Here are a few interesting sites that feature information on California's role in the Civil War.
California in the American Civil War from Wikipedia
Californians in the Civil War from the California Department of Parks and Recreation
The Civil War in California State Parks from the California Department of Parks and Recreation
The Golden State and the Civil War from LearnCalifornia.org
Civil War History in California from the San Francisco Chronicle
California in the Civil War from Drum Barracks
Californians Serving in the Civil War from the California State Military Museum
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Lincoln and Thanksgiving
In 1863, President Lincoln issued the following declaration, establishing Thanksgiving as a national holiday:
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
Click here to learn more about Lincoln's ongoing interest in California.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
Click here to learn more about Lincoln's ongoing interest in California.
Friday, November 11, 2011
The Grand Army of the Republic
The Grand Army of the Republic, or GAR, was founded on April 6, 1866, in Decatur, Illinois. This veterans' organization was open to honorably discharged veterans of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Revenue Cutter Service who served during the war.
The GAR began as a fraternal organization, but soon developed into a force for veteran's affairs, including working to ensure soldiers' pensions and constructing soldiers' home. The GAR final meeting took place in 1949 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Its last member, Albert Woolson, died in 1956 at age 109.
The GAR's Department of California and Nevada was organized on February 21, 1868. Eventually, the department was home to nearly 200 individual posts, all of which were named for deceased veterans. No two posts in the same department were supposed to be named for the same deceased veteran. While the last National Encampment was held in 1949, the Department of California and Nevada continued to hold their annual Department Encampments into the 1950s.
The last member of the Department, William Allen Magee of Company M, 12th Ohio Cavalry, died in Long Beach, California, on January 23, 1953 at age 106.
The group continues today as the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. It is open to descendants of honorably discharged Union veterans. The National Archives also has Civil War veterans' information available in its military holdings.
The GAR began as a fraternal organization, but soon developed into a force for veteran's affairs, including working to ensure soldiers' pensions and constructing soldiers' home. The GAR final meeting took place in 1949 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Its last member, Albert Woolson, died in 1956 at age 109.
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| During the GAR National Encampment held in San Francisco in 1886, the Department of New York presented a banner to the Department of California. Here's the banner in the encampment's grand procession. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA) |
The last member of the Department, William Allen Magee of Company M, 12th Ohio Cavalry, died in Long Beach, California, on January 23, 1953 at age 106.
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| Here's a close-up of the banner the Department of California received at the 1886 GAR National Encampment (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA). |
The group continues today as the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. It is open to descendants of honorably discharged Union veterans. The National Archives also has Civil War veterans' information available in its military holdings.
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