to a site seven miles above the present town of Walla Walla. Beef, and the potatoes which grew in that portion of the valley, furnished subsistence to the volunteers, with occasionally a little flour, sugar, and coffee. Two companies of the regiment under Major Armstrong, which had been left to scour the country between Fort Henrietta and The Dalles, and to reënforce Kelly if needed, were employed most of the time in discovering property stolen from the immigration, and in unearthing caches of provisions secreted by the Indians. These were usually made either in a sandhole, or on a point a little higher than the surrounding earth. The pit equaled the size of the contents, with about one foot on top to be filled in with earth, which being leveled, the remainder of the earth was carried away, that it might not attract suspicion to the spot. Hence, it was not easy to locate these caches, containing camas, couse, pease, and potatoes, and on which the volunteers largely depended for food.
Many of the volunteers being anxious to return to their homes, Governor Curry issued a proclamation January sixteenth, calling for a battalion of five companies to recruit the regiment, as follows:—
I, therefore issue this, my proclamation, calling for a battalion of five companies of mounted volunteers to recruit said regiment; each company to consist of one captain, one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant, four sergeants, four corporals, and sixty privates. Each company to elect its own officers, and each volunteer to furnish his own arms, horse, and equipments. To facilitate the organization of these companies, the following named gentlemen are requested to act as enrolling officers in their respective counties:—
Linn county, Sergeant-Major Isaac Miller; Marion county, Hon.
