“The People of California are devoted to the Constitution and Union” California During the American Civil War

Abstract

This paper explores the contribution of California to the Union effort during the American Civil War. Historians claim nothing of consequence happened in the Pacific Region during the American Civil War. This paper will show that Californians kept the Confederacy from expanding to the Pacific Ocean by expelling secessionists from the region, blocked Confederate invasions and infiltrations into California, and sent troops to the Eastern Theater to support other states quota for volunteers. Another argument presented in this paper is that California volunteers stopped warring Native American tribes from destabilizing the region. The primary sources used in this paper are official military records, personal communications, and personal diaries of individuals. Additional primary sources include newspaper articles, political speeches, and official government statutes and proclamations at the state and federal level. The paper examines the admittance of California as a state in 1850 and how Congressional politics surrounding the state's admittance set the country on the path to war. The discussion then shifts to how secession almost split California into two states in 1860. The paper then moves into how California prepared for war and how volunteers were sent to different regions of the country to support the Union war effort. The final two sections of the paper cover the Civil War and Reconstruction within the borders of California and the Civil War in memory.