pany the Modocs retreated, and no further violence occurred during the season. In anticipation of similar occurrences, Colonel Wright in June 1861 made a requisition upon Governor Whiteaker for a cavalry company. It was proposed that the company be enlisted for three years, unless sooner discharged, and mustered into the service of the United States, with the pay and according to the rules and regulations of the regular army, with the exception that the company should furnish its own horses, for which they would receive compensation for use or loss in service. A. P. Dennison, former Indian agent at The Dalles, was appointed enrolling officer; but the suspicion which attached to him, as well as to the governor, of sympathy with the rebellion, hindered the success of the undertaking, which finally was ordered discontinued,[1] and the enlisted men were disbanded.
In the mean time Wright was transferred to California to take the command of troops in the southern part of that state, for the suppression of rebellion, while Lieutenant-colonel Albemarle Cady, of the 7th infantry, was assigned to the command of the district of Oregon. Soon after, Wright was made brigadier-general, and placed in command of the department of the Pacific.[2] As troops were withdrawn from the
- ↑ Or. Statesman, June 17 and Oct. 21, 1861; Or. Jour. House, 1862, app. 22–4.
- ↑ He was a native of Vt, graduated from West Point in 1822, and was promoted to the rank of 2d lieut in the 3d inf. in July, and to the rank of 1st lieut in Sept. of the same year. He served in the west, principally at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., and in Indian campaigns on the frontier, until 1831, when he was transferred to La, with the 3d inf., occupying the position of adj. to that reg. until 1836, when he was promoted to a captaincy in the 8th inf. He served through the Florida war, and under the command of Gen. Taylor, fought at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma in Mexico, after which he was transferred to Scott's command. He received three brevets for gallant services before being promoted to the rank of maj., one in the Florida war, one after the battles of Contreras and Churubusco, Mexico, and the last, that of col, after the battle of Molino del Rey. Wright came to the Pacific coast with the 5th inf. in 1852, holding the rank of maj., and was promoted to a colonelcy Feb. 3, 1855, and the following month was appointed to command the reg. of 9th inf., for which provision had just been made by congress. He went east, raised his regiment, and returned in Jan. 1856, when he was ordered to Or. and Wash. He remained in that military district, as we have seen, until the summer of 1861. In Sept. he was ordered to S. F., and soon after relieved Gen. Sumner in the command of the department of the Pacific,
