Oregon Cavalry Seeks 100 Volunteers for 1863 Campaign
Recruiting officer Francis Henry announces a call for volunteers to join the Oregon Cavalry, citing the need to secure the frontier against ongoing conflict.
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, 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. Total, one hundred enlisted men. 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.
“The Snake Indians who have so long been mercilessly engaged in robbing immigrants and murdering our fellow citizens.”
This recruitment notice highlights the intense frontier violence and state-sanctioned militarism directed against Indigenous populations in the Pacific Northwest during the Civil War era. It serves as a reminder of the settler-colonial context that defined early Washington Territory governance and security policy.
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