by ignoring the heavy fire, in order to console the wounded and encouraging the other men to go on fighting. McCarty did not agree with war, but as a chaplain he insisted that "when duty called, personal earnestness and bravery should be manifested in the chaplain as well as in the officers of the line". Chaplain McCarty thus insisted on going with the fighting troops into battle. The troops called him "the fighting parson". When they were fording a stream he was quoted as saying "Boys, this is an unholy war, but be careful to keep your powder boxes up and not get your powder wet." Major General Winfield Scott, commander of the U.S. Army in Mexico, called McCarty one of the bravest men in the Army. Along with General Scott, Chaplain McCarty was one of only two honorary members of the Aztec Club of 1847. After the Mexican War, Chaplain McCarty was stationed at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, from 1848 until 1852. Northwest Missionary Priest The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church appointed Reverend McCarty a missionary in 1852. He was sent to be the rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Portland, OR (which is now Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (Portland, Oregon)). He reached Portland, Oregon, traveling by ship and passing through Panama, on Jan. 19, 1853, to begin his ministry. At this time, this was the Oregon Territory, with the separation into Oregon and Washington occurring on February 8, 1853. Soldiers across the Columbia River at the U.S. Army Fort Vancouver knew Reverend McCarty from his service as a brigade chaplain in the Mexican War. So they asked him to also minister to them at their station. Reverend McCarty would spend part of the week at Trinity Church, then on Sunday afternoon cross the river. He would then minister to both the Hudson's Bay Company Fort Vancouver and the adjacent U.S. Army Fort Vancouver, and also at the village of Vancouver. In several stories about Reverend McCarty's missionary travels in the northwest, repeated by bishops, writers, and in his own letters, it illustrated his willingness to endure hardship, long travels on foot, and sometimes severe weather. To get from Portland, Oregon to Vancouver, Washington each week, Reverend McCarty needed to use three ferries and walk over twenty miles through the wilderness. Sometimes the ferries that crossed smaller waterways (called sloughs locally) didn't run, so McCarty would