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  Fort Halleck
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40.927847, -115.437019

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WHAT WAS

There is a Fort Halleck in Wyoming (whose Wikidedia entry features photos of our Fort Happeck, <snicker>), Columbus, Kentucky, and most likely other Camp Hallecks. This location was referred to as both "camp" and "fort" depending on the time of day and which way the wind was blowing. It certainly started out as a camp and as the decision to make it a more permanenent outpost came along, it became a fort, the latter being the nomenclature for something with more endurance.

State Historical Marker #47-- if it's still there-- helpfully points out:

On July 26, 1867, Captain Samuel Smith established what became Fort Halleck twelve miles to the south near Soldier Creek. In concert with Fort Ruby fifty miles further south, the Army intended the Fort to protect the California Emigrant Trail, the Overland mail route and construction work on the Central Pacific Railroad during conflicts with Goshute and Western Shoshone in that decade. The camp was named for Major General Henry Wager Halleck, a prominent general who served as general-in-chief to the Army from 1862 to 1865. In May 1868, Camp Halleck became a two-company post and the headquarters for the Nevada Military District when Fort Churchill, near Yerington, was abandoned. By 1877, the Fort contained about 20 buildings of wood, adobe, and stone arranged around a rectangular parade ground. Troops from the Fort participated in action against the Modoc Indians in Northern California in 1873; against the Nez Perce uprising in Idaho in 1877; against the Bannocks in Oregon in 1878; and against the Apaches in Arizona in 1885. However, by the 1880s, the need for military stations throughout the American West was much diminished and the Army closed the Fort in December 1886.
- STATE HISTORICAL MARKER No. 47

Some added information:

Fort Halleck was established in July, 1867, by Capt. S. P. Smith, of the Eighth United States Cavalry, under orders from the General commanding the Department of California. This fort is on the right bank of Cottonwood Creek, about six miles from its source, and the same distance above its junction with Secret Creek, thirty miles southeast from the town of Elko. It is in latitude 40° 48' 45" north, longitude 115° 19' 34" west, altitude 5,800 feet, magnetic variation 10° 21' 24", and has a post-office, at present in charge of Charles E. Majer. The military reservation covers about nine square miles. There are no large tribes of Indians now in this vicinity. A few wandering Shoshones are seen occasionally.
-History of Nevada 1881


These above coordinates put the site well outside the boundaries of the military reservation, but there is a Fort Halleck Cemetary near by, as well as a "historical marker" marked on the USGS map.

Not everybody enjoyed having these forts and camps around.

FATAL AFFRAY BETWEEN CITIZENS AND MILITIA AT MAGGIE'S CREEK.
A correspoudent of the Bulletin, writing from Winneinucca, says : At Palmer & Kellam's ranch, a detachment of recruits, under Lieutenant Boyd, en route from the States to Camp Halleck, mutinied and attempted to capture the premises, and being repulsed, attempted to burn hay and things generally. They fired into the house through the windows, but were driven hack by some citizens inside. One soldier was killed and several wounded. The officer in charge had no control over his men, but they sobered down towards morning and then moved up stream with their dead and wounded. None of the citizens about the place were hurt. The military in this part of Nevada—say Camps McDermit, Scott and Halleck—is useless, its occupation is gone, except to destroy rations for the benefit of contractors and sutlers. The operations of General Crook in the north, and the tracklayers on the south side of the savage range have humbled the Snakes, Piutes, Bannocks aud Shoshones, and they accept the new order of things as final.
-Gold Hill Daily News, December 18, 1868

This is not the kind of country where you sleep in tens all year long-- unless maybe you were an enlisted man.

EXTENSIVE QUARTERS
The Quartermaster at Camp Halleck has sent below for a quantity of lumber, to be used in building extensive barracks at that place. It is the intention, we understand, to winter several companies of troops at that post.
-Gold Hill Daily News, September 30, 1869

Pesky native behvior wasn't the only thing they used soldiers to quell.

FROM TOANO
Yesterday a detachment of 30 cavalrymen arrived here from Camp Halleck, and are scouring the country north and west in search of the party who robbed the Central Pacific Railroad train last Saturday. Suspicious characters have been seen on the Overland Trail road near Deep Creek, proceeding east, and they have probably gone into Southern Utah. Sheriff and posse leave today for that part of the country.
-Gold Hill Daily News, November 9, 1870

Life here was hard and isolated. Many had trouble adjusting to army life.

COURTMARTIAL
The Courtmartial held at Camp Halleck last week resulted in thirteen convictions. The convicts were conveyed to Fort Alcatraz.
-Gold Hill Daily News, October 26, 1871

Short term prisoners were usually sent to the local stockade, but long term-- you got up to ten years for desertion-- were sent to the new prison on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay.

San Francisco's first defenses, eleven cannons, were mounted on Alcatraz in 1854. By the early 1860's Alcatraz had 111 cannons. Some were enormous, firing a fifteen-inch ball weighing 450 pounds. Defenses included a row of brick enclosed gun positions called casemates to protect the dock; a fortified gateway or Sally Port to block the entrance road; and a three-story citadel on top of the island. This served both as an armed barracks and as a last line of defense. Ironically, while built to guard against a foreign invasion, Alcatraz's most important period militarily was during the Civil War, 1861-1865. Since it was the only completed fort in the bay, it was vital in protecting San Francisco from Confederate raiders. Early in the war ten thousand rifles were moved to Alcatraz from a nearby armory to prevent their being used by southern sympathizers, The crew of a Confederate privateer were among the island's first prisoners. Alcatraz Island's use as a prison began in December 1859 with the arrival of the first permanent garrison. Eleven of these soldiers were confined in the Sally Port basement. The Army recognized that the cold water (53 F) and swift currents surrounding Alcatraz made it an ideal site for a prison, and in 1861 the post was designated as the military prison for the Department of the Pacific - most of the territory west of the Rocky Mountains. The prison population grew during the Civil War with the addition of prisoners from other army posts, the crew of a Confederate privateer, and civilians accused of treason. The Sally Port's basement was filled, then one of the gun rooms, and a wooden stockade was built just to the North of the Sally Port. During the next three decades additional buildings were erected just north of the Sally Port to house up to 150 Army prisoners. These provided hard labor for construction projects both on and off the island.
-https://www.nps.gov/alca/learn/historyculture/fortress-alcatraz.htm

Soldiers from Fort Halleck didn't just handle local issues. They went where they were needed.

CARSON ITEMS
Company I, FIrst United States Calvary, Captin Carr, from Camp Halleck, passed through town this forenoon, en route for Panamint, whither they are sent for the purpose of subduing the Mexican banditti, headed by the notorious Chavez. The company lookined somewhat jaded and dirty. They are mounted, and are generally young, able bodied men. Their passage through town caused quite an excitement. It is to be hoped that the soldiers will come across the murderous villians they are in search of, for they look like men who would knock the spots off a dozen Mexicans each.
-Gold Hill Daily News, May 22, 1875

Building the camp up and improving.

Camp Halleck is to remain a permanent military post, and to that end, some extensive substantial barracks are erecting.
-The Daily Appeal, May 13, 1877

Concerning the new buildings in process of erection at Camp Halleck, the Elko Independent of Wednesday says: The new stone barracks in course of erection at the military post of Camp Halleck, is progressing steadily, and when completed will present a fine appearance, as well as being substantial and commodius. The building will be 164 feet in length, by something like 30 feet in width.
-The Daily Appeal, July 20, 1877

The very existence of the post was being called into question. While it was good for local farmers, ranchers, and merchants who kept the base supplied, many began to wonder if its purpose could be better suited in another location.

CAMP HALLECK
The Tuscarora Times-Review does not agree with the Elko Independent as to the value of Camp Halleck as a military post. It says: The Elko Independent of the 12th instant contains an article which censures the Government for directing the abandonment of Fort Halleck. It presumes that Halleck is the only strategic point In the State, and hence it concludes, that when the boys in blue are ordered to vacate the post, the State will be left in a defenseless condition. The facts of the case do not warrant any such conclusion, neither can it be asserted in a military point of view that the Post at Halleck can be, in justice to the integrity of the War Department, retained either as a convenient place for the concentration of commissary stores, or as an objective point for military evolutions. The Post is removed from all mail routes. All mails sent to Camp Halleck are carried by a non-commissioned officer or private in a Government conveyance drawn by Government mules. There is no other need for mail service from the railroad to the Fort; and the Post itself is not on any public highway, or is it well located for rapid or economical transportation of men or munitions in case of a sudden Indian outbreak. The dangerous Indian element is far to the north of Tuscarora, and even north of the Duck Valley Reservation. Past history has shown the utter worthlessness of the troops at Halleck when called upon for action in this vicinity. Telegraph to .Halleck station—a whole day to the camp, two days more to reach the road, and God knows how long from the C. P. to our northern frontier make up the sum of rapid military movement. When the Independent says: "If troops are. to be quartered in any part of the State, no better post than that of Halleck could be selected for the purpose, as it presents advantages from a military point of view presented by none other in the State, for while it is in the heart of the Indian country, it is also in the midst of a fine agricultural region, where forage and supplies are abundant and cheap, which, with the railroad close at hand for the speedy dispatch of troops in case of emergency, renders it the most eligible position for a camp in the country." It makes assertions which no men who ever shouldered a musket or drilled an awkward squad would endorse. Two or three years ago a request was made to the War Department to establish a post at Duck Valley. Good'reasons were given, and the Department sent from Halleck a Summer camp of one company. Their presence was a protection, and the hostile element on the north was deterred from active demonstrations. Had there been a sudden uprising, the troops of Halleck would have been there only to be in season to attend the funerals of massacred citizens. The Post at Halleck is indeed beautifully located, and the officers detailed for duty there cannot be blamed for desiring its continuance, but the military necessity of the continuance of a Post at Halleck doesn't exist. North of Tuscarora, and on the boundary between Oregon, Idaho and Nevada, military men have and still do insist a Post should be established. -Nevada State Journal, December 23, 1882

Well, we knew it was coming.

FORT HALLECK
Fort Halleck has been abandoned for military purposes, and by executive order of the President the reservtion has been transferred to the Department of the Interior, to be disposed of as provided in the act of July 5th, 1884, relating to abandoned and useless military reservations.
-Reno Evening Gazette, November 18, 1886




Howard Hickson is Director Emeritus of the Northeastern Nevada Museum in Elko, and has written a few tasty articles about Fort Halleck, among them, Life At The Fort, Men in Blue Fort Halleck, Nevada (1867-1886), and Indian Ambush which you may want to check out, in addition to his many other articles

POST OFFICE October 21 1868 - May 17, 1880 (Camp Halleck)
May 17, 1880 - May 15, 1907 (Fort Halleck)
NEWSPAPER None
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