Alonzo Marion Poe grows up

Alonzo Marion Poe awoke early on Tuesday 6 May 1845. ‘Marion’ was a naive 19-year-old eager for adventure with nothing keeping him in Missouri. 

He was about to mature in a hurry. 

John Lemmon had not been in Missouri long when he met Marion. ‘Old Lemmon’ had recently left New York after he and some of his family were ‘attacked with lung fever’.

‘The doctor told us: "Don't you stay here another winter…Go to Oregon…" So, I sold my house and made my way here with my family and friends.’ 

Lemmon thought for a moment then looking earnestly at Marion said, ‘I need someone to help look after the cattle, negotiate with the Indians and provide some muscle.’ Marion confirmed that he knew about cattle and said, ‘We often see the Sioux here’. Marion’s unpaid co-workers were Lemmon’s son and three of his son-in-law’s relatives. Marion always enjoyed chatting with them, though sometimes found them over-earnest.

Lemmon was aiming for the fertile Willamette Valley, south of the Columbia River. That is where almost everyone went, indeed the previous year, five families Marion knew had set off with the same objective.

‘Oregon Trail’ from The Ox Team or the Old Oregon Trail 1852-1906 by Ezra Meeker,
The University of Texas at Austin via Wikipedia.

Easily bored, Marion enjoyed shooting toads, snakes, squirrels, birds and rabbits, so his supply of ammunition was usually low or exhausted. 

This habit was about to change.

One morning Lemmon beckoned Marion to follow him. ‘Last night one of our cows fell behind the herd with its calf.’

They chatted as they rode, Marion on his spirited horse with its new-smelling saddle and Lemmon on his old faithful. ‘Do you think we’re safe?’, Lemmon asked. Marion remarked casually, ‘We’re only a few days out Missouri in a large group. We won’t have any serious trouble’.

They found the cow and Lemmon gave it a whack with his small ‘black snake’ whip, an ideal tool for managing cattle. The pair were ambling back to the wagons when they noticed a small group of Indians behind them.

Marion rode out to chat, confident in his ability to charm. As they spoke one of the Indians held his horse’s bridle while two others slipped his feet off the stirrups. Marion was too frightened to speak. And he had no bullets.

The Indians were ready to pull him off his horse, but the sharp-eyed Lemmon was watching. He galloped towards Marion, giving a well-placed crack with his whip across the Indian’s hands. He immediately let go of the bridle.

Lemmon gave Marion’s horse a whack saying in a firm voice, ‘Hold on to the saddle!’ The horse bounded, and the startled Indians stepped back. Lemmon kept up a barrage so the Indians had no time to draw their bows.

Campfire stories still included the Indians, but now Marion's comrades laughed when they told how Mr Lemmon rescued him from death. Everyone enjoyed the new mood for the rest of the journey.

The group reached Oregon mid-September and Marion set out by himself to find his friends. 

They would find him a more mature man. 

Postscript:
Poe's Missouri friends had moved north of the Columbia River to avoid the reach of new laws preventing coloured persons from owning land and so protect one of their number - George Bush. The move probably made Poe more of a pioneer than he may have intended to be. 

Breaking up Camp at Sunrise, by Alfred Jacob Miller, via Wikipedia.

Main source:

Details of the journey are found in Sara J. Cummins, Autobiography and Reminiscences, La Grande Printing Company, La Grande, Oregon, 1914. 

Further reading:

The when and where of Alonzo Marion Poe