Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/164

 146 John Minto. in a slave State. As for me, I had no birthright in any. I had assisted to give the title to Oregon to the United States, to which Government my fealty was pledged in almost the same terms as my marriage vows, "And when I lack courage to de- fend my wife, I may fail to support my pledge of citizenship ; but till then, I am the enemy of every enemy of the United States, ready to act in her defense 'By word or pen or pointed steel. ' Do I lack other reasons in addition to good faith ? Go with me up on the ridge there (north of Silverton) and cast your eye north, west, or south, as far as you can see and much more, the United States has secured by gift the soil in liberal portions for citizens' homes. Then tell me, ' where 's the cow- ard that would not dare to fight for such a land ? ' What se- curity of tenure have you for your homes but the integrity of the United States?" I dropped off the box between the men who had been more than an hour trying to get me to notice their talk, and the larger said to the smaller one: ''Well by G, would you have expected that from that little fellow?" More worthy men shook my hand and gave many signs of satisfaction. There was only one young man— James D. Fay, a native of South Carolina— sent to a seat in the Oregon legislature by that election ; a bright, reckless man elected by the mining camps of Josephine County. At this time I was busy with my farming and stock grow- ing, and gave considerable time to the State agricultural so- cieties and fairs. The Civil War, in progress, kept us under a strain of excitement ; some of the most spirited of our youth went East and entered the national army or navy. A call was made and responded to for volunteers to guard the Indians so as to relieve the regular troops, who were needed on the Atlantic side. There were known to be emissaries of secession here, and Kjiights of the Golden Circle, under other names, and considerable attention was given to drill, so as to be ready for any emergency. We were kept on the alert. The struggle was so desperate that most people could perceive, by the sec-