Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/807

Rh There in a military plot which the state military board, General Beebe chairman, had purchased, the bodies were buried, and in this plot any member of the regiment may be interred at future times.

As the state's final high honor to the soldier dead of the Second Oregon, by private subscription $20,000 was raised for an imposing monument. The members of the committee having charge of this work were Harvey W. Scott, chairman; and Mayor H. S. Rowe, Gen. O. Summers, Gen. Charles F. Beebe, Gen. C. U. Gantenbein, Col. J. J. Jackson, Chaplain William S. Gilbert, Ben Selling, A. L. Finley, D. Solis Cohen, Dr. S. E. Josephi, Mrs. Henry E. Jones, Mrs. William C. Alvord, Col. C. E. McDonell and H. W. Corbett. With the munificent funds subscribed for this work a splendid monument, surmounted by a bronze soldier in field uniform, modeled from an Oregon volunteer, will stand during the coming ages in Plaza block, in front of the county court house, as an inspiration to the coming generations.

Since the above was written General Owen Summers died in this city, aged 60 years. He was a native of Brockville, Canada, coming to Chicago with his parents in infancy. With two other boys, when only 14 years of age, he ran away from school and joined the Union army to fight the rebels, and was actually in several battles against the rebels in Mississippi before he was 15 years of age. After the war he came to Oregon, and taking part with the veterans, and in military afifairs, rose to a leading position in the Oregon National Guard; and went to the Philippines as set out above. He was a good citizen, and discharged every duty with honor and fidelity.

This distinguished officer of the United States Army, now retired, took an active and indispensable part in taking the Oregon Volunteers to the Philippines. His services and army experience were necessary to the most efficient service. He became also well known to the people of this city from his acts in ejecting the Catholic church from the disputed land claim of Vancouver barracks. He was for twelve years the commandant of the nearby post of Vancouver barracks and for a part of the time department commander. During the time of his incumbency he enlisted all the men of his regiment from this vicinage. He also organized the Society of Sons of the American Revolution in Oregon and -Washington. Among the first to join the societies were descendants of three of the signers of the declaration of independence, and very soon their membership included descendants of ancestors who had taken part in nearly all the battles of the war of independence. In the thirteen original states the society made its appeal to persons interested in national history and genealogy. They erected monuments on all battlefields of the revolution, and placed ornamental marks over the graves of revolutionary soldiers. In organizing the Oregon society, General Anderson and his associates stated patriotic endeavor to be the purpose of their society, and to carry it out, have from the beginning offered money prizes to school children writing the best essays on the American revolution. General Anderson proposed the publication of pamphlets, instructing foreign immigrants in the duties of American citizenship. This suggestion was adopted by the National Society and has been energetically carried out.

In the winter of 1887-88 there was a great rush of people from all parts of the world to the gold fields of the Yukon. General Anderson, then colonel of the Fourteenth Infantry, was sent with part of his regiment to Dyia, and Skagway in Alaska to preserve order and give needed assistance. Just before the ar-