  Crossing the John Day and Deschutes rivers were minor difficulties compared to the last difficulty lying ahead in the mountains.

Continue reading →

FORT HOSKINS AND YAMHILL – WHITE EYES TURNED TO THE COAST

Posted on by
3

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.

fort hoskins
Looking down on the former site of Fort Hoskins, literally at the edge of valley and mountain.
Continue reading →

MONUMENTS FROM THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, FORGOTTEN PRELUDE TO EMPIRE

Posted on by
1
USS Oregon
USS Oregon mainmast in Riverfront Park Portland

The Spanish-American war, forgotten mostly today, was a very popularly received event among the American public.  The ongoing rebellion in Cuba was recurrent front-page news. Newspapers ever eager to entice readers with lurid tales of Spanish atrocities.  Forgotten by most now, the Spanish-American War is remembered by numerous monuments spread around the country.  Like the war they memorialize, those monuments tend to be overlooked and passed by today without much notice.

Spanish-American Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery – Google Maps.
Memorial to the USS Maine in Arlington National Cemetery – Google Maps.
Continue reading →

GERMANY – IMPERIAL DREAMS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Posted on by
1

European nations were holding their breath as relations between Spain and the United States worsened in 1898. While much of the attention centered on Cuba and the Caribbean, the Philippines also gathered some thought. Several of the nations had ongoing commercial relationships within the Philippines. To officially protect their nationals living and working in the Spanish Manila naval ships were sent. One of those nations with more than a casual interest in events in the Philippines included Germany.

Uncle Sam heading towards the Chinese markets with lots to sell.
Continue reading →

SECOND OREGON IN THE PHILIPPINES – 19TH CENTURY IMPERIAL ENDING

Posted on by
1
Peace Protocol is signed between the US (President McKinley standing in the center) and Spain (the French Ambassador signing for Spain) 12 August 1898

The men of the Second Oregon waited for a month and a half in Cavite, Philippines.  July went on and the 1st California and 14th US were moved out of Cavite into the field taking positions to the south of Manila.  Other units from later arriving forces did the same.  The Oregonians were not excited about being left behind to drill back at Cavite while the others were out on the firing lines.

Continue reading →

OREGON SAILS OUT OF THE 19TH CENTURY TO THE PHILIPPINES

Posted on by
2

SECOND OREGON VOLUNTEERS GO TRANS-PACIFIC

Monument 2nd Oregon
Monument to the Second Oregon Volunteer Infantry Regiment who served in the Philippines – Lownsdale Square, downtown Portland, Oregon.

The Spanish-American War enjoyed ramped up emotions across the United States.  Oregon was by no means immune in the enthusiasm to teach Spain a lesson.  The state’s National Guard – a part-time militia more trained in strike-breaking than actual warfare – consisted of a brigade of two regiments .  President William McKinley requested the State to furnish the Army with one regiment in the war with Spain, so a little selecting had to be done initially.  And with the distance involved between Oregon and Cuba, there was little chance of Oregon troops being involved in the main war there.  Dewey’s 1 May victory at Manila Bay, however, gave the men from the Beaver State another opportunity, but instead of going transcontinental, the Second Oregon would need to go trans-Pacific to participate off to the Philippines.  

Continue reading →

PORTLAND, MEMORIES OF THE SECOND OREGON AND THE PHILIPPINES

Posted on by
4

THE SECOND OREGON VOLUNTEERS IN THE PHILIPPINES BY WAY OF THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

Soldiers Monument in River View Cemetery to men of the Second Oregon Volunteer Regiment.

You can tell important seminal moments in many American cities by some memorials and parks found within the city.  Philadelphia has the Liberty Bell.  San Antonio has the Alamo.  Indianapolis has the massive Soldiers and Sailors Monument from the Civil War.  Portland has a leafy park across from the Federal Courthouse and the former Multnomah Courthouse where a statue stands proudly in the middle of the park.  At first glance, someone might think the Civil War is being remembered in some way.  But the rest of the monument has nothing to do with the Civil War.  It is a monument honoring the dead of the Second Oregon Volunteers who fought in the Spanish-American War.  Surrounding the monument, a series of marble stumps resemble artillery shells.  The battle names inscribed have nothing to do with Oregon in Cuba or Spain, but everything to do with the Philippines.

Continue reading →

MEUSE-ARGONNE CEMETERY – VALOR BUT NOT QUITE ENOUGH

Posted on by
1
Distinguished Service Cross – established in 1918 as a second rank for valor to the Medal of Honor.

Others beyond the golden dead (Medal of Honor winners have their names inscribed in gold at cemeteries administered by the American Battlefields and Monuments Commission (ABMC)) earned medals for valor. Their headstones are inscribed with their awards, as well, here at Meuse-Argonne ABMC Cemetery, just not in gold. You have to look a little harder.

This is the second of a series looking at some of the men and women lying buried at America’s largest cemetery in Europe, Meuse-Argonne ABMC Cemetery in Romagne, France. Here, we look at the award given out on the second rung of heroism in the pantheon of awards for heroism in the American military system – the Distinguished Service Cross.

Continue reading →