Fort Steilacoom

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Fort Steilacoom was founded by the U.S. Army in 1849 near Lake Steilacoom and was the first military fortification north of the Columbia River in what was to become Washington state.

Indians attacked white settlers in the area in October 29, 1855, as a result of their dissatisfaction with the Treaty of Medicine Creek that had been imposed on them the previous year. The fort was headquarters for the 9th Infantry Regiment during this "Indian War" of 1855-56. In the course of the conflict Volunteer U.S. Army Colonel Abraham Benton Moses was killed. At the conclusion of the war Stevens brought Chief Leschi of the Nisqually Native American tribe, to trial for the death of Moses during a skirmish at Connell's Prairie on October 31, 1855.

Since the death had occurred in combat, the United States Army refused to carry out the sentence of death on the grounds of Fort Steilacoom, maintaining that he was a prisoner of war. The territorial legislature therefore passed a law authorizing Leschi's execution at the hands of civilian authorities. On February 19, 1858, Leschi was hanged in what is today the city of Lakewood.

Fort Steilacoom was decommissioned as a military post in 1868.

Four cottages from the fort remain as a museum that is open on Sundays in the summer: http://fortsteilacoom.com/