Fort Raymond was a U.S. Army Post established in

Seward, Alaska Seward (Alutiiq: ; Dena'ina: ''Tl'ubugh'') is an incorporated home rule city in Alaska, United States. Located on Resurrection Bay, a fjord of the Gulf of Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is situated on Alaska's southern coast, approximat ...

in 1942. The fort was named for

Charles W. Raymond Charles Walker Raymond (14 January 1842 – 3 May 1913) was a United States Army civil engineer and brigadier general. In 1869, he was the first U.S. government representative to visit the Yukon River Valley after the 1867 Alaska Purchase. Raymond ...

, who had served in Alaska as a captain in the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

. At one point the garrison included more than 3,000 officers and men. The post was established to protect the dock and railroad facilities in Seward via coastal, and anti-aircraft artillery. These transportation facilities were critical to the buildup of military facilities throughout Alaska. Supplies and materials arriving by ship to Seward were transported to

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring ...

and Interior Alaska via the

Alaska Railroad Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

. The defense of Seward became less important after 1943 when the Japanese forces in the Aleutians were defeated and the threat of attack or invasion was greatly reduced. The construction of the deep water port in

Whittier, Alaska Whittier is a city at the head of the Passage Canal in the U.S. state of Alaska, about southeast of Anchorage. The city is within the Chugach Census Area, one of the two entities established in 2019 when the former Valdez–Cordova Census Are ...

, much closer to Anchorage, also reduced Seward's importance. The Army troops stationed at Fort Raymond were used as stevedores when needed. Fort Raymond was closed in 1945. The fort's hospital was quickly transferred to the

Territory of Alaska The Territory of Alaska or Alaska Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from August 24, 1912, until Alaska was granted statehood on January 3, 1959. The territory was previously Russian America, 1784–1867; th ...

by the

War Assets Administration The War Assets Administration (WAA) was created to dispose of United States government-owned surplus material and property from World War II. The WAA was established in the Office for Emergency Management, effective March 25, 1946, by Executive Or ...

, and it was operated as a

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

sanitorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are ofte ...

until 1957. The airfield associated with the fort remained and became Walseth Air Force Base after the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

was established as an independent branch of the U.S. armed forces in 1947. Walseth AFB was closed in 1948.

References

{{coord missing, Alaska Installations of the United States Army in Alaska 1942 establishments in Alaska

Raymond Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ...

1945 disestablishments in Alaska Military installations closed in 1945