Fort Douglas

By Louwane Vansoolen and Fort Douglas Military Museum

On October 26, 1862, Col. Edward P. Connor and the 3rd California Volunteers set up Camp Douglas for the purpose of protecting the overland mail and telegraph routes between Nevada and Wyoming. This began a long history of a U.S. military presence in the Salt Lake Valley Mormon community. Although the camp closed on October 26, 1991, the U.S. military still has a presence today on the east bench of Salt Lake City known as Fort Douglas. The base as it was during its heyday of the 38th Infantry is gone, but the parade ground and Gothic sandstone homes of Officers Circle, shaded by trees planted long ago, still remain at Fort Douglas. The horses have disappeared and the "old soldiers have faded away," but the stable and red-brick barracks also remain. A few old-timers still enjoy a stroll around the parade ground, listening for the canyon breeze ruffling through the trees that echo faintly the calls of yesteryear.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439623343

Louwane Vansoolen

The Fort Douglas Military Museum and longtime curator Louwane Vansoolen have pieced together this insightful volume into Utah's rich history, featuring over 180 vintage images. The museum, housed in two of the old sandstone barracks built in 1875, has kept the old fort alive with relics of military life, then and now.

Book preview

(Ret.)

One

COLONEL CONNOR AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CAMP DOUGLAS

Patrick Edward O’Connor established Camp Douglas and became its first commander. He was born on March 17, 1890, in Kerry County, Ireland. When he was very young, his parents immigrated to New York City, where he lived until on November 28, 1839, Patrick enlisted as a private in Company I, 1st Dragoons, which was the army’s Native American fighting force. After completing his five-year enlistment, he was discharged and went into the mercantile business. In 1846, he immigrated to Texas and on May 6, 1846, mustered into Albert Sydney Johnston’s command as a lieutenant and became a Texas foot rifleman in Texas’s dispute with Mexico. At this time, he changed his name to Patrick E. Connor. After being honorably discharged, he moved to Stockton, California.

While in California, he was involved in many civic activities, married Johanna Connor, and achieved social and financial stature. In May 1853, he became a member of the California Rangers to help control outlaw disorder. In December 1856, a volunteer militia company, the Stockton Blues, was formed with Connor as first lieutenant; he later became captain of the group. Besides an interest in the military, Connor submitted design plans for the California State Capitol and later designed and built a new home in