Colonial Despatches

Joseph Lane served in the House of Representatives of Indiana from 1822 to 1846. During the Mexican War he became a brigadier general and participated in several actions.1

President Polk appointed him governor of Oregon Territory in 1848 for his services.2 When he arrived in the territory in March of 1849, he took an amicable stance towards the Hudson's Bay Company and the winding up of its affairs.3

He remained friendly to the company during his subsequent tenure as congressman and senator of Oregon.4 His support for slavery, however, undercut his campaigns to become president in 1852 and later, vice-president.5

• 1. Chicago: Chapman Publishing Co., Portrait and Biographical Record of Western Oregon, (Chicago: Chapman Publishing Co., 1904), 620-1.
• 2. Ibid.
• 3. John S. Galbraith, The Hudson's Bay Company as an Imperial Factor, 1821-1869 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1957), 321.
• 4. Ibid.
• 5. V. Germano, comp., Guide to the Joseph Lane papers, 1848-1887, Northwest Digital Archives.