Fort Walla Walla

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Fort Walla Walla Historic District
08433-Walla Walla-1906-Fort, Walla Walla, Wash.-Bruck & Sohn Kunstverlag.jpg
Fort Walla Walla in 1906.
USA Washington location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location77 Wainwright Drive,
Walla Walla, Washington
Built1858
Architectural style Second Empire
NRHP reference No. 74001985 [1]
Added to NRHPApril 16, 1974

Fort Walla Walla is a United States Army fort located in Walla Walla, Washington. The first Fort Walla Walla was established July 1856, by Lieutenant Colonel Edward Steptoe, 9th Infantry Regiment. [2] [3] A second Fort Walla Walla was occupied September 23, 1856. [4] The third and permanent military Fort Walla Walla was built in 1858 and adjoined Steptoeville, now Walla Walla, Washington, a community that had grown up around the second fort. [4] An Executive Order on May 7, 1859 declared the fort a military reservation containing 640 acres devoted to military purposes and a further 640 acres each of hay and timber reserves. [5] On September 28, 1910 soldiers from the 1st Cavalry lowered the flag closing the fort. [6] In 1917, the fort briefly reopened to train men of the First Battalion Washington Field Artillery in support of action in World War I. [7] In 1921, the fort and property were turned over to the Veterans Administration where 15 original buildings from the military era remain. [8] Today, the complex contains a park, [9] a museum, and the Jonathan M. Wainright Memorial VA Medical Center. [10]

Contents

Units stationed at Fort Walla Walla

Source: [11]

United States Army Indian Scouts served with troops from Fort Walla Walla until at least 1893. Indian Scouts saved the lives of many of Lt Col Steptoe's personnel during the Battle of Pine Creek. Most scouts came from the Nez Perce tribe.

Military action taken from Fort Walla Walla

Illustration of Fort Walla Walla, 1862. Military Post and City of Walla-Walla - 1862.jpg
Illustration of Fort Walla Walla, 1862.

In May 1858, the Battle of Pine Creek took place, when Lt Col. Steptoe lead troops north to investigate the reported murder of miners and was forced to retreat after being attacked by a mixed force of Spokane, Palouse, and Coeur d'Alene Indians near present Rosalia, Washington. [12]

In August 1858, the Battle of Four Lakes took place when Colonel George Wright lead units of the 9th Infantry, 3rd Artillery, and 1st Dragoons in a punitive action after the loss during the Battle of Pine Creek. The force met up with a large force of Indians in the area between present Cheney and Medical Lake. Near Liberty Lake, Colonel Wright's troops captured 800 Indian horses, the principal wealth for the tribes, and slaughtered them leading to the cessation of all hostilities by the tribes. [13]

On June 17, 1877, soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Regiment were involved in the Battle of White Bird Canyon during the Nez Perce War. More than 30 U. S. soldiers died during the battle. A monument to those killed is at the Fort Walla Walla Cemetery. [14]

Between July 3 and 5, 1877, members of E and L Companies of the 1st Cavalry engaged the Nez Perce Indians at the Battle of Cottonwood with a loss of ten soldiers. Their remains are also buried in the Fort Walla Walla Cemetery. [14] [15]

Roads connecting with Fort Walla Walla

Naches Pass road, between Fort Walla Walla and Fort Steilacoom, was built in 1853 by local residents after waiting for Lieutenant George B. McClellan to construct the route. It proved difficult to use with some very steep descents. [16]

The Fort Walla Walla–Fort Colville Military Road was built on the long established native trail and fur trader's route between Walla Walla and Kettle Falls and the Hudson Bay Company's Fort Colville. Captain Pinkney Lugenbeel and his soldiers improved the road to support wagons in June 1859 on their way to build U. S. Fort Colville. [17]

In July 1859, US Army Lieutenant John Mullan followed the Fort Walla Walla Fort Colville Military Road until just north of Benge, Washington and then built the 600-mile Mullan Road from Fort Walla Walla to Fort Benton, Montana through the Rocky Mountains. [18]

Fort Walla Walla Museum

The Fort Walla Walla Museum [19] comprises 15 acres of the Fort Walla Walla Park, and includes four exhibit halls and a 17-building pioneer village. The museum offers living history performances each season on weekends and children's programs.

The pioneer village includes several cabins, an outhouse, harness shop, blacksmith shop, schools, a jail, train depot, doctor's office and other structures.

The exhibit halls include displays of military weapons and artifacts, tools, agricultural equipment, antique vehicles and firefighting vehicles, clothing and textiles.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chief Joseph</span> Native American leader (1840–1904)

Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, popularly known as Chief Joseph, Young Joseph, or Joseph the Younger, was a leader of the wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa) band of Nez Perce, a Native American tribe of the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States, in the latter half of the 19th century. He succeeded his father tuekakas in the early 1870s.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palouse people</span>

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The Battle of Pine Creek, also known as the Battle of Tohotonimme and the Steptoe Disaster, was a conflict between United States Army forces under Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Edward Steptoe and members of the Coeur d'Alene, Palouse and Spokane Native American tribes. It took place on May 17, 1858, near what is present-day Rosalia, Washington. The Native Americans were victorious.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Cottonwood</span>

The Battle of Cottonwood was a series of engagements July 3–5, 1877, in the Nez Perce War between the Native American Nez Perce people, and U.S. Army soldiers and civilian volunteers. Near Cottonwood, Idaho Territory, the Nez Perce, led by Chief Joseph, brushed aside the soldiers and continued their 1,170 miles (1,880 km) fighting retreat to cross the Rocky Mountains in an attempt to reach safety in Canada.

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Fort Colville was a U.S. Army post in the Washington Territory located three miles (5 km) north of current Colville, Washington. During its existence from 1859 to 1882, it was called "Harney's Depot" and "Colville Depot" during the first two years, and finally "Fort Colville". Brigadier General William S. Harney, commander of the Department of Oregon, opened up the district north of the Snake River to settlers in 1858 and ordered Brevet Major Pinkney Lugenbeel, 9th Infantry Regiment to establish a military post to restrain the Indians lately hostile to the U.S. Army's Northwest Division and to protect miners who flooded into the area after first reports of gold in the area appeared in Western Washington newspapers in July 1855.

The Fort Walla Walla–Fort Colville Military Road was built in June 1859 to connect the Walla Walla area with its fairly easy access to the Columbia River to the mountainous area of the Huckleberry and Selkirk Mountains of current Northeast Washington and the Inland Northwest. Brigadier General William S. Harney, commander of the Department of Oregon, opened up the district north of the Snake River to settlers in 1858 and ordered Brevet Major Pinkney Lugenbeel, 9th Infantry Regiment to establish a U.S. Army post to restrain the Indians perceived as hostile to the U.S. Army's Northwest Division and to protect miners who traveled to the area after first reports of gold in the area appeared in Western Washington newspapers in July 1855.

The history of Walla Walla, Washington begins with the settling of Oregon Country, Fort Nez Percés, the Whitman Mission and Walla Walla County, Washington.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. Payne, James and Schultz, Laura, 2011,An Illustrated History of Fort Walla Walla, Walla Walla, Washington, Fort Walla Walla Museum, p. 48
  3. U. S. Returns from Military Forts, August 1856- May 1867, viewed on September 15, 2014.
  4. 1 2 Whitman Mission US National Historic Site page The Many Fort Walla Wallas, http://www.nps.gov/whmi/historyculture/the-many-fort-walla-wallas.htm, viewed on September 15, 2014.
  5. Payne, James and Schultz, Laura, 2011,An Illustrated History of Fort Walla Walla, Walla Walla, Washington, Fort Walla Walla Museum, p. 49
  6. Payne, James and Schultz, Laura, 2011,An Illustrated History of Fort Walla Walla, Walla Walla, Washington, Fort Walla Walla Museum, p. 41
  7. Payne, James and Schultz, Laura, 2011,An Illustrated History of Fort Walla Walla, Walla Walla, Washington, Fort Walla Walla Museum, p. 42.
  8. Payne, James and Schultz, Laura, 2011,An Illustrated History of Fort Walla Walla, Walla Walla, Washington, Fort Walla Walla Museum, p. 2.
  9. "Parks - City of Walla Walla". Archived from the original on 2014-07-18. Retrieved 2014-10-21.
  10. "Home". wallawalla.va.gov.
  11. Payne, James and Schultz, Laura, 2011,An Illustrated History of Fort Walla Walla, Walla Walla, Washington, Fort Walla Walla Museum, pps. 58-63
  12. Converse, George L., 1988, A Military History of the Columbia Valley 1848-1865, pps 45-47, Walla Walla, Washington, Pioneer Books.
  13. Converse, George L., 1988, A Military History of the Columbia Valley 1848-1865, pps 47-51, Walla Walla, Washington, Pioneer Books.
  14. 1 2 Payne, James and Schultz, Laura, 2011, An Illustrated History of Fort Walla Walla, Walla Walla, Washington, Fort Walla Walla Museum, p. 19
  15. "Fort Walla Walla Cemetery - Walla Walla County, Washington".
  16. HistoryLink article Congress funds construction of military road between Fort Walla Walla and Steilacoom on December 29, 1852
  17. Stevens County Historical Society, The Fort Walla Walla Fort Colville Military Road Project, Colville, Washington, September 3, 2014.
  18. History Link article Lt. John Mullan and a 230-man crew begin building Mullan's Road (Mullan Road) from Walla Walla in spring 1859
  19. Fort Walla Walla Museum

46°02′51″N118°21′25″W / 46.04741°N 118.35694°W / 46.04741; -118.35694