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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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| {|
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| |G Co., [[4th U.S. Infantry]]
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| |Capt. [[Christopher C. Augur]]*
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| |July 25, 1856 - June 25, 1861
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| |-
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| |F Co., [[4th U.S. Infantry]]
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| |Lt. Wheeler
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| |March 22 - April 8, 1857
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| |-
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| |B Co., [[9th U.S. Infantry]]
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| |Capt. [[Frederick T. Dent]]
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| |April 18 - April 30, 1857
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| |-
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| |F Co., [[4th U.S. Infantry]]
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| |Capt. [[DeLancey Floyd-Jones]]
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| |June 19, 1857 - Jan. 19, 1858
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| |-
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| |F Co., [[4th U.S. Infantry]]
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| |Capt. [[DeLancey Floyd-Jones]]
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| |Oct. 5, 1858 - June 14, 1861
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| |-
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| |B Co., [[9th U.S. Infantry]]
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| |Capt. [[Frederick T. Dent]]*
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| |June 20, 1861 - Nov. 1, 1861
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| |}
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| | align="center" valign="top" |'''Volunteer State Units''' <br>
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| ----
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| {|
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| |B Co., [[2nd California Infantry]]
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| |Capt. Schmidt*
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| |Nov. 1, 1861 - July 14, 1862
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| |-
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| |D Co., [[1st Washington Infantry]]
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| |Capt. Seidenstricker*
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| |July 14, 1862 - April 4, 1863
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| |D Co., [[4th California Infantry]]
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| |Lt. Garden/Capt. Scott*
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| |April 4, 1863 - Oct. 8, 1864
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| |B Co., [[1st Oregon Infantry]]
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| |Capt. Ephriam Palmer*
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| |Dec. 29, 1864 - April 10, 1865
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| |F Co., [[1st Oregon Infantry]]
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| |Capt. Waters
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| |Dec. 29, 1864 - April 10, 1865
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| |-
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| |* Fort Commander
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| |}
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| |}
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| ==Current Status==
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| The site is one mile west of State Highway 223, in the upper reaches of Kings Valley at the site of the previous settlement of Hoskins. The property occupies a low ridge at the "big bend" of the Luckiamute River, which flows south and west of the property. Benton County acquired the property in 1992, as the site of an interpretive park. Currently, the site is predominately forestland, though also includes a historic farmhouse, a few remnant outbuildings, several acres of abandoned pasture, and an old orchard. A caretakers mobile home and the park water treatment facility are also located on the site.
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| Prior to purchase the property had been managed for over 100 years as a family farm. The property was last actively farmed by Dick Dunn in the early 1970s. By the 1990s the farmstead was rapidly deteriorating. Open pastures were filling in with fir and blackberries. Most commercial timber was harvested in 1985. With the exception of the Franz-Dunn house, the farm buildings were in a state of rapid decay.
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| The site of Fort Hoskins was "rediscovered" in the early 1920s, though to local residents it was never fully "lost". During the late 1960s the property was briefly considered as a location for a new State Park. Archeological examinations in 1976 and 1977 allowed for re-creation of much of what is now known about the fort and its history. Recognizing the significance to local history, and interested in developing a new park in this region, Benton County acquired an option to purchase the site in 1991.
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| {|
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| <gmap lat="44.673734" long="-123.464103" zoom="2" helper="off" width="500" height="400" type="hybrid">
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| points:
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| 44.673734|-123.464103|Fort Hoskins Parade Ground
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| </gmap>
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| |valign="top"|
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| '''Location:'''
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| The 126 acre Fort Hoskins Park property is located west of the community of Kings Valley in the upper Luckiamute River Valley. The property is now largely wooded and undeveloped, with an old farmhouse (circa 1870) and the ruins of several farm buildings and a schoolhouse. Benton County purchased the property for a park site in 1991.
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| {{Mapit-US-cityscale|44.67362|-123.46302}}
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| * Elevation: 347
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| |}
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| '''Sources:'''
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| * [[Oregon Military History, Forts-Camps-Roads]]
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| * Benton County Documents (see links below)
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| * [http://ftp.wi.net/~census/lesson40.html Sovereigns of Themselves: A Liberating History of Oregon and Its Coast], Volume VII, Abridged Online Edition, Compiled By M. Constance Guardino III And Rev. Marilyn A. Riedel, copyright January 2006 Maracon Productions
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| '''Links:'''
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| * [http://linnhistory.peak.org/military/fthoskins.html Fort Hoskins]
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| * [http://www.co.benton.or.us/parks/fh_final_plan.htm Benton County Management Plan]
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| * [http://www.co.benton.or.us/parks/fthoskins.htm Fort Hoskins Historic Park]
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| * [http://www.co.benton.or.us/parks/Fort_Hoskins_Brochure.pdf Detailed Historical Brochure](pdf)
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| * [http://us.rd.yahoo.com/maps/extmap;_ylt=Aj8GXB.UGgcHtug2G8vB.jpkDLMF/*-http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?name=&ed=.rco3ep_0TrCxa8PqxvsBL7lxnisejIb04.w4JWXBfpdOOXUi5ipOHCVM62QQtF8.Z.VKVMqosQ7kRILLosl4AHfw5BeS_PAxKmPA5U9wDU-&csz=Kings+Valley%2C+OR&desc=&mag=1&ds=n&state=OR&uzip=97370&country=US&BFKey=&cat=dine&resize=l&trf=0 Yahoo Map]
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| '''Visited:''' 8 Jul 2006
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| ==Picture Gallery==
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| <gallery>
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| Image:Fort Hoskins - 34.jpg|Park entrance, , Jun 2006
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| Image:Fort Hoskins - 19.jpg|View from the parade ground west, Jun 2006
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| Image:Fort Hoskins - 32.jpg|View down on the parade ground, Jun 2006
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| Image:Fort Hoskins - 35.jpg|Luckiamute River from bridge on the west side of Fort Hoskins, Jun 2006
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| Image:Fort Hoskins - 38.jpg|The Franz-Dunn house under reconstruction, Jun 2006
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| Image:FortHoskins 1914 4564.jpg|The Railroad at Fort Hoskins, 1914
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| Image:FortHoskins 1946 6130.jpg|Fort Hoskins, 1946
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| Image:FortHoskins 1965 6174.jpg|Fort Hoskins, 1965
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| Image:FortHoskinsGrave 6132.jpg|Gravestone at Fort Hoskins
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| </gallery>
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| __NOTOC__
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