Back Roads Press

Although the well-documented major battles of the Civil War occurred miles away from California, there were certainly tension and high anxiety in "The Golden State"...especially in Southern California's San Bernardino County. My column written for the San Bernardino Sun (part of the Southern California News Group) on December 23, 2025 focuses on this issue.

San Bernardino residents put fear into would-be
marauders at end of Civil War

The sudden recall of Mormon residents back to Salt Lake by Brigham Young in 1857, coupled with the anticipation of the unfolding Civil War left San Bernardino in a mess.

By the time local officials decided to build a jail and a courthouse, many of the Mormon residents — about 60% of the city’s population — followed the church leader’s urgent orders to sell their property for whatever they could and return to Salt Lake.

George Atwood was 7 years old when his parents, Sanford and Jane Atwood, brought their family to San Bernardino in 1860. He shared some unique childhood memories during a speech given before the area Lion’s Club shortly before he died in 1935. Here is some of what he shared:

San Bernardino was but a little town when we arrived here. I remembered they claimed about 500 people altogether, he said at that time.

The business of the town was little and was mostly done on four corners: Fourth Street and Arrowhead Avenue, which was then known as C Street (Lewis Jacobs’ and Calisher’s general stores); the corner of Third and Arrowhead; the corner of 3rd and D; and the corner of 4th and D. Between these corners were some scattered buildings (which included Lewis Anker’s store, James A. Brazelton’s livery stable, Pine’s Hotel, and a feed store), but very few.

He said the corner of Third and D was known as “Whiskey Point.”

Where San Bernardino’s City Hall building stands today, there was a stage line depot, along with a cluster of saloons — all within easy reach of miners returning on the stage from the desert and mountains.

“Whiskey Point” was a hangout for gangs, drunks and men down on their luck. It was also a place that could get down right rowdy.

During the Civil War years there was a large turnover of county sheriffs.
The first was Anson Van Leuven. He served from Nov. 12, 1860, (when sympathies were reaching a boiling point) until October 1861, shortly after the second battle of Bull Run.
With the escalating tension of the impending war, Van Leuven’s 11 months in office were quite eventful.

The Sacramento Daily Alta acquired a letter from Holcomb Valley complaining of the “Seceshers” in Southern California and ran an announcement in their Sept. 2, 1861, edition. The article read:

The place is getting hot. The Secessionists are holding secret meetings two or three times a week. There is a rendezvous on the Colorado, and runners are continually passing back and forth. Some of the leading men of Los Angeles and San Bernardino are encouraging them. The Union men hold meetings here every Saturday night, and we are well armed, and we think that if they make a break, we can clean them so quick that it will make their heads swim. They are very saucy and some of the Union men expect lively times before long.

Heated arguments between local residents were frequent and sometimes resulted in violence. One such encounter happened in 1861 during the election for U.S. Senator after a heated argument between two assemblymen — Union supporter and former Sheriff Charles W. Piercy of San Bernardino and Confederate supporter Dan Showalter from Mariposa County.

The animosity between the two politicians led to a duel — rifles at 40 paces — that took place on May 23, about three miles west of San Rafael. Showalter shot Piercy through the mouth, killing him outright. Since it was a formal duel, no legal action was taken.
Showalter, however, was determined to go and fight for the Confederacy and recruit as many men as possible.

In November 1861, he left Mariposa with 18 comrades for the San Gabriel Valley, expecting to enlist former Texans living in El Monte. When that plan didn’t pan out, the Showalter party traveled up the Cajon Pass in hopes of enticing miners from Holcomb Valley.

For several weeks the hostile cavalry set up headquarters in Cleghorn Canyon while sending a recruiting detail to Holcomb Valley, according to historian L. Burr Belden. Finding few newcomers, they took off southbound, enroute to Sonora. Before they could get too far the men were captured by the 1st California Volunteers near Warner’s Ranch and taken to Camp Wright near today’s Oak Grove in San Diego County.

After taking the “oath of allegiance” to the North, Showalter was released within six months. He later fought for the South in the Battle of Galveston.
In fall 1861, Eli M. Smith was sheriff of San Bernardino County. Despite proving to be an effective lawman, he was eventually tried and found guilty of embezzling county funds.

Smith’s next two replacements served only a few months each. It wasn’t until 1863 San Bernardino County finally found someone who showed some stability — Benjamin F. Mathews.

He had his hands full.

Shortly after the surrender of Lee’s army at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, it was rumored that a band of secessionists left Visalia and was on its way to plunder San Bernardino. The townspeople were rightly concerned as there had been reports of attacks by gangs of marauding secessionists throughout the country.

The Mason-Henry Gang led this group — a notorious band of outlaws operating in Central and Southern California.
Posing as Confederate Partisan Rangers, their original mission was to rid the area of anti-slavery Republicans. However, when it became clear the Confederate cause was losing, they turned to outlawry.

The two leaders were John Mason, an alleged murderer and Tom McCauley, a California Gold Rush criminal using the alias Jim Henry. The gang had grown to 16 at its peak.
Sheriff Mathews and the citizens of San Bernardino were on edge.

Eliza Crafts, recalled in her 1906 book “Pioneer Days in the San Bernardino Valley,” about the unnerving affair.

“It was considered unsafe for Mr. Crafts to return home from the post office unarmed, he having been with the other Federals in San Bernardino on picket guard all night, in the unfinished Catholic Church, which was used as a fort. A company of Confederates had been organized in Visalia to go to Texas by way of San Bernardino, intending to make raid on the Union men in the latter place to obtain their outfit. Dr. Ben Barton, a Southern gentleman, being informed of the plot, advised the citizens to defend themselves.
“The town was picketed and watch was kept day and night. The half-completed shoulder-high brick walls of the Catholic church were selected as a makeshift fort, and ammunition and supplies were gathered. This continued every day until an infantry of U.S. soldiers, who had been contacted, arrived on the scene.”

As it turned out, there was no bloodshed. When word reached the would-be raiders about these preparations by the determined residents, the rebels wisely changed their plans.
Mathews’ posse caught up with the gang and McCauley was shot and killed in September 1865. Mason was killed in April the following, by miner Ben Mayfield, whom he tried to kidnap.

The partially completed Catholic Church, poised as the fort to be used in defense of the futilely attempted Confederate attack, was completed in 1871. It was replaced in 1910 by the red brick St. Bernardine Catholic Church, which stands today on the northeast corner of Fifth and and F streets.