 Chapman left Portland in 1853 for Fort Umpqua in Southern Oregon . There he engaged in cattle ranching while keeping his Portland law practice . He served as a lieutenant colonel in the militia during the Rogue River War that was fought from 1855 to 1856 against the Native Americans in Southern Oregon . After the war he returned to Corvallis in 1856 before moving to Eugene in 1857 . Chapman was appointed as surveyor general of Oregon and served from 1857 to 1861 when he returned to Portland . He left this federal government position due to his opposition to the election of Abraham Lincoln as U.S. President . Oregon entered the Union as the 33rd state in 1859 . 
