< Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu
This page needs to be proofread.

324 LEGISLATION, MINING, AND SETTLEMENT.

locate the seat of government may have had some influence in determining the action of the assembly with regard to the character of the edifice already in process of construction. It was the entering wedge for another location war, more bitter and furious than the first, and which did not culminate until 18556. The university had not made so much ad-

/

vancement as the state house and penitentiary, the appropriations for the former being in land, which had to be converted into money. 5

Remembering the experiences of the past three years, the legislative assembly enacted a militia law constituting Oregon a military district, and requiring the appointment by the governor of a brigadier-gen eral, who should hold office for three years, unless sooner removed; and the choice at the annual election in each council district of one colonel, one lieutenant- colonel, and one major, who should meet at a conven ient place, within three months, and lay off their regi mental district into company districts, to contain as nearly as possible one hundred white male adults be tween the ages of eighteen and forty-five years capa ble of. bearing arms, and who should appoint captains and lieutenants to each company district, the captains to appoint sergeants and corporals. Commissions were to issue from the governor to all officers except sergeants and corporals, the term of office to be two years, unless prevented by unsoundness of mind or bodv, each officer to rank according to the date of

i/ O

his commission, the usual rules of military organiza tion and government being incorporated into the act. 6 In compliance with this law, Governor Davis appointed,

5 The legislature of 1852-3 had authorized the commissioners to construct the university building at the town of Marysville, in the county of Benton, on such land as shall be donated for that purpose by Joseph P. Friedly, unless some better or more eligible situation should be offered. Or. Statesman, Feb. 5, 1853. The commissioners to select the two townships had only just completed their work.

6 Or. Jour. Council, 1853-4, 113, 118, 128; Laws of Or., in Or. Statesman, Feb. 21, 1854; Or. Jour. Council, 1854-5, app. 12, 15, 17.

    This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.