First Lieutenant Charlene Coutteau is one of the few soldiers serving at Joint Base Lewis-McChord who has a direct connection to some of the history of Fort Steilacoom.

Her distant cousin, Gen. August Kautz, served at the military post in the mid-1850s where he served as the quartermaster. 

He supervised the construction of a number of buildings, and he left behind an inspiring legacy of fortitude and service.

"I imagined what it would have been like to be a soldier in the Northwest Territory during the mid-eighteen hundreds," Coutteau, who serves with the 23rd Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, wrote in an email after a recent visit to Fort Steilacoom.

"It was also really cool to think that someone that was related to me was responsible for building the fort itself."

Kautz's responsibilities began in 1836 when he served in the Mexican-American War. At the war's end, he entered the United States Military Academy in 1848 and was commissioned in 1852. Soon thereafter, he arrived at the isolated Fort Steilacoom.

Kautz acquitted himself well, seeing action during the Indian Wars of the mid-1850s. At the end of the wars in mid-1856, Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens wanted the Indians treated harshly for their actions during the wars.

To that end, Chief Leschi of the Nisqually Indians was captured and then charged with the killing of Col. Benton Moses.

Kautz led a battlefield investigation, which determined that Leschi did not kill Moses. He also published two issues of a newspaper called the Truth Teller, outlining the reasons why Chief Leschi was innocent.

Chief Leschi was found guilty at the end of a second trial and sentenced to hang; the Army officers at Fort Steilacoom refused to carry out the sentence.

The territorial legislature then passed a law granting civilian authorities the ability to carry out the sentence Feb. 19, 1858, on a site not far from the fort.

"I think General Kautz did what he thought was morally right," Coutteau added.

During this time, Kautz conceived the idea of climbing Mount Rainier.

On July 8, 1857, Kautz and several others left the post to begin the first known attempt to summit the mountain. Eight days later, Kautz reached the rim of the summit crater -- not the summit of the mountain -- before turning back. 

"We had, however, demonstrated the feasibility of making the ascent," he wrote in his journal.

During the Civil War, Kautz commanded cavalry units, and at the end of the war was a brevet brigadier general. He was also selected as a member of the military commission, which tried President Lincoln's murder conspirators.

"General Kautz definitely did the harder right versus the easier wrong in all that he did; he was honorable and steadfast in his convictions," said Coutteau.

"I think soldiers should visit this fort because it is so near to JBLM, and learn about the important part it played in the history of the area."

For more information about Fort Steilacoom, visit historicfortsteilacoom.org.