404 F. G. Young There was, however, need for an effective marching and fighting force in the Pacific Northwest to discourage the In- dians from indulging their marauding propensities. The iso- lated settlers east of the Cascades, the miners pushing their prospecting activities far in all directions towards the Rockies, the scattered groups of immigrants trailing in on the last stretches of an exhausting season's march across the plains — all these were suffering as victims of savage cruelties. Reports of massacres were frequent. The work of patrolling the vast area of country between the Cascades and the Rockies was a responsibility that belonged to the national government. To insure effective protection against the treachery of the Indians of this region a force was needed quite as large as the quota due from the fifty thousand people who comprised the population of Oregon. The First Oregon Cavalry that had been recruited by Colonel Cornelius in the fall and winter of 1861 were putting in their three years' term of enlistment in this Indian watching-and-fighting service. It had meant pri- vations and hardships with none of the compensations inci- dent to participation in real fighting at the front in the South. By the summer of 1863 their ranks had become thinned and additional companies were called for. The efforts of Governor Gibbs, a most loyal Union sympathizer, to secure recruits were even less successful than had been those of Governor Whiteaker a few years before. Six additional companies were needed and some forty men in all were secured. Neither the prospec- tive service in the Indian country nor the pay was a sufficient inducement. 1 In the fall of 1864, when the terms of enlistment of the men of the First Oregon Cavalry were about to expire, there was still no prospect of securing their re-enlistment, or new recruits to take their places ; yet troops for this Northwest service must i "I am sorry to say that the recruiting for the six new companies of the Oregon Cavalry goes on slowly. The out-place and out-of -business population who were expected to fill up the ranks, have their eyes on the mines, more than the stripes and stars. True, we are an adventurous people, but equally commercial, and between the bayonet and the pick, we prefer to take the chances with the latter. The company recruiting at this point now numbers about 25, but I believe the recruiting officers at other places have so far made a waterhaul. There are a good many who offer to enlist as captains, and some few as lieutenants, but below that their aspirations do not descend. The progress in this respect may be well illustrated by the following anecdote: Not long since a little son of Gov. Gibbs was met on the street by an acquaintance of his father's, and was asked what the Governor was doing. The lad promptly replied that he was trying to raise volun- teers. 'With what success?' says the patronizing friend. 'Oh,' says Willie, with a face full of juvenile irony, 'he is doing very well; he has one captain, and thinks he knows where he can find another.' " — San Francisco Bulletin, Letter from Portland, February 25, 1863.
