page_title: Charles S. Drew
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Charles S. Drew / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Drews Creek, Fremont National Forest, Oregon; named for Lieutenant Colonel C.S. Drew who passed by the creek during his 1864 Owyhee reconnaissance
context_page_description: Charles Stewart Drew, also known as C.S. Drew, was a representative in the legislature of the Oregon Territory of the United States and quartermaster general of the territorial militia in the 1850s. During the American Civil War, he was a Union Army officer, serving in the 1st Oregon Cavalry regiment. He eventually reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1864, he led an Army reconnaissance party into southeastern Oregon. The expedition, known as the Owyhee Reconnaissance, traveled through uncharted country from Fort Klamath to Fort Boise and back. Drew was the author of two historically important military reports; one documented Indian attacks on American settlers in the Oregon Territory and the other was his report of the Owyhee Reconnaissance.
context_section_description: There are at least four geographic features in Oregon that bear Drew's name, all located in Lake County.  Drews Gap is located 14 miles (23 km) west of Lakeview, Oregon on Oregon Route 140.  Elevation at the gap is 5,306 feet (1,617 m).  Drews Valley is 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Drews Gap.  Drews Creek flows southeast through Drews Valley into Goose Lake. Drews Reservoir is created by an irrigation dam on upper Drews Creek.  The reservoir covers the eastern end of Drews Valley.
  In addition, Drew named and recorded the location of a number of Oregon geographical features including the Sprague River, Warner Valley, and Beatys Butte.
  The record of Drew's 1864 reconnaissance through southeastern Oregon is recorded in a 32-page pamphlet titled Official Report of the Owyhee Reconnaissance, made by Lieutenant Colonel C.S. Drew, 1st Oregon cavalry, in the summer of 1864, Pursuant to the Orders of Brigadier General George Wright, Commanding Department of the Pacific.  It was published in Jacksonville, Oregon in 1865 by the Oregon Sentinel Printing office.  The report was also published in serial form by the Oregon Sentinel newspaper between January 28 and March 11, 1865.  Original copies of the pamphlet are extremely rare.  Copies are in archival collections at the University of California at Berkeley, Indiana University, and several private library collections, including The Huntington Library.  It is important because it is one of the earliest records of southeast Oregon's topography, identifying and mapping many geographic features for the first time.  It also records the day-to-day details of a major Civil War era military reconnaissance operation in the western United States.  In addition, Drew's route was followed by the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road.
  A hardcover version of Drew's report of Indian attacks on settlers in the Oregon Territory was published by Ye Galleon Press of Fairfield, Washington in 1973.  It was titled An Account of the Origin and Early Prosecution of the Indian War in Oregon.
caption: Drews Creek in Oregon's Fremont National Forest
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