The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 16, 1903, Page 14

1 4 [l K URING the great Civil War the State of California, so far as open ‘ hostilities in the fleld were con- cerned, occupied a position of “splendid isolation.” When the war broke out the Pacific Raliroad was but the dream of a few Impracticables. The t transcontinental telegraph line was in the process of construction. News was carried from St. Louls to California by means of the Pony Express untll Oc- tober, 1861. It required thirteen days for mall to reach the coast by this method. When Californians went East they gen- erally journeyed by way of the isthmus. The trip across the plains was fraught with too much danger and hardship. The population of the State was heter- ogenequs. The great gold rush of 1849 had caused California to be overrnn by a e mixture of people. Blue-blooded nglanders, “heirs to_the polish of a ancestry,” had left their homes to bulld up fortunes in the mines. Elemental men from Texas,"who hhd never attended school but ons day, and that y being a rainy day, the teacher fafled to appear, came hither to dig for gold. Immigrants from the backwoods of Arkansas and Missouri jostied with court- ly adventurers fi the Old World. Chi- nese and K a8 had been lured from their Flowery Kingdom and their Island adise by the wonders of the new EI Dorado. Men who said “I ain’t one of wour abolitionists; w my uncle had a nigger,” associated with dyed-in-the-wool opponents of the “pecullar institution.” Fugitives from justice and men who had been used to luxury and adherents of the law worked side by side. To make of such a population of this a loyal Union favor- ing population was the task of the sup- porters of the Union. The le of the State held to their inherited \prejudices. The men from New England were as stanch advocates of liberty and Union in California as they had been in their birthplaces. The immigrants from the Southern States sympathized openly with the secession movement. The adherents of the loyal’ North outnumbered the Southern sympathizers, but the latter on account of soclal position and political prestige constituted an element of great danger. Prior to the beginning of the struggle Colonel E. D. Baker was the mouthpiece of the Union cause. Durln, the trouble Thomas Starr King stirred ‘up the whole Pacific Coast with his fervid appeals to patriotism. The history of the Civil War days in California centers mainly around the deeds of these two men. E. D. Baker was born in England, but et an early age came to the United ‘\ SURRENDER OF LEE States. His career was the typical, varied career of the self-made man. He had a passion for books. He fought in the Black Hawk war, was a Congressman from an Illinois district, went to the Mexican war as the colonel of a Western regiment and returned with a brilliant record. In 1852 he came to California and ar once leaped Into favor as a lawyer and as an orator. The speeches he made in favor of the Union-cause remind one of the battle speeches of Napoleon. He was a practical man and had the gift of prophecy. He saw a situation clearly and faced it resolutely. Freedom and fame were the watchwords of this matchless orator. He had great moral and physical courage. He aspired to be elected to Congress from this State, but was defeat- ed. Thereupon the defeated candidate be- took himself to Oregon and was elected a United States Senator from that State. It was while on his way to Washington to take his seat in the Senate that he made his famous speech at the American Theater in San Francisco. For two hours and a quarter the Senator held the vast assemblzge spellbound. Freedom was the theme of the speech. The im- passioned words of the orator thrill to this day, although the issue that called them forth lies buried. This speech was made on the 26th of October, 180. Per- haps the noblest paragraph in the speech is the following: “We are a city set on a hill. Our light cannot be hid. As for me, I dare not, I will not be false to freedom. Where in my youth my feet were planted, there my manhood and my age shall march. I will walk beneath her banner. 1 will glory iIn her strength. I have seen her, in history, struck down on & hundred chosen fields of battle. I have seen her friends fly from her; I have seen her friends gather around her; I have seen them bind her to the stake; I have seen thegm give her ashes to the winds, regathering them that they might scatter them yet more widely. But when they turned to exult, 1 have seen her again meet them face to face, clad in complete steel and brandish- ing In her strong right hand a flaming sword of red with insufferable light! And I take courage. The genius of America will at last lead her sons to freedom!” At the great New York mass meeting held on April 19, 1861, Baker was one of the twenty prominent men who contrib- uted their oratorical po in behalf of the Union. Baker saw that the hour of conciliation had passed; that the nation had before it a bloody, internecine war, THE SUNDAY CALL Gen. Parker, M. 8, Adjt. Gen. and accordingly he used all his powers to fan the recently kindled fire of war into a billow of flame. He said that he had come a wanderer from the Pacific Coast to record his oath to sustaln the majesty of the constitution, along with the people of the Emplre State. The war begun, Baker plunged into it with_all the impetuosity of his nature. On June 28, 131, he was commissioned colonel of the First Callfornta Infantry, recruited in the East and composed of returned Californians. He declined the appointments of brigadler general and major general of volunteers, because the acceptance of either would have neces- sitated his resigning the Senatorship. On the 24 of August, 181, Baker made an impassioned reply to Senator Breckin- ridge of Kentucky. Breckinridge had s[‘vk(-n against a proposed measure to suppress Insurrection. Baker attended the session of the Senate in the dual role of Senator and colonel; he was clad in the uniform of a colonel. The impression produced by this soldier statesman clad in the habiliments of war was profound. He stirred up patriotic enthusiasm and completely overwhelmed Breckinridge. This was the last speech ever made by Baker. He commanded a brigade at Balls Bluff, where he fell at the head of his troops. A savage hand-to-hand fight oc- curredyfor the possession of his body. At last the Unlon forces recovered posses- sion of it and carried it to the river. Bak- er's loss was keenly felt. While this renowned Western orator was winning fame in the East by his words and deeds a product of the East fanned the war flame In the West. In 1860 Thomas Starr King. a Unitarian min- ister from Boston, became the minister of the First Unitarian Church of San Francisco. Although of frail and sickly body, he was filled with the spirit of lib- erty. WAhen he saw that tue South in- tended to secede and disrupt the Union he rushed into the lists and did all in his power to make men see the folly of the secesslon movement. He believed in human liberty with every fiber of his being, He thought that the success of the secession movement would block hu- man progress, and accordingly he threw himself heart and soul into an effort to frustrate the scheme of the disruption- ists. Mr. lélng endeavored to cause the steadfast to remain firm, and to bring the lukewarm into the ranks of the sup- porters of the Union. To this doughty champion of liberty the republic was an anointed temple of the Lord, and.the at- tempt of the secessionists to break it open was a sacrilege. He had a firm grasp on the principles on which the “fathers” had Bowers. Gen, Gen, H. Portef. Gen. D Grant. Gen. Ord. Gen. Inzalls. Gen. Badeau, Gen. Rawling, C. of § Gen. Sheridan. O, 18065.==From Alonzo Chappel's Famous Masterpiece. Copyrighted, 1885, by W. H. Stelle & Co., N. Y. pased their form of governmeént, and ha attempted to rekindle in the breasts of his generation the same sentlments that had inspired the founders. He prepared lectures on ‘“Washington, Father of His Country,” “Lexington and Concord” and “Webster, Defender of tho Constitution,” all patriotic in the extreme, and threw himself upon the disciples of the Confed- eracy. He traversed the State. He went up the Sacramento Valley, over the rough Siskiyou Mountains into Oregon and from thence to Puget Sound. He spoke for the Union, and for the wour.ded soldiers. He materlally assisted the ef- forts of the Sanitary Commission, that body of patriotic men and women banded together to assist wounded and needy sol- diers. In some places the orator's life was threatened. Men who administered a rude form of justice with the rifle and the rope in some of the interior mining towns drew weapons on him. But he was not deterred, and in a short time it was seen that the Pacific Coast was saved to the Union. It was then that Starr King took up the work of the Sanitary Com- misgion. On account of the lack of fa- cilitles for transporting troops from the Paclfic Coast to the scene of war, the Government did not call for troops from this section for use In the struggle. The energles of the men of the Pacific Coast were therefore turned in another direc- tion. 1f the Government did not want the ‘blood of the Far West, it did want. its treasure. The KEast sacrificed its blood upon the gitar of war, while the West poured its treasure thereon In unstinted measure. It i{s not too much to say that the gold sent by California, arriving as it did at the most opportune time, had as much to do with causing the downfall of the Confederacy as did certain Union successes in the field. Into this work of raising money Starr King threw himself with as much vigor as he had displayed in his effort to make the State loyal. In 1864 this devout worshiper of liberty died. On that sad occa- sion San Francisco went Into mourn- ing. The city draped itself in black; the Dbig smoothbores on Alcatraz spoke out- their solemn notes; flags were lowered to half mast and public offices were closed. Thomas Starr King lald down his life for his country as truly as if he had fallen on the field of battle. There were other Californians who did heroic service in behalf of the Union, but the names of Baker and King will ever be linked in the history of this State as the two foremost figures of Civil War days. The one frowned down on the secession movement. He showed the fallacy of the arguments on which it was based. He ‘was a devout bellever In freedom and ver- {ly belleved in the maintenance of an in- dissoluble Union of indestructible States. The other took up the work begun by the former. He held to the same political tenets and expressed them in a way calcu- lated to stir the spirits of men. If the State of California ever takes advantage of the act of Congress permitting the va- rious States to present stAtues of thelr two most {llustrious sons to the statuary hall in the Capitol at Washington, two more fllustrious than those of E.D. Baker and Thomas Starr King cannot be sug- gested. As before stated, the antebellum days in California were mainly taken up in the struggle of Baker and his colleagues to meet the arguments of the secessionists, while the war days saw Starr King and his colleagues at work creating Union sentiment and assisting in the work of the Sanitary Commission. But there were other happenings worthy of note in those days. The population of the State was made up of so many peculiar elements that all sorts of eccentric Ideas were given currency. One of the most absurd propositions made prior to the beginning of the struggle was the proposed estab- lishment of a Pacific republic. The Shas- ta Herald in 1880 in discussing political matters said: “If disunion does come neither North nor South need look for aid and comfort from the Pacific Coast. The Almighty has plled up the elements along these shores for a great empire, and if it needs he can make it one. We have no such interest that would demand an alllance with either of the belligerents upon the other side. We are and have been for ten years as fully separated from them as though we were a foreign colony. This coast can stand alone, and if disunion between North and South ever comes it will stand alone and independent. When that day comes—if, unfortunately, it should ever come—then ‘long live the Pacific repub- e This proposition never gatned much headway, but it was particularly aggra- vating and called forth some scathing editorials from the Union press. The San Francisco Bee in an editorfal said: “Aside from a few disappointed office- seekers there are not to be found to-day in California, outside of the State prison, a thousand voices to give, encouragement to the reason. As before indicated, the Federal Gov- ernment made no call on California for troops to use on Eastern battleflelds. But a large number of men were mustered into service to protect mail and telegraph lines, and to keep down Indian upraig- ings, and to awe Southern sympathizers. Less populous than any of the older East- ern States, there was given to the Pacifio Coast the task of keeping loyal the ter- ritory ceded by Mexico in the treaty of Cuadalupe Hidalgo. Troops were scatter- ed over this vast area, and the task im- posed was falthfully discharged. Many Californians, chafing at the enforced in- activity in military movements, betook themselves to the East, and there en- listed. The men elected to office in th during the struggle were in “High-minded men.” They wers in politics in response to patriotic sentl- ments. There was a copperhead move- ment during the struggle that had to be oned with. All the influence of the Union clubs, the loyal press, and the military department was called Into requi- sition to disrupt the misgulded agitation. In the election of 1864 civil dudgeon ran nigh he State was undoubtedly for Lincoln, but anxiety existed for the East. The canvass was a warm one. Lincoln carried the State by 20,000 majority. When it became apparent that he was re-elected San Francisco made a holiday. Men marched about the streets cheering and singing. In the re-election of the cham- plon of the republic the people felt they had a man whom they could trust, and Whose policy was certain to bring victory. When the news of Lincoln’s assassina tion reached the Coast men were horri- fied. It was feared that the war would re- oren, that Union soldiers would revenge his death by a general massacre of Con- federates. The financial condition of the country became serfous. But as in the cases of the assassinations of Garfleld and McKinley, the people saw that the striking of the President had no more effect on the republic than the angry striking of some venomous insect of the sea against the steel plate of a battleship. Accordingly the men of San Francisco prepared to pay their respects to the mem- ory of the martyred President in a solemn funeral. The sight was very impressive, and the services held at Mechanics’ Pavilion were long remembered. The war was over, the Union saved, and Union hearts were filled with joy. California had done all that had been asked of her. Routes of travel had been guarded, Indian tribes had been held in check. Taxes had been patd with cheer- fulness. Mineral treasure had been poured out to assist in the preservation of liberty. Half a million dollars had been given by loyal hearts to the Sanitary Commission to assist In mitigating the $ufferings of the wounded and to assist the well being of those in the fleld. Poured Into the ccffers of the Unlon at an opportune time, {t forwarded the Unlon cause on to victory. State the main