Mystery Soldiers At Fort Yamhill, Grand Ronde

Recently, I came upon a number of postcards of soldiers at the Grand Ronde Reservation. It was a common practice to turn photos into postcards in those days.

On Ebay these images were available for purchase. Image 808 is labelled Grand Ronde 1911 on the back.

 

And this image, I assume it could be 1911 -at Grand Ronde- like the photo above. The tent behind it is a Sibley tent and none of the men are identified by name or company.

I have since purchased copies of the postcards. In image 668 above, also labelled Grand Ronde 1911 on the back, I noticed a familiar face in the second soldier from the left.

The man (top) looks identical to another image (bottom) in a well known photo from the Old Grand Ronde blacksmith shop in the photo below. He appears to have exactly the same gear on in both photos, besides the missing rifle and utility belt in 1909. I assume that the image on top is from 1911 and on the bottom is from 1909.  It is also possible that this man was from a local town or from Grand Ronde and was visiting friends, acquaintances, or family at Grand Ronde.

 

I initially thought he was from a local National Guard company, perhaps visiting the reservation regularly (it’s not very far from several towns). It turns out that the 4th regiment, H company was stationed in Dallas, Oregon at the armory. For years, we never knew who this man was- and we still don’t know his name. I did not recognize the army uniform- as pre-WWI- and he was thought to just be an unidentified white man. It was common for people to travel through the reservation to the coast in those days, usually for a vacation. Other people in the photo are known, center left in an apron is John Mose Hudson, the blacksmith at the reservation, my GG grandfather. Right center holding the trap is Peter Petit. I am guessing that the man far left, a younger man, is another army soldier in shorts-possibly part of the same unit-while the face in the background (above Hudson’s left shoulder) is unknown but probably a Native man from the reservation. The second soldier seems very informal, only the hat and shirt are army issue. I do not know how the buildings were situated at Old Grand Ronde, but it is likely that the blacksmith’s shop was near the blockhouse-which was a Police station-jail in previous decades.

It is possible these soldiers were from the H company. A newspaper account notes that H company was camping on the way to the coast in 1911 to man the battery at Astoria. Newspaper records also state Company H were combined with the 3rd regiment in 1911 and that the Oregon National Guard was being realigned to match the regular army organization.

The coast route from Dallas would have gone through Grand Ronde- and taken what is now Hwy 22 to Tillamook. That route to the coast was originally constructed by Native men from the reservation in the 1870s, likely based on the footprint of the original Klikitat trail to the coast. The original trail was very treacherous, as detailed by Reverend Croquet when he went to Tillamook to attend to the Catholic people there.

The US was very concerned with Coastal defenses due to the build up in preparation for war in Europe in the period (build up to WWI). Documents suggest the Oregon National Guard built up troop defenses around important businesses and natural resource targets in and around Oregon. Dams, power plants and canals had detachments of troops stationed near them.

I initially thought perhaps the National Guard company was visiting Grand Ronde for a reason. In 1911 Fort Yamhill was deconstructed and sent to Dayton under arrangements made by the Oregon Historical Society. The first president of OHS, George Himes, made the arrangements himself.  OHS was operating under orders from “the Oregon House and senate that the Oregon Historical society … and it is hereby authorized to take steps to secure said blockhouse, and to preserve the same as one of the important historical monuments of the early pioneer history of Oregon” brought by Representative Galloway. (Virginia Enterprise March 27, 1903: 6)

The competition between area towns for the Fort Yamhill Blockhouse was fierce, and Sheridan townsfolk really wanted it- they said their Sheridan history and close vicinity was better- but Dayton was the first to claim the fort and their Joel Palmer history concentrated two histories in the same town.

There were other relevant events in this period that could attract people to the reservation as well. All the remaining surplus lands were being sold at the Reservation from 1905 to 1908 (about $1.15 an acre!). A lot of acreage, some 25,000 to 30,000 acres, was sold at auctions to timber companies and private individuals. After 1908, most Native people who had been granted an allotment, had proved up on the land and got their fee-simple titles (it took 20 years under the Dawes Act!). So in 1909 and in the next decade much of the land at Grand Ronde would be sold to white men, because a good amount of acreage was worthless to farming. Instead, the allotments were on hillsides and a good portion of the valley floor was full of large clay deposits, making farming difficult.  The valley also suffers from low water, and so farming is a tough occupation there. But by 1909, it was really the only acreage available at a cheap price, although reports suggest most of it was bought by logging companies-spurring a logging boom in the Coast Range in later decades. All of these events were newsworthy and attracted attention and perhaps visitation to Grand Ronde.

 

Palmer never had much to do with the fort, he did make arrangements to get the army to help with setting up the reservation. The army helped site the location of future forts while traveling with Palmer – a round trip from Grand Ronde to Salmon river, up the Siletz river to Marysville and back-although he was forced to resign (August 16, 1856) before the military plans were realized. Palmer had set up a Grand Ronde Guard of hired citizens for a few months, April to May 1856- in case local white people chose to attack the reservation. The fort was a way to make the security permanent.

Lieut. Phil Sheridan had history with the fort. He commanded it for a couple of months (June 26, 1857, to July 31, 1857, and from June 26, 1861 to September 1, 1861) but histories online and newspapers suggesting that he built the fort are inaccurate-the honor likely belongs to Lieut. William B. Hazen who was the first commander of the fort. Sheridan’s fame in Oregon came from his route of Klikitat leader Kamiakin in 1856 with a howitzer, on the Columbia, and his putting to death of likely innocent chiefs of the Cascades tribes. In the Civil War, he was most well known for his ride to rally his troops at Cedar Creek in October 1864- see more at this website-(Phil Sheridan).

Sheridan became a captain in 1861, and from there he went into the Civil War to become the hero of the Union. But other men stationed at the fort also became generals, like General Hazen- who planned the settlement of the tribes on a map (Hazen Map of the Grand Ronde Indian reservation, 1856) and who helped site forts Yamhill and Hoskins. Also, Joseph Hooker, Joseph Wheeler, Andrew Jackson Smith, and David Allen Russell were stationed there and later became generals and fought in the Civil War.

But it turns out that other troops would come visit Fort Yamhill, likely due to its famous history with General Phil Sheridan. Sheridan did come back to visit the area after the Civil War and was given a hero’s welcome in Salem and other towns. I recall a record of him staying at the famous Chemeketa Hotel in Salem.

The caption above states that the soldiers were from the 1st Infantry. It is unlikely they had any official business at the reservation.  The fort had been decommissioned after 1866 when it was abandoned by the army. In the 1870s it was moved down from the hill (now Fort Yamhill State Park) to Old Grand Ronde (junction of Hwy 22 and Grand Ronde road today) to serve as a jail for the Grand Ronde Police force. The upstairs was reportedly also used as a dance hall. Gilbert Litchfield of McMinnville, according to his obituary, was the clerk at Grand Ronde at the fort until 1890. He had purchased the fort and other buildings at public auction for $2.50 (Putnam Patriot, January 16, 1925: 8).

The blockhouse, in the 1890s to 1910, was in a state of disrepair and abandoned. The troops likely knew the Sheridan history and were tourists getting their photos taken at the famous military blockhouse. Perhaps when plans were being made to move the blockhouse-and many histories appeared about the blockhouse in the local newspapers-this attracted more attention. But it is unlikely that there was any military action, parade or ceremony, when the blockhouse was taken apart and moved by wagon to Dayton. There were no reports of military involvement at all during the move of the blockhouse, and newspapers of the time would have reported such an event.

If anyone has insight into the identification of the soldiers, please contact me.