Today’s fort is the fourth to go by this name.  The first fort was a fur-trading post opened by the North West Company. The post was built at the confluence of the Walla Walla and Columbia Rivers.  Established in 1818, the post ran until abandoned and burnt down during the 1855 Yakima War.  A steamboat landing settlement sprang up a few years later. The remains now all under the waters backed up from the McNary Dam some miles further down the Columbia.

ENTER THE ARMY

The Ninth US Infantry was ordered to the Northwest with the onset of hostilities with the Yakima Indians. The regiment arrived in 1856 under the command of Colonel George Wright.  The regiment split up to man different posts throughout the Northwest. The regimental headquarters was at Fort Dalles, Oregon.  Soon, the Ninth received augmentation with several companies of the First U.S. Dragoons joining to serve alongside.

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Steptoe established a new Fort Walla Walla on Mill Creek seven miles east of the present downtown in October 1856. That fort was quickly abandoned after a month. A new fort was set up in what is today downtown – 1^st and Main Streets.  Nothing remains of either of these two forts.  A fourth fort arose between 1857-1858 and eventually growing to encompass 640 acres.

A NEW FORT ESTABLISHED

The Ninth Infantry and First Dragoons continued operating out of the fort until being recalled to the East with the Civil War.  Vacant for a brief period, volunteers from the First Oregon Cavalry – six companies –took up the post in June 1862.  Two companies of the First Washington Territorial Infantry also came along.  All of the volunteers left by 1866 and the fort became a depot for the next few years while Congress seriously considered closing it altogether.

The onset of the Modoc War along the border of Oregon and California brought life back to the fort.  Four companies/troops of the First U.S. Cavalry and two companies of the Twenty-first U.S. Infantry took up residence, repairing and restoring the old fort.  The almost 300 men transformed the fort into the largest post in Washington Territory.

The officers’ quarters on the south side of the parade ground are among the oldest buildings dating to 1858.  The commanding officer quarters came along later in 1877. Two large enlisted-men’s barracks on the opposite side of the parade ground from the officers’ quarters date from 1906. They are Veterans Administration medical clinics today.

TROOP ROTATION

Troops rotated in and out of Fort Walla Walla over the latter part of the 19^th century and early 1900’s.  The First Cavalry and Twenty-first Infantry left for Nebraska in 1884.  Elements of the Fourth Cavalry – 1890 – came here after capturing Geronimo in 1886 in the Southwest.  The cavalrymen called Fort Walla Walla home until 1898 when they left for the Philippines.  The Second Cavalry followed by the Sixth Cavalry rotated in for short year-long stints. Then it was the turn of four troops of the Ninth Cavalry. The Ninth was a Buffalo soldier unit consisting of 16 white officers and 375 black soldiers. The regiment returned here from the Philippines in 1902.  The Ninth disbanded in 1905 replaced by the Fourteenth Cavalry, another Buffalo soldier regiment.  The Fourteenth served until 1908. Shortly afterwards, the fort officially closed 28 September 1910. 

Two batteries of the 146^th Field Artillery (National Guard) readied for action in France in World War I here in 1918.  The battery commander, Major Paul Weyrauch had served earlier here as a lieutenant in 1904.

NEW LIFE FOR AN OLD FORT

Following World War I, the Veterans Administration took over the fort. The fort converted first into a tuberculosis hospital for veterans from the Northwest.  In 1959, the facility expanded into a general medical hospital with outpatient facilities coming online in 1990.

In the center of the parade ground is a statue of Jonathan Wainwright.  He was born here at the fort in 1883 while his father served as a lieutenant. Jonathan eventually attained general rank. He served as the American commander in the Philippines after MacArthur was ordered out in early 1942.  Forced to surrender on Corregidor in June and Wainwright spent the rest of the war in Japanese prison camps.  MacArthur had him present on the U.S.S. Missouri when the Japanese surrendered ending World War II in 1945.  Wainwright dramatically returned to his hometown in November 1945, honored with a multitude of events.  The Veterans Administration complex renamed itself in Wainwright’s honor in 1996.