Call to Arms

This Labor Day weekend, join Oregon Civil War buffs at the annual Fort Stevens Battle Reenactment and Living History event. This reenactment honoring our nation’s past takes place at the historic fort in Astoria, Oregon, September 3rd through September 5th, 2011.

[event details available at the Northwest Civil War Council’s website]

For those interested in uncovering more about Oregon’s connections to the Civil War, including the tradition of the Oregon v Oregon State Civil War, look for Randol B. Fletcher’s forthcoming Hidden History of Civil War Oregon (Fall 2011).

“The annual game between the Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers (formerly OAC) is universally known as the Civil War. In the excitement of the first OAC victory in 1894, [John Richard Newton] Bell marched from the Corvallis campus to the nearby Marys River and threw his bowler hat into the water. A new tradition was born and with each Civil War victory, Bell would repeat his march to the river and throw another hat into the water. The march grew into one of the most anticipated Corvallis social events of the year and by the 1920s thousands of football fans would make the victory walk to the river with him. Fundraisers were held to pay for his hats!”

—Randol B. Fletcher, Hidden History of Civil War Oregon (Fall 2011)