GENERAL HISTORY HARBOR DEFENSES OF THE COLUMBIA 1864-1945
(Oregon – Columbia River – U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps) Napier, Capt. Jack Priestley. GENERAL HISTORY HARBOR DEFENSES OF THE COLUMBIA 1864-1945. Fort Sevens, OR: Coast Artillery Corps, United States Army, 1946. Two vols. 1st – 4to. 112 leaves (sections separately numbered at lower fore-edge., typescript on onion skin paper. With two 8 x 10 in. silver gelatin photos, neat typescript captions on versos, 6 leaves of manila paper, w/ indications of where smaller photos were taped at upper fore-edges in nesting leaves. Original black lettered Acco-Fastener sliding prong post-binder, leaves attached at upper fore-edge. 2nd – 4to.,19 unnumbered leaves, archival Mylar sleeves, holding 43 silver gelatin photographs, sized from 3.75 x 5 in. up to 4 x 6 in., all w/neat typescript captions affixed w/ scotch tape on versos, mounted obverse (some toning, offsetting and remnants of tape at upper fore-edges, slight lifting to some from formerly facing tape), VG set of exemplars.
Original typescript edition of this informative history prepared for the US Army Coast Artillery Corps towards the end of World War II, documenting not only the history of the three main forts including Fort Stevens on the South side of the Columbia River on Point Adams, but also Fort Canby and Fort Columbia, subsidiary posts located in Washington State at Cape Disappointment and Scarboro Head. The report details the history of the development of the harbor defenses from the Civil War through World War II, including significant sections during World War I, and then the vast expansion following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The appendices list the commanding officers, troops garrisoning the Harbor Defenses, details on all of the defensive batteries, their construction, and
armaments, as well as detailed tactical studies of the terrain. Also present here are extracts from the
original Lewis & Clark diaries, treaties with the Clatsop Tribe, special orders during and after the Civil War, as well as photographs documenting all of the activities. Napier (1913-1992), attended College of Southern Oregon, and was stationed at Fort Stevens by the middle of 1941, and later following World War II served in the US Army Occupation of Japan mission through 1950, eventually rising to Colonel when retiring in 1968. Worldcat locates 1 partial copy (OHS, only 22 pp., no photos, no appendices).
