Fort Tongass was a United States Army base on Tongass Island, in the southernmost Alaska Panhandle, located adjacent to the village of the group of Tlingit people on the east side of the island.[1] Fort Tongass was the first US Army base established in Alaska following its purchase from the Russian Empire in 1867 and was garrisoned by the 2nd U.S. Artillery under the command of Captain Charles H. Peirce. Historian Hubert Howe Bancroft notes: "the site was well chosen, containing a plentiful supply of timber and pasture, while fish and game abound in the neighbourhood.[2]
The post was commissioned in 1868 and abandoned in 1870. After Alaska was established as a customs district by legislation in 1868, a deputy collector was posted to Fort Tongass as well as to Fort Wrangel, meant to intercept prospectors and commercial traffic bound for the goldfields of the Stikine River inland in British Columbia, and a revenue cutter was stationed in the area's waters.[3] In 1868, Jefferson C. Davis, commander of the army's Military District of Alaska, visited Fort Tongass as well as Fort Wrangel and Prince of Wales Island aboard USS Saginaw, with Jefferson requesting an armed steamer be sent north to support troops in those garrisons, who had no water transport. USS Cyane was sent north in 1869, being fitted out for Alaskan service and stationed at Sitka, as support for these bases.[3]
In 1869 a newspaper was published at Fort Tongass named the Tongass Wa-Wa[4] ("Wa-wa" in the Chinook Jargon means "talk, speech, conversation").[5] After the fort's closing the name Fort Tongass became current for the name of the native village which remained. Despite the army's withdrawal, a Customs Inspector remained in residence, though having difficulty in controlling trade between the various Tlingit tribes and the Hudson's Bay Company post at Fort Simpson, which was just 15 miles south. In 1879 there were 700 Tongass under a chief named Ya-soot.[6]
^Sealaska Heritage website Archived 2008-12-05 at the Wayback Machine
^History of Alaska, by Hubert Howe Bancroft, Alfred Bates, Ivan Petroff, William Nemos, Published by A. L. Bancroft & company, 1886, University of California, 775 pp. (p. 679)
^ abAlaska's Heritage CHAPTER 4-1: AMERICANS COME TO ALASKA, Alaska Heritage and Culture Course (online)
^Alaska State Library reference (record only, no holdings)
^See Kamloops Wawa for a similarly titled publication
^Senate Documents, Otherwise Publ. as Public Documents and Executive Documents: 14th Congress, 1st Session-48th Congress, 2nd Session and Special Session By United States Congress. Senate, 1879 Original from Oxford University, p.145
FortTongass was a United States Army base on Tongass Island, in the southernmost Alaska Panhandle, located adjacent to the village of the group of Tlingit...
Tongass may refer to: FortTongassTongass people, or Taantʼa Ḵwáan, "Sea Lion Tribe", one of the main divisions of the Tlingit people and the namesake...
The Tongass National Forest (/ˈtɒŋɡəs/) in Southeast Alaska is the largest U.S. National Forest at 16.7 million acres (26,100 sq mi; 6,800,000 ha; 68...
near the marine boundary with Canada at 54–40 N. It was the site of FortTongass, which was established shortly after the Alaska Purchase as a customs...
public Fort Rousseau Fort Schwatka Fort William H. Seward Fort St. Michael Fort St. Nicholas FortTongassFort Wainwright, closed to the public Fort Apache...
Shore, San Quentin (c. 1867–1874) Sitka from Japanese Island (1868) FortTongass, Group of Indians (1868) South Farallon Island, Sea Lions in Main Top...
August 28, 1899, the City of Seattle stopped at the Tlingit village at FortTongass when members of the Chamber of Commerce committee spotted multiple totem...
goodwill visit to Alaska, proudly unveiled a 60-foot (18 m) totem pole from FortTongass. The problem was, the pole had been stolen from the Tlingit village of...
Inlet FortTongassTongass Island "Tongass Passage". BC Geographical Names. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Tongass Passage...
fortification of Fort Stikine, renaming it Fort Wrangel. It was the second US Army post established in Alaska, the first being FortTongass on Tongass Island,...
City and Borough and Tongass National Forest. It was one of three Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) posts set up in Russian America. The Fort Durham Site was declared...
protected as the Admiralty Island National Monument administered by the Tongass National Forest. The Kootznoowoo Wilderness encompasses vast stands of...
wilderness area administered by the U.S. Forest Service as part of the Tongass National Forest. Misty Fiords is about 40 miles (64 km) east of Ketchikan...
and Tongass (from territory claimed by the Russians) had been attacking and enslaving the Coast Salish people there. When the Haida and Tongass (sea...
northern tribes, particularly warriors of an alliance among the Haida, Tongass, and one group of Tsimshian, are also notable. Having gained superiority...
located on Gravina Island, just west of Ketchikan on the other side of the Tongass Narrows. Passengers must take a seven-minute ferry ride across the water...
Purchase. The region is dominated by the Alexander Archipelago as well as the Tongass National Forest, the largest national forest in the United States. It contains...
crashed into the easterly slope of a canyon in the Chilkat Range of the Tongass National Forest while on approach to Juneau International Airport. All...
Pleasant/Lemesurier/Inian Islands Wilderness, a wilderness area within Tongass National Forest that has been officially designated by the National Wilderness...
customs house and fort on Tongass Island and left the US revenue cutter Lincoln to patrol the area. After American soldiers at the fort and aboard the Lincoln...
to Seattle, Washington, United States, crashed into a mountain in the Tongass National Forest near Juneau, Alaska, killing all 111 on board. September...
in the United States, barring only the vast timber reserves in Alaska's Tongass Forest. The Talimena Scenic Drive, which is Highway 1 in Oklahoma and Highway 88...
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