Corvallis/Toledo railroad tycoon T. Edgenton Hogg (pronounced “Hoag”) was always a little reticent about his past. Especially the Civil War part.

To some extent, that was understandable. “Colonel” Hogg had fought with the Confederacy in the Civil War. His side had lost, so, sure — better not to talk about it, right?

Nevertheless, the real story is so much more bonkers than that, that one wonders why the rumor-passers even bothered with making things up.

His story was unearthed somewhat painstakingly by historian Clark, a faculty member at Central Oregon College (now Central Oregon Community College) in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Clark compares the whole thing to a rip-roaring B-movie Western, and he is not even slightly wrong about that. (Toledo, Lincoln County; 1860s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/20-04.colonel-hogg-war-record-robbery-on-the-high-seas.html)