Life on an Isolated Frontier Post: In the late 1850s and 1860s, Fort Dalles stood as a relatively comfortable oasis of civilization on the Columbia Plateau – yet it was still a remote frontier garrison, hundreds of miles from urban centers. Daily life for the officers, enlisted soldiers, and a few accompanying families mixed routine military duty with the challenges of frontier living. After the Yakima War wound down, Fort Dalles’s importance diminished and the troop levels dropped, but the Army did not abandon the post immediately. In fact, when the American Civil War erupted in 1861, most regular Army units were transferred east, and volunteer regiments from California and Oregon took over Western posts. Fort Dalles was garrisoned by volunteer soldiers during the 1860s and served as a supply depot and staging area for smaller campaigns against Indigenous groups farther afield oregonencyclopedia.org. For example, in the early 1860s, expeditions were launched from Fort Dalles against the Northern Paiute people in southeastern Oregon, as conflicts (sometimes called the Snake War) flared due to encroachment on those lands oregonencyclopedia.org. The fort also hosted a unique contingent in 1867 – seventy-five Warm Springs Indian Scouts were stationed there, Native allies enlisted to help the U.S. Army in tracking hostile bands in Oregon oregonencyclopedia.org. By that year (1867), the Army finally decided Fort Dalles was no longer needed, and the post was officially abandoned in summer 1867 oregonencyclopedia.org.
For the soldiers at Fort Dalles, routine garrison duties filled much of their time. They drilled on the parade ground, stood guard at the fort’s gates and guardhouse, and performed endless fatigue duties – chopping wood, tending to horses in the stables, hauling water, and maintaining the buildings. Soldiers also built and improved roads in the region oregonencyclopedia.org. One key road led south from The Dalles toward central Oregon and was part of what became known as The Dalles–California Trail (later a wagon road and stagecoach route connecting to California). The Army’s presence contributed to safer travel for settlers and mail coaches on these routes. Fort Dalles personnel provided assistance to emigrants when needed – a continuation of its early mission. Even after the heyday of the Oregon Trail migration, smaller groups of travelers and freighters passed through The Dalles, and a military post offered some protection and services (like blacksmithing or emergency rations). The nearby town, Dalles City, grew alongside the fort, benefiting from Army procurement of supplies. By the 1860s The Dalles had stores, saloons, and civilian homes, so soldiers on leave could visit town for diversion.
Social Life and Army Families: Unlike some frontier forts that were lonely bachelor outposts, Fort Dalles occasionally had officers’ wives and children present, especially in the late 1850s. These women played an important role in fort community life. They organized social gatherings, such as dances and dinner parties, that provided welcome entertainment in an isolated locale. The fine officers’ houses built in the Gothic Revival style became homes where families strove to maintain Victorian domestic norms even on the frontier. One such woman, Julia Gilliss, arrived as a new bride in 1865 and later wrote memoirs about her Army life (titled “So Far from Home: An Army Bride on the Western Frontier”). Julia noted the quality of the quarters at Fort Dalles – reputed to be the best in the Pacific Northwest – which helped soften some hardships oregonencyclopedia.org. Still, life could be spartan. Winters were cold and windy, and despite the stylish exteriors, those large houses could be drafty and difficult to heat. Supplies of fresh food were limited; families relied on staples and whatever produce the fort’s gardener could grow. (Fort Dalles did have a small farm garden and even a dedicated gardener’s cottage – a two-room structure built near a spring, where an Army-employed gardener cultivated vegetables for the garrison)
Women at the fort often formed close friendships with one another, sharing the bonds of being far from their Eastern homes. They sewed, prepared meals, tended children, and sometimes taught any post school-age children together. “Army wives” on the frontier were expected to uphold morale and create a semblance of cultured society; many rose to the challenge by holding teas, forming reading clubs, or assisting in nursing sick soldiers. At Fort Dalles, officers’ wives likely accompanied their husbands on rides and picnics in the scenic Columbia Gorge when it was safe. They also witnessed the mix of cultures at The Dalles – not only soldiers and settlers, but Native Americans who still came to fish at nearby Celilo Falls under treaty rights. Such encounters could be eye-opening. Some Army wives were empathetic to the plight of local tribes, while others shared the common prejudices of the era. Regardless, women’s presence at Fort Dalles added a humanizing dimension to what could have otherwise been a grim frontier post.
The Dalles During the Civil War: Although Oregon was far from the battlefields of the Civil War, the conflict’s impact was felt even in The Dalles. Oregon had become a state in 1859, entering the Union as a free state, and most Oregonians supported the Union cause. However, communities were politically divided; The Dalles area tended to lean Democratic in the 1860s (the Democratic Party then included many Southern sympathizers). News of the war traveled slowly to this corner of the country, but local newspapers and telegrams kept citizens informed of major events. Fort Dalles itself remained under federal (Union) control with the volunteer troops. In practical terms, the Civil War meant that regular Army officers like Colonel Wright and others were reassigned away from Oregon, and locally raised volunteer units (such as the 1st Oregon Infantry Regiment) manned posts until war’s end. These volunteers continued to monitor the frontiers and engaged in skirmishes with Indigenous groups rather than Confederate forces.
One fascinating Civil War-era anecdote at Fort Dalles involves Ulysses S. Grant, who would later become the famous Union general and U.S. President. Grant was a junior Army officer stationed at Fort Vancouver (Washington Territory) in the early 1850s. In October 1852, Lieutenant Grant briefly visited The Dalles while serving as a quartermaster. He wrote to his wife Julia that he “had been up to The Dalles and bought a number of oxen, cows and hogs from immigrants who had stopped there on their way to western Oregon.” Grant arranged to have the livestock fattened over winter so he could sell them at a profit in the spring themossback.tripod.com. This side venture was an attempt by the underpaid officer to earn extra income – he noted that if even some of the animals survived the winter, he stood to “clear at least one hundred percent” on his investment themossback.tripod.com. Grant’s visit underscores The Dalles’ role as a market hub where arriving wagon trains often sold off excess animals and supplies before dispersing to the Willamette Valley. Years later, during the 1868 presidential election, The Dalles showed its regard for Grant in another way: local residents formed a “Grant Club” to support his candidacy. The club’s members (including prominent townsmen Z. Donnell, C.C. Crandall, and others) held rallies and even commissioned their wives to hand-sew an enormous American flag as a banner for Grant’s cause. Lulu Crandall, the daughter of one organizer, recalled that the club’s flagpole and gathering point were on a hill just west of the old fort hospital (Grant ultimately lost Oregon’s electoral vote in 1868, as Oregon’s populace leaned Democratic, but he won the presidency. He later carried Oregon in his 1872 re-election fortdallesmuseum.org.) That 1868 flag, lovingly stitched by The Dalles’ women, survives to this day as a treasured artifact at the Fort Dalles Museum fortdallesmuseum.org – a tangible link between the frontier town and the Civil War hero.
Frontier Medicine at Fort Dalles: One of the most significant roles at Fort Dalles was played by the post surgeon, who not only cared for the garrison’s medical needs but sometimes attended civilian settlers and travelers as well. In the mid-1850s, during the Yakima War, Assistant Surgeon Dr. Joseph Bullock Brown was stationed at Fort Dalles. Dr. Brown lived in the newly built Surgeon’s Quarters (today’s museum building) from 1856 to 1859 fortdallesmuseum.org. He had an army hospital at his disposal – one of the buildings General Wool had ordered in 1855 was a proper hospital facility to replace the makeshift infirmaries of earlier years oregonencyclopedia.org. What was military medical care like in the 1850s? By modern standards, frontier medicine was primitive. Army doctors of that era had limited tools and knowledge. Germ theory and antibiotics were unknown (Louis Pasteur’s germ theory would not be widely accepted until the late 1860s-1870s), and antiseptic surgical practices were not yet in use. Disease was the biggest killer. At Fort Dalles, soldiers contended with illnesses like dysentery, fevers, and scurvy from poor diet. Vaccines existed only for smallpox (and were sometimes administered by Army doctors), but outbreaks of measles and other infectious diseases could sweep through the fort – much as measles had devastated local Native communities.
When injuries or serious ailments struck, amputation was often the surgeon’s only lifesaving option if a limb was badly infected or shattered. Civil War-era surgical kits, of the kind Dr. Brown would have used, contained grisly but essential instruments: a bone saw for cutting through limbs, amputation knives of various lengths, tourniquets to stem bleeding, forceps and tenacula for extracting bullets or tying arteries, and perhaps a catheter and basic probes archives.gov. Indeed, roughly three-quarters of all operations performed during the Civil War were amputations – about 60,000 amputations in total – reflecting how common and necessary this procedure was in an age before effective treatment of infection archives.gov. Fort Dalles’ hospital would have been equipped with at least one such surgical kit. By the late 1850s, anesthesia (ether or chloroform) was being used by Army surgeons, so patients could be rendered unconscious during major operations – a relatively new medical advancement at the time. Nonetheless, recovering from surgery on the frontier was perilous. If gangrene set in, there was little a surgeon could do beyond more amputations or dosing the patient with whatever medicines he had (like quinine, laudanum, or calomel). It is a testament to Dr. Brown’s skill and dedication that he served through the Yakama conflict treating wounded soldiers. After leaving Fort Dalles, Dr. Brown was later honored by being commissioned a full Surgeon (Major) by President Lincoln in 1861 for his capable service. He went on to serve as a medical director in the Civil War’s Army of the Potomac, but he always remembered Oregon – he kept up with historical and scientific studies and his portrait today hangs in the Fort Dalles Museum to commemorate his role.
Beyond formal medicine, much of the daily life health care at Fort Dalles fell to home remedies and the care provided by women. For minor sickness, remedies might include herbal teas, poultices, or patent medicines shipped from back East. The fort’s sutler (civilian trader) likely stocked some drugs and tonics. Injured animals (horses and mules) were tended by the fort’s farrier or veterinary-minded soldiers – the Army could ill afford to lose valuable livestock in such a remote post. The presence of the nearby Columbia River and springs meant a good water supply, but also the risk of waterborne disease if sanitation lapsed. Soldiers were detailed to dig latrines and dispose of garbage properly, tasks that could be tiresome but were crucial for preventing illness.
Interactions with Native Tribes: Even after the wars of the 1850s, Fort Dalles remained connected to the region’s Native peoples. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, including many Wasco and Walla Walla people who had historical ties to The Dalles, generally maintained a friendly relationship with the U.S. Army following the treaties. In fact, as noted, Warm Springs scouts served alongside Army units. These scouts were instrumental in tracking hostile bands of Paiute or other tribes during the 1860s, leveraging their knowledge of the terrain. There were times when Native families came to The Dalles on peaceful business – for instance, to trade or because they had permission to fish at their ancient fisheries on the Columbia. The soldiers at Fort Dalles, by and large, enforced the new order of the reservation era, which restricted Native movements. But there were also moments of camaraderie: some accounts from other Oregon forts describe soldiers and Indian scouts sharing meals or Native leaders visiting fort commanders. Fort Dalles, being adjacent to one of the greatest Native trade centers (Celilo), must have seen its share of such encounters. By 1866, the completion of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company’s portage railway around the Cascades and Celilo Falls started to change the dynamic of the area’s economy, drawing down the centuries-old tribal trade in favor of American commercial enterprises. One can imagine soldiers standing on the bluff, watching steamships chug upriver and reflecting on how quickly the world around Fort Dalles was changing.
Closure of Fort Dalles (1867): After the Civil War, the U.S. Army reassessed its forts in the Pacific Northwest. With most conflicts in the region subdued and Reconstruction demanding attention (and funds) back East, the Army decided to consolidate. In the summer of 1867, Fort Dalles was officially abandoned oregonencyclopedia.org. The remaining troops were withdrawn, and The Dalles was left without a military presence for the first time in 17 years. The fort’s role as guardian of the Oregon Trail and regional depot had been superseded by new developments: Fort Walla Walla and Fort Boise (in Idaho) now covered the inland routes, and settlements were growing up that had their own law enforcement. The vast ten-square-mile military reservation around Fort Dalles, established back in 1850, suddenly fell quiet oregonencyclopedia.org. Over the next few years, the U.S. Congress gradually shrunk the military reservation – in 1867 and again in 1871 – opening up more land for the expanding town of The Dalles oregonencyclopedia.org. By 1877, all remaining fort lands had been transferred to the Department of the Interior for public disposition oregonencyclopedia.org.
What became of the fort itself? Many buildings were simply left to the elements or auctioned off. It’s recorded that some structures were dismantled for their lumber. Others might have been used by squatters or repurposed by locals. Within two decades, most of the picturesque Gothic cottages and barracks had fallen into decay. A photograph from about 1890 shows the abandoned buildings of Fort Dalles, roofs sagging and weeds overtaking the parade ground. The once grand Colonel Wright house and other officers’ quarters deteriorated. The site that had bustled with bugle calls and drill was reverting to a quiet hillside, with only memories of its frontier days lingering among the ruins.
Yet, The Dalles did not forget the fort’s significance. Even as the Army left, the community it had protected was thriving. Dalles City continued as the seat of Wasco County, and the economy shifted to agriculture, trade, and transportation (the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, and later the railroad, made The Dalles a key shipping point for wheat and goods). Former fort lands became neighborhoods and orchards. A sense of heritage began to develop among residents. They knew that on those grounds Americans and Native peoples had fought, negotiated, lived, and died – a pivotal chapter of Oregon history.
In our next post, we will see how local citizens saved the last remaining fort building and established the Fort Dalles Museum. The story comes full circle as we explore the museum’s creation in 1905, its collections of pioneer and military artifacts, and how Fort Dalles’s legacy is preserved today for heritage tourism and education.
Sources: Civil War volunteers and Paiute expeditionsoregonencyclopedia.org; Warm Springs scouts in 1867oregonencyclopedia.org; Fort abandoned in 1867oregonencyclopedia.org; Julia Gillis letter remarkoregonencyclopedia.org; Gardener’s cottage infofortdallesmuseum.org; Grant’s 1852 livestock venturethemossback.tripod.com; Civil War medical tools and amputationsarchives.govarchives.gov; Fort lands reduction and transferoregonencyclopedia.org; A
