Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/51

 A SOLDIER OF THE OREGON FRONTIER. 43 Leavenworth and secured work as herder with the First Rifle Regiment, which was then just starting for Oregon. The command arrived in Oregon City in November, 1849. Soon after the arrival Trimble hired an Indian and made a canoe trip to the mouth of the Columbia. In the spring of 1851, again as civil employee, he joined the command of Major Phil. Kearney, which was bound for California. On the way this command participated in the first Rogue River War. In trying to rescue a wounded soldier from a ravine, young Trimble received a troublesome wound in the hand. At about the same time gallant Captain Stuart was killed. Trimble still recalls the details of his death and burial. Such experiences, however, did not deter him from enlisting so soon as he became of age. This he did at Fort Tejon, Cali- fornia, joining the First U. S. Dragoons. Ordered north, he arrived on the Columbia in time to assist in the rescue at the Cascades. His next service was to help in establishing the cantonment at Walla Walla. He participated with conspicu- ous gallantry in both the Steptoe and the Wright expeditions. When his time expired, he rode the Pony Express until the breaking out of the Civil War. Then he re-enlisted in the Second Dragoons. Back to the Atlantic he went. At Williamsburg was his first fight. Very different from fighting Indians on the bunch- grass hills of the Palouse was that stern facing of the men of his own race on the gray Peninsula. At Malvern Hill he was Avounded, but the splendid vigor bred of Western life told for speedy recovery. From that time onward clear to Appomatox in every great battle of the Army of the Potomac he had his part. At Gettysburg he was again wounded, and again cure came so quickly that he was soon clattering after Sheridan down the Shenandoah. At Cedar Creek he was personally thanked by General Sheridan for daring service. The end at Appomatox brought little lull to Trimble, for he was soon hurrying to Texas as part of that stern hint which halted French aggression in Mexico. Then, after a few months spent