California's involvement in the American Civil War included sending gold east to support the war effort, recruiting volunteer combat units to replace regular U.S. Army units sent east, in the area west of the Rocky Mountains, maintaining and building numerous camps and fortifications, suppressing secessionist activity (many of these secessionists went east to fight for the Confederacy) and securing the New Mexico Territory against the Confederacy. The state of California did not send its units east, but many citizens traveled east and joined the Union Army there.
Democrats had dominated the state from its inception, and Southern Democrats were sympathetic to secession. Although they were a minority in the state, they had become a majority in Southern California and Tulare County, and large numbers resided in San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Monterey, and San Francisco counties. California was home for powerful businessmen who played a significant role in Californian politics through their control of mines, shipping, finance, and the Republican Party but Republicans had been a minority party until the secession crisis. The Civil War split in the Democratic Party allowed Abraham Lincoln to carry the state, albeit by only a slim margin. Unlike most free states, Lincoln won California with only a plurality as opposed to the outright majority in the popular vote.
In the beginning of 1861, as the secession crisis began, the secessionists in San Francisco made a failed attempt to separate the state and Oregon from the union. Southern California, with a majority of discontented Californios and Southern secessionists, had already voted for a separate Territorial government and formed militia units, but were kept from secession after the outbreak of war by Federal troops drawn from the frontier forts of the District of Oregon and District of California (primarily Fort Tejon and Fort Mojave).
Patriotic fervor swept California after the attack on Fort Sumter, providing the manpower for Volunteer regiments recruited mainly from the pro-Union counties in the north of the State. Gold was also provided to support the Union. When the Democratic party split over the war, Republican supporters of Lincoln took control of the state in the September elections. Volunteer regiments were sent to occupy pro-secessionist Southern California and Tulare County. Some Southerners traveled east to join the Confederate Army, evading Union patrols and hostile Apache. Others who remained in the state attempted to outfit a privateer to prey on coastal shipping, and late in the war two groups of partisan rangers were formed.
From statehood to the Civil War When California was admitted as a state under the Compromise of 1850, Californians had already decided it was to be a free state—the constitutional convention of 1849 unanimously abolished slavery. As a result, Southerners in Congress voted against admission in 1850 while Northerners pushed it through, pointing to its population of 93,000 and its vast wealth in gold. Northern California, which was dominated by mining, shipping, and commercial elites of San Francisco, favored becoming a state.
In the 1856 presidential election, California gave its electoral votes to the winner, James Buchanan. 1856 Presidential CandidatePartyHome StatePopular Vote%James BuchananDemocratPennsylvania53,34248.4Millard FillmoreKnow-NothingNew York36,19532.8John FremontRepublicanCalifornia20,70418.8
Southern California's attempts at secession from California Following California's admission to the Union, Spanish-speaking Californios dissatisfied with inequitable taxes and land laws in lightly populated Southern California attempted three times in the 1850s to achieve a separate statehood or territorial status from Northern California. The last attempt, the Pico Act of 1859, was passed by the California State Legislature, signed by the State governor John B. Weller, approved overwhelmingly by voters in the proposed Territory of Colorado and sent to Washington, D.C., with a strong advocate in Senator Milton Latham. However the secession crisis following the election of Lincoln in 1860 led to the proposal never coming to a vote.
Secession crisis in California In 1860 California gave a small plurality of 38,733 votes to Abraham Lincoln, whose 32% of the total vote was enough to win all its electoral votes; 68% voted for the other three candidates.Johannsen, Robert W. Lincoln, the South, and Slavery: The Political Dimension, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1991.
1860 Presidential CandidatePartyPopular Vote%Abraham LincolnRepublican38,73332.3Stephen A. DouglasNorthern Democrat37,99931.7John C. BreckinridgeSouthern Democrat33,96928.3John BellConstitutional Union9,1117.6
Conspiracy to form a Pacific Republic During the secession crisis following Lincoln's election, Federal troops were under the command of Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General) Albert Sidney Johnston, in Benicia, headquarters of the Department of the Pacific. General Johnston strongly believed in the Southern right to secede but regretted that it was occurring. A group of Southern sympathizers in the state made plans to secede with Oregon to form a "Pacific Republic". The success of their plans rested on the cooperation of General Johnston. Johnston met with some of these Southern men, but before they could propose anything to him he told them that he had heard rumors of an attempt to seize the San Francisco forts and arsenal at Benicia, that he had prepared for that and would defend the facilities under his command with all his resources and to the last drop of his blood. He told them to tell this to their Southern friends. On January 17, 1861 a man named Duncan Beaumont flew a Pacific Republic flag from his boat in the Stockton harbor. The banner was described as "..flag is of silk of the size of the national ensign and with exception of the Union ... a lone star a blue ground is covered by a painting a wild mountain scene a huge bear standing in the foreground and the (words) "Pacific Republic" near the upper border flag."Sacramento Daily Union, 17 January 1861 This flag did not fly for long when a little kid was sent up the mast and captured it.
Meanwhile, Union men feared Johnston would aid such a plot and communicated their fears to Washington asking for his replacement. Brig. Gen. Edwin Vose Sumner was soon sent west via Panama to replace Johnston in May 1861. Johnston resigned his commission on May 31, and after Sumner arrived turned over his command and moved with his family to Los Angeles. He would soon travel with other Southerners across New Mexico Territory to Texas and become commander of the Confederacy's western armies. He died at the Battle of Shiloh.
Struggle for control of the militia As the secession crisis developed in early 1861, several Volunteer Companies of the California Militia had disbanded because of divided loyalties and new pro-Union ones were sworn in across the state under the supervision of county sheriffs and judges. Many of these units saw no action but some were to form the companies of the earliest California Volunteer regiments. Others like the Petaluma Guard and Emmet Rifles in Sonoma County suppressed a secessionist disturbance in Healdsburg, in 1862. Union commanders relied on the San Bernardino Mounted Rifles and their Captain Clarence E. Bennett for intelligence and help to hold the pro-Southern San Bernardino County for the Union in late 1861 as Federal troops were being withdrawn and replaced by California Volunteers.
In late 1861 a party of squatters sent up east of Waterloo which the courts decided that the land belong to man named Comstock, but they refused to leave. The Stockton Union Guard was called up by Sheriff Hook to help remove the squatters. The squatters were well known Confederate sympathizers. They took positions up within the foundation walls of a brick barn and stated they would shoot anyone who tried to force them to leave. So on November 9, the militia left they're armory with each soldier given three rounds of ammunition and ordered to shoot to kill. When they got to the barn they found that the squatters already left, so the men returned home.
After news of Fort Donelson's surrender reached Santa Clara in 1862, people celebrated by raising national flags and firing off anvils into the sky. Not everyone was happy, especially a woman named Mrs. Dr. Caldwell who raised a "black flag" over her house as a sign of disunion. This act caused a crowd of over 100 people to gather around and watch, while others joined Caldwell and took up positions in the house. The Santa Clara Light Infantry was called out and stationed in front of their armory watching the house and movements of the rebels. Marshal Fred Morris went to the house and told her to take the flag down but she refused. He then told her that she would not be protected if violence arose. She soon removed the flag and the other citizens dispersed without a shot being fired. Soldiers of the militia cheered as Mrs. Caldwell walked angrily towards the armory and threw the black flag at them. The flag was kept in their armory as a war trophy.
In 1864, Alpine county was known as a stronghold of southern sympathizers who terrorized the local unionist community. They looted and burned homes of northern men and refused to pay taxes or even obey local ordinances by the county government. With local peace officers and sheriffs being unable or too intimated to deal with the rebels. That's when the citizens of Markleeville decided too organized a militia to keep law and order. They were called Alpine Rifles and after they were organized the vandalism soon stopped.
In Columbia during the election of 1864 tension arose between secessionist and unionist factions. Secessionists tried to stop all Republicans from voting. They stated "no one of the opposite political party would be allowed to vote at the coming election." They also said one of the ministers in town would not be allowed to deliver a Sunday sermon. The Tuolumne Home Guard was called into service and started storing large quantities of ammunition in the armory. The captain split his company in half, with one half sent to patrol the streets and the other half held in reserve. The minister entered the church holding a rifle and delivered his sermon without challenge. The election was held without any major violence, although there was some skirmishing between the militia and secessionists.
Secessionist militias Notable as the only successfully formed pro-Southern militia unit, the Los Angeles Mounted Rifles was organized on March 7, 1861, in Los Angeles County. It included more than a few Californios in its leadership and its ranks, including the County Sheriff Tomas Avila Sanchez. Its leader was one of his Undersheriffs Alonzo Ridley and included several of his deputies.
A. J. King, another Undersheriff of Los Angeles County (and former member of the earlier "Monte Rangers"), and other influential men in El Monte, formed another secessionist militia, the Monte Mounted Rifles on March 23, 1861. However, A. J. King soon ran afoul of Federal authorities. According to the Sacramento Union of April 30, 1861, King was brought before Colonel Carleton and made to take an oath of allegiance to the Union and then released. On April 26, 1861, the Monte Mounted Rifles had asked Governor Downey for arms. The governor sent arms, but army officers at San Pedro stopped the shipment, preventing the activation of the Monte Mounted Rifles.