Memoirs of Gen. William T. Sherman — Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 628 pages of information about Memoirs of Gen. William T. Sherman — Volume 1.

Memoirs of Gen. William T. Sherman — Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 628 pages of information about Memoirs of Gen. William T. Sherman — Volume 1.
man, was one of the first to respond to the call of the sheriff, and that he went actually to the jail with his one arm the night we expected the first attempt at rescue, etc.  Johnson then sent word for them to reduce their business to writing.  They simply sent in a written request for an audience, and they were then promptly admitted.  After some general conversation, the Governor said he was prepared to hear them, when Mr. Crockett rose and made a prepared speech embracing a clear and fair statement of the condition of things in San Francisco, concluding with the assertion of the willingness of the committee to disband and submit to trial after a certain date not very remote.  All the time Crockett was speaking, Terry sat with his hat on, drawn over his eyes, and with his feet on a table.  As soon as Crockett was through, they were dismissed, and Johnson began to prepare a written answer.  This was scratched, altered, and amended, to suit the notions of his counselors, and at last was copied and sent.  This answer amounted to little or nothing.  Seeing that we were powerless for good, and that violent counsels would prevail under the influence of Terry and others, I sat down at the table, and wrote my resignation, which Johnson accepted in a complimentary note on the spot, and at the same time he appointed to my place General Volney E. Howard, then present, a lawyer who had once been a member of Congress from Texas, and who was expected to drive the d—–­d pork-merchants into the bay at short notice.  I went soon after to General Wool’s room, where I found Crockett and the rest of his party; told them that I was out of the fight, having resigned my commission; that I had neglected business that had been intrusted to me by my St. Louis partners; and that I would thenceforward mind my own business, and leave public affairs severely alone.  We all returned to San Francisco that night by the Stockton boat, and I never after-ward had any thing to do with politics in California, perfectly satisfied with that short experience.  Johnson and Wool fought out their quarrel of veracity in the newspapers and on paper.  But, in my opinion, there is not a shadow of doubt that General Wool did deliberately deceive us; that he had authority to issue arms, and that, had he adhered to his promise, we could have checked the committee before it became a fixed institution, and a part of the common law of California.  Major-General Volney E. Howard came to San Francisco soon after; continued the organization of militia which I had begun; succeeded in getting a few arms from the country; but one day the Vigilance Committee sallied from their armories, captured the arms of the “Law-and-Order party,” put some of their men into prison, while General Howard, with others, escaped to the country; after which the Vigilance Committee had it all their own way.  Subsequently, in July, 1856, they arrested Chief-Justice Terry, and tried him for stabbing one
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Memoirs of Gen. William T. Sherman — Volume 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.