DATELINE MIRTHOLOGY — News item: The Fort Smith National Historic Site will host a reenactment of the Confederate occupation of Fort Smith from 1861-63 on Saturday. … Union soldiers abandoned the garrison at Fort Smith on April 23, 1861, leaving the fort open to Arkansas state troops. Union forces recaptured the fort in September 1863.
Pvt. B: Now what? How long have we been here?
Pvt. D: Feels like two years and a summer, but maybe just since Friday.
B: Got nothing to do, and it’s still hot, and there’s mosquitoes.
D: It’s just us Confederates and the townsfolk, and they’ve got their stores and taverns, and we’ve got sticky old decks of cards. The North must be occupied up or down a piece. They left, and really left us alone.
B: Want to play Army?
D: We did that. Go to Belle Point, you said. Let’s skip stones in the Arkansas River. Then we got conscripted.
B: But not before a few rounds of throwing the old Frisbee.
D: That was good. Too bad it you flicked it into the Poteau River.
B: Yeah. This fort’s dead. Let’s bike to the Mall.
