Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/781



now remain. On another page is given the portraits of Commander Myers, and Vice Commander Wilkes.

THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.

"Friendship, not fame, is the countersign here; Make room by the conqueror crowned in the strife. For the comrade that Hmps from the battle of life."

On the breaking out of the southern rebellion in 1861, the soldiers of the regular army then quartered at Vancouver, Walla Walla, and other parts in Oregon, were called to the eastern states to help suppress the rebellion. Oregon then promptly took the lead in raising troops to man the forts and scout the frontiers to hold the Indians in subjection. Portland took its full part in this work. Some Oregonians also volunteered to go east and fight the southern rebels; some also went east and joined the rebels to maintain the southern con- federacy. Roswell Lamson of Yamhill county, son of an immigrant of 1845, took an active part on the side of the union as a lieutenant in the navy. A son of his resides in this city. John L. Boon of Salem, temporarily at Delaware Col- lege, Ohio, volunteered in an Ohio regiment. George Williams, brother of Hon. Richard Williams of this city from Salem, joined the union army, lost a leg in the battle of Gettysburg, and was promoted to the rank of major. Many more Oregonians would have gone east to fight the rebels but for the fears that disunionists would attempt to set up a Pacific republic.

After the war was over, the veteran union soldiers commenced streaming over the Rocky mountains like the pioneers of 1843, to settle in Oregon. Many were poor, had lost years of time and gained no worldly substance in fighting for their country. The farmer element took to the hills and valleys and got homesteads on the free lands. Others settled in the towns, and as years went on, renewed the acquaintances and the experiences of the campfires of '61 to '65. Finally the great order, "the Grand Army of the Republic," was organized in the east, and subsequently in Oregon.

On May 20, 1882, by general order No. 16, dated at Boston, Mass., Gen. George S. Merrill, commander-in-chief of the Grand Army in the United States, constituted the state of Oregon a provisional department of the Grand Army, with Capt. N. S. Pierce appointed provisional commander.

Comrade Pierce assumed command at Portland, Oregon, on June i, 1882, and appointed the following comrades as officers of the department, to-wit : F. K. Arnold, senior vice commander; Owen Summers, junior vice commander; W. V. Spencer, assistant adjutant-general ; T. G. Davison, assistant quartermaster-gen- eral ; C. E. Caukin, T. C. Bell, A. Tyler, Wm. Kapus, A. E. Borthwick, council of administrators.

The following comrades were appointed as aides-de-camp to the department commanders: W. C. Powers, M. J. Morse, E. H. C. Taylor and T. B. McDevitt. And the Grand Army was thus organized in Oregon.

There are now in Oregon sixty-two posts of the Grand Army, with a mem- bership of 1,957; s"d of which Capt. James P. Shaw is past commander.

The headquarters of the Grand Army in Oregon is in the city of Portland. Its membership has always been regarded with profound respect and affection. And justly so; for there is no organization of men in the state that has so uni- formly stood bravely up for all that is beneficial to society and inspiring to good government. Attesting their devotion to the patriotic support and maintenance of the nation in its greatest trial, with the highest proof that a man can give — the risk of his life on the battlefield — these gray-haired veterans are entitled to all the honor and comfort the state and the city can give them.

THREATENED REBELLION, GIBBS AND COFFIN.

Oregon was fortunate in having at the breaking out of the civil war, or just immediately afterward, a man of sterling patriotism and force of character. Had