Oregon Cavalry Calls for Volunteers to Fight in Washington Territory
A recruitment notice for the First Regiment of Oregon Cavalry, seeking 100 men for duty on the frontier to combat the 'Snake Indians.'
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
One hundred volunteers are wanted for the First Regiment of Oregon Cavalry, to serve three years unless sooner discharged. A bounty of $100 is offered. The company will consist of one captain, one first and one second lieutenant, one first sergeant, one quartermaster sergeant, one commissary sergeant, five sergeants, eight corporals, two teamsters, two farriers or blacksmiths, one saddler, one wagoner, and seventy-eight privates. Enlisted men will be sent to Fort Steilacoom at government expense to be drilled and mustered into the service of the United States. The Governor of Oregon, in his proclamation calling for these volunteers, says that they will be needed the coming spring on the frontiers of this State and Washington Territory, and for an expedition against the Snake Indians who have so long been mercilessly engaged in robbing immigrants and murdering our fellow citizens.
“The Governor of Oregon, in his proclamation calling for these volunteers, says that they will be needed... for an expedition against the Snake Indians.”
This recruitment call highlights the aggressive expansionism and conflict that defined the mid-19th century in the Pacific Northwest. The language used reflects the era's justification for displacement and military intervention against Indigenous nations, which remain subjects of intense study and reckoning for modern Washingtonians.
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