Museums 101: Fort Stevens (photo diary)

by Ojibwa for Museums

Community

(This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday, Feb. 26, 2024 Monday, Feb. 26, 2024 at 11:15:34am PST

Fort Stevens began in 1863 as a Civil War fortification guarding the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon. It saw service from the Civil War through World War II. Fort Stevens Fort Stevens State Park includes a small museum in the Visitor Center of the Fort Stevens Historic Area.

Civil War

The Fort Steven earthen fortification took two years to complete and was the only earthen Civil War fortification west of the Mississippi. According to the Museum:

“Fort Stevens was armed with a total of 26 cannons. They include 8-inch, 10-inch, and 15-inch Rodman smoothbore cannons and 200 lb. Parrot rifles. The fort was entered at the sally port by crossing an 8-foot deep moat, on a 60-foot long drawbridge. Inside the fort were the stores of cannon balls, a furnace to heat the cannon balls before firing them, and powder stores.”

Spanish American War

P1460555 — Shown above from left to right: Springfield rifle with bayonet M1894, Krag-Jorgensen Springfield carbine M1898, and Krag-Jorgensen Springfield rifle M1898.

World War I (1917-1918)

P1460559 — Shown above from left to right: Enfield rifle M1917, Smith-Corona rifle M1903A3, and Springfield rifle M1903.

P1460564 — Shown above is a simple buoyant mine. Mines were an integral part of the defenses of the Columbia River.

World War II

P1460579 — Shown above is a display about FUGO: The Windship Weapon.

FUGO, the balloon bomb, known as the Windship Weapon, was the world’s first intercontinental weapon. According to the Museum:

“The plan was to launch paper balloons with incendiary bombs, let them ttravel with the wind currents and land on American cities, forests and farmlands. In the dry season, widespread scattering of these weapons could literally burn out the vast forests of the Pacific Coast. This was Japan’s purpose along with the associated psychological effect upon the American people. Over 6,000 balloons were launched between November 1944 and April 1945, and an estimated 1,000 reached the United States.”

To prevent the Japanese from learning about the effectiveness of the Windship Weapon, the Office of Censorship asked newspaper editors and radio broadcasters to give no publicity whatsoever to balloon sightings or incidents.

According to the Museum:

“Historians may make light of this last-ditch effort by the Japanese to retaliate against the United States, however, had this balloon weapon been further exploited by using germ or gas bombs, the results could have been disastrous to the American people.”