In 1861 there were only about seven hundred men and nineteen commissioned officers in the regular army in the whole of Oregon and Washington, the force having been reduced to its lowest possible limit by withdrawals to strengthen the forces in the East. These troops were distributed as follows: 111 men, under Capt. H. M. Black, at Vancouver; 116 men, under Major Lugenbeel, at Colville; 127 men, under Major Steen, at Walla Walla; 41 men, under Captain Van Voast, at the Cascades; 43 men, under Capt. F. T. Dent, at Hoskins; 110 men at the two posts of Steilacoom and Camp Pickett, and 54 men under Lieutenant-Colonel Buchanan, at The Dalles, all under the general command of Colonel Wright, with Brig.-Gen. E. V. Sumner commanding the military department of the Pacific. Twofold dangers threatened the widely scattered settlements; from without, the ever hostile Indians who were further emboldened by the inevitable spirit of uncertainty and unrest that followed on the heels of civil war, and from within, disunion intrigue might at any time blaze into armed rebellion. It was a time that tried men's souls. In June, 1861, Colonel Wright made a requisition upon Governor Whiteaker for a three-year cavalry company to be mustered into the service of the United States and A. P. Dennison, former Indian Agent at The Dalles, was appointed enrolling officer. Suspicion of the loyalty of both the Governor and of Dennison to the Union cause, retarded enlistment and finally led to the abandonment of the undertaking. In November, 1861, the War Department made Thomas R. Cornelius colonel, and directed him to raise ten companies of cavalry for the service of the United States for three years, to be a part, as it was supposed, of the five hundred thousand volunteers called for by President Lincoln. Colonel Baker from Washington had taken an active interest in encouraging the raising of this famous regiment--it was the original regiment of Rough Riders of the West. There was an impression that nowhere in the East could there be gathered together cavalrymen to withstand the onslaughts of the dashing Southron on his black charger and the First Oregon Cavalry was recruited on the express promise that should the war continue they would be speedily transferred to the Army of the Potomac and given opportunity to cross swords with the flower of Southern chivalry.