Fort Lincoln Internment Camp was a military post and

internment camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

located south of

Bismarck, North Dakota Bismarck () is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the state's second-most populous city, after Fargo. The city's population was 73,622 in the 2020 census, while its metropolitan popula ...

, USA, on the east side of the Missouri River. It was first established as a military post in 1895 to replace

Fort Yates Yates is a city in Sioux County, North Dakota, United States. It is the tribal headquarters of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and county seat of Sioux County. Since 1970 the population has declined markedly from more than 1,100 residents, as peo ...

, following the closure of the original

Fort Abraham Lincoln Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park is a North Dakota state park located south of Mandan, North Dakota, United States. The park is home to the replica Mandan On-A-Slant Indian Village and reconstructed military buildings including the Custer House. ...

on the west side of the Missouri River in 1891. During the interwar period, it was a training site for units of the Seventh Corps Area. In April 1941, it was converted into an internment camp for

enemy alien In customary international law, an enemy alien is any native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and ...

s (German and Italian seamen who were captured in U.S. waters, despite the U.S. technically remaining neutral at that time).Prairie Public Radio
"Fort Lincoln Internment Camp"
''Dakota Datebook'' (retrieved 14 Aug 2010). 800 Italian seamen arrived when the camp opened in April but were soon after transferred to

Fort Missoula Fort Missoula was established by the United States Army in 1877 on land that is now part of the city of Missoula, Montana, Missoula, Montana, to protect settlers in Western Montana from possible threats from the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, ...

, Montana.J. Burton, M. Farrell, F. Lord, R. Lord. ''Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites''
"Department of Justice Internment Camps: Fort Lincoln, North Dakota"
National Park Service (retrieved 13 Jun 2014) 280 German seamen arrived in May to replace them. After the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, it was turned over to the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

and expanded to make room for U.S. civilians of

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

descent (mostly non-citizen residents who were arrested on suspicion of

fifth column A fifth column is any group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. According to Harris Mylonas and Scott Radnitz, "fifth columns" are “domestic actors who work to un ...

activity, despite a lack of supporting evidence or access to due process)."Fort Lincoln (Bismarck)"
''Densho Encyclopedia'' (retrieved 13 Jun 2014) The Japanese American internees were relocated to other camps shortly after their arrival in 1942, leaving Fort Lincoln with a population of German

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

and German American internees until February 1945. On February 14, 650 Japanese Americans were transferred to Fort Lincoln from the DOJ camp at Santa Fe, New Mexico and the

War Relocation Authority The War Relocation Authority (WRA) was a United States government agency established to handle the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It also operated the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York, which was t ...

camp at

Tule Lake Tule Lake ( ) is an intermittent lake covering an area of , long and across, in northeastern Siskiyou County and northwestern Modoc County in California, along the border with Oregon. Geography Tule Lake is fed by the Lost River. The elevat ...

, which had become a segregation center for "disloyal" inmates in 1943. These new arrivals were either

Nisei is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation, ...

who, fed up with the government's incarceration policy and, in some cases, coerced by camp authorities or groups of pro-Japan inmates, had renounced their U.S. citizenship, or non-citizen

Issei is a Japanese-language term used by ethnic Japanese in countries in North America and South America to specify the Japanese people who were the first generation to immigrate there. are born in Japan; their children born in the new country are ...

who had, again under significant duress, requested repatriation to Japan. Another 100 "renunciants" arrived in July. Over half of these men were deported to Japan later in 1945. Some 3,600 prisoners passed through Fort Lincoln during the war, with a peak population of 1,518 in February 1942. After the war, Fort Lincoln was closed. The land is now the site of

United Tribes Technical College United Tribes Technical College (UTCC) is a private tribal land-grant community college in Bismarck, North Dakota. In 2012, UTTC had an enrollment 885 students, 635 full-time undergraduates, and 250 part-time undergraduates. History The UTTC w ...

References

External links

* * {{Japanese American internment camps Buildings and structures in Burleigh County, North Dakota

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

History of North Dakota Internment camps for Japanese Americans World War II internment camps in the United States 1895 establishments in North Dakota Forts along the Missouri River World War II prisoner of war camps in the United States

See also

References

External links