Case Studies in Historical Archaeology:
by William Hampton Adams,
Gary C. Bowyer, and Dennis Werth
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Where is Fort Yamhill? Euroamerican Settlement of the Grand Ronde Rogue River Indian Wars Establishing the Reservations Reasons for Creating the Posts Thumbnail Sketch of the Four Posts’ Histories Communication & Transportation Routes Fort Yamhill: Bibliography of the Research at Fort Yamhill Polk County: Historical and Genealogical Links
The archaeological site of Fort Yamhill is located in northern Polk County, Oregon on a high hill overlooking the South Yamhill River Valley. This site is just a half mile from the junction of two major highways linking the Willamette Valley with the coast, Highways 18 and 22. The property belongs to the State of Oregon, which is developing it into a state park. No standing buildings remain at the site and bottle collectors have destroyed parts of the site.
Fort Yamhill was established as a means of protecting the Native Americans who had been placed on the Coast Indian Reservation. That reservation was created after the Rogue River Indian Wars to provide a home for the displaced southern Oregon Indians and those from the Willamette Valley. Fort Yamhill was established in 1856 to provide military protection for the Grand Ronde Indian Agency. Lt. Philip Sheridan was stationed there in 1856 and oversaw the construction of the hospital and company quarters. During the Civil War it was garrisoned by volunteers from Oregon and California, as the regular troops were recalled to the eastern war. At its peak the garrison numbered 128 men.
A map of the fort from December 5, 1856 shows 24 buildings. One photograph is known for the fort, so others may exist too. Stephen D. Beckham remembers seeing a photograph which shows the barracks and other buildings; this photograph and possibly others are in Braine l’Alleud, Belgium. The frame buildings were built on stone footings and had brick chimneys. With the decommissioning of the fort in 1866, settlers began removing materials for use elsewhere, including, presumably, salvaging bricks and stones from the footings and chimneys. Some above-ground remains are still evident, however. The blockhouse was moved in the late 1860s or early 1870s to the Grand Ronde Indian Agency and again dismantled in 1911 and moved to Dayton where it can still be seen in the City Park there.
Fort Yamhill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in July 1971 and acquired by State Parks in 1988. No previous archaeological research has been undertaken at the site. In 1988, the Department of Parks and Recreation acquired a 57 acre parcel of land known to contain the archaeological remains of Fort Yamhill, a frontier military post figuring significantly in regional history. The area had been farmed and logged since the fort’s abandonment in 1866 and through those activities the exact locations of the buildings had been lost. Only a thorough examination of the documents and the terrain would provide the necessary information on where the buildings once stood.
An assortment of maps, letters, and reports reveal that Fort Yamhill and the Grand Ronde Reservation were not cast upon a landscape barren of non-native contacts and exposures. The shipwreck of a Spanish vessel at the mouth of the Salmon River on the nearby Pacific Coast may have been the earliest white intrusion into the country of the headwaters of the South Yamhill River. A local story has it that a large coin with unknown script was found years ago at an Indian site some short distance from the overlook of Fort Yamhill. While Fort Yamhill and the valley of the Grand Ronde is only some twenty miles inland from the scene of this undated misfortune, it seems questionable whether crew members would have survived long enough to have been personal carriers for such objects found in the South Yamhill Valley area.
The explorations of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1805-1806 did not extend south along the coast sufficient distance to bring them to the Valley, yet the many fur brigades that soon crisscrossed the region undoubtedly brought white contacts. Trade items such as 17th and 18th century Chinese coins and Phoenix buttons abound in certain areas of the South Yamhill. While likely spread more by native trade networks than an all-encompassing foreign presence in the area, such objects demonstrate that contacts were made nonetheless. Certainly by the 1830s, enough was understood about the upper South Yamhill Valley by the foreigners inhabiting the Willamette Valley that Jason Lee and Cyrus Shepard of the Willamette Mission felt comfortable in taking their new brides up the Valley through Grand Ronde enroute to a honeymoon on the Oregon Coast in July 1837.
Within a dozen or so years, the passage of the Donation Land Law on September 27, 1850 assured a well-documented Euroamerican presence at Grand Ronde. Homesteaders establishing claims here included George W. Springer, Barney H. Springer, John and Sarah VanBuskirk, James Koonts, Thomas and Elizabeth Henderson, Daniel and Mary Harris, Thomas J. Woolery, John Foster, Israel Clark, Philip and Nancy Ann Sargeant, and others.
The earliest maps of the Grand Ronde area show tilled fields, orchards, houses, schools, fences, and roads, all firmly in place by 1855. Joel Palmer, acting as the Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Oregon Territory, sought to stem the tide of settlement in the region by instructing the General Land Office at Oregon City to exclude the area from future land claims. He publicized his intentions in local newspapers to use Grand Ronde and the lands to the west as the site of the Coastal Indian Reserve, and proceeded in the winter of 1855-56 to extinguish existing claims for the reported sum of $36,000. The developed homesteads would be used by employees of the planned agency and the future Indian occupants of the region. In touring Grand Ronde with Superintendent Palmer in December of 1855, Lt. J. C. Bonnycastle noted the presence of two houses that could serve to accommodate troops and mentions some number of cattle grazing about the valley and surrounding hill sides (Record Group 98, Department of the Pacific, Letters Received, 1856 A-Q, Box 4, B3. National Archives). Lt. William Hazen’s map of the following spring verifies the location of many of these improvements newly controlled by the Indian Department (Record Group 77, US 324-63, National Archives). In a letter of November 2, 1855 Joel Palmer earnestly requested Mr. Jeffers to bring himself and his family to Grand Ronde to oversee the planting of 150-200 acres of wheat that winter, an impossible task unless well-developed fields were readily available. This same letter also states "There are already several houses which will answer for families" (Palmer 1855b). Fruit orchards had achieved growth to the extent that newly arrived reservation occupants in 1856 were able to sell apples.
While surviving documents firmly support a non-indigenous presence in the Grand Ronde Valley in the years prior to the establishment of Fort Yamhill and its associated reservation, other documents clearly demonstrate the Euroamerican presence did not end in 1856. Agency employees lived and worked upon the reservation. Workers were detailed throughout the expanse of the reserve for the purpose of erecting suitable houses for its occupants. Most visible to Fort Yamhill was the nearby residence and farm of Avery Babcock. Superintendent Palmer was not able to dislodge this homesteader. By marrying the widow next door, Mr. Babcock combined his 160 acre claim upon which Fort Yamhill was located with the 640 acres of Margaret Jane Kuykendall, also within the Coastal Reserve, creating a sizable holding called Union Farm. Complaining about everything from wayward reservation livestock to the Indian practice of using the back of his claim for a burial ground, Mr. Babcock did little to endear himself with his government neighbors. It was not until 1902 that the United States Government finally came to terms in a settlement with his heirs in a closing chapter to the story of homesteaders at Grand Ronde.
Conflicts between Euroamericans and Native Americans were increasing, keeping pace with emigrant arrivals. The Rogue River Wars of 1855-56, were part of continual hostility between the two culture groups. As early as 1848-49, miners had frequent encounters with local native groups throughout southern Oregon. Fort Lane was built on the south side of the Rogue River and opposite it was established the Table Rock Reservation. However, skirmishes continued until a treaty was signed in 1856. (For detailed information, see Victor 1894; also see Bancroft 1888:218.)
Part of the solution to ending Indian hostilities was to "locat[e] them entirely outside the [white] settlements" (Lane 1849:994). As a consequence, The Oregon Indian Bill was approved on June 5 1850, "to secure extinguishment of their land titles and if expedient for their removal" (U.S. Statutes at Large 1850). This formulation of policy was passed regardless of white intrusion upon Indian lands. Even though officials were concerned with encroachment by white settlers, Congress passed the Oregon Donation Land Law, thus encouraging settlement onto Indian lands (Spectator 1850).
These early policies set the stage for further confrontations in southern Oregon. Clashes occurred in 1851, whereby U.S. Army regulars aided volunteers in overpowering the Indians, forestalling inevitable conflict. Even though the permanent post of Fort Orford was established, clashes continued between white settlers and Native Americans (Clark 1935:24-25). Major outbreaks occurred in 1853 culminating in the Table Rock Treaty (Victor 1894:308; Royce 1899:790-791). The treaty and reservation eventually led to the War of 1855. "Treaties often went unratified and stipulations unfulfilled. Military protection … was wholly inadequate" (Spaid 1950:158). War ensued after Oregon volunteers massacred an Indian camp, retaliation occurring the next day (Victor 1894:343-344). Other confrontations followed, involving local Indian groups, Oregon volunteers, and the U.S. Army. Skirmishes continued, with major conflicts ending in 1856.
Policies of the U.S. Army and the Superintendency of Indian Affairs created considerable antagonism between the federal government and Oregon’s frontier citizenry. General John E. Wool, Commanding the Department of the Pacific, sympathized with the Indian plight), accused the state government of inciting war, and ordered settlers out of disputed territories (Clark 1935:41-42; also see Oregonian 1856). Further antagonism was created by Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Joel Palmer. He concluded that Indians should be under military protection and should be considered friendly, if adhering to the treaty stipulations (Palmer 1855a). As a result of this paternal attitude, numerous encampments were established. Over 300 hundred Rogue River Indians sought safety at Fort Lane by early November of 1855 (Ambrose 1855). This and other encampments were but temporary, in the protection of Indians during the Rogue River War.
Recommendations for isolating the Indians from the whites were conceived on June 23, 1853. Joel Palmer outlined an Indian policy, and in addition, a reservation territory (Palmer 1853). During the Rogue River War of 1855-56, Palmer was fulfilling the goals of the Oregon Indian Bill, extinguishing aboriginal land claims (Spaid 1950:301,307,308). "In … a little over two years, [Palmer] had extinguished Indian title of approximately two-thirds of the present state of Oregon" (Spaid 1950:156). The displacement of the Southern Oregon Indians was deemed "necessary to ensure the safety and well being of those Indians, as well as the peace and security of the whites" (Spaid 1950:182).
The treaties and subsequent reservations were outlined in a report by Palmer in 1853. His recommendations determined the fate of Indians in Oregon and Washington (Manypenny 1854). Under a treaty with the Confederated Coast Tribes, the Coast Reservation was created by executive order on November 8, 1855 (Royce 1899:812-813). In consequence to the Coast Reservation acquisition, the Table Rock Reservation was to be abandoned and later sold to re-coup expenses for the Coast Reservation (Spaid 1950:183-184). Conditions in southern Oregon preempted Palmer’s plans for a gradual and orderly displacement of Indians to the Coast Reservation. As a result, Palmer decided to establish a winter encampment for the Rogue River and Umpqua tribes. Its location was in the Grand Ronde Valley, on the South Fork of the Yamhill River (Palmer 1855c).
The proposed Grand Ronde Reservation would encompass 61,440 acres and the Siletz Reservation 225,000 acres. Only a small part of the area was claimed by whites. All but 26 families agreed to sell (Palmer 1855c). In addition, settlers of Polk County protested the plan in locating Indians in the Grand Ronde Valley (Register 1855). Taking necessary precautions, Palmer requested General Wool to furnish a small escort (Palmer 1855d). During February and March of 1856, Rogue River Indians were escorted to the Grand Ronde (Ambrose 1856). By mid-April, over 1000 Indians were on the Reservation (Palmer 1856).
During the next few months, the agency’s buildings, warehouses, and shops were nearly completed. A sawmill and gristmill would be erected as well. The contract for the dam and mill race had already been let (Spaid 1950:194). U.S. Army troops were later stationed nearby, ensuring the Indian’s protection. The Grand Ronde Reservation was formally set aside by President James Buchanan on June 30 1857 (Buchanon 1857). The first Indian agent there was John F. Miller, while R.B. Metcalf served as the first Siletz agent (Beckham 1977:149).
A group of about 600 Indians were placed on the steamer Columbia on June 20, 1856 for Portland. Their escort was Company G of the 4th Infantry, led by Capt. Christopher Colon Augur. Joel Palmer accompanied them. On July 8, 1856 Capt. DeLancey Floyd-Jones and Company F of the 4th Infantry left Fort Orford escorting 729 Indians; they arrived on July 23 (Record Group 393, PT. 1, 3584, 1856, F15, Capt D.L. Floyd-Jones to Maj W.W. Mackall, Benicia, Call, 7/23/56. National Archives). The remaining 126 Indians walked to the new reservation from Fort Orford, guarded by Company H of the 3rd Artillery under Major J. F. Reynold’s command and a detachment of Company E of the 4th Infantry.
The ultimate reasons for the establishment of the four military posts at the Coast Reservation has been debated by scholars. Gunter Barth advocated that the military was placed there to police the Indians (Barth 1959:197). However, neither Superintendent Joel Palmer who requested the forts nor Lt. Col R.C. Buchanon of the 4th Infantry who ordered them established intended this police function. The Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, wrote to Oregon Governor George L. Curry on September 11, 1856 stating: "I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23d ultimo, requesting that a strong force of U.S. troops may be constantly maintained in the vicinity of the reservation whereon the Indians of Oregon have been located, for the purpose of guarding and protecting the country against any sudden outbreak." In that letter he transmitted a report by Lt. Col. R.C. Buchanon "showing the disposition made of the troops for the protection of the reservation." (Davis 1856). That report by Buchanon stated on September 1, 1856: "In compliance with your request I submit the following memorandum of the measures taken to secure the safe-keeping of the Indians recently removed by me from Southern Oregon to the Coast Reservation" (Buchanon 1856).
Most of the conflicts with the Indians in Oregon in the 1850s resulted from white settlers attacking the Indians and Federal officials feared the Indians were being exterminated (Coan 1922:22). While politically speaking, the military may well have used the excuse of protecting the settlers from the Indians, it appears that they were much more needed to protect the Indians. Joel Palmer wrote to Gen. Wool on December 1, 1855:
"The existence of a war of extermination by our citizens against all Indians in Southern Oregon, which by recent acts appear to evince a determination to carry it out in violation of all treaty stipulations, and the common usage of all civilized nations, has induced me to take steps to remove the friendly bands of Indians now assembled at Fort Lane and upon Umpqua reservation to an encampment on the head waters of the Yamhill river, distant about sixty miles, southwest of Vancouver and adjoining the coast reservation. This place has been adopted with a view of saving the lives of such of those Indians as have given just and reasonable assurances of friendship. In connection with the request for an escort I may say that the winters encampment for the Indians herein referred to is situated upon lands designed as a permanent location for residence of Indians, and to be attached to a district declared an Indian reservation destined to contain a population of four thousand souls, and the only practical route through which supplies can reach them for the northern half of that population. The establishment of the military post for a few years at this point is deemed requisite to insure the preservation of peace between our citizens and these Indians, as well as good order among the numerous bands congregated. Entertaining this view, I would respectfully request that a competent officer be directed to accompany me to the contemplated encampment prior to the arrival of the Indians from the south that I may have the benefit of his experience and suggestions in the particular arrangement and location of the encampment." (Record Group 94, Box 117, Fort Yamhill file, National Archives).
While Palmer may well have intended a permanent presence of the military, a letter from Capt. Andrew Jackson Smith to Major William W. Mackall dated October 30, 1856 gives the reasons for the fort and shows that the fort construction to that point was only being done to accommodate what they hoped would be a temporary camp:
"I have the honor to report that on arriving at this post I found a detachment of twenty men had been stationed at the coast (about twenty eight miles west of this post) to keep peace among the Indians in that vicinity and for the protection of men in the employ of the Indian Dept., who are constructing houses at that point for the Indians." …
"The men have been employed in creating a rude house & blockhouse, which—if advisable they should remain there during the winter—will furnish them a comfortable shelter. I am in hopes however there will be no necessity for retaining them longer than the coming months and will withdraw them as soon as these services can be dispensed with by the Indian Dept." (Fort Yamhill Letter Book).
Capt. Smith was providing for the possibility for a longer stay, but clearly he did not envision Fort Yamhill as being a permanent post.
Thumbnail Sketch of the
Fort Yamhill was established to protect the Grand Ronde Agency. Construction of the fort began soon after Lt. Hazen arrived on March 25, 1856 and it was completed in 1857. The fort was abandoned and was auctioned to the public on August 20, 1866.
Fort Hoskins was built on the Luckiamute River 16 miles northwest of Corvallis by Capt. Christopher C. Augur on July 25, 1856. From 1861 to 1866 it was garrisoned by California, Washington, and Oregon Volunteers. Fort Hoskins served as the headquarters of Company D of the 4th California Volunteer Infantry from September 1, 1863 to October 8, 1864. During this period Fort Yamhill was commanded from Fort Hoskins. The fort was auctioned to the public in 1866.
The Siletz Blockhouse was begun in late August 1856. After the agency was established, the Army dismantled and moved the blockhouse six miles in September 1857. The last contingent left there on June 23, 1866, bound for Fort Yamhill (Barth 1959:211-13).
Fort Umpqua was built beginning July 28, 1856, under Captain Joseph Stewart, 3rd Artillery. The purpose was to guard the southern part of the reservation. It was abandoned in the summer of 1862 (Barth 1959:213-15; Beckham 1968).
The main purpose for each fort was to protect the Indians from white settlers and to protect employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs from the Indians. With the advent of the Civil War in the East, the Army had to decide what should be done with the forts. The initial decision was to close the forts and ship the troops east. However, the white settlers near the reservations opposed that action fearing a repeat of hostilities with the Indians.
During the summer of 1861, state militia were raised in the West in the wake of patriotic fervor. While many of those men expected to be sent east to glory, their lot was cast for a much more mundane task guarding the home front. Unlike Fort Stevens (finished in 1864) which guarded the mouth of the Columbia River from possible Confederate or British ship raids, these forts had no military purpose in the main context of the Civil War. Their main purpose had been to protect the residents of the reservation and the Civil War did not change this fact. The Civil War did add one dimension to this political situation: the possibility that Great Britain would take advantage of the situation and reclaim the Northwest. The boundary dispute between Canada and the United States had not been settled in the Northwest until 1846; Britain came very close to entering the Civil War on the side of the South. The threat of British ships based in British Columbia raiding American territory was a real one, although it never materialized. The fear that British agents might incite the Indians certainly encouraged the Army to maintain a presence, but the decision to use a civilian militia indicates how serious they thought such a threat really was. The regular Army did continue the garrison at Fort Vancouver.
In many ways the military histories of these forts must be divided into two phases: regular army and state militia. During this initial phase, the posts were garrisoned by the regular army. The required the troops there and so in the Fall of 1861 the regular army garrisons were replaced with volunteers companies from California, Oregon, and Washington militias. Company D of the 4th California Volunteer Infantry had been formed in Eldorado County on September 18, 1861 and left there October 13. On October 29, they left San Francisco aboard the steamer Cortes, arriving at Fort Vancouver on November 1 (Barth 1959:193-194). They arrived at Fort Yamhill on November 18 and relieved Company I of the 9th Infantry. How did these citizen soldiers adapt to military life? What changes did they make to Fort Yamhill?
Mail delivery to Fort Yamhill was via Dayton. One letter written by Lt. Sheridan on January 20, 1859, took 33 days to reach Fort Vancouver (Records of the U.S. Army Continental Commands, Dept of the Columbia, Letters Received, S9. [3 enclosures] National Archives). Express mail was faster. By November 6, 1860, the nearest post office was officially Salem (Russell to Cooper and Thomas, November 6, 1860. Fort Yamhill Letter Book). The telegraph line from Portland reached Salem on April 21, 1863, but was not linked to San Francisco until March 1, 1864 (Smith 1938:357).
From the beginning, transportation of supplies was regarded as an essential factor in determining the location and feasibility of a fort site. On December 3, 1855, at Fort Vancouver E.D. Townsend instructed Lt. Bonnycastle: "You will then return to Head Quarters and report in detail as to the fitness of the site, the supplies of wood, water, forage, parts of the Army ration &c which may be obtained in the vicinity, and the best mode of transporting supplies to the post." In his report, Bonnycastle, compared details and costs for the water route and overland one from Portland concluding that "On the whole, however, I should prefer contracting for the transportation of supplies by land, through Portland, and be careful that everything necessary was furnished during the summer months, as any supplies required in the winter must go by water to Dayton" (Record Group 98, Department of the Pacific, Letters Received, 1856 A-Q, Box 4, B3. National Archives).
Bonnycastle’s recommendation of an overland route was not followed. Lt. Col. Robert C. Buchanon writing on September 1, 1856 reported that "This post will be supplied from Fort Vancouver, by means of steamboats to Dayton, from whence it is distant 25 miles." This was what happened, for during his inspection on August 10, 1857, Maj. Osborne Cross reported that "Supplies are sent from Fort Vancouver by water to Dayton, and thence a distance of forty miles." Cross further noted for Fort Hoskins and Fort Yamhill:
"Fort Hoskins is furnished from Fort Vancouver, via Corvallis, and from that place by public wagons a distance of 25 miles. This post and Fort Yamhill should be supplied as early in the season as the state of the roads will permit; for after the first of June the river transportation from lowness of water is uncertain, until the rainy season sets in, and if delayed until then the roads from Dayton to Fort Yamhill, and from Corvallis to Fort Hoskins become heavy and in a measure impassable, thereby increasing the cost of transportation; besides the wear and tear of wagons, harness, and animals would be such that any one who has seen the route could not be struck with the necessity of this course." (Record Group 92, Quarter Master Department, Correspondence File, Box 221, Osborne Cross.64: Maj: O. Cross, SF, August 10/57. National Archives.).
In his inspection of November 9, 1860, Bvt. Lt. Col. W. H. Emery wrote that "This command hauls its own supplies from Dayton 30 miles distant" (Record Group 94, Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, File I95, 1858. National Archives). In Buchanon’s 1856 letter, he set forth that Fort Yamhill would be supplied from Dayton, Fort Hoskins from Corvallis, and Fort Umpqua from San Francisco, via the Umpqua River mouth.
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1855d Letter of December 1, 1855 to General John E. Wool. 34th Congress, 1st Session, House Executive Document 93, Vol 11. Serial 858:23-24.
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Shipley, William J.
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1899 Maya, The Medicine Girl: A Story of Fort Yamhill in Sheridan’s Time. Pacific Monthly 2:248-252, 3:14-18, 63-64.
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1866 [advertisement for sale of Fort Yamhill] August 13, 1866
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Genealogical and Historical Links
The GenWeb Project provides very useful data for not only the genealogist, but also anyone interested in the history of a region. 
The links here will take you to the web sites for Polk County, the Oregon, and the USGenWeb. Individual counties vary, but often include census data, inscriptions of cemetery headstones, wills, deeds, diaries, letters, photographs, and other historic documents.
Fort Yamhill is in Polk County: Polk County GenWeb Site Fort Hoskins is in Benton County: Benton County GenWeb Site Please support local history by serving as a volunteer in your local museum, library, or genealogical society. Many such places are recording their local history and placing it on the web for everyone to use. If you cannot donate your time, consider donating funding to support the preservation of local heritage. 
This page has been accessed [an error occurred while processing this directive] times since August 28, 2000.
All information is copyrighted, 2000, by William Hampton Adams. All rights reserved.
Last updated Wednesday, February 28, 2001 .
Case Studies in Historical Archaeology:
by William Hampton Adams,
Gary C. Bowyer, and Dennis Werth
| Bottom of page |
| About ... Archaeology | |
| Home page for Case Studies in Historical Archaeology | |
| Where is Fort Yamhill? |
| Euroamerican Settlement of the Grand Ronde |
| Rogue River Indian Wars |
| Establishing the Reservations |
| Reasons for Creating the Posts |
| Thumbnail Sketch of the Four Posts’ Histories |
| Communication & Transportation Routes |
| Fort Yamhill: Bibliography of the Research at Fort Yamhill |
| Polk County: Historical and Genealogical Links |
LocationThe archaeological site of Fort Yamhill is located in northern Polk County, Oregon on a high hill overlooking the South Yamhill River Valley. This site is just a half mile from the junction of two major highways linking the Willamette Valley with the coast, Highways 18 and 22. The property belongs to the State of Oregon, which is developing it into a state park. No standing buildings remain at the site and bottle collectors have destroyed parts of the site.
Fort Yamhill was established as a means of protecting the Native Americans who had been placed on the Coast Indian Reservation. That reservation was created after the Rogue River Indian Wars to provide a home for the displaced southern Oregon Indians and those from the Willamette Valley. Fort Yamhill was established in 1856 to provide military protection for the Grand Ronde Indian Agency. Lt. Philip Sheridan was stationed there in 1856 and oversaw the construction of the hospital and company quarters. During the Civil War it was garrisoned by volunteers from Oregon and California, as the regular troops were recalled to the eastern war. At its peak the garrison numbered 128 men.
A map of the fort from December 5, 1856 shows 24 buildings. One photograph is known for the fort, so others may exist too. Stephen D. Beckham remembers seeing a photograph which shows the barracks and other buildings; this photograph and possibly others are in Braine l’Alleud, Belgium. The frame buildings were built on stone footings and had brick chimneys. With the decommissioning of the fort in 1866, settlers began removing materials for use elsewhere, including, presumably, salvaging bricks and stones from the footings and chimneys. Some above-ground remains are still evident, however. The blockhouse was moved in the late 1860s or early 1870s to the Grand Ronde Indian Agency and again dismantled in 1911 and moved to Dayton where it can still be seen in the City Park there.
Fort Yamhill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in July 1971 and acquired by State Parks in 1988. No previous archaeological research has been undertaken at the site. In 1988, the Department of Parks and Recreation acquired a 57 acre parcel of land known to contain the archaeological remains of Fort Yamhill, a frontier military post figuring significantly in regional history. The area had been farmed and logged since the fort’s abandonment in 1866 and through those activities the exact locations of the buildings had been lost. Only a thorough examination of the documents and the terrain would provide the necessary information on where the buildings once stood.
An assortment of maps, letters, and reports reveal that Fort Yamhill and the Grand Ronde Reservation were not cast upon a landscape barren of non-native contacts and exposures. The shipwreck of a Spanish vessel at the mouth of the Salmon River on the nearby Pacific Coast may have been the earliest white intrusion into the country of the headwaters of the South Yamhill River. A local story has it that a large coin with unknown script was found years ago at an Indian site some short distance from the overlook of Fort Yamhill. While Fort Yamhill and the valley of the Grand Ronde is only some twenty miles inland from the scene of this undated misfortune, it seems questionable whether crew members would have survived long enough to have been personal carriers for such objects found in the South Yamhill Valley area.
The explorations of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1805-1806 did not extend south along the coast sufficient distance to bring them to the Valley, yet the many fur brigades that soon crisscrossed the region undoubtedly brought white contacts. Trade items such as 17th and 18th century Chinese coins and Phoenix buttons abound in certain areas of the South Yamhill. While likely spread more by native trade networks than an all-encompassing foreign presence in the area, such objects demonstrate that contacts were made nonetheless. Certainly by the 1830s, enough was understood about the upper South Yamhill Valley by the foreigners inhabiting the Willamette Valley that Jason Lee and Cyrus Shepard of the Willamette Mission felt comfortable in taking their new brides up the Valley through Grand Ronde enroute to a honeymoon on the Oregon Coast in July 1837.
Within a dozen or so years, the passage of the Donation Land Law on September 27, 1850 assured a well-documented Euroamerican presence at Grand Ronde. Homesteaders establishing claims here included George W. Springer, Barney H. Springer, John and Sarah VanBuskirk, James Koonts, Thomas and Elizabeth Henderson, Daniel and Mary Harris, Thomas J. Woolery, John Foster, Israel Clark, Philip and Nancy Ann Sargeant, and others.
The earliest maps of the Grand Ronde area show tilled fields, orchards, houses, schools, fences, and roads, all firmly in place by 1855. Joel Palmer, acting as the Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Oregon Territory, sought to stem the tide of settlement in the region by instructing the General Land Office at Oregon City to exclude the area from future land claims. He publicized his intentions in local newspapers to use Grand Ronde and the lands to the west as the site of the Coastal Indian Reserve, and proceeded in the winter of 1855-56 to extinguish existing claims for the reported sum of $36,000. The developed homesteads would be used by employees of the planned agency and the future Indian occupants of the region. In touring Grand Ronde with Superintendent Palmer in December of 1855, Lt. J. C. Bonnycastle noted the presence of two houses that could serve to accommodate troops and mentions some number of cattle grazing about the valley and surrounding hill sides (Record Group 98, Department of the Pacific, Letters Received, 1856 A-Q, Box 4, B3. National Archives). Lt. William Hazen’s map of the following spring verifies the location of many of these improvements newly controlled by the Indian Department (Record Group 77, US 324-63, National Archives). In a letter of November 2, 1855 Joel Palmer earnestly requested Mr. Jeffers to bring himself and his family to Grand Ronde to oversee the planting of 150-200 acres of wheat that winter, an impossible task unless well-developed fields were readily available. This same letter also states "There are already several houses which will answer for families" (Palmer 1855b). Fruit orchards had achieved growth to the extent that newly arrived reservation occupants in 1856 were able to sell apples.
While surviving documents firmly support a non-indigenous presence in the Grand Ronde Valley in the years prior to the establishment of Fort Yamhill and its associated reservation, other documents clearly demonstrate the Euroamerican presence did not end in 1856. Agency employees lived and worked upon the reservation. Workers were detailed throughout the expanse of the reserve for the purpose of erecting suitable houses for its occupants. Most visible to Fort Yamhill was the nearby residence and farm of Avery Babcock. Superintendent Palmer was not able to dislodge this homesteader. By marrying the widow next door, Mr. Babcock combined his 160 acre claim upon which Fort Yamhill was located with the 640 acres of Margaret Jane Kuykendall, also within the Coastal Reserve, creating a sizable holding called Union Farm. Complaining about everything from wayward reservation livestock to the Indian practice of using the back of his claim for a burial ground, Mr. Babcock did little to endear himself with his government neighbors. It was not until 1902 that the United States Government finally came to terms in a settlement with his heirs in a closing chapter to the story of homesteaders at Grand Ronde.
Conflicts between Euroamericans and Native Americans were increasing, keeping pace with emigrant arrivals. The Rogue River Wars of 1855-56, were part of continual hostility between the two culture groups. As early as 1848-49, miners had frequent encounters with local native groups throughout southern Oregon. Fort Lane was built on the south side of the Rogue River and opposite it was established the Table Rock Reservation. However, skirmishes continued until a treaty was signed in 1856. (For detailed information, see Victor 1894; also see Bancroft 1888:218.)
Part of the solution to ending Indian hostilities was to "locat[e] them entirely outside the [white] settlements" (Lane 1849:994). As a consequence, The Oregon Indian Bill was approved on June 5 1850, "to secure extinguishment of their land titles and if expedient for their removal" (U.S. Statutes at Large 1850). This formulation of policy was passed regardless of white intrusion upon Indian lands. Even though officials were concerned with encroachment by white settlers, Congress passed the Oregon Donation Land Law, thus encouraging settlement onto Indian lands (Spectator 1850).
These early policies set the stage for further confrontations in southern Oregon. Clashes occurred in 1851, whereby U.S. Army regulars aided volunteers in overpowering the Indians, forestalling inevitable conflict. Even though the permanent post of Fort Orford was established, clashes continued between white settlers and Native Americans (Clark 1935:24-25). Major outbreaks occurred in 1853 culminating in the Table Rock Treaty (Victor 1894:308; Royce 1899:790-791). The treaty and reservation eventually led to the War of 1855. "Treaties often went unratified and stipulations unfulfilled. Military protection … was wholly inadequate" (Spaid 1950:158). War ensued after Oregon volunteers massacred an Indian camp, retaliation occurring the next day (Victor 1894:343-344). Other confrontations followed, involving local Indian groups, Oregon volunteers, and the U.S. Army. Skirmishes continued, with major conflicts ending in 1856.
Policies of the U.S. Army and the Superintendency of Indian Affairs created considerable antagonism between the federal government and Oregon’s frontier citizenry. General John E. Wool, Commanding the Department of the Pacific, sympathized with the Indian plight), accused the state government of inciting war, and ordered settlers out of disputed territories (Clark 1935:41-42; also see Oregonian 1856). Further antagonism was created by Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Joel Palmer. He concluded that Indians should be under military protection and should be considered friendly, if adhering to the treaty stipulations (Palmer 1855a). As a result of this paternal attitude, numerous encampments were established. Over 300 hundred Rogue River Indians sought safety at Fort Lane by early November of 1855 (Ambrose 1855). This and other encampments were but temporary, in the protection of Indians during the Rogue River War.
Recommendations for isolating the Indians from the whites were conceived on June 23, 1853. Joel Palmer outlined an Indian policy, and in addition, a reservation territory (Palmer 1853). During the Rogue River War of 1855-56, Palmer was fulfilling the goals of the Oregon Indian Bill, extinguishing aboriginal land claims (Spaid 1950:301,307,308). "In … a little over two years, [Palmer] had extinguished Indian title of approximately two-thirds of the present state of Oregon" (Spaid 1950:156). The displacement of the Southern Oregon Indians was deemed "necessary to ensure the safety and well being of those Indians, as well as the peace and security of the whites" (Spaid 1950:182).
The treaties and subsequent reservations were outlined in a report by Palmer in 1853. His recommendations determined the fate of Indians in Oregon and Washington (Manypenny 1854). Under a treaty with the Confederated Coast Tribes, the Coast Reservation was created by executive order on November 8, 1855 (Royce 1899:812-813). In consequence to the Coast Reservation acquisition, the Table Rock Reservation was to be abandoned and later sold to re-coup expenses for the Coast Reservation (Spaid 1950:183-184). Conditions in southern Oregon preempted Palmer’s plans for a gradual and orderly displacement of Indians to the Coast Reservation. As a result, Palmer decided to establish a winter encampment for the Rogue River and Umpqua tribes. Its location was in the Grand Ronde Valley, on the South Fork of the Yamhill River (Palmer 1855c).
The proposed Grand Ronde Reservation would encompass 61,440 acres and the Siletz Reservation 225,000 acres. Only a small part of the area was claimed by whites. All but 26 families agreed to sell (Palmer 1855c). In addition, settlers of Polk County protested the plan in locating Indians in the Grand Ronde Valley (Register 1855). Taking necessary precautions, Palmer requested General Wool to furnish a small escort (Palmer 1855d). During February and March of 1856, Rogue River Indians were escorted to the Grand Ronde (Ambrose 1856). By mid-April, over 1000 Indians were on the Reservation (Palmer 1856).
During the next few months, the agency’s buildings, warehouses, and shops were nearly completed. A sawmill and gristmill would be erected as well. The contract for the dam and mill race had already been let (Spaid 1950:194). U.S. Army troops were later stationed nearby, ensuring the Indian’s protection. The Grand Ronde Reservation was formally set aside by President James Buchanan on June 30 1857 (Buchanon 1857). The first Indian agent there was John F. Miller, while R.B. Metcalf served as the first Siletz agent (Beckham 1977:149).
A group of about 600 Indians were placed on the steamer Columbia on June 20, 1856 for Portland. Their escort was Company G of the 4th Infantry, led by Capt. Christopher Colon Augur. Joel Palmer accompanied them. On July 8, 1856 Capt. DeLancey Floyd-Jones and Company F of the 4th Infantry left Fort Orford escorting 729 Indians; they arrived on July 23 (Record Group 393, PT. 1, 3584, 1856, F15, Capt D.L. Floyd-Jones to Maj W.W. Mackall, Benicia, Call, 7/23/56. National Archives). The remaining 126 Indians walked to the new reservation from Fort Orford, guarded by Company H of the 3rd Artillery under Major J. F. Reynold’s command and a detachment of Company E of the 4th Infantry.
The ultimate reasons for the establishment of the four military posts at the Coast Reservation has been debated by scholars. Gunter Barth advocated that the military was placed there to police the Indians (Barth 1959:197). However, neither Superintendent Joel Palmer who requested the forts nor Lt. Col R.C. Buchanon of the 4th Infantry who ordered them established intended this police function. The Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, wrote to Oregon Governor George L. Curry on September 11, 1856 stating: "I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23d ultimo, requesting that a strong force of U.S. troops may be constantly maintained in the vicinity of the reservation whereon the Indians of Oregon have been located, for the purpose of guarding and protecting the country against any sudden outbreak." In that letter he transmitted a report by Lt. Col. R.C. Buchanon "showing the disposition made of the troops for the protection of the reservation." (Davis 1856). That report by Buchanon stated on September 1, 1856: "In compliance with your request I submit the following memorandum of the measures taken to secure the safe-keeping of the Indians recently removed by me from Southern Oregon to the Coast Reservation" (Buchanon 1856).
Most of the conflicts with the Indians in Oregon in the 1850s resulted from white settlers attacking the Indians and Federal officials feared the Indians were being exterminated (Coan 1922:22). While politically speaking, the military may well have used the excuse of protecting the settlers from the Indians, it appears that they were much more needed to protect the Indians. Joel Palmer wrote to Gen. Wool on December 1, 1855:
"The existence of a war of extermination by our citizens against all Indians in Southern Oregon, which by recent acts appear to evince a determination to carry it out in violation of all treaty stipulations, and the common usage of all civilized nations, has induced me to take steps to remove the friendly bands of Indians now assembled at Fort Lane and upon Umpqua reservation to an encampment on the head waters of the Yamhill river, distant about sixty miles, southwest of Vancouver and adjoining the coast reservation. This place has been adopted with a view of saving the lives of such of those Indians as have given just and reasonable assurances of friendship. In connection with the request for an escort I may say that the winters encampment for the Indians herein referred to is situated upon lands designed as a permanent location for residence of Indians, and to be attached to a district declared an Indian reservation destined to contain a population of four thousand souls, and the only practical route through which supplies can reach them for the northern half of that population. The establishment of the military post for a few years at this point is deemed requisite to insure the preservation of peace between our citizens and these Indians, as well as good order among the numerous bands congregated. Entertaining this view, I would respectfully request that a competent officer be directed to accompany me to the contemplated encampment prior to the arrival of the Indians from the south that I may have the benefit of his experience and suggestions in the particular arrangement and location of the encampment." (Record Group 94, Box 117, Fort Yamhill file, National Archives).
While Palmer may well have intended a permanent presence of the military, a letter from Capt. Andrew Jackson Smith to Major William W. Mackall dated October 30, 1856 gives the reasons for the fort and shows that the fort construction to that point was only being done to accommodate what they hoped would be a temporary camp:
"I have the honor to report that on arriving at this post I found a detachment of twenty men had been stationed at the coast (about twenty eight miles west of this post) to keep peace among the Indians in that vicinity and for the protection of men in the employ of the Indian Dept., who are constructing houses at that point for the Indians." …
"The men have been employed in creating a rude house & blockhouse, which—if advisable they should remain there during the winter—will furnish them a comfortable shelter. I am in hopes however there will be no necessity for retaining them longer than the coming months and will withdraw them as soon as these services can be dispensed with by the Indian Dept." (Fort Yamhill Letter Book).
Capt. Smith was providing for the possibility for a longer stay, but clearly he did not envision Fort Yamhill as being a permanent post.
Thumbnail Sketch of the
Fort Yamhill was established to protect the Grand Ronde Agency. Construction of the fort began soon after Lt. Hazen arrived on March 25, 1856 and it was completed in 1857. The fort was abandoned and was auctioned to the public on August 20, 1866.
Fort Hoskins was built on the Luckiamute River 16 miles northwest of Corvallis by Capt. Christopher C. Augur on July 25, 1856. From 1861 to 1866 it was garrisoned by California, Washington, and Oregon Volunteers. Fort Hoskins served as the headquarters of Company D of the 4th California Volunteer Infantry from September 1, 1863 to October 8, 1864. During this period Fort Yamhill was commanded from Fort Hoskins. The fort was auctioned to the public in 1866.
The Siletz Blockhouse was begun in late August 1856. After the agency was established, the Army dismantled and moved the blockhouse six miles in September 1857. The last contingent left there on June 23, 1866, bound for Fort Yamhill (Barth 1959:211-13).
Fort Umpqua was built beginning July 28, 1856, under Captain Joseph Stewart, 3rd Artillery. The purpose was to guard the southern part of the reservation. It was abandoned in the summer of 1862 (Barth 1959:213-15; Beckham 1968).
The main purpose for each fort was to protect the Indians from white settlers and to protect employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs from the Indians. With the advent of the Civil War in the East, the Army had to decide what should be done with the forts. The initial decision was to close the forts and ship the troops east. However, the white settlers near the reservations opposed that action fearing a repeat of hostilities with the Indians.
During the summer of 1861, state militia were raised in the West in the wake of patriotic fervor. While many of those men expected to be sent east to glory, their lot was cast for a much more mundane task guarding the home front. Unlike Fort Stevens (finished in 1864) which guarded the mouth of the Columbia River from possible Confederate or British ship raids, these forts had no military purpose in the main context of the Civil War. Their main purpose had been to protect the residents of the reservation and the Civil War did not change this fact. The Civil War did add one dimension to this political situation: the possibility that Great Britain would take advantage of the situation and reclaim the Northwest. The boundary dispute between Canada and the United States had not been settled in the Northwest until 1846; Britain came very close to entering the Civil War on the side of the South. The threat of British ships based in British Columbia raiding American territory was a real one, although it never materialized. The fear that British agents might incite the Indians certainly encouraged the Army to maintain a presence, but the decision to use a civilian militia indicates how serious they thought such a threat really was. The regular Army did continue the garrison at Fort Vancouver.
In many ways the military histories of these forts must be divided into two phases: regular army and state militia. During this initial phase, the posts were garrisoned by the regular army. The required the troops there and so in the Fall of 1861 the regular army garrisons were replaced with volunteers companies from California, Oregon, and Washington militias. Company D of the 4th California Volunteer Infantry had been formed in Eldorado County on September 18, 1861 and left there October 13. On October 29, they left San Francisco aboard the steamer Cortes, arriving at Fort Vancouver on November 1 (Barth 1959:193-194). They arrived at Fort Yamhill on November 18 and relieved Company I of the 9th Infantry. How did these citizen soldiers adapt to military life? What changes did they make to Fort Yamhill?
Mail delivery to Fort Yamhill was via Dayton. One letter written by Lt. Sheridan on January 20, 1859, took 33 days to reach Fort Vancouver (Records of the U.S. Army Continental Commands, Dept of the Columbia, Letters Received, S9. [3 enclosures] National Archives). Express mail was faster. By November 6, 1860, the nearest post office was officially Salem (Russell to Cooper and Thomas, November 6, 1860. Fort Yamhill Letter Book). The telegraph line from Portland reached Salem on April 21, 1863, but was not linked to San Francisco until March 1, 1864 (Smith 1938:357).
From the beginning, transportation of supplies was regarded as an essential factor in determining the location and feasibility of a fort site. On December 3, 1855, at Fort Vancouver E.D. Townsend instructed Lt. Bonnycastle: "You will then return to Head Quarters and report in detail as to the fitness of the site, the supplies of wood, water, forage, parts of the Army ration &c which may be obtained in the vicinity, and the best mode of transporting supplies to the post." In his report, Bonnycastle, compared details and costs for the water route and overland one from Portland concluding that "On the whole, however, I should prefer contracting for the transportation of supplies by land, through Portland, and be careful that everything necessary was furnished during the summer months, as any supplies required in the winter must go by water to Dayton" (Record Group 98, Department of the Pacific, Letters Received, 1856 A-Q, Box 4, B3. National Archives).
Bonnycastle’s recommendation of an overland route was not followed. Lt. Col. Robert C. Buchanon writing on September 1, 1856 reported that "This post will be supplied from Fort Vancouver, by means of steamboats to Dayton, from whence it is distant 25 miles." This was what happened, for during his inspection on August 10, 1857, Maj. Osborne Cross reported that "Supplies are sent from Fort Vancouver by water to Dayton, and thence a distance of forty miles." Cross further noted for Fort Hoskins and Fort Yamhill:
"Fort Hoskins is furnished from Fort Vancouver, via Corvallis, and from that place by public wagons a distance of 25 miles. This post and Fort Yamhill should be supplied as early in the season as the state of the roads will permit; for after the first of June the river transportation from lowness of water is uncertain, until the rainy season sets in, and if delayed until then the roads from Dayton to Fort Yamhill, and from Corvallis to Fort Hoskins become heavy and in a measure impassable, thereby increasing the cost of transportation; besides the wear and tear of wagons, harness, and animals would be such that any one who has seen the route could not be struck with the necessity of this course." (Record Group 92, Quarter Master Department, Correspondence File, Box 221, Osborne Cross.64: Maj: O. Cross, SF, August 10/57. National Archives.).
In his inspection of November 9, 1860, Bvt. Lt. Col. W. H. Emery wrote that "This command hauls its own supplies from Dayton 30 miles distant" (Record Group 94, Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, File I95, 1858. National Archives). In Buchanon’s 1856 letter, he set forth that Fort Yamhill would be supplied from Dayton, Fort Hoskins from Corvallis, and Fort Umpqua from San Francisco, via the Umpqua River mouth.
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1965 A Webfoot Volunteer: The Diary of William M. Hilleary, 1864-1866. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis.
Nesmith, J.
1858 Letter of December 8, 1858 to Hon. Charles E. Mix, Com. Ind. Affairs, Washington, D.C. National Archives, M-B4, Roll 611-S, Shot 1201-03.
Office of Indian Affiars
1824-80 Letters Received, 1824-80, Office of Indian Affairs. Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75, Microcopy 234. National Archives.
1824-81 Letters Sent, 1824-81, Office of Indian Affairs. Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75, Microcopy 21. National Archives.
Onstad, Preston
1964 The Fort on the Luckiamute: A Resurvey of Fort Hoskins. Oregon Historical Quarterly 65(2):173-96.
Oregon Journal
1866 [article, interview with G.C. Litchfield]. August 22, 1922. Oregon Journal.
Oregon Statesman
1866 [article]. August 27, 1866. Oregon Statesman.
Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs
1824-81 Records of the Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs, 1848-1873. Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75, Microcopy 2. National Archives.
Oregon Weather Bureau
1891 Biennial Report. Oregon Weather Bureau. Frank C. Baker, Salem.
Oregonian
1856 [article]. August 30, 1856. Oregonian.
Palmer, Joel
1853 Letter of November 26, 1853 to George C. Manypenny. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Annual Report. 33rd Congress, 1st Session, House Executive Documents 1, Vol 1. Serial 710.
1855a Letter of October 8, 1855 to Major G.J. Rains. Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs, Letter Book D:328. National Archives. [microfilm copy in University of Oregon Library].
1855b Letter of Nov. 2, 1855 to Mr. Jeffers. [Film 9, Roll 5, p. 399]. Photocopy in Onstad Collection, Benton County Museum, Philomath, OR.
1855c Letter of November 12, 1855 to George C. Manypenny. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Annual Report. 33rd Congress, 1st Session, House Executive Documents 1, Vol 1. Serial 710:355.
1855d Letter of December 1, 1855 to General John E. Wool. 34th Congress, 1st Session, House Executive Document 93, Vol 11. Serial 858:23-24.
1856a Letter of March 20, 1856 to Col. T. Morris. Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Letter Book E:89. National Archives. [microfilm copy in University of Oregon Library].
1856b Letter of March 23, 1856 to Col. T. Morris. Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Letter Book E:91. National Archives. [microfilm copy in University of Oregon Library].
1856c Letter of April 3, 1856 to Capt. Rinearson. Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Letter Book E:99-101. National Archives. [microfilm copy in University of Oregon Library].
1856d Letter of May 10, 1856 to George C. Manypenny. Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs 1848-1873, Letter Book E:136-37. National Archives. [microfilm copy in University of Oregon Library].
1856 Pocket Diary. Oregon Historical Society, Portland.
1860 Pocket Diary. Oregon Historical Society, Portland.
1861 Pocket Diary. Oregon Historical Society, Portland.
Parker, Jamieson
1934a Historic American Buildings Survey. Oregon Historical Quarterly 35:32-41.
1934b Historic American Buildings Survey: Final Results. Oregon Historical Quarterly 35:176-79.
Peterson, Ethel M.
1933 Oregon Indians and Indian Policy, 1849-1871. Unpublished M.S. thesis, University of Oregon, Eugene.
Phinney, Edward S.
1965 Alfred B. Meacham: Promoter of Indian Reform. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Oregon, Eugene.
Platt, Robert Treat
1903 Oregon and its Share in the Civil War. Oregon Historical Quarterly 4(2):89-109.
Polk County Historical Society
1976 Post Offices of Polk County. Historically Speaking. Polk County Historical Society, Dallas, OR.
Public Act
1902 Public Acts of the Fifty Seventh Congress of the United States, 1st Session, May 27, 1902 [Public 124], page 207.
Register
1855 Proceedings of the Citizens of Polk County at Dallas. December 18, 1855, Oregon Superintendency of Indian Affairs, Register 131.
Risch, Erna
1962 Quartermaster Support of the Army: A History of the Corps, 1775-1939. Office of the Quartermaster General, Washington, D.C.
Robbins, William G.
1974 Extinguishing Indian Land Title in Western Oregon. Indian Historian 7:10-14, 52.
Rockwood, Eleanor R.
n.d. Oregon State Documents, a Checklist, 1843 to 1925. Binford and Mort, Portland, OR.
Royce, Charles C., compiler
1899 Indian Land Cessions in the United States. 18th Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Russell, Capt. D. A.
1858 Letter of January 22, 1858 to Maj. W. W. Mackall, Asst. Adjutant General. Photocopy in Onstad Collection, Benton County Museum, Philomath, OR.
1859 Letter of April 13, 1859 to Capt. A Pleasanton. National Archives, Record Group 393, Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands, Department of the Columbia, Letters Received R8. National Archives.
1859 Letter of May 19, 1859 to Capt. A Pleasanton. National Archives, Record Group 393, Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands, Department of the Columbia, Letters Received R12. National Archives.
1859 Letter of November 23, 1859 to Capt. A Pleasanton. National Archives, Record Group 393, Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands, Department of the Columbia, Letters Received R30. National Archives.
1860 Letter of March 26, 1860 to Capt. A Pleasanton. National Archives, Record Group 393, Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands, Department of the Columbia, Letters Received, Box 5, R16. National Archives.
1860 Letter of November 6, 1860 to Col. S. Cooper, Adjt. Genl. U.S.A, Washington, D.C. Fort Yamhill Commander’s Letter Book University of Oregon Library, Eugene.
Schlesser, Norman D.
1973 Fort Umpqua: Bastion of Empire. Oakland Printing Company, Oakland, OR.
Schmitt, Martin F.
1949 Calendar of the Joel Palmer Papers. Special Collections, University of Oregon, Eugene.
Scott, Leslie M.
1934 Military Beginnings of the Salmon River Highway. Oregon Historical Quarterly 35(3):228-34.
Scott, Capt. Lyman S.
1862 Letter of January 1, 1862 to [Clement A. Finley, Surgeon General, U.S.A., Washington, D.C.] Fort Yamhill Commander’s Letter Book University of Oregon Library, Eugene.
1862 Letter of January 2, 1862 to Surgeon General, U.S.A. Fort Yamhill Commander’s Letter Book University of Oregon Library, Eugene.
1862 Letter of January 10, 1862 to Clement A. Finley, Surgeon General, U.S.A., Washington, D.C.
1862 Letter of Sept. 30, 1862 to Brig. Gen. M.C. Meigs. Photocopy in Onstad Collection, Benton County Museum, Philomath, OR.
1862 Letter of Nov. 10, 1862 to Brig. Gen. J.W. Ripley, Chief of Ordnance, Washington, D.C.
1863 Letter of March 6, 1863 stating that Lt. Garden will explore a route to the Siletz Reservation in a few days. District of Oregon, Letters Received Book 1861-63. Page 86. National Archives.
1865 Letter of March 1, 1865, "Reports the occurrence [sic] of a difficulty in which an indian was killed." District of Oregon, Letters Received Book 1864-65:62. National Archives.
1865 Letter of August 13, 1865 to Lt. J. L. Boone at Fort Vancouver. Record Group 393, Army Commands, Department of Columbia, Letters Received, Box 6 (S1-Y1, A1-028, 1865-66) S19, National Archives.
Senate Executive Documents
[Joel Palmer’s report for 1854]. Senate Executive Documents, Executive Document 19, 1st Seesion, 34th Congress. Serial 815.
1858-59 [Lt. Col. Buchanan acknowledges Joel Palmer]. Senate Executive Documents, Vol.. 2, p. 27. 2nd Seesion, 35th Congress. Serial 815.
Sheridan, Philip H.
1856 Letter of May 6, 1856 at Camp Grand Rond, Coast Range River. "Descriptive Report of the Reservation, Indian tribes, & establishment of military post & desires a piece of ordnance." Index Letters Received B2, 1852-1857, #24 under S-1856.
1856 Letter of May 21, 1856 at Camp Grand Rond, to Capt D. R. Jones, Asst. Adj. General, Pacific Dept., Benecia, California. Record Group 77, US 324-63. National Archives.
1888 Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan (2 vols.). Charles L. Webster & Co., New York.
Shipley, William J.
1865 Letter of Sept. 9, 1865 to Major Wainwright, Chief Ordnance Officer, Benicia Arsenal, Calif. Fort Yamhill Commander’s Letter Book 1865-1866. Ms., Coe Collection #1, Yale University.
1866 Letter of April 20, 1866 to Chief Quartermaster, Dept. of the Columbia, Ft. Vancouver, W.T.
1866 Letter of May 3, 1866 to Adjt. General. Fort Yamhill Commander’s Letter Book 1865-1866. Ms., Coe Collection #1, Yale University.
1866 Letter of May 26, 1866 to Quartermaster General, Washington. City, D.C. Fort Yamhill Commander’s Letter Book 1865-1866. Ms., Coe Collection #1, Yale University.
Simpson, Sam L.
1899 Maya, The Medicine Girl: A Story of Fort Yamhill in Sheridan’s Time. Pacific Monthly 2:248-252, 3:14-18, 63-64.
Smith, Andrew Jackson
1856 Letter of September 3, 1856 to Col. S. Cooper. Fort Yamhill Letter Book.
1856 Letter of October 30, 1856. Mentioned in Barth 1959:206.
1856 A Plan of Fort Yamhill and Letter of Transmittal December 5, 1865 [sic]. Records of the Office of the Adjutant General, The National Archives, Washington, D.C. Microfilm, 1947.
1856 Letter of December 5, 1856 from Capt. A. J. Smith, 1st Dragoons, Comdg. Fort Yamhill, "Forwarding plan of Fort Yamhill OT, etc." District of Oregon, Letters Received Book 1852-57. B2. National Archives.
Smith, Charles W.
1921 Pacific Northwest Americana: A Checklist of Books and Pamphlets Relating to the History of the Pacific Northwest. H.W. Wilson Company, New York.
Smith, E.D., Jr.
1938 Communication Pioneering in Oregon. Oregon Historical Quarterly 39.
Smith, Steven D.
1991 Archaeological Perspectives on the Civil War: The Challenge to Achieve Relevancy. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Richmond.
Spaid, Stanley Sheldon
1950 Joel Palmer and Indian Affairs in Oregon. PhD Dissertation, University of Oregon, Eugene.
Spectator
1850 [article]. August 8, 1850. Spectator.
Statesman
1866 [advertisement for sale of Fort Yamhill] August 13, 1866
1866 [article reporting auction of Fort Yamhill] August 27, 1866
Topographical Engineers
1859 Dept. of Oregon Map of the States of Oregon &Washington, 1859—Made by Topographical Engineers. Mapping the Transmississippi West, 1540-1861, Vol. 4, Pacific Railroad Surveys to the Onset of the Civil War.
1859 Dept. of Oregon Map of the States of Oregon &Washington, 1859—Made by Topographical Engineers. [Early Oregon Atlas: Early Forts, Old Mines, Old Town Sites, by Ralph N Preston,. 1978, Binford & Mort, Portland]
1885 Map of the Department of Columbia, Projected and Compiled at the Engineers Office by Lt. Thomas W. Symons, Rvised 1885. [Early Oregon Atlas: Early Forts, Old Mines, Old Town Sites, by Ralph N Preston,. 1978, Binford & Mort, Portland]
U.S. Statutes at Large
1850 Oregon Indian Bill. U.S. Statutes at Large 9:437.
Van Der Heyden, ,
Monsignor Adrian J. Croquet. Records of the American Catholic Society 17:87. cited in Barth 1959:200
Vaughn, Warren
1890 Early Settlement of Tillamook Co Oregon. Typed Ms., University of Oregon Library.
Victor, Frances Fuller
1894 Early Indian Wars of Oregon. Frank C. Bailer, State Printer, Salem
1902 The First Oregon Cavalry. Oregon Historical Quarterly 3:123-63.
Warren, G. K.
1861 Map of the Territory of the United States from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean ordered by Hon. Jefferson Davis, Sec. of War. Compiled by Lt. G. K. Warren, 1854-5-6-7. Senate Executive Documents, 2nd Session, 36th Congress. Reports on Explorations and Surveys to ascertain the most practicable and economic route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, Vol XI. George W. Bowman, Washington, D.C. Serial ___.
Webb, Velda
1935 History of Valley Junction. Ms.,
Whalen, Willis L.
1950 Pioneer Period of the Catholic Church in Portland, Oregon, 1851-1881.
White, Ruth Kolene
1939 Sheridan Served as Lieutenant at Fort Yamhill by Ben Maxwell, Sunday Journal. Typed manuscript dated November 20, 1939, probably a book report. Onstad Collection, Benton County Museum, Philomath.
Williams, George H. [Judge]
1856 Territory of Oregon vs. Charles Stotzer. District Court Minutes, September 23, 1856. pp. 128-34.
Winther, Oscar O.(editor)
1942 The Trans-Mississippi West: A Guide to Its Periodical Literature (1811-1938). Indiana University, Bloomington.
W. P. A.
1940 Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the Oregon Historical Society. Oregon Historical Records Survey, Divsion of Professional and Service Projects, Works Projects Administration, Portland, OR.
n.d. Item XXI, W. P. A. Records
Yale University
1952 A Catologue of Manuscripts in the Collection of Western Americana in the Yale University Library Founded by William Robertson Coe. Yale University Press, New Haven.
Young, Frederick G. (editor)
1899 Sources of the History of Oregon. University Press, Eugene.
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