Napoleon was not more of an exile on St.Helena than a newly arrived immigrant from the States in this region of lakes and mountains.

All the great battles of the season of 1862--Antietam, Fredericksburg, Second Bull Run--all the exciting debates of Congress, and the more exciting combats at sea, first became known to us on the arrival of newspapers and letters in the spring of 1863." The Territory of Idaho, which included Montana and nearly all Wyoming, was organized March 3, 1863.

Previous to that time western Montana and Idaho formed a part of Washington Territory, of which Olympia was the capital, and Montana, east of the mountains, belonged to the Territory of Dakota, of which the capital was Yankton, on the Missouri.

Langford makes clear the political uncertainties of the time, the difficulty of enforcing the laws, and narrates the circumstances which led to the erection in 1864 of the new Territory of Montana, comprising the limits of the present State.

* * The Acts of Congress organizing Territories and admitting States are milestones in the occupation of this last West.