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05 - Story of the Pony Express by Glenn D. Bradley · Story of the Pony Express

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  Speaker 1: Chapter five of the Story of the Pony Express by
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  Speaker 1: Glen D. Bradley. This LibriVox recording is in the public
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  Speaker 1: domain recording by Roder Moline, Chapter five California and the
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  Speaker 1: Secession Menace. When the Southern States withdrew, a conspiracy was
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  Speaker 1: on foot to force California out of the Union and
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  Speaker 1: organize a new Republic of the Pacific with the Sierra
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  Speaker 1: Madre and the Rocky Mountains for its eastern boundary. This
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  Speaker 1: proposed commonwealth, when once erected and when it had subjugated
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  Speaker 1: all union men in the West who dared oppose it,
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  Speaker 1: would eventually unite with a Confederacy, and an event of
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  Speaker 1: the latter's success, which at the opening of the war
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  Speaker 1: to many seemed certain, the territory of the Confederate States
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  Speaker 1: of America would embrace the entire Southwest and stretch from
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  Speaker 1: the Atlantic to the Pacific. Aside from its general plans,
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  Speaker 1: the exact details of this plot are, of course impossible
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  Speaker 1: to secure, but that the conspiracy existed has never been disproved.
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  Speaker 1: That the rebel sympathizers in California were plotting as soon
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  Speaker 1: as the war began to take the presidio at the
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  Speaker 1: entrance to the Golden Gate, together with the forts on
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  Speaker 1: Alcatraz Island, the custom House, the mint, the post Office,
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  Speaker 1: and all United States property, and then, having made the
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  Speaker 1: formation of their republic, certain invade the Mexican state of
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  Speaker 1: Sonora and Annexit to the New Commonwealth. Has never been gainsaid.
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  Speaker 1: That these conspiracies existed and were held in grave seriousness
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  Speaker 1: is revealed by the official correspondence of that time. That
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  Speaker 1: they had been fomenting for many months is apparently revealed
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  Speaker 1: by this additional fact. During Buchanan's administration, John B. Floyd,
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  Speaker 1: a Southern man who gave up his position to fight
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  Speaker 1: for the Confederacy, was Secretary of War when the rebellion started.
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  Speaker 1: It was found that Floyd, while in office, had removed
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty five thousand, four hundred and thirty firearms,
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  Speaker 1: together with much ammunition and heavy ordnance, from the Big
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  Speaker 1: Government arsenal at Springfield, Massachusetts, and distributed them at various
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  Speaker 1: points in the south and southwest. Of this number, fifty
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  Speaker 1: thousand were sent to California, where twenty five thousand muskets
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  Speaker 1: had already been stored, And all this was done underhandedly
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  Speaker 1: without the knowledge of Congress. California was unfortunate in having
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  Speaker 1: as a representative in the United States Senate at this
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  Speaker 1: time William Gwynn, also a man of Southern birth, who
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  Speaker 1: had cast his fortune in the Golden State at the
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  Speaker 1: outset when the gold boom was on until secession was imminent.
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  Speaker 1: Gwynn served his adopted state well enough. His encouragement of
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  Speaker 1: the Pony Express Enterprise has already been pointed out. It
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  Speaker 1: is doubtful if he were statesmen enough to have foreseen
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  Speaker 1: the significant part this organization was to play in the
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  Speaker 1: early stages of the war. Otherwise his efforts in its
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  Speaker 1: behalf must have been lacking. Though the careers of political
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  Speaker 1: adventurers like Gwynn are full of strange inconsistencies. Note, After
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  Speaker 1: the war had started, gwyn deserted California and the Union
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  Speaker 1: and joined the Confederacy. When this power was broken up,
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  Speaker 1: he fled to Mexico and entered the service of Maximilian,
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  Speaker 1: then puppet emperor of that unfortunate country. Maximilian bestowed an
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  Speaker 1: abundance of hollow honors upon the renegade senator and made
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  Speaker 1: him Duke of the Province of Sonora, which region Gwynn
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  Speaker 1: and his clique had doubtless coveted as an integral part
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  Speaker 1: of their projected Republic of the Pacific. Because of this
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  Speaker 1: empty title, the nickname Duke was ever afterward given him.
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  Speaker 1: When Maximilian Soap bubble monarchy had disappeared, Gwynn finally returned
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  Speaker 1: to California, where he passed his old age in retirement.
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  Speaker 1: Speaking in the Senate on December twelfth, eighteen fifty nine,
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  Speaker 1: Gwynn declared that he believed that all slave holding states
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  Speaker 1: of this Confederacy can establish a separate and independent government
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  Speaker 1: that will be impregnable to the assaults of all foreign enemies.
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  Speaker 1: He further went on to show that they had the
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  Speaker 1: power to do it, and asserted that if the Southern
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  Speaker 1: States went out of the Union, California would be with
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  Speaker 1: the South. Then, as a convincing proof of his duplicity,
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  Speaker 1: he had these pro rebel statements stricken from the official
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  Speaker 1: report of his speech, that his constituents might not take
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  Speaker 1: fright and perhaps spoil some of the designs which he
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  Speaker 1: and his scheming colleagues had upon California. Of course, these
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  Speaker 1: remarks reached the ears of his constituents anyhow, and though
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  Speaker 1: prefaced by a studied evasiveness on his part. They contributed
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  Speaker 1: much to the feeling of unrest and insecurity that then
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  Speaker 1: prevailed along the coast. It is, of course a well
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  Speaker 1: known fact that California never did secede, and that soon
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  Speaker 1: after the war began she swung definitely and conclusively into
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  Speaker 1: the Union column. The danger of secession was wholly potential.
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  Speaker 1: Yet potential dangers are none the less real. Had it
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  Speaker 1: not been for the determined energies of a few loyalists
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  Speaker 1: in California, led by General E. A. Sumner, and co
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  Speaker 1: operating with the federal government by means of the swiftest
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  Speaker 1: communication then possible, the pony Express history to day might
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  Speaker 1: read differently. Now to turn once more to the potential
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  Speaker 1: dangers that made the California crisis a reality. About three
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  Speaker 1: eighths of the population were of Southern descent and solidly
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  Speaker 1: united in sympathy for the Confederate States. This vigorous minority
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  Speaker 1: included upwards of sixteen thousand Knights of the Golden Circle,
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  Speaker 1: a pro Confederate secret organization that was active and dangerous
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  Speaker 1: in all the doubtful states in winning over to the
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  Speaker 1: Southern cause. Those who feebly protested loyalty to the Union,
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  Speaker 1: but who opposed war. Many of these knights were prosperous
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  Speaker 1: and substantial citizens, who, working under the guise of their
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  Speaker 1: local respectability, exerted a profound influence. Here. Then at the
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  Speaker 1: outset was a vigorous and not a small minority whose
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  Speaker 1: influence was greatly out of proportion to their numbers because
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  Speaker 1: of their zeal and who would have seized the balance
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  Speaker 1: of power unless held in check by an aroused Union
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  Speaker 1: sentiment and military intimidation. Another class of men to be
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  Speaker 1: feared was a small but powerful group representing much wealth,
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  Speaker 1: a financial class which proverbially shuns war because of the
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  Speaker 1: expense which war involves, A class that always insists upon peace,
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  Speaker 1: even at the cost of compromising honour. These men, with
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  Speaker 1: the influence which their money commanded, would inevitably espouse the
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  Speaker 1: side that seemed the most likely of speedy success, and
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  Speaker 1: in view of the early successes of the Confederate armies
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  Speaker 1: and the zealous proselytizing of rebel sympathizers in their midst
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  Speaker 1: they were a potential risk to loyal California, the Native
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  Speaker 1: Spanish or Mexican classes, then numerically strong in that state,
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  Speaker 1: were appealed to by the anti unionists from various cunning approaches,
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  Speaker 1: chief of which was the theory that the many real
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  Speaker 1: estate troubles and complicated land titles by which they had
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  Speaker 1: been annoyed since the separation from Old Mexico in eighteen
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  Speaker 1: forty seven would be promptly adjusted under the Confederate authority.
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  Speaker 1: While nearly all these natives were ignorant, many held considerable property,
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  Speaker 1: and they in turn influenced their poorer brethren. Chimerical as
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  Speaker 1: this argument may sound, it had much weight. Another group
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  Speaker 1: of persons, also large potentially and a serious menace when
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  Speaker 1: proselyted by the apostles of rebellion, were the squatters and
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  Speaker 1: trespassers who were occupying land to which they had no
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  Speaker 1: lawful right. Many of these men were reckless, some had
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  Speaker 1: already been entangled in the courts because of their false
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  Speaker 1: land claims. Hence their attitude toward the existing government was
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  Speaker 1: ugly and defiant. Yet they were now assured that they
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  Speaker 1: might remain on their lands forever, undisturbed under a rebel regime.
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  Speaker 1: Added to all these sources of danger was the attitude
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  Speaker 1: of the thousands of well meaning people who, regardless of
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  Speaker 1: rebel solicitation were at first indifferent. They thought that the
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  Speaker 1: great distance which separated them from the seat of war
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  Speaker 1: made it a matter of but little importance whether California
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  Speaker 1: aroused herself or not. They were, of course counseling neutrality
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  Speaker 1: as the easiest way of avoiding trouble. Turning now to
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  Speaker 1: the forces moral, military, and political that were working to
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  Speaker 1: save California. First, there was a loyal newspaper press which
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  Speaker 1: saw and followed its duty with unflinching devotion. It firmly
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  Speaker 1: held before the people the loyal responsibility of the state
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  Speaker 1: and declared that the ties of union were too sacred
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  Speaker 1: to be broken. It was the moral duty of the
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  Speaker 1: people to remain loyal. It truthfully asserted that California's influence
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  Speaker 1: in the Federal Union should be an example for other
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  Speaker 1: states to follow. If the idea of a Pacific Republic
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  Speaker 1: were repudiated by their own citizens, such action would discourage
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  Speaker 1: secession elsewhere and be a great moral handicap to that movement.
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  Speaker 1: And the press further pointed out with convincing clearness that
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  Speaker 1: should the Union be dissolved, the project for a Pacific railroad,
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  Speaker 1: with which the future of the Commonwealth was inevitably committed
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  Speaker 1: would likely fail. Note all parties in California were unanimous
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  Speaker 1: in their desire for a transcontinental railroad. No political faction
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  Speaker 1: there could receive any support unless it strongly endorsed this project.
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  Speaker 1: Aroused by the moral importance of its position, the state
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  Speaker 1: legislature early in the winter of eighteen sixty eighteen sixty
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  Speaker 1: one had passed a resolution of fidelity to the Union,
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  Speaker 1: in which it declared that California is ready to maintain
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  Speaker 1: the rights and honor of the National Government at home
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  Speaker 1: and abroad, and at all times to respond to any
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  Speaker 1: requisitions that may be made upon her to defend the
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  Speaker 1: Republic against foreign or domestic foes. Succeeding events proved the
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  Speaker 1: genuineness of this resolve. In the early spring of eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty one, the War Department sent General Edwin A. Summer
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  Speaker 1: to take command of the Military Department of the Pacific,
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  Speaker 1: with headquarters at San Francisco, supplanting General Albert Sidney Johnston,
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  Speaker 1: who resigned to fight for the South. This was a
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  Speaker 1: most fortunate appointment, as Sumner proved a resourceful and capable official,
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  Speaker 1: ideally suited to meet the crisis before him. Nor does
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  Speaker 1: this reflect in any way upon the superb soldier equalities
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  Speaker 1: of his predecessor. Johnston was no doubt too manly an
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  Speaker 1: officer to take part in the romantic conspiracies about him.
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  Speaker 1: He was every inch a brave soldier who did his
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  Speaker 1: fighting in the open. Robert E. Lee, he joined the
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  Speaker 1: Confederacy in conscientious good faith, and he met death bravely
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  Speaker 1: at Shiloh in April of eighteen sixty two. Sumner was
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  Speaker 1: a man of action, and he faced the situation squarely.
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  Speaker 1: To him, California and the Nation will always be indebted.
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  Speaker 1: One of his first decisive acts was to check the
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  Speaker 1: secession movement in southern California by placing a strong detachment
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  Speaker 1: of soldiers at Los Angeles. This force proved enough to
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  Speaker 1: stop any incipient uprisings in that part of the state.
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  Speaker 1: Some of the disturbing element in this district then moved
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  Speaker 1: over into Nevada, where cooperation was made with the pro
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  Speaker 1: Confederate men There. The Nevada rebel faction had made considerable
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  Speaker 1: headway by assuring unsuspecting persons that it was acting on
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  Speaker 1: the authority of the Confederate government. On June fifth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty one, the rebel flag was unfurled at Virginia City. Again,
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  Speaker 1: Sumner acted. He immediately sent a federal force to garrison
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  Speaker 1: Fort Churchill, and a body of men under Major Blake
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  Speaker 1: and Captain Moore seized all arms found in the possession
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  Speaker 1: of suspected persons. A rebel militia company with four hundred
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  Speaker 1: men enrolled and one hundred under arms, was found and
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  Speaker 1: dispersed by the Federals. This decisive action completely stopped any
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  Speaker 1: uprisings across the state line, uprisings which might easily have
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  Speaker 1: spread into California. In the meantime, under General Sumner's direction,
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  Speaker 1: soldiers had been enlisted and were being rapidly drilled for
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  Speaker 1: any emergency. The War Department, on being advised of this
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  Speaker 1: available force, at once sent the following dispatch, which, with
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  Speaker 1: those that follow are typical of the correspondents which the
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  Speaker 1: Pony Express couriers were now rushing across the continent toward
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  Speaker 1: and from Washington. Telegraph and Pony Express Adjutant General's Office, Washington,
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  Speaker 1: July twenty fourth, eighteen sixty one. Brigadier General Sumner, Commanding
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  Speaker 1: Department of the Pacific, one regiment of infantry and five
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  Speaker 1: companies of cavalry, have been accepted from California to aid
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  Speaker 1: in protecting the overland mail route via Assault Lake. Please
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  Speaker 1: detail officers to muster these troops into service. Blanks will
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  Speaker 1: be sent by Steamer by order George d Ruggles, Assistant
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  Speaker 1: Adjutant General. While recognizing the great need of extending proper
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  Speaker 1: military protection to the mail route, it must have been
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  Speaker 1: disheartening to Sumner and the Loyalists to see this force
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  Speaker 1: ordered into service outside the state. Are now late in
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  Speaker 1: the summer of eighteen sixty one, the time of national crisis.
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  Speaker 1: The Californian trouble was approaching its climax. On July twentieth,
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  Speaker 1: the Union Army had been beaten at bull Run and
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  Speaker 1: driven back a rabble of fugitives into the panic stricken capital.
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  Speaker 1: Then came weeks and months of delay and uncertainty. While
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  Speaker 1: the over cautious McLellan sought to build up a new
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  Speaker 1: military machine. The entire North was overspread with gloom. The
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  Speaker 1: Confederates were jubilant and full of self confidence. In California,
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  Speaker 1: the psychological situation was similar, but even more acute. For
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  Speaker 1: encouraged by Confederate success, the rebel faction became bolder than
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  Speaker 1: ever and openly planned to win the state election to
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  Speaker 1: be held on September fourth. If successful at the polls,
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  Speaker 1: the reigns of organized political power would pass into its hands,
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  Speaker 1: and a secession convention would be a direct possibility. And
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  Speaker 1: to intensify the danger was the confirmed indifference or stubbornness
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  Speaker 1: of many citizens who seemed to place petty personal differences
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  Speaker 1: before the interests of the state and nation at large.
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  Speaker 1: As is well known, Lincoln and the federal government accepted
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  Speaker 1: the defeat at bull Run calmly, and set about with
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  Speaker 1: grim determination to whip the South at any cost. The
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  Speaker 1: President asked Congress for four hundred thousand men, and was
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  Speaker 1: voted five hundred thousand. In pursuance of such policies, these
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  Speaker 1: urgent dispatches were hurried across the country. War Department, Washington,
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  Speaker 1: August fourteenth, eighteen sixty one. Honorable John G. Downe, Governor
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  Speaker 1: of California, Sacramento City, California, Please organize, equip and have
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  Speaker 1: money stood into service at the earliest date possible. Four
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  Speaker 1: regiments of infantry and one regiment of cavalry to be
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  Speaker 1: placed at the disposal of General Sumner Simon Cameron, Secretary
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  Speaker 1: of War, by telegraph to Fort Carney and thence by
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  Speaker 1: Pony Express and Telegraph, War Department, August fifteenth, eighteen sixty one,
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  Speaker 1: Honorable John G. Downey, Governor of California, Sacramento City, California.
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  Speaker 1: In filling the requisition given you August fourteenth for five regiments,
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  Speaker 1: Please make General J. H. Carleton of San Francisco colonel
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  Speaker 1: of a cavalry regiment, and give him proper authority to
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  Speaker 1: organize as promptly as possible. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War,
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  Speaker 1: Telegraph and Pony Express and Telegraph the work of enlisting
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  Speaker 1: the five thousand men. Thus requisition was carried forward with
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  Speaker 1: great rapidity. Within two weeks. On the twenty eighth, the
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  Speaker 1: Pony Express brought word that the War Department was about
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  Speaker 1: to order this force overland into Texas, to act, no
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  Speaker 1: doubt as a barrier to the advancing Confederate armies, who
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  Speaker 1: were then planning an invasion of New Mexico as the
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  Speaker 1: first decisive step in carrying the conflict into the heart
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  Speaker 1: of the Southwest. It was understood further that General Sumner
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  Speaker 1: would be ordered to vacate his position as commander of
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  Speaker 1: the Department of the Pacific and lead his recruits into
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  Speaker 1: the service to the authorities at Washington, a campaign of
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  Speaker 1: aggression with Western troops had, no doubt, seemed the best
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  Speaker 1: means of defending California and adjacent territory from Confederate attack.
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  Speaker 1: To the Unionists of California, the report that their troops
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  Speaker 1: and Sumner were to leave the state spelt extreme discouragement.
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  Speaker 1: They had weelt some degree of hope and security so
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  Speaker 1: long as organized forces were in their midst and the
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  Speaker 1: presence of Sumner everywhere inspired confidence among discouraged patriots. To
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  Speaker 1: be deprived of their soldiers was bad enough to lose
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  Speaker 1: Sumner was intolerable. Accordingly, a formal petition protesting against this
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  Speaker 1: action was drawn up, addressed to the War Department, and
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  Speaker 1: signed by important firms and prominent businessmen of San Francisco.
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  Speaker 1: In this petition, they said, among other things, that the
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  Speaker 1: War Department probably was not aware of the real state
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  Speaker 1: of affairs in California, and they openly requested that the
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  Speaker 1: order be rescinded. They declared that a majority of the
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  Speaker 1: California state officers were out and out secessionists, and that
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  Speaker 1: the others were at least hostile to the administration, and
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  Speaker 1: would accept a peace policy at any sacrifice. They were
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  Speaker 1: suspicious of the Governor's loyalty and declared that every appointment
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  Speaker 1: made by our governor within the last three months unmistakably
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  Speaker 1: indicates his entire sympathy and cooperation with those plotting to
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  Speaker 1: sever California from her allegiance to the Union, and that
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  Speaker 1: too at the hazard of civil war. Note in the
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  Speaker 1: writer's judgment, these charges against Governor Downey were prejudicial and unjust.
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  Speaker 1: Continuing at detailed length, the petitioners spoke of the great
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  Speaker 1: effort being put forth by the secession element to win
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  Speaker 1: the forthcoming election, whereas their opponents were united, the Union
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  Speaker 1: Party was divided into a Douglas and a Republican faction.
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  Speaker 1: Should the anti unionists triumph, they declared, there were reasons
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  Speaker 1: to expect, not merely the loss of California to the
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  Speaker 1: Union ranks, but internecine strife and fratricidal murders, such as
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  Speaker 1: were the then ravaging the Missouri and Kansas border. The
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  Speaker 1: petition then pointed out the truly great importance of California
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  Speaker 1: to the Union and asserted that no precaution leading to
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  Speaker 1: the preservation of her loyalty should be overlooked. It was
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  Speaker 1: a thousand times easier to retain a state in allegiance
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  Speaker 1: than to overcome disloyalty disguised as state authority. The best
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  Speaker 1: way to check treasonable activities was to convince traders of
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  Speaker 1: their helplessness. The petitioners further declared that to deprive California
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  Speaker 1: of needed United States military support just then would be
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  Speaker 1: a direct encouragement to traders. An ounce of precaution was
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  Speaker 1: worth a pound of cure. The loyalists triumphed in the
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  Speaker 1: state election on September fourth, eighteen sixty one, and on
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  Speaker 1: that date the California crisis was safely passed. The contest,
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  Speaker 1: to be sure, had revealed about twenty thousand anti Union
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  Speaker 1: voters in the state, but the success of the Union
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  Speaker 1: faction restored their feeling of self confidence. The pendulum had
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  Speaker 1: at last swung safely in the right direction, and henceforth
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  Speaker 1: California could be and was reckoned, as a loyal asset
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  Speaker 1: to the Union. Such expressions of disloyalty, as her secessionists
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  Speaker 1: continued to disclose, were of a sporadic and flimsy nature,
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  Speaker 1: never materializing into a formidable sentiment, and adding to their discouragement.
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  Speaker 1: The failure of the Confederate invasion of New Mexico in
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two was no doubt an important factor in
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  Speaker 1: suppressing any further open desires for secession. Sumner was not
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  Speaker 1: called east until the October following the election. His removal,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: of course, caused keen regret along the coast, But Colonel
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: George Wright, his successor in charge of the Department of
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  Speaker 1: the Pacific, proved a masterful man and in every way
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  Speaker 1: equal to the situation. In the long run, Colonel Wright
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  Speaker 1: probably was as satisfactory to the loyal people of California
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  Speaker 1: as General Sumner had been. The five thousand troops were
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  Speaker 1: not detailed for duty in the South, like the first
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  Speaker 1: detachment of fifteen hundred. Their efforts were directed mainly to
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  Speaker 1: protecting the overland mails and guarding the frontier. Note during
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  Speaker 1: the War of the Rebellion, California raised sixteen thousand, two
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  Speaker 1: hundred thirty one troops, more than the whole United States
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  Speaker 1: Army had been at the commencement of hostilities. Practically all
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  Speaker 1: these soldiers were assigned to routine and patrol duty in
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  Speaker 1: the far West, such as keeping down Indian revolts and
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: garrisoning forts as a defense against any uprising of Indians
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: or protection against Confederate invasion. The exceptions were the California
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: hundred and the California four hundred volunteer detachments, who went
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: east of their own accord and won undying honors in
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: the thick of the struggle. Throughout this crisis, news was
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: received twice a week by the Pony Express, and be
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: it remembered in less than half the time required by
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: the old stage coach of its services. Then no better
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: words can be used than those of Hubert Howe Bancroft.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: It was the Pony to which every one looked for deliverance.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Men prayed for the safety of the little beast, and
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: trembled lest the service should be discontinued. Telegraphic dispatches from
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Washington and New York were sent to Saint Louis, and
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: thence to Fort Carney, whence the Pony brought them to Sacramento,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: where they were telegraphed to San Francisco. Great was the
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: relief of the people when Hull's bill for a daily
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: a mail service was passed and the service changed from
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: the southern to the central route. As it was early
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: in the summer. Yet, after all, it was to be
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: the Flying Pony that all eyes and hearts were turned.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: The Pony Express was a real factor in the preservation
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: of California to the Union. End of Chapter five, recording
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: by Roger Molin