Call for Cavalry to Combat Snake Indians
Recruitment begins in Olympia for a regiment tasked with patrolling the frontier against 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. 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. In addition, the men will be furnished with clothing, subsistence, quarters, and medical attendance. After being mustered into the service of the United States, the men will be sent to Fort Steilacoom at government expense to be drilled. The Governor of Oregon, in his proclamation calling for these volunteers, states that they will be needed the coming spring on the frontiers of this state and Washington Territory for an expedition against the Snake Indians who have long been engaged in robbing immigrants and murdering our fellow citizens.
“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.”
This recruitment notice highlights the violent dispossession of Indigenous land during the settlement of the Pacific Northwest. The 'Snake Indians'—a term used by settlers to group Northern Paiute, Shoshone, and Bannock peoples—were actively resisting the encroaching violence of settler-colonial expansion. This history remains central to understanding the modern geography and political tensions in Washington and Oregon.
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