The following article appeared in the March 2012 Talent News and Review
Fort
Wagner by Jan Wright
This
is the first in a series of articles for
the Talent
News and Reviews
featuring historical landmarks and houses along the streets of
Talent. Though there were certainly Native American villages in the
Talent area, their exact locations are unknown. The first cabin built
in 1852 in Talent belonged to Jacob Wagner, a bachelor from Ohio. A
year later Fort Wagner was built around the cabin and covered about
an acre of ground. A bronze plaque in front of 226 Talent Ave.
commemorates the approximate location of the site of the Fort.
Jacob
Wagner took advantage of the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 in which
the U.S. Government offered land that they didn't own to white
Americans. By being one of the first to settle here, Wagner got first
choice of the fine farming land along Wagner and Bear creeks and
settled on what would become the town of Talent. By the time the
first large group of emigrants came into the valley in 1853, Fort
Wagner was standing strong and Jacob had melons and tomatoes already
growing. An unlucky convoy of wagons arrived on the very day that
conflict erupted between the whites and the Natives and some were
wounded before they had a chance to protect themselves. Fort Wagner
was a welcome relief for the wagon train and for those few who had
homes already established in the valley.
From
the pioneer perspective, they had a right to utilize the
environmental resources and bring their form of prosperity and
progress to the area. The fort represented their stance and a
“digging – in” mentality. One can imagine the long nights of
guard duty for the men, straining to hear the slightest noise,
waiting for the signal to use their firearms, and the conversations
around the campfire which flamed the fears of the women and children.
But the need for the fort was short-lived as the new arrivals soon
forced the Indians out of the valley or subdued them so they were not
a threat any more. For the residents who “forted up” at Wagner’s
fort, the opportunity to band together and get to know each other had
lasting benefits and altered the usual isolation of the settlers.
The
logs from the fort were eventually torn down and used for other
purposes, more lands were plowed for farming and the site became
obscured. Jacob Wagner moved to Ashland to run the Flour Mill and
others moved into Jacob's cabin and, by 1874 tore it down to build a
frame house. Stories about the Indian Wars keep the memory of the
fort alive but the site was not marked. In 1884 a former resident and
visitor to the area went looking for signs of the old fort and found
only the mound where the hearth to Jacob’s cabin had been.
In
the 1970s, the Lions club sponsored Al Grabner to research the
location of Fort Wagner. He was responsible for locating the site and
the Lion’s Club for purchasing the plaque. It was first dedicated
in 1995. About 2002 the plaque was stolen and the Lion’s Club
graciously replaced it with the one that is there today. It is not
known why the plaque says 1854 when clearly the fort was built in
1853, but the fact that it is there is the important point and marks
the spot where the City of Talent began.
[Because there is more room on my blog I can go into greater detail about the fort and cite some of the sources for my conclusions. I am particularly interested in finding out more about Captain Bradford R. Alden - the military leader who came from Ft. Jones, CA to help build Ft. Wagner on the banks of Wagner Creek in Southern Oregon. Alden came into Oregon 1853, built the Fort, and later was wounded in a battle with the Indians. His wounds were so severe he had to quit the service and move back East to be with his family. He was very disappointed that he had survived the Mexican War only to have his career shorted by an inglorious skirmish with an Indian which prevented him from serving in the Civil War. If anyone has any information or records from Fort Jones that may detail the excursion into Oregon I would be really interested in hearing about it. ]
