General Benjamin Alvord
By Steve Lent, Crook County Historian
Benjamin Alvord was on in August 18, 1813 in Rutland, Vermont, Alvord graduated from the Military Academy at West Point in 1833. He followed service in Florida’s Seminole War with a two-year appointment as assistant professor of mathematics and principal assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy at West Point before heading west to duty in Indian Territory in Oklahoma Territory. He served with distinction in the Mexican American War in 1846, twice earning brevet honors.
He was dispatched to Fort Dalles in Oregon Territory and arrived on September 28, 1852. He assumed command of the fort with a company of the Fourth U.S. Infantry. The following year the Secretary of War tasked him with constructing a military road from the mouth of Myrtle creek to Camp Stewart in the Rogue River Valley. He contracted the Applegate brothers and Jesse Roberts to build the road through the Umpqua Canyon and the Grave Creek hills.
He spent the next eleven years at Fort Vancouver as the chief paymaster for the army’s District of Oregon. In 1862, following a promotion to the rank of brigadier general of volunteers, he was named district commander. By the end of 1863, his command included Fort Vancouver, the Vancouver Arsenal, Fort Walla Walla, Fort Colville, Fort Steilacoom, and San Juan Island’s Camp Pickett in Washington Territory; Fort Dalles and Fort Hoskins in Oregon; Fort Lapwai and Fort Boise in Idaho Territory; and two coastal fortifications under construction, Fort Stevens and Fort Canby.
From his headquarters at Fort Vancouver, Alvord assigned a largely volunteer force to protect the interests of miners and settlers, especially those in the Snake River basin and the Walla Walla, Grande Ronde, Powder, and John Day Valleys. Alvord's command included the high-desert country of southeastern Oregon. He commanded forces in the "Snake War" against widely scattered bands of Northern Paiute. During that conflict, Captain George Currey named Alvord Lake and Alvord Desert, east of Steens Mountain, for his commanding officer.
He was relieved of his command in Oregon in 1864 and returned east. He served his remaining fifteen years in the army’s Pay Department. Alvord retired as a brigadier general in 1880. He died on October 16, 1884 and is buried in Vermont.