Part of a series of articles titled Vancouver Barracks in the 1880s.
Article
Vancouver Barracks in the 1880s: Introduction
NPS Photo
The 1880s were a time of great change at Vancouver Barracks. The previous decade had been dominated by the Indian Wars, a series of violent conflicts that were administered from this military post. From Vancouver Barracks, troops were sent around the region to respond to skirmishes between Native Americans and White settlers, and to force Indigenous peoples to move to reservations. Over the course of this period, the United States Government made a series of promises and treaties with Native people, many of which were broken or unfairly altered in favor of encroaching settlers and miners.
As historian Donna Sinclair wrote, during the 1880s Native peoples "had three choices...They could relocate [to reservations], face extermination, or assimilate." As the Indian Wars drew to a close, many Americans believed that if Native people wanted to continue to exist, they should conform with White culture by starting their own farms or ranches according to American standards, and attending so-called "Indian schools," like Oregon's Chemawa Indian School, which was established with the help of the US Army. At these schools, children were forced to abandon their families' cultures to become "Americanized."
Sinclair wrote, "If Indigenous peoples chose a fourth avenue - to exert sovereign rights over their homelands - they experienced violence, imprisonment or both." At the beginning of the 1880s, Native people who resisted removal to reservations - or who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time - were imprisoned at Vancouver Barracks. As the decade continued, Native peoples living on reservations who were accused of crimes or breaking rules were sent to Vancouver Barracks to stand trial. Over the course of the decade, troops from this post continued to periodically patrol Northwest reservations.
At the same time, for military families, Vancouver Barracks was becoming one of the most desirable posts in the region. If you visited here in the 1880s, you would have seen any number of projects upgrading the post, including the construction of new barracks buildings, telephone lines, and recreational facilities for soldiers and their families. In this age of Edison and Tesla, technological innovations came to Vancouver Barracks, connecting what was once a far-flung military post to the rest of the world.
Along Officers' Row, you might have seen officers in blue uniforms with their fashionably-dressed wives and families. Perhaps you might have caught a glimpse of Chinese men who worked in their homes as servants, cooks, and laundrymen. Racist, xenophobic violence against Chinese immigrants increased in the 1880s, and came to head in 1885-86, when anti-Chinese riots broke out throughout the Northwest. In Tacoma and Seattle, White mobs destroyed Chinese businesses and attacked Chinese men, women, and children. Troops from Vancouver Barracks were deployed to Seattle to restore peace.
The US Army was segregated in the 1880s, and the first Black soldiers would not be stationed at Vancouver Barracks until 1899. Still, there was some diversity among the soldiers stationed here. In the enlisted men's barracks, you would have heard a wide variety of European languages and dialects, alongside English. For many of these recent immigrants, joining the military was a surefire way to establish themselves in a new country. These enlisted men were not all bachelors, though many were. Some men were married and had wives who were also employed by the Army as laundresses. These women were often immigrants, commonly from Ireland.
Vancouver Barracks provided entertainment and recreation for the citizens of Vancouver. Here, they could watch military bands play or soldiers drill. Troops from Vancouver Barracks marched in city parades and patronized local businesses. However, soldiers' overindulgence in the saloons of Vancouver was galling to local citizens, not just because inebriated troops caused public disturbances, but also because of the rising popularity of the "temperance" movement. Temperance advocates believed that alcohol was the cause of moral failings throughout American society and that it should be made illegal. General Oliver Otis Howard, who was the commander of the Department of the Columbia from 1874 to 1880, was famously devoted to his Christian faith and the cause of temperance. During the 1880s, officers at Vancouver Barracks worked to keep their soldiers upstanding by creating the Vancouver Canteen, a place for recreation and relaxation on base, and an idea that eventually became the Army's Post Exchange system.
In 1889, as the decade came to a close, a monumental change came to this region. On November 11, 1889, Washington Territory became Washington State. Just days earlier, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana had also become states. In 1890, Idaho and Wyoming were made states. These acts transformed territories that had once been regarded as the American frontier, and brought them - and the people living within them - officially under the wing of the United States of America.
In the 1890s, labor issues rose to prominence for those stationed at Vancouver Barracks, as soldiers were frequently deployed throughout the Northwest to quell mining strikes. As the century ended, American political interests turned overseas, and Vancouver Barracks became an essential recruitment and training center for the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War.
So, why should we, in the 21st century, care about the 1880s at Vancouver Barracks? In many ways, the issues our nation faces today are not that different from those faced by the country in the 1880s. It was an era of relative peace and prosperity for some Americans, a time of economic growth when powerhouse corporations began to rise. Technological advancements, like the telephone, electric lights, and motion pictures, connected Americans like never before. But for others, it was a period of intense difficulty. Immigrants, like those from China, faced discrimination, violence, and laws that restricted their ability to pursue a new life in the United States. After the Civil War and in the wake of Reconstruction, Black Americans faced new kinds of systemic racism and a horrifying rise in violence against their communities. Indigenous people were threatened by policies and actions designed to exterminate them. In the next century, these struggles would give rise to movements for civil rights, women's rights, immigrant rights, and workers' rights - movements that continue to this day.
In the following article series, we hope you will discover the history of the 1880s at Vancouver Barracks and reflect on how this era connects to our modern world. We hope that you will also visit Vancouver Barracks in person to see the places where these events happened, and where the people in these articles lived, visited, or were imprisoned.
As historian Donna Sinclair wrote, during the 1880s Native peoples "had three choices...They could relocate [to reservations], face extermination, or assimilate." As the Indian Wars drew to a close, many Americans believed that if Native people wanted to continue to exist, they should conform with White culture by starting their own farms or ranches according to American standards, and attending so-called "Indian schools," like Oregon's Chemawa Indian School, which was established with the help of the US Army. At these schools, children were forced to abandon their families' cultures to become "Americanized."
Sinclair wrote, "If Indigenous peoples chose a fourth avenue - to exert sovereign rights over their homelands - they experienced violence, imprisonment or both." At the beginning of the 1880s, Native people who resisted removal to reservations - or who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time - were imprisoned at Vancouver Barracks. As the decade continued, Native peoples living on reservations who were accused of crimes or breaking rules were sent to Vancouver Barracks to stand trial. Over the course of the decade, troops from this post continued to periodically patrol Northwest reservations.
At the same time, for military families, Vancouver Barracks was becoming one of the most desirable posts in the region. If you visited here in the 1880s, you would have seen any number of projects upgrading the post, including the construction of new barracks buildings, telephone lines, and recreational facilities for soldiers and their families. In this age of Edison and Tesla, technological innovations came to Vancouver Barracks, connecting what was once a far-flung military post to the rest of the world.
Along Officers' Row, you might have seen officers in blue uniforms with their fashionably-dressed wives and families. Perhaps you might have caught a glimpse of Chinese men who worked in their homes as servants, cooks, and laundrymen. Racist, xenophobic violence against Chinese immigrants increased in the 1880s, and came to head in 1885-86, when anti-Chinese riots broke out throughout the Northwest. In Tacoma and Seattle, White mobs destroyed Chinese businesses and attacked Chinese men, women, and children. Troops from Vancouver Barracks were deployed to Seattle to restore peace.
The US Army was segregated in the 1880s, and the first Black soldiers would not be stationed at Vancouver Barracks until 1899. Still, there was some diversity among the soldiers stationed here. In the enlisted men's barracks, you would have heard a wide variety of European languages and dialects, alongside English. For many of these recent immigrants, joining the military was a surefire way to establish themselves in a new country. These enlisted men were not all bachelors, though many were. Some men were married and had wives who were also employed by the Army as laundresses. These women were often immigrants, commonly from Ireland.
Vancouver Barracks provided entertainment and recreation for the citizens of Vancouver. Here, they could watch military bands play or soldiers drill. Troops from Vancouver Barracks marched in city parades and patronized local businesses. However, soldiers' overindulgence in the saloons of Vancouver was galling to local citizens, not just because inebriated troops caused public disturbances, but also because of the rising popularity of the "temperance" movement. Temperance advocates believed that alcohol was the cause of moral failings throughout American society and that it should be made illegal. General Oliver Otis Howard, who was the commander of the Department of the Columbia from 1874 to 1880, was famously devoted to his Christian faith and the cause of temperance. During the 1880s, officers at Vancouver Barracks worked to keep their soldiers upstanding by creating the Vancouver Canteen, a place for recreation and relaxation on base, and an idea that eventually became the Army's Post Exchange system.
In 1889, as the decade came to a close, a monumental change came to this region. On November 11, 1889, Washington Territory became Washington State. Just days earlier, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana had also become states. In 1890, Idaho and Wyoming were made states. These acts transformed territories that had once been regarded as the American frontier, and brought them - and the people living within them - officially under the wing of the United States of America.
In the 1890s, labor issues rose to prominence for those stationed at Vancouver Barracks, as soldiers were frequently deployed throughout the Northwest to quell mining strikes. As the century ended, American political interests turned overseas, and Vancouver Barracks became an essential recruitment and training center for the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War.
So, why should we, in the 21st century, care about the 1880s at Vancouver Barracks? In many ways, the issues our nation faces today are not that different from those faced by the country in the 1880s. It was an era of relative peace and prosperity for some Americans, a time of economic growth when powerhouse corporations began to rise. Technological advancements, like the telephone, electric lights, and motion pictures, connected Americans like never before. But for others, it was a period of intense difficulty. Immigrants, like those from China, faced discrimination, violence, and laws that restricted their ability to pursue a new life in the United States. After the Civil War and in the wake of Reconstruction, Black Americans faced new kinds of systemic racism and a horrifying rise in violence against their communities. Indigenous people were threatened by policies and actions designed to exterminate them. In the next century, these struggles would give rise to movements for civil rights, women's rights, immigrant rights, and workers' rights - movements that continue to this day.
In the following article series, we hope you will discover the history of the 1880s at Vancouver Barracks and reflect on how this era connects to our modern world. We hope that you will also visit Vancouver Barracks in person to see the places where these events happened, and where the people in these articles lived, visited, or were imprisoned.
Last updated: June 24, 2021