Ohio History Journal

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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