K. G. C.—A Tale of Fort Alcatraz, Chapters I - VI [pp. 238-248]

K. G. C. -A Tale of Fort Alcatraz.
riences, and why not he? was the question he
asked mentally. He had made a lucky
escape, retained his personal liberty and so
forth, which a man does not always appreciate; besides it was better to have learned
the truth before it was too late. It was thus
he reasoned, rather than wasting time in idle
regrets or morbid sentimentalism. Of course
his visits at the ranch ceased, and though for
a time he missed the genial society of the
hospitable Don, his was an active, busy life,
the affairs of which continued to pass on
undisturbed by the brief period of romance
that had for a time entered into it.
The association of Seymour as one of the
attorneys in the land grant suit was terminated. During the winter the suit itself was
brought to a successful close. Soon after this
Seymour and the beautiful Californian were
married, -though contrary to the paternal
wish. They passed out of the range of Dillon's observation, and were soon dropped
from his thoughts. If recollected occasionally, it was with no lingering regret; and he
congratulated himself upon having learned a
lesson.
The years continued to pass; each adding
to the influential standing of Dillon in the
community where he lived, and as well with
his political party elsewhere, by which he was
regarded as an available man who might soon
represent California in the councils of the
nation at Washington. It was so situated that
the beginning of the war of the rebellion
found him.
V.
WIVHEN the war came, the Union and Secession sentiments of the people of California
were quite nearly balanced. But with the
prestige acquired by an unbroken Southern
political rule, the impetus and strength that
came to the cause of the Confederacy from
the attitude of the administration at Washington, the long possession of all the political
offices of the government by Southern men,
the domination of the militaryforces by Southern officers, California and the Pacific Coast
stood upon the brink of a civil war, the horrors
of which once precipitated would, from the
absolute isolation of the State, have exceeded
those experienced in any of the border States.
The formation of the Union party which later
controlled affairs was by no means an immediate occurrence, but was more a process of
evolution gaining strength as events took place
at the East. Prominent and influential citizens in the early days of the war hesitated,
who later on were strong in the Union cause.
Comparatively few people in California at
that time fully realized the critical period over
which they were enabled finally to pass in
safety; nor have they yet learned to give
credit for this safe deliverance where that
credit is due.
The fact is too well established to require
more than a reminder that there early existed
a conspiracy for the seizure of Alcatraz Island,
Fort Point, Benicia Arsenal, and the minor
defenses in and about the harbor of San Francisco. Thus to secure a key to the interior
with all its resources would be in effect possession of the State, for lesser details would
have remained to be carried into effect with
little difficulty. The Panama steamers were
to be seized and transformed into hostile
cruisers. Some wished to raise again the
bear flag and declare a Pacific republic, only
that it might finally become an important
part of the Confederacy itself. That so much
of the army as was stationed on the Pacific
Coast was under the command of an officer
of Southern birth and sympathies, whose sen
timents were clearly appreciated, was a guarantee that the policy of the military forces
would be confined to a defensive one.
The early appearance of a Union general
who had been selected by the war department and secretly dispatched to California,
nipped the plans of the Secessionists in the
bud; but during all the years of the rebellion
they did not cease to hope that California
and its gold might be secured to the Confederacy. The Pacific Coast once in the hands
of the Confederates, with its metal fields as
sinews of war, that credit which England
waited so eagerly to give would have been
assured. That gold which maintained the
Union soldiers in the field would have been
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[Mar.