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Fort Stevens was an American military installation that guarded the mouth of the Columbia River in the state of
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, Isaac Stevens, who had been killed in action at the Battle of Chantilly 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
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
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.
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 Idah ...
. 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 state ...
, 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 th ...
governor, Isaac I. Stevens
Isaac Ingalls Stevens (March 25, 1818 – September 1, 1862) was an American military officer and politician who served as governor of the Territory of Washington from 1853 to 1857, and later as its delegate to the United States House of Represen ...
. 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 artist ...
.
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, Isaac Stevens, who had been killed in action at the Battle of Chantilly 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
Fort Columbia State Park is a public recreation area and historic preserve at the site of former Fort Columbia, located on Chinook Point at the mouth of the Columbia River in Chinook, Washington. The state park features twelve historic wood-fr ...
, 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 attack during the Pig War of 1859 and subsequent ongoing regional tensions through 1870 in the San Juan Islands, 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 exist ...
, 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) ...
'' 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
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
The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawai ...
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. The Japanese attack caused no damage to the fort itself, it only destroyed the backstop of the post's baseball field
A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...
.
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 respo ...
) 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 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 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 ...
'' 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 ...
. 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
See also
* Board of Fortifications *Attacks on United States territory in North America during World War II
The American Theater was a theater of operations during World War II including all continental American territory, and extending into the ocean.
Owing to North and South America's geographical separation from the central theaters o ...
* Oregon Coast Trail, the northern terminus is in Fort Stevens
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