Volunteers Sought for Oregon Cavalry
Recruitment call for the First Regiment of Oregon Cavalry to combat Indigenous resistance in the Washington Territory frontier.
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 Dollars Bounty. The company will consist of one captain, two lieutenants, and seventy-eight privates. In addition, men will be furnished with clothing, subsistence, quarters, and medical attendance. 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. Olympia, W. T., Jan 12th, 1862.
“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.”
This advertisement illustrates the state-sanctioned militarization of the frontier during the 1860s. The rhetoric used against Indigenous people—specifically targeting the 'Snake Indians'—was used to justify the violent expansion of settler territory across the Northwest, a foundational period in the displacement of Indigenous nations.
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