Beginnings of Fort Yamhill

In April and May 1856 Joel Palmer hired 60 men to be the Grand Ronde Guards, to build a fence and control access and egress to the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation. They were all laid off in early May, likely due to the fact that threats of violence from settlers upon the Indians did not happen. In June, the Rogue River tribes arrived on the reservation after having gone through a stressful and grueling war in Southwestern Oregon. They first came to Grand Ronde to join a number of their relatives that had arrived in March, from the Table Rock Reservation. The final removals arrived at the Coastal area of the Coast Reservation in late June after having walked from Port Orford up the coast, they settled just inland from the outlet of the Salmon river, where the Nechesne Tillamook people had a village. The coastal encampment became the Salmon River Encampment.

Continued statements of fear and anger from area settlers, their complaints to Oregon Politicians (especially Governor Curry) and resulting backlash against Palmer, caused him to resign on August 16, 1856. Following this, the US military continued plans to have a new fort built, Fort Yamhill. Lt. Hazen was in charge of the building operations. He was a signal officer stationed at Fort Vancouver and had fought in SW Oregon near Fort Lane. Lt. Hazen oversaw the command of Company F at Grand Ronde for the building operations. Hazen arrived at Grand Ronde in mid-March to form a military camp for the troops, and on March 31, 1856, the Army was set to construct the new fort.  By October 30, 1856, Fort Yamhill blockhouse was completed and the first company, “F”, was stationed there under his command. Captain Smith chose the name for the fort, based on it being situated along the Yamhill River.  Smith wrote, “through the energy of the acting-assistant quartermaster of this post, Lt. Hazen, the officers and men of this command are all in quarters so far completed as to be very comfortable for the winter.” Hazen received a commendation for his work.

Commanders in the first year begin with 2^nd Lieut. William B. Hazen. Hazen was joined by 2^nd Lieut. Philip Sheridan on April 25, and he immediately assumed command of the post. Sheridan commanded a detachment of C Troop and 1st Dragoons of Co. D, 4th infantry until June 1856. In July, Captain D.J. Floyd-Jones arrived and assumed command. In August Captain A.J. Smith arrived and assumed command, bringing with him several commissioned officers, C.H. Crane Assist. Surgeon, Lieut. Oliver Taylor, and 2^nd Lieut. James Wheeler, and was the commander into 1857. Assist. Surgeon Rodney Glisan arrived in October.  Lieut. Hazen remained at Grand Ronde throughout 1856 to supervise the building of the post.

There were no reported outbreaks from the Indians on the reservation. Rodney Glisan reported that sometimes the Indians would get a hold of alcohol and there would be a ruckus. They had a hard time tracking down the sellers of the illegal drinks. The first use of the fort guard house was to hold troopers, one of whom, Turner, had knifed to death a fellow trooper, Private Connor. In September, before the blockhouse was completed, another Trooper Meehan was beaten to death by Stolzer who was tried in the Polk County and was sentenced to 10 years in the penitentiary and $5.

The 1856-57 Hazen Map notes many of the early locations at the reservation. Scholars has suggested the map was a planning map but It is also likely that Hazen documented where the tribal camps and military sites were placed at the reservation. Under the map legend there is also a census of the tribes suggesting Lt. Hazen took some notes on the map itself.

The Blockhouse and associated fort buildings that were built on the hill, were meant to keep the peace among the Indians and to keep whites from coming onto the reservation to commit violence and to sell alcohol. Many Native people would leave and try to return home. Troopers and Indian agents would be sent out to capture and return escaped Indians who hated the reservation and were worried that many of their people were dying there. They set the blame on “Indian doctors” who did not perform their duties when their patients died, and to their new reservation environment which seemed to be the cause of their new illnesses. The reality is that the Indian peoples from some 35 tribes were being newly exposed to European-born illnesses, and they also suffered malnutrition, climate changes, exposure, and some violence from living among so many other strange people. (see other essays in this blog for evidence of early reservation deaths.) White settlers brought most illnesses to the reservation, illnesses that tribes did not yet have immunity to.

 

From July 15 to December 28, a detachment of 10 troopers was at the Coast guarding the native people resettled there. In this first year there were no outbreaks among the native people, the only conflict was a knife fight between two troopers, with one dying.

Lt. Phillip Sheridan arrived (again) at the fort on April 25, 1857, to relieve Lt. Hazen (and Smith) who was promoted and sent to Texas. On August 12, 1857, Company K arrived at Fort Yamhill and relieved Company F. Company K was stationed at the fort for many years. There was a long-standing row between Hazen and Sheridan that lasted some 40 years, with each of them casting accusations upon each other, with Sheridan noted as being extremely petty (Hazen Bio). It is likely the origin of the problems were in the fact that they were the only officers assigned to Grand Ronde between April 25 and June 1856 and they got under each other’s skins.  Histories suggesting the Sheridan had some role in the building of the Blockhouse are inaccurate, although Sheridan could have been responsible for building many of the associated buildings that were situated around the top of the hill after he arrived in 1857, and perhaps was in on the decisions for the planning of the post in his first stint there. (Oregon military records may have more about this.)

See biographies of Rodney Glisen and William Hazen, for the facts of the early years.