California Civil War Rosters From the book �Records of California Men in the War of the Rebellion, 1861 to 1867� by Brig.-Gen. Richard H. Orton, pub. 1890 Transcribed by Kathy Sedler This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter. All persons donating to this site retain the rights to their own work. Proposed Invasion of Texas via Mexico. When the first call for troops was made it was understood that they would be used to guard the overland mail route, via Salt Lake. But it was afterwards decided to use them for an invasion of the State of Texas by the way of Sonora and Chihuahua, landing at Mazatlan or Guaymas, in Sonora. Permission was obtained from the Governors of those Mexican States, and from the Mexican Government. General Sumner was assigned to the command, and the troops to compose the expedition were selected. The following is the correspondence relating to it: [Telegraph to outer station, thence by pony express and telegraph.] HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, WASHINGTON, AUGUST 16, 1861. Brigadier-General E.V. SUMNER, U.S.A., San Francisco: You are to command an expedition into Texas, via Mazatlan, to be composed of two batteries and ten foot companies of one regiment of volunteer cavalry and four regiments of volunteer infantry. Brigadier-General J. W. Denver will be associated with you, and take with you Captain R. L. Ogden, Assistant Quartermaster. A requisition has been made on the Governor for the volunteers. Communicate with him. Particulars by mail. WINFIELD SCOTT ---------- HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, WASHINGTON, August 16, 1861. Brigadier-General E.V. SUMNER, U.S.Army, Commanding, etc., San Francisco, Cal.: SIR: A telegram was sent to you this day in relation to an expedition to Texas, and the General-in-Chief directs me to write more fully in regard to it, as follows: You are to fit out an expedition in San Francisco, preparing for embarkation thence the necessary supplies and land transportation, to land at Mazatlan, and march thence to western Texas and regain the public property in that State and draw off insurgent troops from Arkansas, Missouri, etc. J. W. Denver, Esq., of California, has been appointed Brigadier-General U.S. Volunteer Service, and will be under your command. Captain R. L. Ogden, appointed Assistant Quartermaster, and now in San Francisco, will also be subject to your orders. A requisition has been made on the Governor of California for one regiment volunteer cavalry and four regiments volunteer infantry, and he has been requested to report them to you when ready. You will please confer with him in relation to them. You will add to this force two batteries of regular artillery and ten companies regular foot, to be collected from such points as may be most advisable. Orders will no doubt go to you from the War Department concerning the contract to be made with the steamship company. The General will only say on this subject that it will be advisable to make provision as early as possible for having coal for the transports placed in depot at Mazatlan. On leaving the Department of the Pacific, turn over the command to Colonel [George] Wright, Ninth Infantry. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General --------- HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE PACIFIC, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., August 30, 1861. Lieutenant-Colonel E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General: COLONEL: I have received the General-in-Chief�s dispatch informing me that I am to command an expedition to Texas. While I feel flattered by this selection, and willing to undertake it, especially on account of the almost insuperable difficulties that will attend it, I feel it to be a duty to the General to let him know precisely the state of things on this coast. Up to the time of the reverse in Virginia everything was perfectly safe here. There has always been a strong Secession party in this State, but it was overawed and kept quiet. Since that news was received these people have been getting much bolder, and I have found it necessary to take strong measures to repress any attempt on their part to thwart the Government. I think I can do it; but if they should succeed in electing their candidate for Governor, of which they are very confident, I shall not be able to do it without the most stringent measures. The Union party here is divided, and neither portion of it will sacrifice their trifling local interests for the public good; and as the dis-unionists are very active and zealous, I am by no means certain that they will not carry the election. Their numbers are variously estimated from twenty-five thousand to forty-five thousand voters. I shall get the force authorized to be raised here into my hands as soon as possible; but it will take some time to do this. It is a very different thing to raise volunteers in a State where there is a strong party opposed to the Government from what it is where all are loyal. I shall lose no time in organizing this force and getting it ready for any emergency. In marching to Texas I would respectfully represent that Guaymas will be a much better point of departure than Mazatlan. The roads and country from the former are much better than from the latter, and the distance is but little more. I suppose, however, that the route must depend upon the one taken by the Secessionists if they should move in this direction. If they should make no movement hitherward, and the object of my expedition should be to recover and hold Texas, I would respectfully suggest whether it would not be a more feasible plan to take my command by sea to some point in Texas, there to meet such an additional force from the North as the commanding General might think necessary. This plan would give me the necessary munitions, which it would be impossible for me to carry across the continent; besides this, a march at the usual rate across those deserts would inevitably unfit volunteers for some time for efficient service in the field. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, E. V. SUMNER, Brigadier-General, U. S. Army, Commanding. --------- HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE PACIFIC, SAN FRANCISCO, September 7, 1861. Col. E. D. TOWNSEND, Asst. Adjt.-Gen., Hdqrs. of the Army, Washington, D.C.: COLONEL: Since my letter to you of the thirtieth ultimo the Union party has triumphed in the election, which makes things much safer here. There are about twenty thousand Secession voters in this State, and the dissolute and loose portion of this party are congregating in some force in the southern counties, in the hope of receiving support from Texas. I am reinforcing the regular troops in that quarter as speedily as possible, in order to check this movement. The great and unaccountable success in Arizona and New Mexico will no doubt embolden them, and it is by no means certain that they will not make some attempt in this direction, and if they should ever get an organized force into this State, as a rallying point for all the Secession element, it would inevitably inaugurate a civil war here immediately. I stated to you that I thought Guaymas would be a better point of de