Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/101

Rh missed Loring's command, he having already left Fort Hall when Hawkins arrived. As the supplies were needed by the companies at the new post they were left there, in consequence of which those destined to Oregon were in want of certain articles, and many of the men were barefoot and unable to walk, as their horses were too weak to carry them when they arrived at The Dalles.

On reaching their destination, and finding no accommodations at Fort Vancouver, the regiment was quartered in Oregon City, at a great expense, and to the disturbance of the peace and order of that moral and temperate community; the material from which companies had been recruited being below the usual standard of enlisted men.

The history of the establishment of the Oregon military posts is not without interest. Under orders to take command of the Pacific division, General Persifer F. Smith left Baltimore the 24th of November, and New Orleans on the 18th of December 1848, proceeding by the isthmus of Panamá, and arriving on the 23d of February following at Monterey, where was Colonel Mason's head-quarters. Smith remained in California arranging the distribution of posts, and the affairs of the division generally.

In May Captain Rufus Ingalls, assistant quartermaster, was directed by Major H. D. Vinton, chief