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Wednesday, May 23, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
CivilbWarbbreaksboutbinbCampbShermanb
By Jodi Schneider McNamee
Correspondent
A little after 11 a.m. on
Saturday, cannons thun-
dered across the meadow at
House on Metolius in Camp
Sherman, signaling the begin-
ning of a fictional battle.
Northwest Civil War Council
members, dressed in period-
accurate uniforms, began
their staged fight between
the Union and Confederate
camps.
This was the fifth Civil
War living history event
held at House on Metolius, a
secluded mountain meadow
with the Metolius River run-
ning through the private
property.
The Northwest Civil War
Council is a nonprofit, living
history organization dedi-
cated to educating the pub-
lic and members about the
American Civil War. Through
educational drama at reenact-
ments, participants discover
and learn about history and
the people who lived in the
1860s.
Civil War reenactments
are as old as the war itself.
The first reenactments are
recorded as far back as 1861.
They served many purposes:
to recruit new soldiers, enter-
tain audiences and give peo-
ple back home a sense of what
their loved ones were experi-
encing on the battlefront.
Sisters resident and event
coordinator David Banks,
who has been a part of the
NCWC since 2012, said he
finds a lot of value in helping
bring history to life through
these events.
“There are things you are
going to learn here that you
are not going to learn in the
classroom. Ideally people
are transported back in time.
That’s our ultimate goal:
to have the public feel like
they went back to the Civil
War time period. We want to
remind folks of what times
were like 155 years ago,” he
said.
It was Banks who estab-
lished the location to host the
event in 2013.
“It was a dream spot, a
great location with over 200
acres,” Banks said. “I talked
to House on Metolius prop-
erty owner and it worked out
and now we are in our fifth
year here.”
Sisters resident and reen-
actment member Holly Foster,
aka Mrs. Susanna H. Foster,
was set up in the Confederate
camp agonizing over letters
from her dear brothers JW
and JP — real soldiers from
the war — each serving on
opposite sides of the conflict.
Foster also owns a copy
of an original invoice where
Maryland resident Mary
Long purchased sewing items
on her husband’s account at
Williamsport in Maryland on
April 12, 1861, the very day
that Fort Sumter was fired
upon by Confederate forces,
which started the Civil War.
Christoper Lundgren, a
freshman at Sisters High
School, has been a NCWC
member since he was 12 years
old. He wanted “a hands-on
PHOTO BY JODI SCHNEIDER MCNAMEE
The Union line fires a volley in reenactment action at House on Metolius in Camp Sherman.
experience” with history;
he portrays a Union soldier
named Joseph Zehntbauer, the
name of one of his ancestors
who actually served in the
Civil War.
“There are about five
events a year, and I try to
make it to all of them. It’s so
much fun and there is always
more to learn about the Civil
War, it’s like an endless foun-
tain of knowledge,” he said.
Lundgren noted that his
ancestor Zehnbauer may have
been one of the first settlers to
purchase land at the House on
Metolius property.
Gun crews had a very
important job, so they were
the most well-trained sol-
diers in both the Union and
Confederate armies. It took
eight highly trained artillery-
men to crew one artillery
piece. Each crew member was
cross-trained so they could do
each job that was required
with the loading and firing of
the weapon. If one member of
the gun crew was wounded
or killed, any member of the
crew could step in and take
their place.
Confederate gun crew sol-
dier Emily Whattez, 25, has
been a member of the NCWC
for 14 years and knows all
about Civil War artillery.
“This 12-pound Napoleon
cannon was widely used by
both sides and was consid-
ered the best artillery piece
of the Civil War because you
could shoot virtually any type
of artillery shell because of
the smooth barreling, and this
See CIVIL WAR on page 21
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