7. The treason dispute didn’t end there. Wartime attorneys defended the settlers and fought to gain their release by order of a district judge. Stevens cut those plans down by shutting down all government offices with a declaration of martial law. Stevens sent his militia volunteers to seize the prisoners from Fort Steilacoom and transfer them to the militia's Fort Montgomery in present day Spanaway. Court convened in Steilacoom in early May of 1856 as scheduled and found Stevens' militia armed and determined to stop any court action. Steven’s state militia faced off with deputized farmers for a few tense minutes until everyone retreated and agreed to let the territorial legislature settle the issue. Stevens was later cited for contempt of court for not releasing the prisoners, but since he was the chief executive of the territory, he simply pardoned himself. His political friends paid his court costs. The territorial legislature later censured him.
8. The Indian War wound down in late 1856, but Fort Steilacoom still had a role to play. Stevens brought Chief Leschi, leader of the Nisquallies, to trial for the death of Volunteer Col. Abram Benton Moses during a skirmish at Connell's Prairie on October 31, 1855. Stevens claimed Leschi was a murderer. Casey and others held that Leschi wasn't even at the site of the killing, and even if he was, war was war. Indians can't be held on murder charges for acts committed during a recognized act of war. A jury couldn't decide the issue. Leschi was retried. Another jury sentenced Leschi to death. He would be hanged. Although Leschi was held at Fort Steilacoom during the trials, Casey refused to allow the hangman onto the fort. The gallows were built just east of the fort. and Leschi was hanged on February 19, 1858, after he climbed the scaffold and made the sign of the cross over his chest. The converted Christian Indian leader of the Nisquallies became a martyr of the drive for the settlers to punish someone for the bloodshed of the war. A marker along Steilacoom Boulevard commemorates the solemn event. He was later cleared of all charges by Legislative action in 2004.
9. Fort Steilacoom was abandoned as a military post in 1868. The buildings and grounds shifted hands yet again. The Washington Territory received the 640-acre fort and farm, this time for use as an insane asylum. The mental hospital opened in 1871. The military barracks housed mental patients and hospital staff. The hospital is the second oldest set of governmental facilities in the state. It predates statehood by almost a generation.
10. The Fort Steilacoom Historical District is one square mile that includes four historic buildings and a nearby public park. The buildings serve as an interpretative center and museum. They are located on the grounds of Western State Hospital, 9601 Steilacoom Blvd S. W., in Lakewood..The fort is open from noon to 3 p.m. on the first Sunday of the month during the winter and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on the Sundays between Memorial Day and Labor Day, as well as by special arrangement. Call (253) 756-3928. More information is available at: http://www.fortsteilacoom.com.
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