edited by
WILLIAM F. STROBRIDGE
California Letters of Major
General
James McPherson, 1858-1860
Alcatraz Island in the middle of San
Francisco Bay was two thousand miles from
Sandusky County, the Ohio home of James
Birdseye McPherson, Second Lieutenant,
Army Engineers. The West Point-educated
Lieutenant arrived in California late in
1857 on the wooden side-wheeler Golden
Gate. His assignment was to supervise
construction of fortifications on rocky,
windy Alcatraz. None foresaw then that in
five years he would be a Major General
in the Union Army. He had been first in his
class at the Military Academy, having
overcome difficulties of an irregular earlier
education that he feared would prevent
him from attaining an appointment at all.
The tall and friendly McPherson had
already had three years of practical experience
in building harbor fortifications around
New York City and Wilmington, Delaware,
before he started his new task.1
Alcatraz had been acquired as federal
property under questionable circumstances
in 1849 by the flamboyant Military
Governor John Charles Fremont. The island
squatted in the bay's waters three miles
from the opening of the Golden Gate and a
mile and half from the growing city of
San Francisco. It and massive brick Fort Point
at the Golden Gate were to be important
sites for harbor defenses. Construction
details had started work in 1853. Some
$850,000 had been appropriated for the
fortifications. In addition to a
three-storied barracks, there were to be brick and
stone guardhouses, gun batteries, three
bomb-proof magazines, a furnace to heat
cannon balls, and a lighthouse. On the
southeast corner of the island was a fog bell
regulated to strike every fifteen
seconds in bad weather. McPherson's work force on
the island varied from forty to two
hundred men and was composed in the main of
civilian laborers.2
San Franciscans were impressed with
Lieutenant McPherson's engineering skill,
1. The Golden Gate was a
three-decked steamer built for the Pacific Mail Steamship Com-
pany at a cost of $482,844. It entered
service between the Pacific Coast of Panama and San
Francisco in November 1851. John Haskill
Kemble, The Panama Route 1848-1869 (Berkeley,
1943), 228. George W. Cullum, Biographical
Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S.
Military Academy at West Point, N. Y.
(Boston and New York, 1891), II, 515-519.
See also
Whitelaw Reid, Ohio in the War (Columbus,
1893), 561-563.
2. Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of
California (San Francisco, 1884-90), VI, 632; Robert
W. Frazer, Mansfield on the Condition
of the Western Forts, 1853-54 (Norman, Oklahoma,
1965), 121-122, 134; "From San
Francisco to Sacramento City," Hutchings' California Magazine,
IV (July 1858).
Mr. Strobridge is a Colonel in the
United States Army and is presently stationed in the Wash-
ington D. C. area.
but he was not equally impressed with the city's hospitality. His first visit was by boat from Alcatraz and his eastern background made him incredulous at first of western frontier society. Many persons of varied nationalities had drifted back to San Francisco from the gold fields, and the visitor saw Europeans as well as Chinese, "Sepoys" from India, and Hawaiians. Forty percent of California's population in 1860 was foreign-born, with Chinese, Irish, Germans, English, Mexicans, and French predominating in that order. Because McPherson had worked since childhood, he was especially conscious of the large numbers of "idle" in San Francisco. He soon learned the causes for some of the idleness. Since gold mines had passed largely into the operations of organized companies by 1860, independent prospectors were flooding the labor market. Also, a local financial crisis in 1855-1856 had closed many San Francisco establishments, adding to the unemployment. As a result, real estate prices had declined fifty percent in the last five years, but there were still seven hundred liquor dealers to serve the city's population of 56,802. There were also some one hundred thirty cigar stores to raise the Ohioan's eyebrows, but the many billiard tables he mentioned appear to have been limited to eighteen establishments.3 Added to the strangeness of the city, difficulties, such as the lack of a natural water supply on Alcatraz, adversely affected the Ohioan's initial impression of California,
3. Bancroft, History of California, VII, 700; Reid, Ohio in the War, 561-563. His blacksmith father had been incapacitated when the boy was thirteen, and to help his family James had spent six years of his youth working as a store clerk. Joseph C. G. Kennedy, Preliminary Report on the Eighth Census, 1860, House of Representatives, 37 Cong., 2 Sess., Executive Document Number 116 (Washington, 1862), 224, lists San Francisco's official population as 56,802. An 1858 source estimated the city's male population over twenty-one years of age as 44,500 includ- ing 7,000 non-registered foreigners. The same source listed 404 saloons and 306 other establish- ments selling liquor in 1860. There were 136 cigar dealers that same year, but billiard saloons in the city decreased from 18 in 1859 to 12 in 1860. Henry G. Langley, San Francisco Directory and Business Guide 1858, 1859, 1860-61 (San Francisco, 1858, 1859, 1860): 1858, p. 16, 305, 385; 1859, p. 20, 385; 1860, p. 20, 41, 42, 345. |
40 OHIO
HISTORY
and he looked forward to returning East
when his work was through.4
This was the setting for Lieutenant
McPherson's letter from Alcatraz in February
1858.5
Alcatraces Island6
San Francisco Harbor Cal.
Feby 4th 1858
My dear "Major,"
Perched upon a little rocky Island
the summit of which is One hundred and forty
feet above the water and while
watching the sun as he dips into the broad Pacific, or
listening to the never ceasing roar
of the breakers dashing against the rocks, I often
think of my position one year ago,
and instinctively draw a comparison between it
and my present one--Candor compels me
to state that in everything appertaining
to the social amenities of life the
"Pea Patch"7 is preferable to "Alcatraz," and
were
it not, that being here in charge of
this work is very gratifying to my professional
pride I should regret the change
deeply, as it is all my pride is scarcely sufficient at
times to keep my spirits up--though I
am determined to make the best of the
matter, looking forward joyfully to
the time when I can return to the Atlantic States.
I have made but few acquaintances as
yet in San Francisco, though I go over every
Saturday evening and remain until
Monday morning, and frequently at other times
during the week when I get tired of
playing the hermit--
Fate or circumstances, or perhaps
both combined have arranged it so that I am
doomed to live on Islands, and though
it may sound very poetical in the distance to
speak of the "Gems of the
Pacific" and all this manner of thing, I have not attained
that sublime height of
sentimentality, which places me above the practical unromantic
incidents of every day life, and
consequently hear something besides music in the
deep sea's roar, especially as I get
a good wetting about every third time I go over
to Town--San Francisco beats all the
cities I have ever been in, in the way of
Drinking Saloons, Billiard Tables,
Cigar Stores and idle men "loafers" genteely
dressed, and if you happen
acidentally [sic] to make the
acquaintance of one of them,
before you are aware of it, you will
be introduced to any number more--for they
have the greatest way of introducing
folks I have ever seen--
I often congratulate myself when I am
in Town, that I have a place to flee to,
where the air is pure and where I can
avoid meeting people whom I do not care to
know--for the more of them you know
the worse you are off--
There is the most heterogeneous
mixture of people in this country, that you can
possibly imagine--In a short walk
through most any of the streets of San Francisco
you will meet Americans, Englishmen,
Frenchmen, Russians, Germans, Sandwich
Islanders, Chinamen, Sepoys and
various nondescript races to [sic] numerous
to
mention and the confusion of tongues
will rival "Babel" of old--
The climate of this country is
perfectly delightful at this season of the year--
4. "From San Francisco to
Sacramento."
5. The letters were addressed to Enoch
Moore Stotsenberg of Wilmington, Delaware, and
were given to the Sutro Library of San
Francisco by Miss Elizabeth Stotsenberg. Permission has
been granted for their publication by
the Sutro Library.
6. Originally, Isla de Alcatraces
(Pelican Island) was the Spanish name for the rocky island
in San Francisco Bay. Various American
and English navigators and settlers changed the spelling
to Alcatraz. Erwin G. Gudde, California Place Names (Berkeley,
1960), 6.
7. Fort Delaware near Wilmington.
Francis Paul Prucha, Guide to the Military Posts of the
United States 1789-1895 (Madison, 1964), 71.
scarcely cold enough for frost, and the atmosphere perfectly transparent--I have seen no snow except on the distant mountain tops since I arrived--. . .8 Your sincere friend "Mac"
In the spring the arrival of the British ship Satellite in San Francisco called for ceremonial honors and brought a salute from the guns of McPherson's unfinished works. The ship was a steamer of 1017 tons under the command of Captain Prevost and carried the Boundary Commission from British Columbia.9
San Francisco Cala April 19th 1858 My dear "Major" To morrow morning the Steamer10 leaves, and though I have only a few minutes leisure I cannot let the opportunity slip to reply to your very welcome letters--. . . I have been so much occupied since my arrival, that I have not had time to visit many of the places of interest in this state beyond the immediate vicinity of San Francisco--and consequently cannot delight your ear with a recital of Adventures, hair breadth escapes, dangers by flood and field &c &c--but in case anything of the kind does befal me you shall be duly advised of all the particulars-- Last Saturday I had to awaken the echoes of the Island by returning the salute of the English corvette "Satellite". I fired twenty one guns from 8 inch Columbiades11
8. Probably referring to 3849 foot Mt. Diablo, twenty-six miles east of Alcatraz but clearly visible throughout western San Francisco Bay. Snow occasionally falls on Mt. Diablo and a lower adjoining peak. 9. Amelia Ransome Neville, The Fantastic City, Memoirs of the Social and Romantic Life of Old San Francisco (Boston, 1932), 90-91; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, April 10, 1858. 10. Mail to the eastern United States still was carried by steamer. The overland mail contracts were not given until 1858. Bancroft, History of California, VII, 145. See also LeRoy R. Hafen, The Overland Mail (Cleveland, 1926). 11. The Columbiad was a new seacoast gun developed by the U. S. Army under the leadership of George Bumford. It had greater range than previous models and fired both solid and explosive projectiles. The 8-inch weapon was 124 inches long and weighed 9,200 pounds. Emanuel Ray- mond Lewis, Seacoast Fortifications of the United States: An Introductory History (Washington, 1970), 58-59. |
42 OHIO HISTORY
which require something like twelve
pounds of powder for a load, so you can imagine
what kind of a report they mack [sic]--I am in a more defensible position here,
than I was at the "Pea
Patch" having about fifty of these large guns mounted.
*
* *
This beats all the countries for wind
I ever inhabited--At 10 O'clock A.M., every
day the sea breeze commences and it
is no gentle zephyr I can assure you--The
dust flies in every direction. The
bay is covered with white caps making it worse
crossing, than the afternoon we went
to Salem--I expect after four years residence
here I shall become so much disgusted
with the wind that I shall fairly hate the sight
of anything that goes by wind--If you
find this letter somewhat windy just attribute
it to the gale that is blowing now--
*
* *
As ever your friend
"Mac"
Lieutenant McPherson's attention was
drawn to events in Washington, Oregon,
and British Columbia in the late summer
of 1858. News of gold on British Columbia's
Fraser River brought on a mass exodus
from California, but the fifteen thousand men
who left San Francisco were sorely
disappointed to find most of the Fraser's gold-
bearing sand bars under water. Other
gold seekers had stirred resentment among
the Indian tribes of Oregon and
Washington since 1855, but McPherson was not
included in the three troop units that
left San Francisco in 1858 to campaign around
Walla Walla until the surrender of the
Indians in October. Some local excitement
was caused by a late evening earthquake
on August 18. It did little damage but
emptied San Francisco's theaters.12
Ten years of American settlement in
numbers had accompanied quick growth of
the local fruit industry and McPherson
enjoyed the produce. Recent French settlers
had improved the grape strains, which
were first planted around San Francisco in
1820.13
San Francisco Cal.
Augt. 19th 1858
My dear Major
... If I could flatter myself that I
would be permitted to return to the east as soon
as this work is completed I would
rush it along as fast as money could do it. But I
expect when this is done I shall be
transferred to some other Fort in the Harbor or
perhaps be called on to make surveys
of some other important points along the Coast
--Four years has been regarded as the
term of service for Engr officers in the
Pacific and I cannot expect to return
short of that time--The gold excitement on
Frazers River has pretty much died
out. The hostility of the Indians, the scarcity of
provisions, and the almost
insurmountable natural obstacles to be overcome have
cooled the ardor of many an ambitious
gold-seeker--Recent accounts however seem
12. Bancroft, History of California, VII,
682-683; Ray Allen Billington, Westward Expansion
(New York, 1968), 628-629; Hubert Howe
Bancroft, History of Washington, Idaho, and Mon-
tana 1845-1889 (San Francisco, 1890), 108, 174-197; Langley, San
Francisco Directory 1859,
p. 24.
13. Bancroft, History of California, VII,
38-46. There were some boastful claims for Cali-
fornia's fruit products, such as two
pound, twelve ounce pears and four and one half pound
bunches of grapes. Hutchings'
California Magazine, II (June 1858), III (March 1859).
McPherson's Letters
43
rather more favorable, as the Rivers
are falling, and there is a chance to work on the
bars in which the richest deposits
are found.
We have another excitement however in
the shape of Indian Wars in Washington
Territory which does not look as
though it would be settled so soon. It is reported
that the Indians have assembled in
great numbers with their paint and feathers on,
many of them well armed, and that
they have resolved to fight--The troops are al-
ready in the field about a thousand
strong marching into their Country, and it remains
to be seen whether the savages will
make their threats good and stand a battle. It is to
be hoped they will do so, as we have
got to have an Indian war, the sooner they can
be brought to a decisive engagement
the quicker the matter will be settled. If they
scatter into the fastnesses of the
mountains or prowl around the settlements in small
parties they will give the troops a
great deal of trouble--There was quite a reinforce-
ment arrived by the last steamer from
the East and took us all by surprise.14 I went
on board soon after the steamer came
to the wharf and remained nearly all day with
the officers some of whom were my
Classmates at West Point and I can assure you
Major it did me good to meet some old
familiar faces--I am still living on the Island
but think some of going to the City
in a few weeks--to take up my residence for a
time--For the last month or two I
have been feasting on fruit of which there is an
abundance in the markets at
reasonable prices for San Francisco--According to
your taste you can get strawberries,
raspberries, grapes, Peaches, Pears, Apples, &
melons, all the growth of this state,
and the Peaches & grapes are very fine--
This is emphatically a great country
in many respects. Last night as I was sitting
in my chair writing there was a very
decided shock of An Earthquake the second one
I have felt since I have been here....
As ever Yours
"Mac"
Life in California became more tolerable
to Lieutenant McPherson after a year's
duty there. In that time he had a chance
to make acquaintances and see Army friends.
He was accepted in San Francisco social
circles and was noted at a party wearing a
cotton-wool beard to represent Father
Time in a game of charades. A lady of the era
remembered that the Lieutenant was
popular and full of fun. He was listed as one of
seven sponsors of a ball held in May
1859 at the Presidio of San Francisco to celebrate
the tenth anniversary of that site as a
United States Army post. Another chronicle
of the times showed McPherson's name
among persons of public distinction being
entertained at a fashionable boarding
house in downtown San Francisco. Still, he
continued his work on Alcatraz, and the
installation was ready for permanent gar-
risoning by troops at the end of the
year.15
A letter written by McPherson in January
1859 tells of him attending a ball given
by the French consul. His presence,
however, in no way watered down his Monroe
Doctrine-Manifest Destiny view of the
world. Two months before McPherson's letter
was written, France and England had both
sent naval forces to Central America in
reaction to filibuster activity in which
American citizens were prominent. The posi-
tion of the United States was one of
non-interference in affairs of the Central Ameri-
14. The Sixth United States Infantry was
transferred to California in 1858. Bancroft, History
of California, VII, 466.
15. Neville, The Fantastic City, 76,
122; A Social Manual for San Francisco and Oakland
(San Francisco, 1884), 14; Robert W.
Frazer, Forts of the West (Norman, Oklahoma, 1965), 19.
44 OHIO HISTORY
can republics, but at the same time it
held that routes across from the Atlantic to
Pacific sides of the Isthmus must remain
open to travelers. No American military
action resulted from the issue.16
San Francisco Cal.
Jany 19th 1859
Dear Major
*
* *
To make partial amends however for my
past neglect [in not writing] I will tell you
some of the things I have been doing
this year--First then on New Years day four
of us ... engaged a carriage ... and
started out to call on all our Lady friends--this
was only partially accomplished, as
there was no Joshua to command the sun to stand
still, and night overtook us while
actively engaged. However we passed a delightful
day and saw nearly all. In the
evening we went to a little party and had a right
merry time, so much so that nothing
but a Christian regard for the sabbath induced
us to break up at the seemingly early
hour of 1/4 to 12--Monday morning the 3rd
in pursuance of certain good
resolutions I went to the Island and persistently remained
there during the entire week,
practicing an immense amount of self-denial for the
city you must know is full in
sight--distant a mile and a half--On the following
Tuesday the 11th I was drawn from my
Selkirkian solitude17 by a Ball at the French
Consuls which was truly a grand
affair, and at which I enjoyed myself so much, that
I concluded not to return the next
day to the Island. How could I appreciate the
charms of solitude, after mingling in
the gaything composed of fair Ladies, and shall
I say brave men? Knowing that you are
interested in the Ladies I must tell you that the
hauties of San Francisco were there,
admired with more, than the Queen of Sheba,
when she made her appearance at the
Court of Solomon--am I right--ever desirous
of--Silks & Satins, laces and
head dresses, gas-light and diamonds, all tended to
produce a most dazzling effect, from
which I am happy to say I suffered no serious
inconveniences.
On Friday night following I was at
another (small) party only a few, but it was
most pleasant as we were all well
acquainted.
This week there is to be a large Ball
given by the young gentlemen which I think
will be a pleasant affair--none but
Bachelors are allowed to subscribe, but you
know Bachelors can do the thing up
handsomely if they once get started.
But enough of such news or you will
really begin to think I have taken to dancing
altogether and enthirely as the son
of Erin would say--
In military matters I am getting
along very comfortably--A short time since
I did not know but that the Guns of
the Fort would be used for some other purpose
than firing salutes--but the storm
seems to have blown over at least for the
present--
If England and France however send
over their fleets and Armies to regulate
matters in Central America and
establish protectorates, I hope our Government will
throw down the lance and brave them
on sea and land--All that we have ever
claimed in Central America with
regard to the Transit Routes &c is no more than we
have a right to claim, our interests
are infinitely greater than those of any other nation
can possibly be, and I do hope our
Govt. has got firmness & stamina enough to
16. Samuel Flagg Bemis, The American
Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy (New
York, 1928), VI, Lewis Einstein,
"Lewis Cass," 348, 357-358.
17. A reference to Alexander Selkirk,
the Robinson Crusoe of Defoe's book.
46 OHIO HISTORY
assert our rights there and maintain
them in the face of all Europe if needs be, and
especially to check this
unwarrantable interference of the A nglo-French--
*
* *
Truly yours
Mac
Later in 1859 the northern Pacific Coast
appealed to Lieutenant McPherson and
he expressed a hope to visit Oregon and
Canada. His work crews, however, kept him
too busy for travel at this time since
rock for foundations had to be brought over from
Angel Island, located northwest of
Alcatraz.18 Also the second war of independence
in Italy, involving Sardinian,
Piedmontese, and French forces against the Austrians
drew McPherson's attention. Despite the
distances involved, San Francisco was kept
informed through American newspapers of
the military campaigns in northern Italy.
Vivid accounts described the fighting,
gave much publicity to Garibaldi, and pre-
dicted victory for the French.19
San Francisco Cal.
June 17th 1859,
My Dear Major
*
* *
I am still busy with my duties on
Alcatraces Island and though not very much
crowded have enough to look after to
keep me from growing rusty--A month
or two ago I thought of making a trip
to Oregon and Victoria, but will have to put it
off until fall or possibly next
spring--At all events I am going to try and visit that
part of the country before my tour of
service on this coast expires unless our country
is drawn into the war which is now
raging in Northern Italy with a strong prospect
of its becoming general throughout
Europe, when something of more importance
than mere sightseeing may demand my
attention.
I wish I had some of your assistance
in getting up Iron work for the Fort
--"Alcatraces" or at least
as pleasant duty inspecting it as I used to have with you--
I tell you good company lightens
labor far beyond what any matter of fact formula
would indicate--...
* *
*
Yours as ever
"Mac"
In 1860 Lieutenant McPherson was shifted
from Alcatraz to Lime Point on the
north shore of the Golden Gate where his
engineering skills were employed in survey-
ing the locale for defensive works. Lime
Point was west of Alcatraz and fortifications
planned there could cover hostile ships
which might hug the north shore and void
the guns of Fort Point and Alcatraz.
This possibility was later a constant worry to
18. Richard Henry Dana, Jr., edited by
J. H. Kemble, Two Years Before the Mast (Los
Angeles, 1964), 415; "From San
Francisco to Sacramento."
19. Howard R. Marraro, American
Opinion of the Unification of Italy, 1846-1861 (New
York, 1969), 243-244.
Civil War commanders around San Francisco Bay.20 During this period that McPherson was away from Alcatraz, he established a San Francisco address. His quarters in the city were not far from the Military Engineer's Office in the Montgomery Block of offices, near the French consul where he had enjoyed the 1859 ball. While McPherson was staying in the city, he reported on the popularity of California Governor John Downey and his vetoing of the Bulkhead bill. A corporation had been formed to construct a bulkhead, docks, and ferry houses around San Francisco's waterfront. In return for which the corporation would levy a toll on all goods landed in the city. The bill was passed by both houses of the legislature under heavy lobby pressure but was vetoed by the governor.21
San Francisco Cal. May 3rd 1860-
My Dear Major * * * On the opening of the year, I was congratulating myself on the prospect of having two or three months of comparative ease and quiet--but the demands of the Service were otherwise, and instead of travelling about the State, visiting new scenes, and holding frequent conversations with my friends in the east, I have been very much circumscribed in my movements, my journeys being limited to an area of two square
20. Frazer, Mansfield on the Western Forts, 122; Lawrence Kinnard, History of the Greater San Francisco Bay Region (New York, 1966), II, 613; The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington, 1897), Series I, Vol. L, Part 2, 533. 21. Lt. McPherson's address was 256 1/2 Stockton Street. The French consulate was at 277 Stockton Street. Langley, San Francisco Directory 1860-61, p. 222, 457; Bancroft, History of California, VII, 684-685. |
48 OHIO HISTORY
miles--which I have determined the
value of, for Fortification purposes, pretty ef-
fectually--
*
* *
Having no money to carry on the works
at "Alcatrace Island" I shall remain in
the city until the next appropriation
becomes available--The city or rather the
good people of the same have been
wild with joy for the last few days--and night
before last they gave expression to
this feeling in a general ringing of bells, firing of
cannon, torch light procession, and a
magnificent display of fire works--The
occasion being the arrival of the
Governor from Sacramento--
For several years a set of
unscrupulous capitalists,--most of them foreigners
at that--have been working and
intriguing to get control of the whole city front,
by the passage of a Bill called the
"bulkhead bill," which provided for the construction
of a sea wall or bulkhead, as the[y]
termed it along the line of the city front facing the
Bay, with the exclusive privilege of
building wharves, levying tolls on ships, merchan-
dise &c, for a term of fifty
years and perhaps forever--By means of a system of
log-rolling, bribery and corruption
and a powerful third House (to wit the lobby)
which seems to be an element of all
modern legislation, they got the bill passed--
and it was Sent to the Governor who
had the nerve, honesty and integrity to give it
a blow in the Shape of a veto which
consigned it to the trunk of the culprits where
it will probably sleep the sleep that
knows no waking.
It was for this act of the Governor
that the demonstration was made--and
although he declined any public
demonstration on the ground that he simply did
what he conceived to be his duty--The
vox populi were not willing to let him off
so easily, but took forcible
possession of him on the arrival of the Boat and carried
him in triumph through the principal
streets--
His name is "Downey"--As
usual in a torch light procession--some of the
transparences were very good, and
some witty--below is a sample
"The proper number of toes
V-toes"
"The state rests on a
"Downey pillow," &c &c &c22
*
* *
Truly your friend
McP
By the end of 1860 McPherson was talking
like a Californian and apologizing for
the heavy December rains which caused
local flooding in northern California. He
spoke of an Army officer arriving on the
Pacific Mail Steamship Company's Sonora
and staying with Episcopal Bishop
William Kip before continuing north for duty at
Fort Umpqua.23
McPherson's main thoughts, however, were
on the secession movement. Local
feeling in California was divided on the
issue, with some advocating establishment of
the state as an independent and neutral
republic. There was even talk of pro-southern
feeling among federal troops stationed
around San Francisco Bay and rumor of a
22. Downey was not reelected. He ran as
a Union Democrat but lost to a Republican opponent
64,283 votes to 44,622. Winfield J.
Davis, History of Political Conventions in California, 1849-
1892 (Sacramento, 1893), 196-199.
23. Information obtained from Past
Weather Records Office, San Francisco Weather Bureau,
U. S. Department of Commerce; Kemble, The
Panama Route, 247; Bancroft, History of Cali-
fornia, VII, 729. Fort Umpqua was established in southern
Oregon during 1856 to watch over
Indians and remained an active post
until 1862. Frazer, Forts of the West, 132.
McPherson's Letters
49
plot to seize Alcatraz.24 Personally,
McPherson held moderate views and hoped
that union of the country would prevail.
His fear of drastic action by South Carolina
became reality two days after he wrote
his letter, when South Carolina voted to
withdraw from the Union. At this time
the Lieutenant did not foresee that within
a year he would be deeply involved in a
bloody civil war.
San Francisco Cal
Deer 18th 1860
My Dear "Major"
As the weather is so stormy this
morning that I cannot cross over to "Alcatraces"
I am going to give you the benefit of
a short conversation--I was very much de-
lighted day before yesterday to hear
of you through Capt. & Mrs. Judd25 who arrived
here safely on the "Sonora"
on Saturday morning last--...
They will probably remain in the city
some days as the guests of Bishop Kip &
then go to Umpqua which is some
distance up the Coast towards Oregon--I am
sorry the weather is so disagreeable
as it will give them bad impressions of California
--It has been raining ever since
their arrival & the prospect is still as gloomy as
ever.
In these exciting times you have the
advantage over us in the way of news--You
probably knew this morning whether
one star has been blotted out from the Flag
of the Union while we will have to
wait fifteen days before the result can be known
here--it seems to be generally
conceeded however that the Convention which was to
have met in South Carolina yesterday,
resolved to place Carolina out of the Union,
and that the "Palmetto"
flag is spread forth to the breeze as the Ensign of an indepen-
dent Power--I trust that it is not
so, & that moderate Counsels have prevailed ere it
was too late. It does seem to me that
in the "Cotton States" & especially in South Car-
olina reason has been dethroned and
her place has been usurped by the Demon of fa-
naticism--Instead of waiting to let
the calm, conservative & patriotic voice of the
Nation be heard their whole aim seems
to have been to precipitate a crisis, to
provoke a collision with the General
Government & thus force states naturally
conservative to join them--How far
they will succeed a wise Providence can only
forsee--I cannot I must say realize
that the people of these United States are ready
or willing to see this glorious
confederacy gradually melt away by the secession of
states like the snow beneath a vernal
sun, or break up in a violent convulsion with
all the evils of a civil war--There
are still too many who love the Union & cherish
with deepest reverence the memory of
our forefathers to allow of such a result--I
am in the hopes the Northern States
will come to their senses & repeal all laws
unfriendly to the South and carry out
to the spirit & the letter all the terms of the
Original Compact--I do not say that
they ought to do this under threats from
South Carolina--but I do say that
they owe it to Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia
&c not omitting your own little
state,26 which are for the Union--battling for the
right--
... About my picture if I do not
return within one year and grasp you by the
24. Joseph Ellison, California and
the Nation, 1850-1869: A Study of the Relations of a
Frontier Community with the Federal
Government (University of California Publications
in
History, XVI, Berkeley, 1927), 186; Benjamin Franklin Gilbert,
"The Mythical Johnston
Conspiracy," California
Historical Society Quarterly (June 1949), 165-173.
25. Captain Henry B. Judd, 3d U. S.
Artillery. Frazer, Mansfield on the Western Forts, 208.
26. Delaware.
50 OHIO
HISTORY
hand I will send you a substitute in
the shape of a photograph--...
I am as ever
Mac
News of rebel action against Fort Sumter
reached San Francisco on April 24, 1861,
twelve days after the event. Since
transcontinental telegraph service did not go into
operation in San Francisco until the
following October, news was brought in overland.
California Republicans and Douglas
Democrats proclaimed unconditional loyalty to
the Union while the state's Breckenridge
Democrats continued some advocacy of
neutrality in a civil war. Federal
commander Brigadier General A. S. Johnston had
already moved 10,000 muskets and 150,000
cartridges to Alcatraz for safekeeping.
The island's garrison had been
reinforced with recruits from the East to bring its
strength up to one hundred twenty men.
The works figured in plots and rumors but
fired in action only once, then an empty
round in 1863 to challenge a suspicious
ship northwest of the island.27
James McPherson applied for transfer
East, and orders finally arrived granting
his desire for field duty. He left San
Francisco in August 1861 on the Golden Gate.28
In action, the officer was promoted to
Captain the month he left California. He was
aide and assistant engineer for Major
General Halleck until February 1862 when he
became chief engineer for Major General
Ulysses S. Grant. McPherson's horse was
shot out from under him at Shiloh, but
he was unharmed and became a Brigadier
General in May 1862. He was promoted
again in October to Major General and
commanded a corps at Vicksburg. General
McPherson moved west with Sherman
to a new command and was destined for
still higher military rank, but, at the age
of thirty-five, he was killed on
reconnaissance near Atlanta on July 22, 1864.29
Duty in California was broadening for
McPherson just as it had been for Grant
and for Sherman. Lieutenant McPherson
had widened his Ohio horizon with duty
on the populous eastern seaboard.
California had then shown him a country and a
continent. As a result, he waged Civil
War campaigns motivated by a continental
concept.
Shortly after his death, a proposal was
put forth to rename Alcatraz as Fort
McPherson, but a Nebraska post was given
the General's name in January 1866. In
addition, there is an active Army post
in Georgia named after him, and a still-standing
barracks and guardhouse on Alcatraz
serve as a memorial to the military engineer.30
27. Bancroft, History
of California, VII, 278-281; Robert L. Thompson, Wiring A Continent:
The History of the Telegraph Industry
in the United States, 1832-1866 (Princeton,
1947), 367-
368; The War of the Rebellion, Vol.
L, Part 1, 444, 447, 484; Benjamin Franklin Gilbert, "San
Francisco Harbor Defense During the
Civil War," California Historical Society Quarterly (Sep-
tember 1954), 235.
28. The Golden Gate continued in
service on the San Franscio-Panama run until July 1862
when it burned near the Mexican coast
with the loss of two hundred twenty-three lives and
$1,400,000 in treasure. Kemble, The
Panama Route, 228.
29. Cullum, Biographical Register of
the U. S. Military Academy, 515-519.
30. The War of the Rebellion, Vol.
L, Part 2, 1166. Fort Cottonwood was renamed Fort
McPherson on January 20, 1866. The post
was established to protect travelers from hostile
Indians and was transferred to the
Interior Department in 1887. Frazer, Forts of the West, 88.
edited by
WILLIAM F. STROBRIDGE
California Letters of Major
General
James McPherson, 1858-1860
Alcatraz Island in the middle of San
Francisco Bay was two thousand miles from
Sandusky County, the Ohio home of James
Birdseye McPherson, Second Lieutenant,
Army Engineers. The West Point-educated
Lieutenant arrived in California late in
1857 on the wooden side-wheeler Golden
Gate. His assignment was to supervise
construction of fortifications on rocky,
windy Alcatraz. None foresaw then that in
five years he would be a Major General
in the Union Army. He had been first in his
class at the Military Academy, having
overcome difficulties of an irregular earlier
education that he feared would prevent
him from attaining an appointment at all.
The tall and friendly McPherson had
already had three years of practical experience
in building harbor fortifications around
New York City and Wilmington, Delaware,
before he started his new task.1
Alcatraz had been acquired as federal
property under questionable circumstances
in 1849 by the flamboyant Military
Governor John Charles Fremont. The island
squatted in the bay's waters three miles
from the opening of the Golden Gate and a
mile and half from the growing city of
San Francisco. It and massive brick Fort Point
at the Golden Gate were to be important
sites for harbor defenses. Construction
details had started work in 1853. Some
$850,000 had been appropriated for the
fortifications. In addition to a
three-storied barracks, there were to be brick and
stone guardhouses, gun batteries, three
bomb-proof magazines, a furnace to heat
cannon balls, and a lighthouse. On the
southeast corner of the island was a fog bell
regulated to strike every fifteen
seconds in bad weather. McPherson's work force on
the island varied from forty to two
hundred men and was composed in the main of
civilian laborers.2
San Franciscans were impressed with
Lieutenant McPherson's engineering skill,
1. The Golden Gate was a
three-decked steamer built for the Pacific Mail Steamship Com-
pany at a cost of $482,844. It entered
service between the Pacific Coast of Panama and San
Francisco in November 1851. John Haskill
Kemble, The Panama Route 1848-1869 (Berkeley,
1943), 228. George W. Cullum, Biographical
Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S.
Military Academy at West Point, N. Y.
(Boston and New York, 1891), II, 515-519.
See also
Whitelaw Reid, Ohio in the War (Columbus,
1893), 561-563.
2. Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of
California (San Francisco, 1884-90), VI, 632; Robert
W. Frazer, Mansfield on the Condition
of the Western Forts, 1853-54 (Norman, Oklahoma,
1965), 121-122, 134; "From San
Francisco to Sacramento City," Hutchings' California Magazine,
IV (July 1858).
Mr. Strobridge is a Colonel in the
United States Army and is presently stationed in the Wash-
ington D. C. area.