Russell, Majors & Waddell Supports Border Ruffians
Their goods [emigrants from Ottowa, Illinois], consisting of plows, scythes, clothing, and in fact articles of agriculture and domestic use of all kinds, together with arms, were taken, and are now…
Whites and Indians
Though frontier race relations were complex and even free African Americans were unarguably second-class citizens in comparison to whites, many people ultimately recognized only two kinds of people: “whites” and Indians. The white category…
Free to Own Another Man
The Emancipation Proclamation appears to have been the catalyst that launched the unfortunate slave on a journey to his doom. That spring, according to Owens’ letter, the slave’s master, afraid he would lose his…
Black Population in the West
Exactly how many blacks traversed the continent is unclear, but they were only a tiny fraction of the entire emigration. In 1860, California’s population was 379,994, of which 200,335 traveled overland. There is no…
Black Emigrants Noted in Diaries
The presence of black emigrants who traveled west before the Civil War was an oddity occasionally noted in emigrants’ diaries. Anna Maria Goodell, for example, commented in 1854, “There is a darkey in the company.”…
Territories Reserved for the White Race
Westering Americans believed that overspreading the continent with their yearly multiplying millions was a God-given right, perhaps even pre-ordained. They envisioned a nation of white people extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Renowned…
Senator Gwin on California and the South
Senator Gwin had said, in a speech delivered December 12, 1859, in the senate chamber, "I believe that the slave-holding states of this confederacy can establish a separate and independent government that will be…
Blacks Barred from Mail Service
Southern politicians increasingly feared that if enslaved people, some of whom were literate, had access to the mail, particularly newspapers, they might learn of the Haitians' successful rebellion against the French in 1791…
Russell, Majors, and Waddell’s Support of Slavery
From the very beginning of the vicious, bloody struggle to determine the status of Kansas as a free or slave state, Russell, Majors & Waddell, being slave owners in Missouri,…
Russell’s Status at 45
In March, 1857, Russell and Limrick, as trustees, sold the re-mainder of the tracts, 3,881 acres, to Waddell. After holding the lands for a short time Waddell sold them to…
Russell’s First Freighting Venture
Not until the capture and annexation of New Mexico in 1846, however, were all barriers and handicaps [to the Santa Fe trade] entirely removed and the trade freed to pursue…
Russell’s House
In the meantime Russell increased his holdings in the Lexington First Addition Company until he owned 65 lots. Upon one of these at the corner of 12th and South street…
Waddell’s Gift of Slaves
This [taking up farming] proved to be a fortunate move, for nearby lived Susan Clark Byram, daughter of William and Susan Phillips Byram, a wealthy Kentucky planter, whom he married…
California Disappoints the Confederacy
In conclusion, we may say that the loyal attitude which California as a State took towards the Civil War, although a profound disappointment to the Confederacy, "had a powerful effect upon the whole…
Ways California Supported the Union
It is evident that California produced able and loyal men during the national crisis from 1861-1865; that the vigilance and unceasing labor of these men kept the secessionists from establishing…