The first troops didn’t come until 1847, when the first Indian war occurred, which was the Whitman massacre in Washington territory. A permanent military presence arrived in May 1850. The fort was first called Camp Drum, after captain Simon H. Drum. Two companies of mounted rifles were the first to occupy the fort. One of their first duties was to clear the wagon road around Mt. Hood. Later that year they furnished badly needed supplies to immigrant trains. Some stayed over the winter to help build the post. They quicky erected a sawmill on Mill Creek.
In the spring of 1851, the mounted rifles were sent elsewhere. Lt. J. J. Woods and an attachment of the 1st Artillery were stationed at Camp Drum. At the time, there were several buildings already complete: officer’s quarters, soldiers’ quarters, storehouse, stable, sawmill, blacksmith and carpenter shops, and a house. Woods’ attachment was a small force and so they could do not do any road repair that fall and winter.
In September 1852, Brevet Major Benjamin Alvord brought 70 men to the post. They were able to catch up on the road repair and help outfit the pioneers. For the sick, he also provided medical services.
The post was ten miles square, which encompassed the original Methodist and Catholic missions, the boat landings, and the future town site. Some budding entrepreneurs were upset at this because they felt it took all the best land. The fort was reduced to just one square mile in April 1853, at which time Alvord also renamed it Fort Drum. Things were now better since some settlers did not go any further, but stayed at the fort to raise crops or livestock. That fall Wasco County was created. At the time, it was a huge county that extended from the Columbia River to the California border and from the Cascades to the Rockies.
Mounted troops came to the fort in 1854. They spent most of the summer tracking down the Indians responsible for the Ward massacre near Fort Boise. They also patrolled that portion of
