Fort Lapwai (1862–1884), a Federal fort now in the Nez Perce National Historical Park, was originally called Camp Lapwai until 1863. It was located on the left bank of the Lapwai River three miles above where it joined the Clearwater River. It was located nearby the state's first settlement, Lapwai Mission Station (now Spalding, Idaho), built in 1836 by Henry Spalding.
Camp Lapwai was established by Major Jacob S. Rinearson, 1st Oregon Cavalry by order of Brigadier General Benjamin Alvord. The post was established to prevent both the increasing numbers of white settlers from attempting to encroach on Nez Perce lands and the Nez Perce from retaliating. Company E 1st Regiment Washington Territory Volunteer Infantry recently mustered in at Alcatraz, were ordered on October 19, 1862 to Camp Lapwai near the Nez Perce Agency, where they were to build the encampment.[1] Company "F", 1st Oregon Volunteer Cavalry Regiment joined them at the post in November, 1862. It was renamed Fort Lapwai in 1863, in what would become bounds of the Idaho Territory when it was created the following March.
It was briefly unoccupied in 1866 at the end of the Civil War, when the Volunteer regiments were disbanded and before sufficient Federal troops were available to garrison it. Reoccupied again that November it was only unoccupied again between July and November, 1867. It was finally decommissioned on June 5, 1884, and turned over to the Indian Service.[2]
The Northern Idaho Indian Agency moved to the site in 1904. Several original structures still stand on the site.[3]
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