Odd, Old News: When U.S. Grant Was Stationed at Old Fort Humboldt

Crop of Cora Deering painting of Ft. Humboldt, circa 1858 [Photo courtesy of HSU Library Humboldt Room Special Collections, Palmquist Collection]

When Lt. Ulysses Simpson Grant, the future 18th President of the United States, sailed into Humboldt Bay on January 5th, 1854 to serve at the newly built Fort Humboldt, it was his second assignment to a frontier military post. He cared for neither assignment. While biographies have focused on his alcohol habit during this period, there is an interesting back story of his conflict with Lt. Colonel Robert C. Buchanan, the officer in charge of the 4th US Infantry under which he served at the fort.

Local historian Chad Hoopes use of NARA documents enabled him write the “Lure of Humboldt Bay” an authoritative study of the early history of Humboldt Bay, Fort Humboldt and Grant’s time in our area. The book is highly recommended.

A brief history of Grant’s activities preceding and during his time at Fort Humboldt will set the table for this week’s article.

In May of 1852, the 4th regiment US Infantry was ordered to leave their post at the Pittsburg Barracks on Lake Erie, travel down the Erie Canal and board ship to sail west to the military barracks at Benicia, California. After landing on the east coast of Panama, the party of 700 soldiers and their families marched across the isthmus to Panama City on the west coast. Brevet Lt. Commander Buchanan was not with the 4th Infantry on this trek. Lt. Grant served as quartermaster on the journey and his efforts to keep the force supplied earned him praise from the troops. Though Lt. Grant was spared, an Asiatic cholera outbreak took a huge toll on the unit, at least 100 died, and hundreds had to convalesce and recover aboard ship on their sail north, and once at Benicia.

Back in Washington, after much politicking, new California Superintendent of Indian Affairs Edward Beale’s proposal to create military posts on reservations for Native Americans was endorsed by President Fillmore. In December, Lt. Colonel Buchanan arrived at Benicia, and on January 20th, 1853, he was ordered north to Humboldt Bay with troops from the decimated B and F Companies, 4th Infantry, with instructions to choose the best location for a new military fort. After their steamer Goliah survived a harrowing passage over the bar at the entrance to Humboldt Bay, a high bluff to the east caught Buchanan’s attention before the Goliah landed at Bucksport. He declined entreaties from Humboldt City and Eureka to establish the fort near their communities, and chose the flat prairie tableland on a high bluff south of Eureka on February 9th. Clearing of the plateau and construction of Fort Humboldt commenced, made harder by Lt. Colonel Buchanan’s decision to not bring adequate blankets and coats north. The men of the 4th suffered greatly working in the bay’s February weather. A hole was dug for a redwood post that would soon fly the United States flag over the post, as seen in the painting above. By the middle of June, the soldiers, with the help of local workmen had finished building six of the ten buildings that Buchanan had staked out around a parade ground.

Lt. Grant was not at Fort Humboldt at this time, in September of 1852 he had been assigned to the Columbia Barracks at Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River. Here he suffered from depression, avoided military duties, desired to return to his family back east, and succumbed to seeking solace in alcohol. When the officer in charge of Company F at Fort Humboldt died, Lt. Grant was promoted to Captain on August 9th, 1853, and ordered to sail south as his replacement. Once again, he was forced to serve under his “arch-enemy” Lt. Colonel Buchanan, an officer with a reputation as an insensitive tyrant. The two men had a history of not getting along stemming from a post-Mexican war incident at the Jefferson Barracks at St. Louis where Lt. Grant’s romantic proclivities caused him to be late to report for duty. Buchanan’s “fine” of another bottle of wine, Grant’s fourth in a few weeks, rankled him and he bore a grudge for decades.

Unable to book ship passage, Grant’s delayed arrival at Fort Humboldt on January 5th, 1854 immediately created friction with Lt. Colonel Buchanan at the beginning of his five month post at the fort. According to Hoopes, Grant’s time at Fort Humboldt was something he wished to forget, and was largely left out of his memoire and most written biographies. At the fort, he served as officer of the day, quartermaster, and ran the troops through their drills. Like the author of the article below, Hoopes felt there was a “cloud” of rumors that had exaggerated Grant’s drinking at Fort Humboldt.

Captain Grant continued to have difficulties with Buchanan, which reached a pitch in the spring of 1854. After one alcohol induced incident, he was forewarned that “Old Buch” was going to arrest him for dereliction of duty, Grant responded that “he had decided to resign”. On April 11th, Grant wrote two letters to the Adjutant General in Washington, D.C., one in confirmation of his receipt of his delayed appointment to the rank of Captain, and another resigning his commission in order to leave the army. On May 5th, he left the fort for San Francisco and legend has it that he said “whoever hears of me in ten years, will hear of a well-to-do old Missouri farmer”(Hoopes:128). Little did he know what was in store for his future, and the country’s.

This week Odd Old News will share a 1907 article from the Humboldt Times that is a portrayal of Grant and how he spent his time during his four month stay at Fort Humboldt.
(The article’s dates for Grant’s time at the fort is erroneous, Hoopes’ dates used above are the correct ones).

WHEN GENERAL U. S. GRANT WAS STATIONED AT OLD FORT HUMBOLDT
INTERESTING FACTS, MANY OF WHICH HAVE NEVER BEEN PUBLISHED, CONCERNING THE DREARY OLD DAYS WHEN THE WARRIOR-STATESMAN WAS ON DUTY AT THE LOCAL ARMY POST
By D. L. Thornbury

Note—As per previous announcement, The Times this morning presents an interesting article relating to General V .S. Grant, and his life during the time he spent at Fort Humboldt. D.L. Thornbury, the writer, has spent considerable time in gathering the facts presented in this article. We believe that what he has written is well worth preserving, for it deals with a critical period in the career of one of our nation’s greatest hero-statesmen. During the fall of 1853 the war department promoted Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant to the grade of captain as a recognition of excellent service In the Mexican war, and assigned him to the station at Fort Humboldt, in California. He arrived about the end of October, 1853, and remained only five months. During his stay, there was a great deal of rainy weather which made him despondent; he was unable to agree with his superior officer at the Fort, and his wife and children were in the east. He left the county in March, 1854, and resigned from the army shortly after.

A great deal of tradition has naturally grown up about his stay, since he afterwards achieved so great fame, both as soldier and President of the United States. Most of it is absolute fiction, as no one man could possibly have done all attributed to him in the short space of five months. The historical facts are given in the first three paragraphs above, the tradition follows. It must be remembered that the Grant in Humboldt during 1853 was not the same Grant who fought the battles of Shiloh and Vicksburg, and triumphed at Appomatox, for during the ten years which elapsed he had been tried in the fires of failure in business and taught the lessons of war.

General Grant [Photo courtesy of Wikipedia]

Grant at the time he lived in this county, was a stout, rugged young man about five feet eight or nine inches tall. His nose was large and straight, his eyes firm and steady, and he wore a short, rough, sandy hard beard. His face was ruddy and he looked rougher than the common West Point graduate of the time. When he had duty at the Fort as officer of the day or conducting the drills, he wore the regulation officer’s uniform and performed his duty as a soldier should. When off duty he usually wore the private’s clothes consisting of canvas pants, canvas coat and an old straw hat. Socially he was sometimes a hail fellow well met, but he was a better listener than a talker, and generally he was a man of reserved habits and was not given to talking when there was no need.Grant belonged to Company F of the Fourth United States Infantry. Fort Humboldt was established in the winter of 1852-53 as a military post for the protection of the people of the county from the Indians. As Eureka was small in size and its location then wet and swampy, the fort was located back of the town of Bucksport, which seemed to give promise of becoming the largest town on the bay.Fort Humboldt Heights, as the location is called in 1907, is now within the city limits of Eureka. The street cars now run past the spot, which enables one to easily visit the historic place. The position of the post is a sightly one, on a plateau thirty or forty feet above the sandy beach of Humboldt Bay. It is naturally intended for a fortification and gives plenty of ground for parade and drill. The barracks and the officers’ quarters were erected in 1852 in the usual quadrangular form around three sides of the parade grounds, leaving the west side open, and looking out towards the Pacific Ocean and upon the bay.There were at least a dozen buildings comprising the fort. Three of them were large, two storied and used as barracks. The other smaller buildings were of one story with porches In front. Grant’s headquarters was the second on the left or north side, and it was one of the smallest houses. The forests of redwood and fir in the rear made a background to the picture and furnished abundance of timber. The buildings were put up by the work of the soldiers in the command. Their plan was to put up a frame, fill in with logs, then weatherboard and plaster inside. The first house was built in this manner, but it was found expensive and unnecessary in this climate. A good weatherboard house, plastered inside, was sufficient protection for the coldest weather on the bay. Buildings of the latter type were easily worn out and blown down. Time and wind have almost demolished the buildings. The reconstruction of one used as a storeroom still stands, while boards and shingles of another lie upon the ground, a monument to the neglect of Eureka for one of its places of interest.The commanding officer was Col. Buchanan, who was about the only cultivated and refined man there. Most of the soldiers located at Fort Humboldt were a rough looking set, and were not respected by the settlers.Captain Grant, reported for duty in October, 1853, and this post thus became the scene of one of the early military services of a man who was later to become a famous general and a nation’s hero.

Colonel Buchanan and Captain Grant did not get along very well, and there was a great deal of friction between them. This grew greatly as time went on, and almost led to a court martial, and is probably one of the reasons that induced Grant to resign from the army service. It is only fair to state that the salary of a captain was low at a time when the gold excitement was at its height, wages of the ordinary laborer were large and the price of foods was very great. The pay of the officer, while perhaps good in the east, on the Pacific coast was ridiculously small in comparison.

Tradition states that when he was leaving the county to avoid further trouble with the commanding officer, he said that they would hear from him afterwards. During the civil war, Grant as superior officer met Buchanan as inferior, who was assigned some rather hard work to do, In order to even up the scores contracted at old Fort Humboldt. The Indians gave no trouble. In fact were very friendly visiting the garrison and exchanging meat and fruits for flour and hard tack.

No military expeditions away from Humboldt were undertaken while he was here. There were practically no roads and when the soldiers did go out, they had to cut their own trails. The privates didn’t have much to do and the life there was rather monotonous. As Grant was an officer, his hours of duty were not as long drawn out as those of his subordinates. He made many trips to Eureka.

In those early days, only a mule trail led from Fort Humboldt to Eureka, passing close to the marsh, which was then subject to tidal overflow, and along under the bluff to what is now South Park. From that place it became a partial road to the waterfront. Broadway and Summer Streets are the modern representatives of this old mad.

Eureka in 1854 experienced a depression in the lumbering and other lines of business and the population was considerably diminished. In all Eureka there were not more than 400 people. The only streets were First, called Front, and Second, and these were but three or four blocks in length. The timber came down to the very edge of the water, but the trees near the shore were scraggly and windblown. There were but two wharves and three saw mills. The spruce and fir were the only kinds cut as the redwoods were too large to handle and its wood was not considered worth much. The people were engaged in lumbering and there were few women, hence no society to serve as a counteracting attraction to the saloons. Of these there were three or four, the principal one being conducted by R. W. Brett, who started one on the bank of a little stream that flowed into the bay below the corner of First and F streets. There was but one church and one general store. Grant usually hung around the saloons, and he is not to be blamed much for this, because they were practically the only places to go. Here he would meet friends, sailors, and new arrivals. There were some billiard tables and he sometimes amused himself playing at that game. He cared nothing for the lower class of women; the saloon and a game of cards with boon companions being seemingly his first and greatest love.

One evening Grant walked to Eureka and at one place the road crossed a slough which used to run about where Fourth and E streets now are. A large log served as a bridge. A drizzling rain was falling and as the log was slippery, he fell into the slough. He came to Brett’s place and stepping up to the bar, ordered a drink, went over to the stove and dried himself.

He was accustomed to ride a mule to Eureka and one night he failed to return to the Fort and a party went in search of him. They found him asleep in a thicket about where the alley alongside Christ church is now located. His favorite mule was browsing close at hand. These incidents, together with the fact that he frequented the saloons have given rise to many false stories concerning Grant’s drinking. In order to have actually committed all the breaches of sobriety credited to him by the stories I have personally heard, he would have had to live here four years and do nothing else.

He was a frequent guest at the homes of Dr. Jonathan Clark, James T. Ryan, Captain Moloney and the Duffs. He made Duff’s place a secondary headquarters, where he often slept. He borrowed their big roan horse to ride. This animal would just as soon run away as not, and that suited Grant. He would ride out into the woods and jump the horse over logs and obstructions. The usual course he took was along a corduroy road, which led to a charcoal making camp. This was located at about Seventh and G streets, and the charcoal was for the use of the blacksmith shops.

Grant also visited the points of interest in and near Bucksport. No doubt he went boat riding on the bay, for we are informed that all the officers had boats. At one time they took a walk to Buhne’s point and from there looked upon the beautiful scene spread out before them. To the north was the expanse of the main bay, shut off from the ocean by the low sand dunes of the North peninsula, which at that time did not extend so far south, thus leaving a wider entrance. To the south lay the lower bay, which is really a big lagoon almost entirely enclosed by the sand pits. Beyond the region five miles away was Table Bluff. To the rear and east were the spurs of the coast range covered with redwood, of which Grant sneaks in his memoirs as a “species of red cedar of immense size.” Spread out in front to the west and northwest lay the beautiful blue expanse of the Pacific, which laps the shores of the peninsulas with is combers and white foam. Directly in front was the bar and entrance of Humboldt Bay, marked by the long swelling breakers coming from two directions —over the south shoals and from the northwest.

The exact spot upon which Grant stood while gazing upon this scene is not now in existence. The ceaseless lap of the tide and wave has worn Buhne’s Point back for a distance of over two hundred feet. The hero worshipper can only content himself by viewing the same scene. On a hill back of Bucksport still stands a low one-story house formerly occupied by the Heustis family. Captain Grant was a guest in this house and slept one night in this south room. A visit can be paid to it. The room is 12 feet long, 10 feet wide and about 8 feet high. The window to the south faces the Elk River Valley. The window on the most overlooks the bay. There is the little closet where he may have hung his clothes. Shall greater men stand in that room?

Old Ft. Humboldt Photo [Crop of Photo courtesy of HSU Library Humboldt Room Special Collections, Swanlund-Baker Collection]

Daily Humboldt Standard
September 7, 1898
In the Company with Major W.W. Heuer, U.S. C.E. and J.C. Bull, U.S. Grant was driven out to old Fort Humboldt in his southern part of this city, this afternoon, where his illustrious father was stationed nearly half a century ago, when the present U.S. Grant had scarcely opened his eyes on this world. There is little left now of the military buildings that occupied the site in those days except the old assembly hall, but the son was at last enabled to tread the same round that once was pressed by the feet of his sire & look out over the broad Pacific as perchance his father did in the days when this was little more than a wilderness.

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