Supplina P. Hamilton's Yakima Indian War Pension Application File (Enhanced Copy)

September 16, 2018

Supplina P. Hamilton's Yakima Indian War Pension Application File. Supplina served as a volunteer Private in Captain Layton Davis' Company H, 1st Oregon Mounted Volunteers in 1855/56. Supplina worked for six years to get his pension (from 1897 to 1903) and with it the official recognition by the federal government of his service from 1855/56. Supplina's company played a key role in the battle of Walla Walla and secured a place in the history of the Native American conflicts in Oregon and Washington Territory. This file is a copy from microfilm archived at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, Oregon. The file runs some 17 pages and includes letters to Supplina's attorney in Portland who filed his claim as well as the claims forms themselves and affidavits from his fellow soldiers testifying to Supplina's service. When the file was first discovered in 2007, it confirmed details of Supplina's life story, some of which had been found in no other source. On the application form he gives a nice summary of his moves after being discharged from the service in Feb. 1856: "Having resided since leaving the service: in Lynn County Ore till June 1861 then in Umatilla [County] till Oct. '66 in Walla Walla [County] one year then back to Linn Co 2 years then in Marian [County] Ore to 1873 then in Walla Walla Wash to '88 then in Whitman [County] to date." He describes himself as 5' 10" light blue eyes, brown hair and fair complexion. This is an enhanced re-scan (uploaded Sept. 2018) of the same pension file, replacing an earlier printout that was difficult to read because of the poor quality of the Oregon Historical Society's microfiche machines.

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