FREE CIVIL WAR BOOK DISCUSSION ON H.W. BRANDS’ 2012 BIOGRAPHY OF ULYSSES GRANT ON FEBRUARY 25, 2014 BY THE OREGON CIVIL WAR SESQUICENTENNIAL

The folks at the Oregon Civil War Sesquicentennial are holding their February Civil War Book Club discussion on the biography of Ulysses S. Grant by best selling biographer H.W.Brands that was published by Doubleday in December 2012. This book discussion is timely, as Professor Brands (a native of Portland, Oregon) is returning to open the Oregon Historical Society's 2014 Mark O.Hatfield's Distinguished  Historian Forum lecture series on Tuesday, March 4, 2014 where he will talk about what motivated him to write his highly acclaimed biography:"The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace."

The book discussion being led by a panel of experts from the Oregon Civil War 150th will be taking place at the Midland Branch of the Multnomah County Library located at 805 S.E.122nd Avenue (https://multcolib.org/library-location/midland) and is free and open to the public, starting at 7 pm. Free parking is available in the library parking lot and the library is serviced by Trimet.

H.W. Brands is a riveting speaker, and best selling biographer who has written an excellent book about our 18th President, Ulysses S. Grant, who incidentally himself became a resident of Oregon Territory when he first reported for frontier duty at Vancouver Barracks (now known as Fort Vancouver) in September of 1852

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H.W.Brand's lecture on March 4 kicks off the 2014 Hatfield Distinguished Historians Forum lecture series being held by OHS at the First Congregational United Church of Christ located at 1126 SW Park Avenue in Portland, OR starting at 7 pm. Tickets are available at the website BoxOfficeTickets.com or on the Phone: 1-800-494-8497 or 503-715-1114; by Fax: 1-800-329-8497 or mail c/o Box Office Tickets Inc.818 SW 3rd Ave. PMB 213 | Portland, OR 97204-2405

We look forward to seeing you there!

Reflections on the second annual Edward Dickinson Baker Day, and the 203rd Anniversary of the birth of our second United States Senator...

On the second annual Edward Dickinson Baker Day held in Oregon, and the 203rd Anniversary of the birth of our second United States Senator, and as my fellow historians review the reports of 150 years ago; we have become painfully reacquainted with the accumulated high costs (in human lives, broken families, devastated communities, lost artifacts, architecture and art) of the Civil War. Colonel Edward Baker's untimely demise at the Battle of Ball's Bluff on the afternoon of October 21, 1861 took place six months into the first year of the Civil War as General McClellan was still trying to make up for the fiasco of the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) and was in the process of building up the Army of the Potomac for a full-scale incursion into Virginia. 

It is possible that Senator Baker had some presentiment or portent about his death in a future battle as he debated with his colleagues in the Senate chambers on the morning of July 11, 1861 as that august body considered the rate of pay for the Union Volunteers. "...Make war upon a scale as vast as the emergency that calls it forth," said Senator Baker in a quote published during the first session of the Senate in the 37th Congress by the reporters for The Congressional Globe. "Let it be sharp, sudden, bold, determined, forward."

The Senator continued his oration to his spellbound audience. "I believe with most gentlemen that the Union sentiment will yet prevail in the southern States. Bayonets are sharp remedies but they are very powerful. I am one of those who believe that there may be reverses. I am not quite confident that we shall overrun them without severe trials of our courage and patience..." 

Two months and 10 days later, and exactly one month to the day of the Union defeat at Ball's Bluff,  Colonel Edward Baker was in his tent in camp, writing a note of condolence to the mother of another  fallen Oregonian, Captain James W. Lingenfelter. Lingenfelter had practiced law in Jacksonville, Oregon, as a graduate of New York University who had come to the Pacific coast following  the lure of the California gold fields before settling down in Oregon. When Baker formed the 1st California Regiment in June of 1861, Lingenfelter promptly enlisted and mustered in as the Captain of Company B, a position he held until he was killed by a rebel sharpshooter while on picket duty. One score and 10 days later would find Oregon bereft of its own leading statesman, orator and warrior. As the Senator was laid at rest  on his own funeral bier,surrounded by his grieving family and friends (including his best friend Lincoln) Baker's death became a mournful harbinger of the carnage and tragedies yet to come.

To honor the life and achievements of Senator Edward Dickinson Baker, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber signed Senate Bill 809 into law on May 19, 2011, designating every February 24 as Edward Dickinson Baker Day in Oregon. Thanks to the efforts and testimonies of lobbyist Greg Leo, members of the Oregon Sons of Union Veterans, Baker Camp 6, PSU Vice Provost Mike Burton, distinguished Lincoln actor and playwright Steve Holgate, the Oregon Civil War 150th and Oregon Lincoln Bicentennial Commissioner K.C. Piccard,our Oregon State Legislators and others, this honor to our fallen pioneer/statesman/warrior became a reality. Requiesat en pace, Colonel Baker!