Fort Abercrombie (Kodiak Island, Alaska)

Kodiak Island · Alaska · World War II

History & Significance

In April 1941, the Army transported Battery C of the 250th Coast Artillery Regiment to Kodiak, and in June, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order withdrawing 780 acres of land on Miller Point for military use. The Miller Point fort was originally manned in April 1941 by Battery C, 250th Coast Artillery Regiment, California National Guard, arriving on the Army transport St. Mihiel.

It wasn't until April 2, 1943 that it was named for Lt. Col. William R. Abercrombie, a major US Army explorer of Alaska in the 19th century. Fort Abercrombie probably was actively manned between the summer of 1942 and the spring of 1944, with facilities placed into caretaker status in December 1944.

Forts Greely and Abercrombie, with their coast artillery and infantry troops, stood ready to defend Kodiak Naval Operating Base. For over a year, the Japanese threat remained real but, in the end, the enemy did not come, and Army bombers stood ready in Kodiak's hostile weather until, in June 1942, the opportunity came to meet the enemy force attacking Unalaska in the Aleutians. In 1970 Fort Abercrombie was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and in 1985, the park was designated a National Historic Landmark.

Map

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Sources

• https://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/aspunits/kodiak/fortabercrombieshp.htm
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Abercrombie_State_Historical_Park
• https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/02/10/step-back-in-time-at-fort-abercrombie/
• https://www.adn.com/outdoors-adventure/2017/10/16/whether-you-want-history-or-nature-kodiaks-fort-abercrombie-is-a-182-acre-treasure/
• http://www.kadiak.org/abercrombie/abercrom.html
• https://www.nps.gov/places/kodiak-naval-operating-base-and-forts-greely-and-abercrombie.htm

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