Vigilance Committee Records, 1856

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Summary

Title:
Vigilance Committee Records,
Dates:
1856
Creators:
Mittlestaedt, Richard E.
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Vigilance Committee Records, California State Library.

Background

Scope and content:

Correspondence, statement of ordinance, schedule of arms, items concerning military matters.

Biographical / historical:

The Vigilance Committee of San Francisco was founded in 1856 following the murder of William H. Richardson by Charles Cora And James King of by James Casey. The leader of the new committee was William T. Coleman and its headquarters was Fort Gunnybags. On May 18, 1856, 2,500 armed vigilantes seized Cora and Casey from the sherriff's custody, tried them and publicly hanged them four days later. Following a fight in which the vigilantes seized arms from the state militia, the Committee held a parade of 6,1000 followers and then disbanded.

Although highly popular, the Committee did not enjoy universal support. Letters in this collection present the side of the "Law and Order" forces in opposition to the Committee. The Committee ceased operations in the fall of 1856.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by The California State Library staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Xiuzhi Zhou
Date Prepared:
© 1999
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid derived from WordPerfect.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Unrestricted.

Terms of access:

Please credit California State Library.

Copyright has not been assigned to California State Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing. Permission for publication is given on behalf of California State Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Vigilance Committee Records, California State Library.

Location of this collection:
900 N Street, Room 200, P.O. Box 942837
Sacramento, CA 94237-0001, US
Contact:
(916) 654-0176
cslcal@library.ca.gov
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