It was common practice to use existing Indian trails to develop
military roads, and only make necessary improvements for the movement of artillery or supply trains.[3] Brevet Major Lugenbeel followed the long established
Hudson's Bay CompanyBrigade Trail from the
Fort Walla Walla area to Fort Colvile (Hudson's Bay Company), but had to leave the trail at current Orin-Rice Road, two miles south of Colville, when the southernmost land claims of the Hudson's Bay Company started. Washington Territorial Governor
Isaac Stevens and the U.S. Army were ordered by the
U.S. Department of State to honor land ownership claims by the Hudson's Bay Company.[4][5] The road became the Fort Walla Walla Fort Colville Military Road.[6] Lugenbeel's command arrived from Fort Walla Walla on June 20, 1859.[7]
Brevet Major Lugenbeel was directed to build a four-company post able to house 300 men and the
U.S. Northwest Boundary Commission personnel. A
sawmill owned by R. H. Douglas was two miles from the post at Douglas Falls, but he wanted twice as much as normal for the lumber. Lugenbeel built a sawmill for the
fort a half-mile up on Mill Creek to keep costs down.[11]
The U.S. Northwest Boundary Survey personnel arrived at the fort on December 3, 1859, but the buildings assigned to them were not complete. Temperatures were down to −22 °F and they were housed in tents until December 19, 1859. The newly competed buildings were solid and warm and home to the survey personnel for two years as they surveyed and cut the border on the
49th parallel to the
Rocky Mountains.[12]
A small town developed outside the post,
Pinkney City, Washington, the name derived from Lugenbeel's first name. In 1860, Pinkney City, became the original
Spokane County, Washington county seat, and in 1864, when Spokane County and
Stevens County, Washington merged, it remained the county seat for Stevens County.[13] From 1860 to January 1864, Spokane County used the fort
jail for any incarcerations.[14]
On September 28, 1860, First Lieutenant
August V. Kautz arrived at Fort Colville with 150 recruits.[15] His journal recorded the route from Coeur d'Alene to the fort along the road built by the U. S. Northwest Boundary Commission above the Spokane River and then along the Fort Walla Walla Fort Colville Military Road.[12]
Fort Colville during the American Civil War
When the
American Civil War started in 1861, officers were ordered to renew their
Oath of Allegiance, with four officers eventually resigning to serve with the
Confederate States of America. As the Civil War started, Lugenbeel was ordered to take his two companies of regular army to Fort Walla Walla in November 1861, to be replaced by
volunteers.[16]
Volunteers man the post
Taking over in late 1861 were C and D Companies,
4th California Infantry Regiment. Locals considered these troops, with some recruited from
Alcatrez Prison, as a bad lot including one of the fort's lieutenants who murdered John Burt.[11]
On November 3, 1865, regular troops G Company,
14th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army, returned to man the fort.[19] On February 18, 1867, soldiers of G Company killed Deputy Sheriff Horace P. Stewart as he tried to break up a beating of his business partner, Jack Shaw, at the
saloon owned by both men.[20][21]
In 1875, for the first time
cavalry troops were assigned to the fort, when E Company was reinforced by M Company,
1st Cavalry Regiment. Accommodations for horses were added to the fort.[24] In 1876, Indian unrest in the
Montana Territory continued to show the need for the fort. In 1877, many soldiers who had been stationed at Fort Colville took part in the pursuit and battles with the
Nez Perce.[25]
On October 21, 1880,
Fort Spokane was established by the U.S. Army at the junction of the
Columbia and
Spokane Rivers.[26] Cavalry often stayed at Fort Colville due to a scarcity of hay and grain around Fort Spokane until the summer of 1885.[27][28]
One of the last actions from the fort was First Lieutenant's Henry H. Pierce's expedition from Fort Colville to
Puget Sound, Washington Territory by way of
Lake Chelan and
Skagit River August and September 1882.[29]
Fort Colville was closed in 1882. On September 11, 1929, Colville civic leaders dedicated a monument to the fort.[31]
The bodies of soldiers who died while serving at the fort were disinterred and moved to the
Presidio of San Francisco and the
San Francisco National Cemetery. Those that stayed in the area are likely buried at the Evergreen Cemetery established immediately west of the old fort.[32]
Notables associated with Fort Colville
In 1859, Captain
John Mullan came to Fort Colville to ascertain improvement to the Fort Walla Walla Fort Colville Military Road in preparation for building the
Mullan Road.[33]
First Lieutenant
John Grubb Parke was chief astronomer, surveyor, and topographical engineer for the U.S. Northwest Boundary Commission in 1859. He later served as a general in the Civil War, and retired after serving as the
Superintendent,
U.S. Military Academy.[34]
Captain
John Wesley Frazer commanded C Company, 9th Infantry and helped build Fort Colville in 1859. He was a Brigadier General in the Confederacy.[35][7]
First Lieutenant Nathaniel Wickliffe, served at Fort Colville in 1860 and resigned his commission to serve with the 5th Mississippi Cavalry.[36][37][7]
Joseph Smith Harris was part of the U.S. Northwest Boundary Commission stationed at the fort 1859-1861.[12]
Second Lieutenant
Charles Garrison Harker was part of the escort duty for the U.S. Northwest Boundary Commission in 1859. He was a U.S. Army brigadier general in the Civil War and he died in
Battle of Kennesaw Mountain on June 27, 1864.[38][7]
Captain
James J. Archer, commander Co I, 9th Infantry protected the U.S. Northwest Boundary Commission and served at the fort. He served as a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army.[40][7]
Captain Crawford Fletcher commanded Company K, 9th Infantry in 1861 when the fort was built and resigned his commission to join the Confederate Army.[41][7]
Major
James Freeman Curtis commanded Company C and D, 4th California Infantry Regiment. His command consisted partially of men released from
Alcatraz Island to form two companies. He served in the Civil War and was retroactively promoted to Brigadier General. He became the
IdahoSecretary of State in 1892.[42][7]
Major C. W. Rumrill took over the post in 1862 with B and C Company, 1st Regiment Washington Territory Volunteer Infantry.[43][7]
Captain Fredinand O. McCown in 1865 with one company of the 1st Oregon Volunteer Infantry Regiment, took over command the fort. McCown served three terms as mayor of
Oregon City, Oregon and was a co-founder of the Oregon City Electric Company.[44][7]
Captain George L. Browning on February 10, 1869, with D Company, 23rd Infantry Regiment and took over the fort. He later took part in the
Battle of the Big Hole.[45]
Captain Moses Harris, who commanded the fort from 1875 to 1878, received the Medal of Honor during the Civil War.[50][51]
Second Lieutenant Frederick S. Foltz, H Company, 1st Cavalry served at the fort in 1878. He led the
91st Division) as commanding general when they went overseas to fight in
World War I.[7][31]
George Washington Goethals arrived at Fort Colville in advance of General Sherman's tour of army posts in 1883. He directed building the
Panama Canal to completion.[52]
Major William F. Drum, last commander of Fort Colville in 1882. He joined the
2nd Ohio Infantry as a private, rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Civil War. He was the commanding officer of
Fort Yates, North Dakota when he died on July 4, 1892.[53]
John U. Hofstetter, a soldier at the fort when it was built. He left the service and stayed in the area. He was a Spokane and Stevens County Commissioner, Sheriff, and founding father of the City of Colville.[25]
^Durham, N. W., "History of the City of Spokane and Spokane County Washington From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Illustrated Volume I, p. 96, 1912, Spokane, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
^Newton, Carl Abbot and Carver, Fred E, The Evolution of Washington Counties, 1978, Yakima, Washington, Yakima Valley Genealogical Society.
^Spokane/Stevens County Commissioners Journal Book A 1860-1883, p. 1-35, Stevens County, Washington.
^Kautz, August V., Journal of the march of a detachment of U. S. recruits en route for Oregon from Coeur d'Alene to Colville Depot commanded by 1st Lt August V. Kautz, 4th Inf, Colville Valley.
September 28, 1860, microform from the University of Montana of original at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Purchased from William Reese Company on the Frederick W. & Carrie S. Beinecke Fund for Western Americana, 1995
^Oldham, Kit (March 4, 2003). "U.S. Army establishes Fort Spokane at the junction of the Spokane and Columbia rivers in 1882". Essay 5358. HistoryLink. Retrieved 2014-9-9.
^Rodenbough, Theophilus Francis and Haskin, William Lawrence Haskin, The Army of the United States: Historical Sketches of Staff and Line with Portraits of Generals-in-chief, 1896, Maynard Merrill, viewed on Google September 14, 2014.
Graham, Patrick J. (2006), Colville Collection Book Two Military Fort Colville, 1859 to 1882, Colville, Washington: Statesman-Examiner,
ISBN0970565437
Returns From U.S. Military Posts, 1859-1882 (Microfilm Publication M617, Roll 240) and Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780s-1917 (Record Group 94), Washington, D.C.: National Archives – via viewed on
Ancestry.com