Camp Castaway
Camp Castaway was a military encampment at what is now Coos Bay, Oregon, United States.[1][2][3]
Camp Castaway was established by the survivors of the wreck of the Captain Lincoln, a U.S. transport schooner, on January 3, 1852.[4] The ship began taking on water during a storm while en route from San Francisco to Fort Orford at the town of Port Orford.[5] To avoid sinking, the captain decided to beach the ship north of Cape Arago. All of the roughly 30 troops (U.S. 1st Dragoons, Company C, predecessors to the U.S. Cavalry) on board, and the ship's crew, survived the wreck and most of the cargo was salvaged.[6] At the time no U.S. settlement was present at Coos Bay, so commanding officer Lt. Henry Stanton decided to establish the camp to protect the cargo until it could be transported to Fort Orford, some 50 miles south on the Oregon Coast. The troops and crew used spars, booms and sail cloth from the schooner to build tent structures for housing and for protecting the cargo from winter rains and blowing sand. They named the temporary post Camp Castaway. The camp endured for four months in the open dunes with help from Native Americans of the Coos tribe who traded fresh foods to the soldiers for silverware, biscuits and other nonlocal goods.[7] Chief Hanis (or "Hanness") of the Coos is among the Native Americans who reportedly visited Camp Castaway while the soldiers were present.[8]
See also
- New Carissa, a ship that went aground in the same place as the Captain Lincoln in 1999
References
- ^ McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-0875952772.
- ^ Wells, Gwen. "Contact and Settlement: Settlement Begins". The Oregon History Project. Oregon Historical Society. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
- ^ Oregon National Guard (State of Oregon, Oregon Military Department) (July 1976). "Forts - Camps - Roads 1805-1976". Oregon State Archives. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
- ^ Dodge, Orvil (1898). Pioneer History of Coos and Curry Counties, Oregon. Salem, Oregon: Capital Printing Company. pp. 115–125.
- ^ McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. pp. 371–372. ISBN 978-0875952772.
- ^ Miller, Morris (1852). "Letter Report to Major O. Cross, Chief Quartermaster, Pacific Division, U.S. Army, San Francisco" (Document). 32nd Congress, 1st Session, Senate Executive Document, No 1. pp. 102–121.
- ^ Ward, Beverly (1986). White Moccasins. Myrtle Point Printing. p. 47.
- ^ Card, Douglas (November 21, 1999). "History repeats itself in sand off Coos Bay". The Register-Guard. pp. 1E, 4E. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
