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Fort Tongass was a United States Army base on Tongass Island, in the southernmost Alaska Panhandle, located adjacent to the village of the group of Tlingit people on the east side of the island.〔(Sealaska Heritage website )〕 Fort Tongass was the first US Army base established in Alaska following its purchase from the Russian Empire in 1867 and was garrisoned by the 2nd U.S. Artillery under the command of Captain Charles H. Peirce. Historian Hubert Howe Bancroft notes: "the site was well chosen, containing a plentiful supply of timber and pasture, while fish and game abound in the neighbourhood.〔(''History of Alaska'', by Hubert Howe Bancroft, Alfred Bates, Ivan Petroff, William Nemos, Published by A. L. Bancroft & company, 1886, University of California, 775 pp. (p. 679) )〕 The post was commissioned in 1868 and abandoned in 1870. After Alaska was established as a customs district by legislation in 1868, a deputy collector was posted to Fort Tongass as well as to Fort Wrangel, meant to intercept prospectors and commercial traffic bound for the goldfields of the Stikine River inland in British Columbia, and a revenue cutter was stationed in the area's waters.〔(''Alaska's Heritage CHAPTER 4-1: AMERICANS COME TO ALASKA'' ), Alaska Heritage and Culture Course (online)〕 In 1868, Jefferson C. Davis, commander of the army's Military District of Alaska, visited Fort Tongass as well as Fort Wrangel and Prince of Wales Island aboard the USS ''Saginaw'', with Jefferson requesting an armed steamer be sent north to support troops in those garrisons, who had no water transport. The USS ''Cyane'' was sent north in 1869, being fitted out for Alaskan service and stationed at Sitka, as support for these bases.〔 In 1869 a newspaper was published at Fort Tongass named the ''Tongass Wa-Wa''〔(Alaska State Library reference (record only, no holdings) )〕 ("Wa-wa" in the Chinook Jargon means "talk, speech, conversation").〔See ''Kamloops Wawa'' for a similarly titled publication〕 After the fort's closing the name Fort Tongass became current for the name of the native village which remained. Despite the army's withdrawal, a Customs Inspector remained in residence, though having difficulty in controlling trade between the various Tlingit tribes and the Hudson's Bay Company post at Fort Simpson, which was just 15 miles south. In 1879 there were 700 Tongass under a chief named Ya-soot.〔(''Senate Documents, Otherwise Publ. as Public Documents and Executive Documents: 14th Congress, 1st Session-48th Congress, 2nd Session and Special Session By United States Congress. Senate, 1879 Original from Oxford University ), p.145〕 ==Name origin and Tlingit village== The name Tongass is derived from the name of the people, which has been variously spelled Tomgas, Tont-a-quans, Tungass, Tungass-kon and Tanga'sh.〔 The name of the Tongass people in the Tlingit language is ''"Taantʼa Ḵwáan"'' (Sea Lion Tribe), today mostly reside in Ketchikan. Royal Navy Captain Daniel Pender, in surveying and naming the region in 1868, misconstrued Captain Peirce's name as "Pearse", in the course of naming nearby Pearse Island, which is on the Canadian side of the boundary, which runs through Tongass Passage to the east of Tongass Island. Other officers stationed to the garrison were a Lieutenant Lord, Lieutenant Murphy and a Surgeon Chismore.〔(''British Columbia Coast Names, 1592-1906 : to which are added a few names in adjacent United States territory, their origin and history'', John T. Walbran, publ Ottawa, Ontario: Govt. Printing Bureau, 1909 ), p. 376〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fort Tongass」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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