Title:  A Sketch of the Causes, Operations and Results of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee of 1856

Author:  Stephen Palfrey Webb

Release Date:  June, 2004 [EBook #5802] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 4, 2002]

Edition:  10

Language:  English

Character set encoding:  ASCII

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A Sketch of the Causes, Operations and Results of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee in 1856

Written by Stephen Palfrey Webb in 1874

Stephen Palfrey Webb was born in Salem on March 20, 1804, the son of Capt.  Stephen and Sarah (Putnam) Webb.  He was graduated from Harvard in 1824, and studied law with Hon. John Glen King, after which he was admitted to the Essex Bar.  He practiced law in Salem, served as Representative and Senator in the Massachusetts Legislature, and was elected Mayor of Salem in 1842, serving three years.  He was Treasurer of the Essex Railroad Company in the late forties.

About 1853, he went to San Francisco, where he resided several years, serving as Mayor of that city in 1854 and 1855.  It was during this time that he witnessed the riotous mobs following the Gold Rush of 1849, and upon his return Salem made notes for a lecture, which he delivered in Salem; and later, with many additions, prepared this sketch, probably about 1874.  He was again elected Mayor of Salem, 1860-1862, and City Clerk, 1863-1870.  He died in Salem on September 29, 1879.  On May 26, 1834, he married Hannah H. B. Robinson of Salem.

There have been several accounts of the activities of the Vigilance Committee, but this is firsthand information from one who was on the ground at the time, and for this reason it is considered a valuable contribution to the history of those troublous days.  It certainly is a record of what a prominent, intelligent and observing eye-witness saw regarding this important episode in the history of California.  The original paper is now in the possession of his granddaughter, Mrs. Raymond H. Oveson of Groton, Massachusetts.

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Many of the evils which afflicted the people of San Francisco may be traced to the peculiar circumstances attendant upon the settlement of California.  The effect all over the world of the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848 was electric.  A movement only paralleled by that of the Crusades at once commenced.  Adventurers of every character and description immediately started for the far away