Call for Cavalry Against the Snake Indians
A recruitment drive in Olympia seeks volunteers for the First Regiment of Oregon Cavalry to campaign against Indigenous resistance.
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.
100 Volunteers Wanted for the First Regiment of Oregon Cavalry, to serve three years unless sooner discharged. $100 Bounty. The company will consist of one captain, lieutenants, sergeants, corporals, and privates. 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. Office in Olympia with Wells, Fargo & Co. Francis Henry, Recruiting officer.
“An expedition against the Snake Indians who have so long been mercilessly engaged in robbing immigrants and murdering our fellow citizens.”
This recruitment notice reflects the intense mid-19th-century colonial violence that defined Washington Territory’s expansion. The 'Snake War' was a period of brutal displacement and frontier conflict that persists in the oral histories and legal battles of the region’s Tribes today.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.