clear.  Abraham Lincoln, who commanded 180 votes in the electoral college to 123 divided among his opponents, was by our constitution President-elect of the United States.  To the men of that day the case was by no means settled.  The national bond was weak.  The local, or state bond was strong.  It was a time of intense political passion.  The irrepressible conflict which had clouded the closing days of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster must now be decided, either for, or against, the extension of human slavery; either for, or against, a National Union.

Well meaning, but mistaken, writers have claimed that California was never a doubtful state, that the great majority of her people were ever loyal to the Northern cause, to Lincoln and Liberty.  As a matter of sober truth let it be here written that the attitude of no state north of Mason and Dixon’s Line gave Northern leaders so grave concern.  Nor was the matter once for all decided until the election of Leland Stanford in September, 1861, as the first Republican Governor of California.  During all the Spring and Summer of that great year the battle waged with the issue, up to the last hour, uncertain.  These were the months that tried men’s souls in California, as in the Border States.  Communities were divided.  Party ties severed.  Families broken up.  Old friendships sundered.  All lesser questions were lost sight of as Union, or Dis-union, became the all absorbing theme.  The battle of ideas, preceding the battle of bullets, was on.

What was the state of public opinion in California?  How runs the evidence?

In March, 1861, General E. V. Sumner was given command of United States regulars on the Pacific Coast, replacing Albert Sidney Johnston, whose well known attachment to the Southern cause led to his removal by the Lincoln Administration.  In General Sumner’s reports to the War Department in Washington we have impartial and official testimony as to conditions in California during the period under consideration.  Naturally he came first in contact with the people about San Francisco Bay, a majority of whom were loyal to the North, and consequently, Sumner’s first reports were encouraging.  “There is a strong Union feeling,” he writes, “with the majority of the people of the state, but the Secessionists are much the most active and zealous party.”

A little later, better informed, he reported:  “The Secessionist party in this state numbers about 32,000 men and they are very restless and zealous, which gives them great influence.”  Still later:  “The disaffection in the southern part of the state is increasing and is becoming dangerous, and it is indispensably necessary to throw reinforcements into that section immediately.”