great losses suffered. Lee, however, was by slow degrees forced back and Grant emerged from the wilderness near Spottsylvania Court House, where ten days more of severe fighting took place. It was from that neighborhood that Grant, on May 11, 1864, sent word to Washington that he had just ended the sixth day of very heavy fighting, with favorable result but great loss to his own side though greater to the enemy, and ending with the afterwards famous expression, "I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer."

In forcing his way still further south Grant, having found that Richmond was not to be taken by a dash for the reason that Lee was too heavily intrenched on the direct road, was compelled to make a detour so as to get around to a point where it could be attacked from the south. He accordingly moved off towards the eastward; and in getting around in that direction he was compelled to fight two very severe battles against Lee's intrenched positions, one at what was known as North Anna and the other at Cold Harbor, in each of which the Union losses were very great. He thus reached the Chickahominy river, some eight or ten miles east of Richmond, and from there proceeded southward to the James river, which he crossed near Bermuda Hundreds. His intention seems to have been to take Petersburg on the Appomattox river and make it a base of operations against Richmond; and he ordered it to be seized; but, for some reason not easily explained, his directions though perfectly practicable were not obeyed in time; and, Lee having in the meanwhile thrown himself into the place, it could not be taken. A desperate assault was made on June 18; but it was soon found, at a cost of about ten thousand men, that Petersburg, as then held, could not be carried by assault; and all that remained was to lay siege to it. As a matter of fact it was substantially within the defenses of Richmond, from which it was only twenty miles distant; and the long siege, now laid to it by Grant, proved in the end to be the siege also of Richmond.

Whatever may have been the cost of the march through the wilderness and the investment of Petersburg-and it was estimated at nearly ninety thousand men in killed, wounded and missing-there can be no doubt that a great purpose had been

Not

accomplished, though it may not have appeared at once. withstanding the severe losses suffered by Grant, the Confederates had, in proportion to their numbers and strength, sustained much greater ones. He could stand them; they could not. He may have expected, and doubtless did expect, a much more fortunate result to his advance southward; but he had to make that advance at any cost. He had to prevent Lee from attempting to march north again by keeping him busy in Virginia; and he did it effectually. Though he may not have been able as yet to enter Richmond or even Petersburg, he had placed and maintained himself in the next most fatal point for the cause of the Confederacy. Though he may not have closed the war, as he had hoped to do, he prepared the way to close it the next spring.

During all this time California was profoundly interested in all the military operations that took place at the seat of war and in everything that was done in the work of preserving the Union. It never for a moment wavered or hesitated in word or act in behalf of the great cause. Though very poorly and inadequately represented, in so far at least as the Union sentiment was concerned, by the United States senators Milton S. Latham, who sat from March, 1860, to March, 1863, and James A. McDougall, who sat from March, 1861, to March, 1866, the case was much better in the lower house, where the congressmen for the term from March, 1861, to March, 1863, were Timothy G. Phelps, Aaron A. Sargent and Frederick F. Low and their successors were Thomas B. Shannon, William Higby and Cornelius Cole-all of them uncompromising, determined and outspoken Union men. As for the state legislature, which was elected in 1863 and was to be the first of the biennial legislatures under the constitutional amendments of 1862, it was even more thoroughly and completely Union than the one of the year before-the loyal majority being counted as seven to one in the senate and nine to one in the assembly.

The new legislature met at Sacramento on December 7, 1863, and on the same day Governor Stanford presented his last message, reviewing the condition and setting forth the prospects of the state at that date. He showed that the state debt on December I was a little over four million eight hundred and thirty-nine

thousand dollars and that it had been decreased nearly seven hundred and thirty thousand dollars since December 1, 1862. He also called attention to the circumstances that the assessed value of the real and personal property in the state at that time was in round numbers one hundred and seventy-four millions, an increase of eleven millions over that of the previous year. The decrease in the indebtedness, he said, was due in part to the fact that no outside expenditures had been contracted, and that it had been the steady aim of the administration to keep the expenses within the limits contemplated by the annual appropriations. But he maintained that, however much the administration might be imbued with the spirit of economy, it rested chiefly with the legislature whether or not such a disposition could be successfully cultivated. "In public affairs, as in private transactions," he continued, "the policy that grasps the present and wisely anticipates the future is the one that should prevail; and the same combination of sagacity and prudence with judicious. expenditure, that conducts individual enterprises to a successful issue, should be the governing rule that controls legislative action."

As to charitable institutions Stanford merely stated, without making any recommendation, that the previous legislature had donated one hundred and eighty-six thousand dollars to carry on the insane asylum, state prison, reform school and deaf and dumb asylum, and thirty thousand dollars to institutions not connected with the state. He recommended a thorough revision and codification of the statutes and stated as a reason that citizens "desirous of investigating the laws stand aghast as they survey the fourteen ponderous tomes that constitute the statutes. of this youthful state, and young aspirants to professional fame tremble as they cross the threshold that leads into this intricate abyss." He favored the continuance of the geological survey; hoped that the question of taxing the mines, which had excited the previous legislature, would never be revived, and maintained that the mining interest "should always be fostered as the foundation of our prosperity." Passing next to the public lands granted to the state, he showed that, in addition to the tide. Senate Journal, 1863-4, 22, 23.

lands, they amounted to a little over eight million nine hundred and thirty-two thousand acres, of which nearly one million seven hundred and twenty-two thousand had been sold, leaving over seven million acres at that time to be disposed of. In reference to the public schools, he considered it a privilege as well as a duty for the people to tax themselves liberally "for the support of those institutions, which served as the base and the chief corner-stone of republican liberty. Had the system of common school education that prevails in our northern states,” he continued, "found an early entrance and been nourished into life in those states that are now at war with the Union, the civilization of the nineteenth century would never have been shocked by the rebellion that now disgraces its annals. At the north, the principle of education is the governing law that binds into a solid phalanx that proud array of free communities. At the south, ignorance rears on every side its hideous front, until the masses are steeped in the degradation that has for years been preparing by their unprincipled leaders. The north is united in battling for a principle, which education has taught them to be the very life of their institutions. The south will become assimilated to the intelligence and loyalty of the Union as soon as the result of our victories shall have dispersed the cloud of ignorance that has, with them, overshadowed the causes and consequences of the unnatural contest."

Stanford next called attention to the result of the offer of premiums by the legislature of 1862 for various agricultural and other products. He said that extensive tracts of pine lands had been taken up and a large amount of capital invested for the manufacture of turpentine, resin and tar; that tobacco was being successfully cultivated and would become an important staple; that hops of superior quality had been raised, and that promising experiments had been made in the production of sugar, hemp and coffee. "From a state entirely at the mercy of others for the comforts and necessaries of life," he went on, "we have risen to an independent position, and in some productions take precedence of all other states in their annual aggregate yield." And further along, referring to another fifteen years of state growth, 1 Senate Journal, 1863-4, 24-29.

he added, "As we now lead all other states in the production of wine and barley, we may then rival Louisiana in the production of sugar, Virginia in tobacco and Kentucky in hemp. And while the trade and staples of North Carolina are languishing under the blighting influence of secession, the mountaineers of California may snatch from her grasp the distinction of being the chief tar state."1

After a few remarks upon the suppression of Indian troubles, the efficiency of the California volunteers, the beneficence of the sanitary fund, the increased organization and equipment of the state militia, the erection of additional fortifications and water batteries at San Francisco, the construction of an iron-clad for the protection of that harbor, and in decided favor of adopting the legal tender note or greenback currency, Stanford finished his message with an exposition of his views upon federal relations and the civil war. He spoke of the spirit of gloom that had seemed to lower over a portion of the north, the opposition in some of the states to the policy of the administration and the general belief that some of the European powers would take advantage of temporary disasters to urge their threats of southern recognition. "But," he proceeded, "the victories of July marked a revolution in our affairs. The dissensions that had crept into the loyal states, the doubts that prevailed as to our ultimate success, and the growing fear of foreign intervention were overcome in the glories of Gettysburg, Vicksburg and Port Hudson. Other triumphs have since followed the national arms and the people have spoken in unmistakable tones through the ballot-boxes of the loyal states their purpose to support the administration; and they have evinced in language not to be misunderstood their detestation of the black conspiracy that has so long threatened the beloved institutions of their country. With this sentiment, strengthened as it will be by every victory that rewards the valor of our troops, the result of the struggle in which we are engaged cannot be doubtful. The patriotism, spirit and loyalty of the people will soon succeed in restoring where it rightfully belongs the control of every foot of territory within the national boundaries."

Senate Journal, 1863-4, 30.

24 VOL. IV.