Enter a name, company, place or keywords to search across this item. Then click "Search" (or hit Enter).
Inter Pocala & History of California (Various Pages) (33 pages)
Go to the Archive Home
Go to Thumbnail View of this Item
Go to Single Page View of this Item
Download the Page Image
Copy the Page Text to the Clipboard
Don't highlight the search terms on the Image
Show the Page Image
Show the Image Page Text
Reset View and Center Image
Zoom Out
Zoom In
Rotate Left
Rotate Right
Toggle Full Page View
Flip Image Horizontally
More Information About this Image
Get a Citation for Page or Image - Copy to the Clipboard
Go to the Previous Page (or Left Arrow key)
Go to the Next Page (or Right Arrow key)
Page: of 33
It was understood that in the event of a war, the
regular troops would be needed at the east, and not
only they, but volunteers also. The First Regiment
California Infantry was a spontaneous organization,
springing into life upon the arrival of the news of the
fall of Fort Sumpter. It was however drilled by
regular tacticians, and its field officers selected from
the army. Captain H. W. Halleck, being appointed
major general of the 2d division of state militia, in
May called on all good citizens in the counties of this
division to form themselves into companies, battalions,
and regiments, promising arms should there be call for
their services. Lieutenant John Hamilton, 3d artillery, was made the military instructor of the 2d
division of California militia, and the military spirit
ran high. The volunteers hoped to be allowed to
serve in the east, the ambition to distinguish themselves upon the battlefield being the great incentive to
enlistment. But in this they were to be disappointed,
and the 1st infantry was even deprived of its proper
place on the roster by the professional jealousy of its
officers, who refused to be superseded by a regular
officer.”
1 Major Carleton of the army being ordered to march with this regiment
into Arizona and New Mexico, and finding it in a rebellious temper, established a recruiting camp named after the adjutant-general of Sumner's staff
Richard C. Dunn, and with a part of the original Ist infantr and such
others as flocked to his standard Rad an expedition in the field in the autumn,
of which the Ist infantry, as raised by him, was an cena park. He
was promoted in April 1862 to be brig.-gen. of vol., and Joseph R. Wes
was promoted to the colonelcy first, and Edwin A. Rigg second. His army
consisted besides the Ist of the 5th Cal. inf., Col George W., Bowie, the Ist '
battalion, Cal. cav., Lieut-col E. E. Eyre, one company of the 2d Cal. cav.,
Capt. John C. Cremony, and one battery of the 3d U.S. artil, Lieut John
B. Shinn—in all about 2,500 men. The column marched from San Pedro to
the Rio Grande, and performed well the part assigned to it of fightin a
dians, and driving back rebels from the frontiers of New Mexico and _Colorado. When the Ist and 5th inf. regiments had been three years in the
field, the Ist veteran inf. regiment was formed by a transfer of troops from
these two, inthe department of New Mexico, and was commanded by ae
col K. A. Rigg. It performed important service on the line operated on by
the Cal. column. i ;
Perhaps the most conspicuous regiment of the Cal. vols in the service A
the U.S. on the Pacific coast was the 2d cav., commanded at first by the
experienced cavalry officer A. J. Smith, with whom the reader is familiar =
captain, but who became a brigadier-general a few months after the war
CHANGES AND ENGAGEMENTS. 469
when Columbus Sims became col of the regiment, holding the position
or little overone year. George S. Evans was then promoted to the co oneley,
but resigned in May 1863 and was succeeded first by William J ones, and
second by Edward McGarry. Jones’s commission was revoked in 1864. The
regiment marched thousands of miles, and skirmished with Indians from
New Mexico to Oregon. Col Evans fought a battle near Camp Independence
in Owen river valley in the spring of 1862 for which he received particular
commendation from his superiors. On the 29th of Jan. 1863, companies A
H, K, and M., 2d cavalry, under Maj. Edward McGarry, and K company
of the 3d Cal. inf., all under command of Col P, E, Conner, fought the
Shoshones, under Chief Pocatello, who had killed many immigrants on the
road to Cal., Idaho, and Montana, making a great slaughter.
The 3d infantry regiment of Cal. vol’s, numbering 1,634 members, whose
col was Patrick E. Connor, renowned for his fighting qualities, was organized
at Stockton and Benicia, and was employed in protecting the Central overland route from Nevada, eastward, having a rough, ungrateful service.
Connor was promoted brig. gen. March 29, 1863, when Robert Pollock became col, On the expiration of the term of the original members of the regiment, organized into a battalion under Lieut-col William M. Johns, and finally mustered out in July 1866. It was known as the 3d bat. of inf. The
2d inf. reg., consisting of 1,980 men, which should have been the Ist, was
organized at Camp Sumner in Sept. 1861, and employed in defending the
frontier of California, Washington, and Idaho, about half the reg. being sent
to the north, and marching from Puget Sound to Fort Boise, which they established, and from Fort Walla Walla to Fort Colville. The remainder
served in the Humboldt country against the Indians, until the expiration of
the term of enlistment of most of the men, when in 1864 they were re-oranized by col T. F. Wright, and ordered to Arizona by McDoweil in 1865.
the other volunteer gg Pres ed of 1861 were the Ist cav., and 3d, 4th and
5th inf. regiments. The Ist Cavalry organization was effected by Lieut-col
B. F. Davis of the regular army, who was killed at Gravelly Ford. It consisted until 1863 of but five companies, whose first rendezvous was at Cain
Merchant, in Oakland, It went by steamer to Los Angeles, and warhol
thence to San Bernardino, where it was mounted. Davis being ordered to
join his regiment in the east in Nov., the command devolved upon Maj. FE.
i. Eyre. In Feb. 1862 the battalion was ordered to Fort Yuma, on its way
to the Rio Grande to relieve Canby, and to join the column from Cal. in
New Mexico. A second battalion of seven companies was raised in 1863
and sent to join the regiment, of which David Ferguson was commissioned
col, Eyre having resigned in Nov. 1862. Ferguson was dismissed for leaying his post, and Oscar M. Brown succeeded him. The regiment took part
in the campaign against the Navajoes, who were subdued, and placed on the
reservation at Fort Sumner. A pet of the reg. also fought the Comanches,
and had altogether perhaps one hundred engagements with Indians during
the several years it occupied New Mexico and Texas. William McCleave
became col in 1866, and the regiment was mustered out at the end of that
year, at the presidio of S. F. This regiment numbered 1,830 members, The
. 4th infantry regiment was organized in Sep. 1861 by Col Henry M. Judah, of
. the regular army, who resigned in Nov. and was succeeded by Ferris Foreman who commanded until August 1862, when he was succeeded by James
F. Curtis. The reg. served in southern Cal. and Arizona. On the expiration of the term of service of the earlier members it was re-organized with
five companies under Lieut Col E. W. Hilliyer, and was used to garrison
posts until 1866, when it was mustered out. The men of this reg. volunteered in Placerville, Shasta, Auburn, Sac., and San Diego, and numbered
1,639 exclusive of one company, which preserved no register. The 5th inf.
reg. was also drawn from the northern part of the state, and composed of
pone and vigorous men. It was organized at Camp Union, two miles beow Sac., by Col John Kellogg of the regular army, who resigned to go east
in October, where George W, Bowie accepted the commission tendered him
»
xX +4