Part I, “Our Manifest Destiny Bids Fair for Fulfillment”: An Historical Overview of Vancouver Barracks, 1846-1898, with suggestions for further research Military men and women pose for a group photo at Vancouver Barracks, circa 1880s Photo courtesy of Clark County Museum written by Donna L. Sinclair Center for Columbia River History Funded by The National Park Service, Department of the Interior Final Copy, February 2004 This document is the first in a research partnership between the Center for Columbia River History (CCRH) and the National Park Service (NPS) at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. The Park Service contracts with CCRH to encourage and support professional historical research, study, lectures and development in higher education programs related to the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and the Vancouver National Historic Reserve (VNHR). CCRH is a consortium of the Washington State Historical Society, Portland State University, and Washington State University Vancouver. The mission of the Center for Columbia River History is to promote study of the history of the Columbia River Basin. Introduction For more than 150 years, Vancouver Barracks has been a site of strategic importance in the Pacific Northwest. Established in 1849, the post became a supply base for troops, goods, and services to the interior northwest and the western coast. Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century soldiers from Vancouver were deployed to explore the northwest, build regional transportation and communication systems, respond to Indian-settler conflicts, and control civil and labor unrest. A thriving community developed nearby, deeply connected economically and socially with the military base. From its inception through WWII, Vancouver was a distinctly military place, an integral part of the city’s character. Officer’s Row and the historic buildings of Vancouver Barracks still play a significant role in the community’s identity on the 366-acre Vancouver National Historic Reserve. Vancouver Barracks provides a rich social history that should be thoroughly researched. The following is the first in a series of multi-purpose interpretive documents. Five main periods of development on the Reserve have been identified: pre-1846; 1846-1898; 1898-1920; 1920-1943; and 1943-1960. The first period of inquiry, presented in this document, is from 1846-1898. This is when Vancouver Barracks established American control of the region. The post became headquarters for the Department of the Columbia, including what are now the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. By 1898, Vancouver Barracks sent the first regular army overseas expeditionary forces to the Philippines. The purpose of this document is: (1) to provide a social history overview of Vancouver Barracks for National Park Service interpreters; (2) to provide directions for further research, both by NPS Interpretive staff and professional historians and their graduate students; (3) to make the history of Vancouver Barracks accessible to the general reader. Two questions provided the research foundation: (1) What were the relationships between Vancouver Barracks and the region, nation, and world? (2) What were the relationships between the barracks and the nearby community? As a social history, questions of race, class, and gender underscored the inquiry. This document begins with an overview of the history of Vancouver Barracks in Part One, supplying a brief contextual summary of Euro-American discovery, exploration of the lower Columbia River, and the period of Hudson’s Bay Company hegemony. There are four chronological sections. Section I examines the arrival of the first troops to Vancouver and the development of the post. The focus is on the transitional period, 1849-1860, from Hudson’s Bay occupation to the firm establishment of an American presence. Section II is an overview of an era of international, regional, and national conflict, from the exit of the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1860 and the Pig War in the San Juan Islands to the end of the Civil War. Section III outlines the major conflicts with native people in the region during the 1870s, as both the city of Vancouver and the regional American claim became more securely established. Section IV describes Washington’s entry into statehood and the barracks’ 1898 entry into the world military theatre. Part Two is a vignette titled “Cultural Transitions: Women and the Army in the Northwest, 1849-1865.” Part Three is a set of seven appendices, each designed to provide information and to stimulate further research. TABLE OF CONTENTS Part One: Historical Overview of Vancouver Barracks, 1846-1898 Section I – Establishing an American Presence ................................................ 2-35 Laying Claim to the Lands of the Columbia ...............................................................................................2 Settling the Boundary Question....................................................................................................................9 The Military in the Wilderness .................................................................................................................. 13 Establishing Vancouver Barracks............................................................................................................. 19 Columbia City on the Plain ....................................................................................................................... 22 Vancouver Barracks in the Early Years .................................................................................................. 26 Washington Territory in the Late 1850s .................................................................................................. 29 The Yakima Indian Wars ........................................................................................................................... 31 Section II – International, National, and Regional Conflict ........................... 36-51 The End of An Era: General Harney in Vancouver ............................................................................... 36 The Army and the Community................................................................................................................... 40 The Civil War Comes to the Pacific Northwest........................................................................................ 43 A Volunteer Soldier in Vancouver ............................................................................................................ 47 The War Ends and the Battles Begin ........................................................................................................ 50 Section III – Securing the American Claim..................................................... 52-65 Hard Times for the Barracks ..................................................................................................................... 52 The American Claim Guaranteed ............................................................................................................. 54 Improvements Begin .................................................................................................................................. 58 Civil Disturbance and Vancouver Barracks............................................................................................. 63 Section IV – Cultural Conquest....................................................................... 66-77 Welcoming Statehood ................................................................................................................................. 66 Recreation and Society ............................................................................................................................... 69 Disaster, Depression, Insurrection, and Vancouver Barracks............................................................... 71 Vancouver Barracks and U.S. Expansion Overseas ............................................................................... 74 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 77 Part Two: Cultural Transitions: Women and the Army in the Northwest, 1849- 1865................................................................................................................... 78-98 Part Three: Appendices .................................................................................... 99-179 Appendix 1 – The Indians and the Army in the 1850s................................ 101-115 Cascades Conflict and the Clarke County Rangers............................................................................... 107 Important Figures in Military and Native American Relations in the 1850s..................................... 109 Recommended Reading and Sources for Research ............................................................................... 115 Appendix 2 – A Soldier’s Life...................................................................... 116-119 Recommended Reading and Sources for Research ............................................................................... 119 Appendix 3 – The Indian Wars of the 1870s ............................................... 120-133 Research Topics, Recommended Reading and Sources for Research .................................................132 Appendix 4 – Land Squabbles and Community ......................................... 134-138 Recommended