Fort Yamhill was an American military

fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere' ...

in the state of

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. Built in 1856 in the

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. O ...

, it remained an active post until 1866. The Army outpost was used to provide a presence next to the Grand Ronde Agency Coastal Reservation. Several officers stationed at the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

post prior to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

would later serve as generals in that war.

Construction

Built in

Polk County, Oregon Polk County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 87,433. The county seat is Dallas. The county is named for James Knox Polk, the 11th president of the United States. Polk County ...

, the outpost consisted of a wooden blockhouse, sentry box, barracks, officers’ quarters, carpenter's shop, hospital, cook houses, blacksmith shop, tables, barn, sutler's store, and laundress quarters.Fort Yamhill Master Plan History.
Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. Retrieved on February 19, 2008. The wood blockhouse was built to provide a refuge to settlers of the area in case of attack by the Native Americans. After the fort was abandoned the block house was moved from the hill it was positioned on and served as a jail in the Valley Junction area, and later moved about east to Dayton. Total cost to build the fort was $36,053. The post's first troops were under the command of

William Babcock Hazen William Babcock Hazen (September 27, 1830 – January 16, 1887) was a career United States Army officer who served in the Indian Wars, as a Union general in the American Civil War, and as Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Army. His most famous serv ...

.Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956. This garrison consisted of 76 men under three officers, but was reduced in 1858 to two officers and 33 enlisted men.

Notable people

Company D of the Fourth California Infantry took over at the fort on November 11, 1861 under the command of Lyman S. Scott. They replaced the Ninth Infantry that was commanded by 1st Lieutenant Philip A. Owen. For a time between September 1863 and October 1864 the post was under the command of 2nd Lieutenant James Davison. *General

Philip Sheridan General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...

was posted at the fort until the outbreak of the

and supervised the construction. At the time he was only a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

.Horner, John B. (1921). Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature. The J.K. Gill Co.: Portland. Sheridan commanded Fort Yamhill from June 26, 1857 to July 31, 1857, and from June 26, 1861 to September 1, 1861 and was promoted to the rank of captain on May 14, 1861. *Also posted at Fort Yamhill was corporal

Royal A. Bensell Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ci ...

whose journals became the award-winning book, ''All Quiet on the Yamhill: The Civil War in Oregon by Royal A. Bensell''. Edited by Gunter Barth. *Civil War generals

Joseph Hooker Joseph Hooker (November 13, 1814 – October 31, 1879) was an American Civil War general for the Union, chiefly remembered for his decisive defeat by Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. Hooker had serv ...

Joseph Wheeler Joseph "Fighting Joe" Wheeler (September 10, 1836 – January 25, 1906) was an American military commander and politician. He was a cavalry general in the Confederate States Army in the 1860s during the American Civil War, and then a general in ...

, and

David Allen Russell David Allen Russell (December 10, 1820 – September 19, 1864) was a career United States Army officer who served in the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. He was killed in action as a brigadier general in the Union Army. Early l ...

all served at the fort.

Legacy

The blockhouse of the fort was moved to a park in downtown

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

in 1911 to honor city founder

Joel Palmer General Joel Palmer (October 4, 1810 – June 9, 1881) was an American pioneer of the Oregon Territory in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. He was born in Canada, and spent his early years in New York and Pennsylvania before serving ...

. The actual site of the fort grounds, which is in the Willamina vicinity, has been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

since 1971. The address of the site is withheld, however the

Oregon Parks and Recreation Department The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD), officially known (in state law) as the State Parks and Recreation Department, is the government agency of the U.S. state of Oregon which operates its system of state parks. In addition, it has pro ...

runs the undeveloped Fort Yamhill State Heritage Area in partnership with Polk County and the

Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon (CTGR) consists of twenty-seven Native American tribes with long historical ties to present-day western Oregon between the western boundary of the Oregon Coast and the eastern boundar ...

. As there are no remaining buildings at the fort grounds except a relocated Officer's Quarters building, the parks department plans to reconstruct some of the fort buildings, including a new blockhouse. In 2005 and 2013, Fort Yamhill served as the site for the

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering c ...

historical archaeology field school. Students worked to uncover the foundations of Fort-era buildings.

References

External links

Fort Yamhill State Heritage AreaHistoric American Buildings Survey Fort Yamhill - Fort Wiki
{{authority control Closed installations of the United States Army Yamhill National Register of Historic Places in Polk County, Oregon Parks in Polk County, Oregon State parks of Oregon 1856 establishments in Oregon Territory 1866 disestablishments in Oregon Relocated buildings and structures in Oregon Blockhouses Government buildings completed in 1856

Construction

Notable people

Legacy

See also

References

External links