In Portland, Oregon, on the 150th Anniversary of Howard's acts of valor on June 1, 1862, while leading his troops at the Battle of Fair Oaks, a commemorative wreath was laid by the Oregon Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission at the site of General Howard's former residence in downtown Portland at the corner of SW 10th and Morrison. The month of June 2012 will be dedicated to Howard with a lecture and programs by the Oregon Civil War Sesquicentennial spotlighting General Howard's activities in Portland and at Fort Vancouver, Washington; and his post-war achievements at the Freedmen's Bureau, Howard University and Lincoln Memorial University and the Indian Wars. In a New York Times interview given the day after Howard retired from the Army on November 8, 1894 at the age of 64, it was reported that he was traveling West to stay at his daughter's house in Portland, Oregon, where he planned to start writing his memoirs.