Oury was involved in the infamous Crabb Massacre of April 1857, during which no more than 100 Americans were killed after an eight-day battle with Mexican forces at Caborca, Sonora.

However, when news reached Tucson that a superior force of Mexicans was besieging Crabb's expedition, Major R. N. Wood and Captain Oury were sent across the international border to help their compatriots.

[1][2][3] At the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Oury was elected to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States representing the Arizona Territory.

That year his brother, William S. Oury, was involved in the Camp Grant Massacre in which over 140 Apache men, women, and children were killed.

Oury unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat for the United States House of Representatives in 1878 and was appointed district attorney for Pinal County in 1879.