One Man's Honor

robertp6165

I just read an interesting article about Albert Sidney Johnston's role in the early months of the Civil War, while he was in command of United States forces in California. Johnston was under intense pressure from Southern sympathisers in the State who wanted Johnston to join their effort to take California out of the Union. In particular, they wanted Johnston to release the 10,000 muskets and 150,000 rounds of ammunition at the Benicia Arsenal in San Francisco into their hands for the purpose of overwhelming Unionist opposition in the State.

However, Johnston's sense of personal honor forbade him from betraying his oath to the Union by complying with these demands, and instead, he had the arms and ammunition transferred to Alcatraz Island, where the Southern sympathisers could never get them, and informed the Southerners that “I have heard foolish talk about an attempt to seize the strongholds of government under my charge. Knowing this, I have prepared for emergencies, and will defend the property of the United States with every resource at my command, and with the last drop of blood in my body. Tell that to our Southern friends!”

Therefore, a lot rode on one man's sense of personal honor in early 1861. But what if Johnston had not been quite so honorable, and those arms and ammunition had been allowed to fall into the hands of the rebels?

Discuss?
 

Dave Howery

how many southern sympathizers were there in CA? I had the idea that there weren't that many, because the state voted to join the union as a non-slave state without debate. If there were enough to make use of those munitions, I suppose they could have held the state for the confederacy...
 

robertp6165

Dave Howery said:
how many southern sympathizers were there in CA? I had the idea that there weren't that many, because the state voted to join the union as a non-slave state without debate. If there were enough to make use of those munitions, I suppose they could have held the state for the confederacy...
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Jordal said:
As far as I've read, there was some sympathy for the Southern Cause. Although, apparently even if California had seceded it wouldn't have joined the Confederacy but rather create it's own Pacific Republic along with Oregon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_in_the_American_Civil_War
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Based on the 1860 Presidential election returns and the 1861 Gubernatorial election returns, it can be assumed that approximately 28% of the white population (the proportion which voted for the Southern Democratic candidates in those elections), likely sympathised with the South. That number may have been higher, because some who voted for the Northern Democratic candidate and the Constitutional Union candidate may also have supported the South when war broke out. There were certainly enough Southern sympathisers to make use of 10,000 muskets, if those had become available for their use. And since that cache of arms was the only significant one in California at the time, even though they would have been greatly outnumbered by Union sympathisers in the State, they would have significantly over-matched them in military power.

As to what the California rebels would have done had they successfully managed to take control and take California out of the Union, that is an interesting question. Even if they decided to found a Pacific Republic rather than join the Confederacy, however, that is not good news for the Union, as that means the flow of California gold and Nevada silver into the U.S. treasury will be effectively cut off, and without that flow of specie, the Union war effort will be DRAMATICALLY impaired.
 
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Dave Howery

so... 30% of CA men would be trying to hold down the other 70%? Doesn't sound feasible. If southern sympathizers tried to take the arms, I'd bet the union sympathizers would try to beat them to it. And even if the southerners did succeed in taking the arms and holding CA, they wouldn't be able to do much else, due to their small numbers... they wouldn't dare to leave the state to go adventuring in NV... if they did, the unionists would seize CA right back. Which would leave NV's silver still supplying the US. But losing CA's gold would be a major blow to the US...

And just because Johnston was the CIC in CA, that doesn't mean he'd get away with betraying the whole state into confederate hands... you can bet his subordinates wouldn't like it and would leak any such plans to the unionists.

Probably, you'd see a pitched battle for the arms....
 

67th Tigers

Banned
The distribution isn't even. Very roughly SoCal has a pro-CS majority, and NorCal has a pro-US majority.

San Francisco was mixed, and both sides had private militias on the streets. It was the pro-US militia that got access to Benica Arsenal, so they held SF.
 

Faeelin

robertp6165 said:
Based on the 1860 Presidential election returns and the 1861 Gubernatorial election returns, it can be assumed that approximately 28% of the white population (the proportion which voted for the Southern Democratic candidates in those elections),
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Or the number may be lower, because voting for a candidate in a democratic election doesn't mean supporting civil war.
 

Grimm Reaper

Reportedly the pro-Union militia somehow managed to get arms even before the Benicia arsenal and in some number.

The plea was apparently a cry for help as the pro-Confederate militia had somehow proven incapable of getting weapons of their own which calls into question either their number or their competence.


Voting for John Bell in 1860 doesn't make someone a secessionist.
 
Electric Monk

Electric Monk

Well, what about an independent Pacific Republic that controls SF and points south, along with the southern section of Nevada? Likely the Union—or at least pro-Union forces—would retain Oregon, and around a third of California & half of Nevada.

What about the British? This looks like a golden opportunity for them to support the Pacific Republic and prevent the US any access at all to the Pacific ocean.
 

Yossarian

A particularly interesting outcome would be if California tried to secede, but the US still beat the South. What are they going to do about an independent California? It seems like sending in the army to occupy it would be quite an undertaking, especially as being attacked would unite the Californians under their new government.
 

67th Tigers

Banned
Grimm Reaper said:
Reportedly the pro-Union militia somehow managed to get arms even before the Benicia arsenal and in some number.

The plea was apparently a cry for help as the pro-Confederate militia had somehow proven incapable of getting weapons of their own which calls into question either their number or their competence.


Voting for John Bell in 1860 doesn't make someone a secessionist.
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The pro-US militia was pre-existing as a nativist militia, the San Francisco Vigilante Committee. They were responsible for a lot of murders in 1850's SF:

http://books.google.com/books?id=SM...DKN&sig=ymXJWxlGbQYM89Rre-Ak8PMCMNI#PPA137,M1

As you can see, they were armed as they'd seized a Federal Arsenal back in the 1856 "rising"

For a pop culture reference, the New York nativists are the bad guys in the film Gangs of New York
 
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