Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/96

60 (Campbellite) faith, and was baptized by immersion in the Ohio river in front of the town of Wellsburgh, the entire population of the town turning out to honor the event; and thereafter the soldier of three enlistments and two wars; the hero of the great expedition across the continent, faithfully upheld the banner of the cross. I am thus particular in making this record to preserve a suitable account of two of the most important and capable subalterns of the Lewis and Clark expedition, not only because they were upon, or very near the site of this city, one hundred and five years ago, rendering great services to their country and to Oregon, but also because we were all from Ohio. The writer was personally acquainted with Patrick Gass, having met the venerable old patriot at Wellsburgh, Virginia in 1857. He was then at eighty-six years of age a very bright and interesting man, and gave me a brief account of his great trip across the continent to the Pacific ocean, and of his trouble in preserving his journal of that trip.


 * The writer was personally acquainted with the Shannon family, whose name and fame is cherished as a part of the heritage of "Old Belmont County" Ohio; and with Wilson Shannon, youngest brother of George Shannon, who was twice elected governor of Ohio, minister to Mexico, one of the argonauts to California in 1849, practicing law in San Francisco, and territorial governor of Kansas. Like Gass, Shannon was Protestant Irish, of splendid stock, his father a brave soldier of the revolution, and a leader among men. George was sent to school in Pennsylvania and ran away from school to join the Lewis and Clark expedition. After returning from the Pacific coast, he entered the university at Lexington, Kentucky, graduated, studied law in Philadelphia, married Ruth Snowden Price at Lexington in 1813, was made a judge of the state circuit court at Lexington, and rendered honorable service as a judge for twelve years; removed from Lexington to St. Charles, Missouri, where he was again placed on the judicial bench, and died suddenly while holding court at Palmyra, Missouri, in 1836. He was unquestionably the man of the most talent, culture and ability of all who made that world renowned trip across two thousand miles of unexplored mountains, plains, deserts and wilderness. Several decendants of the Shannon family now reside in this city.

It would seem, that as far as natural justice and common sense could influence the settlement of the proposition, that the discovery of the Columbia by Gray and the exploration of the country by Lewis and Clark, ought to have given the United States a clear title to Oregon as against England. In all the contentions between the so-called civilized nations, the Indian title to the land has never counted for anything. And the equities in favor of their title will be discussed in the chapter on the title of this country. But this seems to be the right place to consider the movement of the British in seizing Astoria on December 12th, 1813.

Astoria was not in 1813, a U. S. government post. The United States had never established or asserted any right or ownership to the place, notwithstanding Captain Gray, a citizen of the United States and flying the flag of his country on his ship, had discovered and made known the river on the banks of which Astoria was located twenty-one years before it was taken by the British gunboat. Astoria was the private enterprise of Astor's Fur company, and four thousand miles distant from its owner. The British war vessels had come around Cape Horn into the Pacific ocean to prey upon American commerce; and hearing that Astor, an American citizen, had a valuable property and supposedly two or three hundred thousand dollars worth of valuable furs at Astoria, one of them sailed into the Columbia river to rob him. It was true that the Astor company, as an American enterprise, had the American colors flying over their stockade fort. But that was the right of any American citizen. The motive of the British was robbery, pure and simple; for they well knew there were no American guns or soldiers there to oppose their schemes. But, while they seized the so-called fort, they failed to bag the game. For be-