Original Earthworks & Battery Freeman

Oregon State Parks: Fort Stevens Guide to Military Sites

Original Earthworks (1863) and Battery Freeman (1902)

Fort Stevens began as an open, earthen fort known as an earthworks, the only installation of its type on the West Coast. The nine-sided earthworks contained 26 guns, including seventeen massive Rodman cannons, considered the most powerful weapons of their day.

At the turn of the century, the Army installed Battery Freeman, a concrete battery inside the original earthworks, armed with safer, more accurate guns.

During World War II, the Army leveled the battery to create a parade ground. The Friends of Old Fort Stevens organized and sponsored the reconstruction of the earthworks between 1989-91.

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