Fort Stevens (1)

Fort Stevens (1865-1947) - Established in 1865 as a U.S. Civil War coastal fort on Point Adams, Clatsop County, Oregon. Named for General Isaac Stevens a Governor of the Washington Territory. Deactivated in 1947.

Fort Stevens Guard House	1937 Aerial Shot
Fort Stevens Old Earthworks Fort Entrance

U.S. Civil War (1861-1865)

The original fort was an earthworks fort, built under supervision of the United States Army Engineers starting in July 1863. It was completed 8 Apr 1865 and was first occupied by a company of the Eighth California Volunteers, 25 April 1865. The garrison was withdrawn in 1882 and the post placed in the charge of ordinance sergeant Elias H. Brodie.

Endicott Period (1890-1910)

In 1897 Fort Stevens underwent a massive re-fortification program to improve coastal defense that resulted in the construction of 8 Endicott Period concrete batteries around the original site. Two other forts, Fort Canby and Fort Columbia, were built on the Washington side of the Columbia River to complete the Harbor Defense System.

The West Battery was built in 1898 with a total of six, 10" disappearing carriage rifles. The West Battery was later renamed, in three sections of two rifles each, Battery Mishler, Battery Walker and Battery Lewis. Battery Lewis and Battery Walker were traditional Endicott Period Batteries facing toward the Columbia River entrance. Battery Mishler was different in that the two, 10" rifles had a all-around field (ARF) of fire and could cover both the Columbia River entrance and the Pacific Ocean approaches. The six rifles of the West Battery were supplemented by two, 6" rifles of Battery Pratt.

Battery Russell was built to provide additional coverage of the Pacific Ocean approaches to the mouth of the Columbia with two, 10" disappearing carriage rifles. Battery Clark was built with eight, 12" mortars (later reduced to four) that could provide plunging fire with 1,000 pound shot on the decks of hostile ships in either direction. Battery Freeman was a mixed caliber (3" and 6" guns) battery built inside the old earthworks fort.

**Fort Stevens Endicott Period Battery** (edit list)
Battery Click on Battery links below	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Battery Cost
Battery Mishler	2	10"	Disappearing Carriage	1898-1900-1900-1941	$ 302,014
Battery Lewis	2	10"	Disappearing Carriage	1896-1898-1898-1918	$ *
Battery Walker	2	10"	Disappearing Carriage	1896-1898-1898-1918	$ *
Battery Clark	8	12"	Mortar Carriage	1897-1898-1899-1942	$ 71,547
Battery Pratt	2	6"	Disappearing Carriage	1899-1900-1900-1943	$ 59,955
Battery Freeman	1 2	3" 6"	15-pounder Barbette 6" Barbette	1900-1900-1900-1920 1901-1901-1902-1917	$ 5,398 $ 34,539
Battery Smur	2	3"	Masking Pedestal Mount	1899-1900-1900-1920	$ 11,955
Battery Russell	2	10"	Disappearing Carriage	1903-1904-1904-1944	$ 125,000
Source: CDSG

World War II (1941-1945)

The Fort Stevens post was significantly built up during World War II but most of the Endicott Period gun batteries were obsolete or already disarmed by the start of the war. Most of the remaining Endicott Period batteries were disarmed early in the war. Only Battery Russell remained armed until 1944 when the new World War II batteries were completed and on line.

Fort Stevens had the distinction of being the only stateside installation attacked by enemy forces since the War of 1812 when a Japanese submarine I-25 fired 17 shells close to the fort on 21 Jun 1942. The fort did not return the fire because the submarine was out of range of Fort Stevens obsolete guns. The submarine left without inflicting any damage.

**Fort Stevens World War II Battery** (edit list)
Battery Click on Battery links below	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Battery Cost
Battery 245	2	6"	Long Range Barbette Carriage with Shield	1942-1944-1944-1947	$ 248,578
Battery AMTB 6 - Clatsop Spit	2 2	90mm 90mm	AMTB Fixed Mount Mobile Mount	1943-1943-1943-1946	$ 9,857
Source: CDSG

Cold War (1947-1991)

After World War II Fort Stevens was deactivated and declared surplus 30 Jun 1947. All the armament had been removed by 1947.

In Sep 1950, just after the start of the Korean War, the Air Force established Fort Stevens Air Force Station (759th AC&W) on the Fort Stevens post. The Air Force Station provided long range radar surveillance using CPS-5D and TPS-1B radar sets mounted on top of Battery Mishler. The unit headquarters was located in the "Guard House" and Battery Mishler served as the operations and maintenance center for the squadron.

Fort Stevens Air Force Station moved to Naselle AFS in Washington Feb 1952.

Current Status

Oregon State Parks leased the old fort area in 1975 and continues restoring and interpreting the fort. Battery 245 has naval 5" guns and carriages installed and Battery Pratt has a 6" gun and disappearing carriage under construction.

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Location: Situated at the mouth of the Columbia River and located nine miles from Astoria in Clatsop County, Oregon.

Maps & Images

Lat: 46.206953 Long: -123.962688

Multi Maps from ACME
Maps from Bing
Maps from Google
Elevation:

Sources:

Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 668
Hanft, Marshall, Fort Stevens: Oregon's defender at the river of the West, Your Town Press, 1980
Hanft, Marshall, The Cape Forts: Guardians of the Columbia, Oregon Historical Society Press, Portland OR, 1973, 2nd reprint, 2003, ISBN 0-87595-044-2
Hart, Herbert M., Tour Guide to Old Western Forts, Pruett Publishing Co., Boulder CO, 1980, ISBN 0-87108-568-2, page 136
Kaufmann, J.E. and Kaufmann, H.W., Fortress America: The Forts That Defended America, 1600 to the Present, DaCapo Press, 2004, ISBN 0-306-81294-0, page 346
Coastal Defense Study Group
Oregon Military History, Forts-Camps-Roads