both sides of the road; that the Indians attacked vigorously
in force from fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred warriors and
were successfully resisted for half an hour or more; that the
command then being short of ammunition and seized with panic at
this event, and the great numerical superiority of the Indians,
attempted to retreat toward the fort; that the mountaineers and
old soldiers who had learned that movement from the Indians
in an engagement was equivalent to death remained in their
first position and were killed there; that, immediately upon
the commencement of the retreat, the Indians charged upon and
surrounded the party who could not now be formed by their
officers and the party was immediately killed.
Only six of the whole command were killed by balls and two of
these, Lieutenant Colonel Fetterman and Captain Brown, no doubt
inflicted this death upon themselves, or each other, by their own
hands for both were shot through the left temple and powder was
burnt into the skin and flesh about the wound. These officers had
also oftentimes asserted that they would not be taken alive by
the Indians.
In its appearance Fort Kearney was typical of the Indian forts of
the period, being little more than a stockade on the level prairie
with the necessary houses inside. The parade ground occupied four
acres and was flanked by a few straggly cottonwood trees. The post
was deserted not long after the building of the Union Pacific
railroad six miles away, which destroyed the reason of its being;
after its desertion fell victim to its ancient enemy, for it was
burned by the Indians.
Fort Leavenworth, Leavenworth, near Kansas City, Kansas, whose
name occurs so often in the records of Indian warfare of the
West, was established May, 1827, by Colonel Henry Leavenworth,
commanding a detachment of the Third United States Infantry. At
first the post was extremely unhealthy, a large part of the command
being prostrated by malarial fever. It was evacuated in 1820 and
reoccupied in 1830, then, and for several years, being known as
Cantonment Leavenworth. Since the latter date the place has never
been without United States troops and it is to-day the largest
fixed post in the United States military service.
The first mission of Fort Leavenworth was to protect the emigrant
trains which set out from St. Louis, several hundred miles to the
east, and passed this point on the way to California, or Oregon,
by the famous old Santa Fé Trail, the California Overland Trail or
the Oregon Trail, each of which went by this place. As the years
went on the fort became more and more a base of supply for the army
posts established further west. Its central location, which made
it ideal as a distributing point to any part of the West, is the
factor which is at the base of its importance in the present day.
Fort Fetterman, Wyoming, was established in July, 1867, and named
in honor of the officer who lost his life commanding the detachment
destroyed by the Indians at Fort Kearney. In the following month
the Indians of the vicinity were actively hostile. The old post was
a most picturesque point in its day, being situated on a high bluff
which shows its pointed palisade in fine relief against the sky. It
is now deserted.
[Illustration: FORT KEOGH, NEAR MILES CITY, MONTANA]
Fort Bridger, Wyoming, another of the Indian posts of the past,
was one of the most important points on the Great Salt Lake Trail.
It was located on the Black Fork of the Green River and was
established in June, 1858. The immediate locality had long been
known as Bridger’s Fort because of the situation here of a trading
post of James Bridger, one of the most noted trappers and guides
of this section. In its establishment it was intended to be a base
of supplies for the army of General Albert Sydney Johnston moving
against the Mormons in Salt Lake Valley in 1857 to 1858. That
winter the entire command encamped in the valley just above the
site of Fort Bridger and upon its removal the permanent post was
located.
Fort Keogh, Montana, one of the still existing Indian posts, was
established, in 1876, on the right bank of the Yellowstone River,
two miles above the mouth of the Tongue River, Custer County, on
a high elevation above the river bottom, by General Terry during
a campaign against the Sioux. It was named in honor of Captain
Miles Keogh, killed in the battle of the Little Big Horn, popularly
known as Custer’s Massacre, June 25, 1876. The area of the post
reservation is 90 square miles. In appearance Fort Keogh is typical
of the other forts of its class.
Fort Douglas, Utah, is at the base of the plateau of the Wahsatch
Mountains and is part of the suburbs of Salt Lake City. The
reservation contains two square miles of territory, and the scenery
from any part thereof is extremely fine. The post was established
October, 1862, by Colonel P. E. Connor, of the Third Regiment of
California Infantry.
FORT VANCOUVER
COLUMBIA RIVER--WASHINGTON
To delve into the history of Fort Vancouver, or Vancouver Barracks
as it is known to-day, is to recall that time when the far
northwest of the United States was in the making, when there was no
definite boundary between England, Spain, Russia and the American
nation in this part of the American continent and when all of these
great nations, with the addition of France and little Portugal, to
boot, were claimants to the Columbia River and the wildernesses
which it held tributary.
The first white men to descry the mouth of the Columbia from the
sea were, no doubt, the Spaniards, for Heceta, in 1775, and Bodega
and Arteaga in the same year and, again, in 1779, made brief
excursions into the river. In 1792 Captain Robert Gray, of Boston,
with the good ship “Columbia,” ascended the stream for twenty-five
miles and claimed possession of it for the United States. He named
the river for his vessel. Several months after Gray had been on
the stream the English nation, as represented by Captain Cook’s
lieutenant, ascended the stream for over a hundred miles, making
careful record of his trip. The three great nations Spain, England,
and the United States had each valid claims. Portugal, Russia and
France were early eliminated from the struggle for possession
which was thereupon fought determinedly by the first three
countries.
In 1819 by the Florida treaty with Spain that country ceded to
the United States all of her claims north of the 42nd degree of
latitude and so, here, Spain gracefully stepped out of the ring.
The close of the War of 1812 with Great Britain saw that power in
possession of the disputed country, but the Treaty of Ghent, 1815,
provided that each nation should restore what it had taken from
the other by force. Thereupon the United States resumed possession
of the fort at the mouth of the Columbia which it had formerly
maintained. In 1818 was signed the Joint Occupation Treaty between
the two countries, by which it was provided that the northwest
coast of America should be open to citizens of both powers for the
period of ten years. Finally, in 1846, was signed the agreement
between Great Britain and the United States by which the northern
boundary of the Northwest was fixed at the line of 49 degrees,
where it rests to-day. The United States received about 750 miles
of the river and England about 650 miles. While there was much
diplomatic jockeying and juggling and while the two nations came
perilously close to a resort to arms, the question, on the whole,
was settled with great amicableness and the decision once arrived
at was accepted with entire good nature by each party to the
contract.
Now let us ask why was it that the Northwest of those days was
considered so great a prize that six of the World Powers should
contend for its possession? The domain, though a princely one, was
not a necessity to a young nation--our own--which had illimitable
leagues of arable soil still unfilled. It was remote from all of
the powers of Europe. The answer to our question is to be found
in the one word, furs. The Northwest was a treasure house through
virtue of the fur-bearing animals which it contained.
As early as 1806 a trading station was established in the valley
of the Columbia River by The Northwest Fur Company, an English
corporation. In 1810 the Pacific Fur Company, which was to found
the fortunes of John Jacob Astor, was organized by that gentleman
in New York and, in 1811, the first of Astor’s ships arrived at the
mouth of the Columbia River to erect the trading post of Astoria,
whose fortunes have been so entertainingly told by Washington
Irving in the book of that name. The Hudson Bay Company had also
made entrance to this rich field.
During the War of 1812 the Pacific Fur Company retired from its
positions in the Columbia valley and the Hudson Bay Company
absorbed its English rival, the Northwest Fur Company. The English
built a strong fort at Astoria which they called Fort George. But
several years after the conclusion of the war between England and
America, the Pacific Fur Company resumed possession of its posts
in the Columbia, with the backing of the United States government,
under the authority of the Treaty of Ghent and the Hudson Bay
Company, and though events proved that it could maintain an
amicable joint household with Astor’s corporation at Astoria, began
to look about for a site for headquarters of its own. Since the
Columbia River at that time seemed destined to become the dividing
line between English and American possessions, a site was chosen
on the north side of the river, about 120 miles above its mouth.
Here a strong post was established in 1825 and named Vancouver, in
honor of the British mariner. The site was not deemed as suitable
for the purposes of a fort as a situation a short distance away, so
a second Fort Vancouver was built on the last chosen spot. This is
the Fort Vancouver of the present day, and the site of the city of
Vancouver, Washington.
The new post was made the Pacific head-quarters for the Hudson
Bay Company and became a great mart of trade from California to
Alaska and for innumerable little stations in the Rocky mountains
and the hinterland thereof. The fort, itself, was an imposing
structure with a picket wall twenty feet high, buttressed with
massive timbers inside. It enclosed a parallelogram five hundred
feet by seven hundred feet and contained forty buildings, including
a governor’s residence of generous proportions. The lands outside
of the fort proper were cultivated and were exceedingly productive.
The employees of the company were comfortably housed and formed a
happy community, and to the point came red men in various garbs,
hunters, trappers and woodsmen, a picturesque throng in craft of
all description.
This is a sketch of the post in 1816, the year in which, through
the treaty between England and America, it became a possession of
the United States. In 1810 a company of United States Artillery,
under Captain J. H. Hathaway, took possession of the place in the
name of the republic and the stars and stripes waved where the lion
of St. George had held the breeze. It is an interesting commentary
of the times to remember that to reach their destination Captain
Hathaway and his soldiers were obliged to sail around Cape Horn in
a sailing vessel, the voyage consuming many months. In the Spring
of 1850 a company of mounted riflers arrived at the post overland
from Fort Leavenworth.
An additional interest is given Fort Vancouver by knowing that at
various periods prior to the Civil War Grant, Sheridan, McClellan,
Hooker, and other of the famous United States leaders of the Civil
War were stationed here. It was in a campaign against the Indians
not far distant from Fort Vancouver that General Sheridan fought
his first battle.
FORT YUMA
AT HEAD OF NAVIGATION, COLORADO RIVER--CALIFORNIA
The comedian of Uncle Sam’s military posts is old Fort Yuma on
the Colorado River at the southwestern extremity of California.
To mention the name in a barrack-room where there are seasoned
soldiers is to call forth a reminiscent smile and the old story of
the hen that laid hard-boiled eggs. These and that other one of
the officers, who when they die at Fort Yuma and appear before his
Satanic Majesty (by some strange miscarriage of justice) shiver
with cold and send back to the fort for their blankets.
Other posts in Uncle Sam’s itinerary are hot, but Fort Yuma spends
all of its time in heating up with a passion for its work and an
unrelenting attention to detail that have become legendary. During
the months of April, May, and June no rainfall comes, and the
average temperature is 105° in the shade. Of course the post does
much better on some occasions, and at other times it falls below
this batting average.
The most active days of Fort Yuma as a military post were found
just before and for a few years subsequent to the Civil War,
though that great conflict had no part in Yuma’s past. During the
days that California was having its mind made up for it to become
a part of the United States, and during the days in which it
was beginning the great experiment indicated, Yuma was of much
importance as a base for United States troops. In addition to this
it exercised and has always exercised a restraining influence upon
those restless spirits of the desert, the Apache Indians. Being
situated on the border between the United States and Mexico, it has
some little to do in seeing that the customs regulations of this
country are preserved. And it has always secured importance from
being one of the stations on the old Santa Fé trail.
After receiving the Gila at a point 100 miles from its mouth, the
Colorado River turns suddenly westward and forces its way through a
rocky defile, 70 feet high and 350 yards long and 200 yards wide,
thus cutting off a narrow rocky bluff and leaving it as an isolated
eminence on the California side of the river. Here stands Fort
Yuma, grey and sombre above the green bottom lands of the river,
which are covered with a dense growth of cottonwood and mesquite.
Chains of low serrated hills and mountains limit the view on nearly
every side--all bare and grey save when painted by the sun with
delicate hues of blue and purple.
[Illustration:
By courtesy of the War Department
FORT YUMA, CALIFORNIA]
Before reaching the fort the traveller passes through a long road
shaded by young cottonwoods and mesquite interspersed with an
impenetrable growth of arrow-bush and cane. Then he comes to a
bend of the river where the water loses the ruddy tint which gives
it its musical name of “Colorado” and, finally, he brings up
at the fortification, which in the distance appeared heavy and
forbidding but which near at hand resolves itself into a collection
of substantial adobe houses inclosed by deep verandas with Venetian
blinds which shut out every direct ray of sunlight.
All the buildings at the post are of sun-dried brick and neatly
plastered within and without. They are one story in height, have
large rooms with lofty ceilings and facilities for the freest
ventilation. The roof and walls are double, inclosing an air
chamber. Each house is surrounded by a veranda and adjacent houses
have their verandas in communication, so that the occupants may
pass from one to another without exposing themselves to the heat of
the sun.
What entitles the post to the name of fort are certain
unpretentious intrenchments scattered along the slopes of the bluff
overlooking the river and commanding the bottom lands adjacent.
They are not visible from the river and the visitor is not aware
of their existence until he steps to the edge of the bluff and
looks down upon them. The parade is a stony lawn. Not a blade of
grass is to be seen and everything is of that ashy light-grey color
so trying to the eyes. It is a relief to gaze out upon the green
bottom lands through which one passed before ascending to the top
of the eminence where stands the fort.
Being so excessively dry the air at this post plays strange pranks
with articles made for use in less arid climates, as many a young
officer’s wife has found to her cost when bringing trunks and other
household paraphernalia to her new home. Furniture put together in
the North and brought here falls to pieces; travelling chests gape
at their seams, and a sole-leather trunk contracts so much that the
tray must be pried out by force.
Ink dries so rapidly upon the pen that it requires washing off
every few minutes and a No. 2 pencil leaves no more trace upon a
piece of paper than a piece of anthracite coal would leave. To use
a pencil it is necessary to have it kept immersed in water before
calling upon it for service. Newspapers require to be unfolded
with care, for if handled roughly they crumble. Boxes of soap that
weigh twelve pounds when shipped to Fort Yuma weigh only ten pounds
after having been there for several weeks. Hams lose 12 per cent.
in weight and rice 2 per cent. Eggs lose their watery contents
by evaporation and become thick and tough. The effort to cool
one’s self with an ordinary fan is vain, because the surrounding
atmosphere is of higher temperature than the body. The earth under
foot is dry and powdery and hot as flour just ground, while the
rocks are so hot that the hands cannot be borne upon them.
“The story of the dog that ran across the parade at mid-day on
three legs barking at every step may be correct,” writes an officer
who was stationed there, “though I have never seen it tried.”
VALLEY FORGE--YORKTOWN--VICKSBURG--LOOKOUT
MOUNTAIN--GETTYSBURG--THE “CRATER”
In the nature of the case field fortifications are temporary
erections, earthworks thrown up for an immediate emergency; but,
occasionally some bright deed or some momentous consequence gives
these defences a fame more enduring than walls of stone planned
with deliberation and executed with leisured care.
Who has not heard of Valley Forge and the heroic winter of
1777-1778 which Washington spent there with his meagerly clad men?
Valley Forge is now a public reservation about twelve miles north
of Philadelphia, on the Schuylkill River. Excursion trains run out
from that city to the park, so it is easy of access. The grounds
cover hundreds of acres, but the principal points are plainly
marked and may be quickly reached.
One of the most interesting souvenirs of Washington’s immortal
encampment at Valley Forge is the little stone house which the
great commander used as his headquarters. An unpretentious,
substantial structure of the typical style of building of the days
in which it was constructed, it is in excellent preservation,
strong and sturdy as on the day of its erection. The building
contains numerous Washington relics and curios collected by the
State authorities or presented to the park by men and women of
various parts of the nation.
One of the most conspicuous objects of the reservation is the
Memorial Arch erected by the United States government to the memory
of the men and officers who shared the privations of that terrible
winter at this spot. It is of Roman character and stands on a
commanding eminence in the central part of the grounds. Near at
hand is planned the Washington Memorial Chapel, which the Future
may complete, or leave unbuilt, as it sees fit.
Fort Washington, a small redoubt or earth, is not far from the Arch
and has been carefully preserved against the encroachments of Time.
The lines of the earthworks may also be made out.
A historic site is Yorktown, Virginia, the sleepy little village
on the peninsula between the James and York rivers Cornwallis
surrendered to Washington and the French allies in 1781, thus
making sure of American Independence, and where the Army of the
Potomac encamped under McClellan in 1862, throwing up massive
earthworks. The traces of both Cornwallis’ and McClellan’s
encampments are easily to be made out to-day.
[Illustration: National Memorial Arch
Washington’s Headquarters
SCENES AT VALLEY FORGE]
The American and French forces marched from Williamsburg, September
28, 1781, driving in the British outposts at Yorktown as they
approached and taking possession of the abandoned outworks. Forming
a semicircular line about two miles from the British intrenchments
they completely invested the enemy, the York River enclosing his
forces to the northeast. October 17, Cornwallis offered to discuss
terms of surrender.
The beginning of the year 1863--to make a jump from the
Revolution to the Civil War--saw the turning of the tide for
the United States, and it was in this year that the decisive
battles of Vicksburg, Gettysburg and Chattanooga were fought. The
battle-grounds of each of these engagements have been created
national parks and are maintained in such a fashion that the
visitor may follow the movements of the troops in those great
clashes.
After the capture of the posts north of Vicksburg, on the
Mississippi, and the opening of the mouth of the river by
Farragut’s taking of New Orleans in 1862, Vicksburg was the only
remaining defence of the Confederacy on the Mississippi, and
the sole remaining link between the Confederacy’s east and west
portions. The principal works of the city were on a commanding
eminence, giving a clear sweep of the river and the surrounding
country, which was swampy and almost impassable. They were
competently manned, capably officered and well supplied.
The place, altogether, was deemed almost impregnable. To follow
out all of the steps by which its reduction was brought about is
not the province of this chapter. The United States troops under
the comparatively unknown commander, U. S. Grant, began to operate
at the end of January, 1863, and on July 4 concluded their task
in the unconditional surrender of the main fortification of the
Confederates. The surrender of Vicksburg came one day after the
conclusion of the battle of Gettysburg which occupied the first
three days of July.
The reservation of the Vicksburg National Park contains 1,255.07
acres and was acquired pursuant to an Act of Congress approved
February 21, 1899.
The grounds of the Gettysburg National Park, Adams County,
Pennsylvania, comprise 2,054 acres and their acquisition was
commenced in 1873. The scenes of the principal movements of the
battle have been marked with suitable monuments. The battle of
Gettysburg proved conclusively that the South could not invade the
North. It was the last gallant attempt of a completely invested
country to strike a fatal blow before the strangle-hold of its
enemy should bring the end.
[Illustration: The Slaughter Hollow
The Entrance to the Tunnel
TWO VIEWS TO-DAY OF THE “CRATER,” PETERSBURG, VA.]
The largest of the national military parks is Chickamauga and
Chattanooga National Park, which comprises 5,688 acres in the
State of Georgia, in addition to nearly 150 acres in the State
of Tennessee, the park being situated on the line between the
States. In Tennessee is located Lookout Mountain. The acquisition
of this reservation began under the provisions of an Act of
Congress approved August 19, 1890.
On the outskirts of Petersburg, Virginia, the remains of Forts
Haskell and Steadman, the scene of the “Crater” episode, and part
of the defences of the capital of the Confederacy which fell
before Grant in 1865, have been preserved as a private enterprise.
For a small consideration the “Crater” and the earthworks will
be shown to the visitor. The Federal forces opposed to Fort
Steadman--at the suggestion of a miner from Chambersburg, Pa., it
is said--constructed a long tunnel from their lines to beneath the
Confederate stronghold. An enormous quantity of powder was here,
and when it was set off a body of soldiers was to charge through
the breach and take the Confederate positions.
The powder was exploded and the plan was successful in so far that
it blew several hundred men into eternity, but when the attacking
column reached the cavity in the ground its men became confused,
giving the Confederates time to reform and to pour in a terrible
fire upon the Union men concentrated in the broken ground below.
The result was terrible carnage of United States troops. The
“Crater” had become a death trap. Nearly three thousand men were
killed in it in thirty minutes, the most disastrous loss the
Federal forces suffered in so short a time during the war.
The “Crater” to-day is a peaceful spot glorified by tall trees
which keep the scene in continual gloom. The depression in the
ground is ten feet or more in depth and about two hundred feet in
diameter. A short walk brings one to the entrance to the tunnel
where the lines of the United States were stretched.