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ATTITUDE OF THE ARMY.

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peace, owing to the increase of immigration and the encroachments of the white people upon the Indians, which deprived them of their improvements, was continually increasing. There were, he said, less than a thousand men to guard California, Oregon, Washington, and Utah, and more were wanted. The request was referred by Scott to the secretary of war, and refused.

In May, Wool sent Inspector-general J. K. F. Mansfield to make a tour of the Pacific department, and see if the posts established there should be made permanent; but expressed the opinion that those in northern California could be dispensed with, notwithstanding that the commanders of forts Reading and Jones were every few weeks sending reports filled with accounts of collisions between the white population and the Indians.

reasons.

At this point I observe certain anomalies. Congress had invited settlers to the Pacific coast for political These settlers had been promised protection from the savages. That protection had never to any practical extent been rendered; but gradually the usual race conflict had begun and strengthened until it assumed alarming proportions. The few officers of the military department of the government, sent here ostensibly to protect its citizens, had found it necessary to devote themselves to protecting the Indians. Over and over they asserted that the white men were alone to blame for the disturbances.

Writing to the head of the department at New York, General Wool said that the emigration to California and Oregon would soon render unnecessary a number of posts which had been established at a great expense, and that if it were left to his discretion, he should abolish forts Reading and Miller in California, and establish a temporary post in the Pit River country; also break up one or two posts in northern California and Oregon, which could only mean forts Jones and Lane, and establish another on Puget Sound,

and, if possible, one in the Boisé country; though his preference would be given to a company of dragoons to traverse the Snake River country in the summer and return to The Dalles in the winter.

Governor Curry, on learning that the expedition under Haller had accomplished nothing, and that the whole command numbered only sixty men, and thinking it too small to accomplish anything in the Snake River country should the Indians combine to make war on the immigration, on the 18th of September issued a proclamation calling for two companies of volunteers, of sixty men each, to serve for six months, unless sooner discharged, and to furnish their own horses, equipments, arms, and ammunition; the companies to choose their own officers, and report to Brigadier General Nesmith on the 25th, one company to rendezvous at Salem and the other at Oregon City.

Commissions were issued to George K. Sheil, assistant adjutant-general, John McCracken, assistant quartermaster-general, and Victor Trevitt, commissary and quartermaster. A request was despatched to Vancouver, to Bonneville, to ask from the United States arms, ammunition, and stores with which to supply the volunteer companies, which Bonneville refused, saying that in his opinion a winter campaign was neither necessary nor practicable. Nesmith being of like opinion, the governor withdrew his call for volunteers.

When the legislative assembly convened, the governor placed before them all the information he possessed on Indian affairs, whereupon a joint committee was appointed to consider the question. Lane had already been informed of the occurrences in the Boisé country, but a resolution was adopted instructing the governor to correspond with General Wool and Colonel Bonneville in relation to the means available for an expedition against the Shoshones. The total force then in the Pacific department was 1,200, dragoons, artillery, and infantry; of which nine compa

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nies of infantry, 335 strong, were stationed in Oregon and Washington, and others were under orders for the Pacific.

Governor Davis had written Wool of anticipated difficulties in the south; whereupon the latter instructed Captain Smith to reenforce his squadron with the detachment of horse lately under command of Colonel Wright, and with them to proceed to Klamath Lake to render such assistance as the immigration should require. About a month later he reported to General Thomas that he had called Smith's attention to the matter, and that he was informed that all necessary measures had been taken to prevent disturbances on the emigrant road.

In congress the passage of the army bill failed this year, though a section was smuggled into the appropriation bill adding two regiments of infantry and two of cavalry to the existing force, and authorizing the president, by the consent of the senate, to appoint one brigadier general. It was further provided that arms should be distributed to the militia of the territories, under regulations prescribed by the president, according to the act of 1808 arming the militia of the states. No special provision was made for the protection of the north-west coast, and Oregon was left to meet the impending conflict as best it might.

CHAPTER XIV.

GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL DEVELOPMENT.

1854-1855.

RESIGNATION OF Governor DAVIS-HIS SUCCessor, George LAW CURRYLEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS-WASTE OF CONGRESSIONAL APPROPRIA TIONS-STATE HOUSE-PENITENTIARY-RELOCATION OF THE CAPITAL AND UNIVERSITY-LEGISLATIVE AND CONGRESSIONAL ACTS RELAT VE THERETO-MORE COUNTIES MADE-FINANCES-TERRITORIAL CONVEN. TION-NEWSPAPERS-THE SLAVERY SENTIMENT-POLITICS OF THE PERIOD- -WHIGS, DEMOCRATS, AND Know-nothings—A NEW PARTY— INDIAN AFFAIRS-TREATIES EAST OF THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS.

IN August 1854 Governor Davis resigned. There was no fault to be found with him, except that he was imported from the east. In resigning, he gave as a reason his domestic affairs. He was tendered a parting dinner at Salem, which was declined; and after a residence of eight months in the territory he returned to the states with a half-declared intention of making Oregon his home, but he died soon after reaching the east. Although a good man, and a democrat, he was advised to resign, that Curry might be appointed governor, which was done in November following.'

Curry was the favorite of that portion of the democratic party known as the Salem clique, and whose organ was the Statesman. He followed the States

man's lead, and it defended him and his measures, which were really its own. He was a partisan more through necessity than choice, and in his intercourse with the people he was a liberal and courteous gentle

1Lane's Autobiography, MS., 59; Or. Statesman, Dec. 12, 1854; Amer. Almanac, 1855-6. 1857-9.

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man. Considering his long acquaintance with Oregon affairs, and his probity of character, he was perhaps as suitable a person for the position as could have been found in the party to which he belonged. He possessed the advantage of being already, through his secretaryship, well acquainted with the duties of his office, in which he was both faithful and industrious. Such was the man who was chosen to be governor of Oregon during the remaining years of its minority, and the most trying period of its existence.

The legislature met as usual the first Monday in December, with James K. Kelly president of the council, and L. F. Cartee, speaker of the lower house.

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'George Law Curry, born in Philadelphia, July 2, 1820, was the son of George Curry, who served as captain of the Washington Blues in the engagepreceding the capture of Washington city in the war of 1812; and grandson of Christopher Curry, an emigrant from England who settled in Philadelphia, and lies in the Christ Church burial-ground of that city. He visited the republic of Colombia when a child, and returned to the family homestead near Harrisburg, Penn. His father dying at the age of 11, he went to Boston, where he was apprenticed to a jeweler, finding time for study and literary pursuits, of which he was fond. In 1838 he was elected and served two terms as president of the Mechanic Apprentices' Library, upon whose records may be found many of his addresses and poems. In 1843 he removed to St Louis, and there joined with Joseph M. Field and other theatrical and literary men in publishing the Reveille, emigrating to Oregon in 1846, after which time his history is a part of the history of the territory. His private life was without reproach, and his habits those of a man of letters. He lived to see Oregon pass safely through the trials of her probationary period to be a thriving state, and died July 28, 1878. Biography of George L. Curry, MS., 1-3 Seattle Pacific Tribune, July 31, 1878; Portland Standard, July 13, 1878; S. F. Post, July 30, 1878; Ashland Tidings, Aug. 9, 1878; Salem Statesmare, Aug. 2, 1878; Portland Oregonian, July 29, 1878.

3 The members elect of the council were: J. C. Peebles of Marion; J. K. Kelly, Clackamas and Wasco; Dr Cleveland of Jackson; L. W. Phelps of Linn; Dr Greer, Washington and Columbia; J. M. Fulkerson, Polk and Tillamook; Umpqua. The lower house consisted of G. W. Coffinbury, of Clatsop; E. S. Tanner, David Logan, D. H. Belknap, Washington; A. J. Hembree, A. G. Henry, Yamhill; H. N. V. Holmes, Polk and Tillamook; I. F. M. Butler, weather, A. L. Lovejoy, Clackamas; C. P. Crandall, R. C. Geer, N. Ford, Marion; Luther Elkins, Delazon Smith, Hugh Brown, Linn; A. W. Patterson, McIntire, Jackson; O. Humason, Wasco; Robert J. Ladd, Umpqua; J. B. Condon, Columbia; J. H. Foster, Coos, elected but not present. Two other names, Dunn and Walker, appear in the proceedings and reports, but no clew is given to their residence. Or. Jour. Council, 1854-5; Or. Statesman, Dec. 12; 1854. The clerks of the council were B. Genois, J. Costello, and M. C. Edwards. Sergeant-at-arms, J. K. Delashmutt; doorkeeper, J. L. Gwinn. The clerks of the lower house were Victor Trevitt, James Elkins, S. M. Hammond. Sergeant-at-arms, G. L. Russell; doorkeeper, Blevins.

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