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| [[Category:Needs Work]]
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| [[Category:All]]
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| [[Category:Oregon Forts]]
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| [[Category:Preserved]]
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| [[Category:County Park]]
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| [[Category:State Heritage Site]]
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| [[Image:Fort Hoskins Drawing.jpg|500px|thumb|left|Drawing of Fort Hoskins]]
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| [[Image:FortHoskins.jpg|thumb|435px|right|Map of Fort Hoskins]]
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| {{Clr}}
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| '''Fort Hoskins (1856-1865)''' - This fort was established in Benton County as the result of a concentration of Indians at the Siletz Agency on 26 Jul 1856. Fort Hoskins was initially garrisoned by Company G and F of the [[4th U.S. Infantry]] under Captain [[Christopher C. Augur]], and was named for Lieutenant [[Charles Hoskins]], killed during the [[Mexican War]] while serving alongside Auger. With the outbreak of the [[U.S. Civil War]] in 1861, troops here were summoned east. State volunteers garrisoned the fort until it was permanently closed when the war ended in 1865.
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| ==Fort Hoskins History==
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| The history of Fort Hoskins is thoroughly detailed in a cultural resources overview of the fort and surrounding area by David Brauner and Nahani Stricker (1994). That history is summarized below.
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| Fort Hoskins was a small military garrison, used for a relatively brief period from 1856 to 1865. It was, however, a time of rapid change and development in the Willamette Valley, years that marked the end of Indian occupation, and the beginning of settlement and community establishment. Fort Hoskins was initially established to oversee the resettlement of western Oregon native tribes to the newly established Coastal Indian Reservation. The fort was to serve a dual purpose — to keep Indians on the reservation, and to protect Indians from incursions by settlers.
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| The location for Fort Hoskins was selected based on its strategic position close to the soon-to-be established Siletz Agency, 18 miles to the west near the present town of Logsden (the Agency was instead sited further west at present day Siletz). At the time, the only known trail through the central Coast Range began near the fort site and ran up the Luckiamute River to the Siletz Valley. Anyone passing to or from the Agency would have to pass directly in view of the fort (though several other trails from the Willamette Valley to the Coast were soon established). This location also offered close proximity to the newly settled community of Kings Valley, for readily available building materials and supplies.
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| Fort Hoskins contained some 15 buildings, including officer quarters and soldier barracks, munitions and supply storage, a bakery, hospital, barns and corral, gardens, and housing for the laundry workers. The fort had no defensive structures, only a simple fence around the quarters and central parade grounds. A gravity feed water system was developed for the fort, as was an improved "wagon road" to Siletz Agency (so rough that only one wagon ever made the trip).
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| A force of up to 150 men were based at Fort Hoskins, though many were stationed at the blockhouse at Siletz Agency or elsewhere. During much of its history, life at the fort was uneventful. Men were infrequently dispatched to round up escaped Indians. Several threats of attack (from both Indians and whites) proved to be ungrounded.
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| By the outbreak of the [[U.S. Civil War|Civil War]], Fort Hoskins had about outlived its usefulness. Several new routes had been established through the Coast Range Mountains, rendering the fort’s location less strategic. Reservation lands were shrinking, with more Indians gaining permits to work off the Reservation. By 1864 it was decided to close the fort, and consolidate functions at [[:Category:Fort Yamhill|Fort Yamhill]]. Staffing at Fort Hoskins was reduced to a skeleton force. The fort then served briefly as a training base for the [[Oregon Volunteer Infantry]]. At the conclusion of the [[U.S. Civil War|Civil War]], Fort Hoskins was closed, and all remaining goods, structures, and facilities were sold at auction. The property reverted to its lessor, Henry VanPeer.
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| ==Units at Fort Hoskins==
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| {| border="2"
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| | align="center" valign="top"|'''Regular Army Units''' <br>
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| {|
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| |G Co., [[4
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