Fort Stevens was an American military installation that guarded the mouth of the Columbia River 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 near the end of 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 ...

, it was named for a slain Civil War general and former

Washington Territory The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...

governor, Isaac I. Stevens. The fort was an active military reservation from 1863–1947. It is now 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 ...

. Today the site is an Oregon state park just northwest of Warrenton.

History

Civil War

The fort was constructed in 1863-64 during the Civil War as an earthwork battery on the south shore of the mouth of the Columbia River, and was known as the Fort at Point Adams. It was later renamed as Fort Stevens in 1865, in honor of the former territorial governor of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, Isaac Stevens, who had been killed in action at the

Battle of Chantilly The Battle of Chantilly (or Ox Hill, the Confederate name) took place on September 1, 1862, in Fairfax County, Virginia, as the concluding battle of the Northern Virginia Campaign of the American Civil War. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's corp ...

during the American Civil War. Fort Stevens was the primary military installation in what became the "Three Fort Harbor Defense System" at the mouth of the Columbia River. The other forts were the Post at Cape Disappointment, later Fort Cape Disappointment and later Fort Canby, built at the same time as Fort Stevens, and Fort Columbia, built between 1896 and 1904. Both are on the Washington side of the river. The fort was meant to defend the mouth of the Columbia from potential

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

attack during the Pig War of 1859 and subsequent ongoing regional tensions through 1870 in the

San Juan Islands The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific Northwest of the United States between the U.S. state of Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of Washington state, and form the core of ...

, and was important during the 1896-1903

Alaska Boundary Dispute The Alaska boundary dispute was a territorial dispute between the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which then controlled Canada's foreign relations. It was resolved by arbitration in 1903. The dispute had existed ...

, when British-American tensions again were high and the two countries were on the brink of war.

''Peter Iredale''

In 1906, the crew of the sailing ship ''

Peter Iredale ''Peter Iredale'' was a four-masted steel barque sailing vessel that ran ashore October 25, 1906, on the Oregon coast en route to the Columbia River. She was abandoned on Clatsop Spit near Fort Stevens in Warrenton about four miles (6 km) s ...

'' took refuge at Fort Stevens, after she ran aground on Clatsop Spit. The wreck is visible today, within the boundaries of Fort Stevens State Park.

World War II

Battery Russell at Fort Stevens State Park

After WWI, the U.S. Navy established a radio station onboard Ft. Stevens for communication with the fleet. Additionally, in 1932 the Navy co-located a secret radio intercept station at Ft. Stevens to listen-in on Japanese navy coded messages. Specially trained radiomen from the "On-the-Roof-Gang" were stationed to the listening post. The station was designated "S" because of the Ft. Stevens location. It was designated to be restored as a historical monument by the federal government in 1936. In September 1939, the U.S. Navy relocated Station S to Fort Ward on Bainbridge Island, Washington because of better intercept conditions. On the night of June 21–22, 1942, the Japanese submarine ''I-25'' surfaced off Fort Stevens and fired 17 shells from her 14 cm-caliber deck gun, making Fort Stevens the first military installation in the Contiguous United States to come under enemy fire in

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 opposing ...

. The Japanese attack caused no damage to the fort itself, it only destroyed the backstop of the post's baseball field. The garrison of Fort Stevens during World War II included elements of two regiments, the 249th Coast Artillery (

Oregon National Guard The Oregon Military Department is an agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon, which oversees the armed forces of the state of Oregon. Under the authority and direction of the governor as commander-in-chief, the agency is responsib ...

) and the 18th Coast Artillery of the Regular Army. Fort Stevens was decommissioned in 1947. All the armaments were removed and buildings were auctioned. The grounds were transferred to the Corps of Engineers, until finally being turned over to 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 ...

in 1975.

State park

Much of Fort Stevens is preserved within Fort Stevens State Park, part of the

Lewis and Clark National Historical Park The Lewis and Clark National Historical Park (including the former Fort Clatsop National Memorial), located in the vicinity of the mouth of the Columbia River, commemorates the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Administration of the park, which include ...

. The park includes camping, beach access, swimming at Coffenbury Lake, trails, and a military history museum. As of 2019, it was the eighth busiest park in the state's park system with 1,197,738 visitors that year. The large state park boasts full hook up campsites, primitive and electrical sites, yurts, and deluxe cabins; most are pet friendly. The campgrounds have full use facilities nearby and there are over nine miles of paved bicycle trails, fishing, a historic shipwreck, and underground tours of the military battery.

In the Media

Television

Fort Stevens was featured on an episode of ''

Ghost Adventures ''Ghost Adventures'' is an American paranormal and reality television series that premiered on October 17, 2008, on the Travel Channel before moving to Discovery+ in 2021. An independent film of the same name originally aired on the Sci-Fi Cha ...

'' entitled "Graveyard of the Pacific: Commander's House" that aired in 2018 on the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United S ...

. The team of paranormal investigators explored Battery Mishler, one of the artillery stations with underground tunnels at the fort where eyewitnesses report seeing a male shadow figure in the Magazine room. The fort is also said to be haunted by a soldier (August Stallberger) who was mysteriously beaten to death by "person(s) unknown" while on duty in 1868.

Gallery

File:Fort Stevens, Oregon, November 1900 (KIEHL 60).jpeg, Fort Stevens in 1900. File:Fort Stevens bunker.JPG, Bunker along the fort. File:Battery 245, Fort Stevens, Oregon - NARA - 299654.jpg, Battery 245, two 6-inch guns on shielded barbette carriages, built in World War II. The battery's ammunition and fire control bunker is behind the gun. File:Fort Stevens Artillery Gun (Clatsop County, Oregon scenic images) (clatDA0101).jpg, Artillery gun. File:249th Coast Artillery , Living History group.jpg, 249th Coast Artillery , Living History Group.

References

External links

* {{authority control Closed installations of the United States Army State parks of Oregon 1863 establishments in Oregon Stevens National Register of Historic Places in Clatsop County, Oregon Oregon in the American Civil War Stevens Museums in Clatsop County, Oregon Military and war museums in Oregon Parks in Clatsop County, Oregon 1947 disestablishments in Oregon Stevens World War II on the National Register of Historic Places American Civil War on the National Register of Historic Places