USA > California > Sonoma County > An illustrated history of Sonoma County, California. Containing a history of the county of Sonoma from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time > Part 30
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Perkins, Burchard Hayes, Colonel John Me- Comb and other distinguished visitors. The streets along which the procession moved were a perfect cloud of banners. Considering the short notice, we have reason to feel proud of our city's holiday attire. Arriving at the grand stand a large number present paid their respeets to and took by the hands our national digni- taries. When the first flutter of excitement had passed, and the vast andience had become settled. Hon. J. MeM. Shafter, in a few well- timed and eloquent remarks, referred to the dis- tinguished gentlemen present on the stand, and introduced President Hayes, who was received with hearty applanse. Mr. Hayes spoke about an hour and his expression of encomium and sallies of wit ealled forth repeated applause. Secretary of War Alexander Ramsey, was next introdneed, and made a pungent speech of about fifteen minutes, which produced both mirth and applause. General Win. T. Sherman was next presented and hailed with enthusiastic applause. His speech was short. and related mainly to his visit to this part of the Pacific Coast in 1848. The General expressed his ntter astonishment at the change that has taken place in thirty years. Governor Perkins, who was to deliver the an- nual address of the fair, was then introduced, and spoke for about half an hour in a vein which kept the audience in a continnons uproar of merriment. He exhibited the address in manuscript, which he had intended to deliver,
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but said it would answer for some other fair, and he would, like the gentlemen who preceded him, rest content with an extemporaneous effort. After witnessing the races, our visitors repaired to the residence of Professor E. S. Lippitt, where lunch was served, and at four o'clock, r. M., were escorted to the cars and departed for San Franeiseo. This is necessarily but brief mention of an event which will long be remembered by our citizens as a noted day in Petaluma.
COLONEL ROD MATHESON.
When civil war eame it found Rod Matheson the principal of an academy he had established at Healdsburg in this county. From the very outset he had identified himself with the Free Soil party and when the civil war came. incited as he believed by the slave power, he was not long in determining that his duty lay at the front. Taking his life in his hand he went forth to battle for the right, as God gave him to see the right. Ilis intelligence and dash marked him for a leader, and he was made Colonel of the First California (Thirty-second New York ) Regiment. Hle led his regiment in the memorable battle of South Mountain on the 14th of October, 1562. Like the true and brave man that he was, although in the face of defeat and disaster, he only left the field when borne away " on his shield." The following com- memorative of his worth and the esteem in which he was held by his neighbors and fellow-citizens legitimately belongs to Sonoma County history.
In September, 1861, a war correspondent of the San Francisco Alta wrote: " I visited Rod Matheson's regiment, composed almost exclu- sively of returned Californians, and a finer body of men I never saw. They are drilled like veterans, and have a happy faculty of getting along better than most of the other regiments about them. I was impressed into their service for four days, and became the guest of the Colonel and Major Frank Lemon. They seem to live off the fat of the land, have a theatrical company among their members. a band of serenaders, and seem to have more fun going on
in their encampment, than all the others put together. Striet discipline, while on duty, is maintained, and the men appear cheerful and contented. George Wilkes and Tom Battel. and other choice spirits, make this regiment their headquarters. At the battle of Bull Run, about 150 outsiders, all Californians, well armed. did Anty as irregulars with the regiment. It rendered the most effective service in covering the retreat of the Union forces, drove baek the pursuing secession cavalry, and were the last to return to Alexandria, which they did not till the next day, in good order, saving 150 wagons, most of the artillery, and the best por- tion of the baggage. They elected Matheson General pro tom., when every other General had left the field, and being joined by Col. Blen- ker's German regiment, succeeded in holding in check any attempt of the rebels to pursue. These two regiments, alone, saved several mill- ions worth of property. They had a battery of light artillery in the command, and did good service with it. They lost none killed, but sev- era Islightly wounded."
The death of Col. Rod Matheson, and the events preceding and following it are thus described in Washington correspondence of the New York Herald, dated October 5, 1862:
" The body of Col. Matheson, of the First California (Thirty-second New York) Regiment, was brought here and embalmed to-day by Doc- tor> Brown and Alexander. Col. Matheson was wounded while leading his regiment in the memorable battle of South Mountain, on the 14th ult. It was found impossible to shell the rebels out of Compton Gap, and General Sloomm determined. after consulting with his Brigadier Generals, to take by assault with infantry the mountain which commanded the gap. It was one of the most brilliant affairs of the war. The division charged up the steep mountain side, on which the rebels were posted behind three stone walls, with batteries placed on the crest of the mountain. The division, composed of Bartlett's, Newton's and Torbett's brigades, advanced in line steadily up the hill under a terrible fire,
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forming upon their colors after passing the bar- riers successfully, and drove the rebels from the position. A rebel Major who was wounded and taken prisoner, said they had been told that the Union troops to come against them were green; but when they saw their steady advance, in which they moved as if on dress parade, the word ran through the rebel lines: ' These are no recruits-these are from that damned okl Army of the Potomac.' In this charge Colonel Matheson was wounded, while in front of his regiment calling them on. A ball lacerated the arteries of his right leg and fractured the bone. lle died of secondary hemorrhage.
" The Californians in this city met to- day at the residenee of Mr. William Dayton, and passed resolutions expressing their sense of the high character and gallant conduet of Colonel Mathe- son. Senator MeDongall, who presided, paid an eloquent tribute to the excellent qualities of the deceased, and Captain Fish, of the First California Regiment, spoke feelingly in praise of his late commander.
" At a meeting of Californians now here, Sena- tor MeDongall, chairman, the following named gentlemen of this eity were appointed a com- mittee to receive the remains of the gallant dead: Messrs. C. K. Garrison, George Wilkes, W. T. Coleman, Warren Leland, Charles A. Stetson and Alfred E. Tilton. These gentle- men are expreted to meet at the Astor llonse on Sunday to make the necessary arrangements to carry into effect the part assigned them.
" The body will be conveyed to New York this afternoon, where it will lie in state a few days before being carried to San Francisco for burial."
When the news of the death of Colonel Math- eson reached Healdsburg on October 24, 1862, a public meeting was at once called, which was presided over by Captain L. A. Norton- J. J. Maxwell, secretary-at which the following action was taken:
On motion of Dr. Piper a committee of five was appointed to draft resolutions expressive of the feeling of the meeting. The president appointed Dr. Piper, Judge Spencer, J. J. May,
J. A. Bagley, and the president was added by the meeting.
The president said he would be glad to hear from the gentlemen present. Mr. Fenno, in behalf of the Sotoyome Guards, of which Col- onel Matheson was a member, moved that the members of the guard wear mourning upon the right arın thirty days in memory of the deceased.
Remarks were offered by various gentlemen present, after which the committee on resolutions made the following report which was adopted:
WHEREAS, Recent telegraphie dispatches have confirmed the rumored death of our fellow-towns- man, Colonel Rod Matheson, while bravely and heroically defending the honor of our national flag; therefore,
Resolved, That we bow submissively to this affictive dispensation of Divine Providence, and in common with others, monrn the loss of a pure patriot.
Resolved, That in the death of Colonel Matheson, the nation has lost a brave defender. the army an efficient officer and daring soldier, the people of California one who has nobly rep- resented them on the field of battle, his parents a dutiful son, his wife an affectionate husband, his children a kind and indulgent parent, and the people of Sonoma a worthy citizen, whose name will be long cherished and honored.
Resolved, That we sincerely and heartily sympathize with the family of the deceased in their deep affliction, and that a committee be appointed by this meeting to tender them the sympathy of this meeting, and a copy of these resolutions.
Resolved, That a committee of three be ap- pointed to confer with the mayor of the city of San Francisco with regard to the conveyance of the re- mains of the deceased to this place for interment.
A committee to report the proceedings of this meeting to the willow was appointed by the president. William Dow, Judge Spencer and P. Griest, were appointed on that committee.
Committee appointed by the president to confer with the mayor of San Francisco: Mr. Bloom, Mr. Fields and .I. J. May.
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In the Petaluma Argus of November 12, 1862. the following appeared:
" On Thursday evening last the remains of Colonel Roderick Matheson, who died from wounds received at the battle of Cheat Moun- tain, October 2d. arrived in San Francisco on the steamer Sonory. The remains of the fallen hero were borne to Platt's Hall and laid in state, whither vast throngs of people repaired to take a last look at all that remained of the lamented Matheson. The funeral pageant was solemn and imposing. Rev. Starr King deliv. ered the funeral oration on Saturday, after which the body was conducted aboard of the steamer L'etaluma with due military and cisie honors.
.. The steamer Petaluma with the remains of Colonel Matheson, in charge of a detachment of the National Guards, of San Francisco, reached her landing, below the city. at 7o'clock Saturday evening. His remains were escorted to this city from the boat by the Healdsburg Band, Petaluma Gards, Emmet Rifles and eight pall-bearers, consisting of E. F. Dunne, Will- iam Ordway, Captain George E. Lovejoy. George Campbell, T. K. Wilson, F. D. Colton. II. L. Weston and Samuel Cassiday. Night had cast her sable mantle over the earth, thus lending additional solemnity to the occasion. The plaintive strains of the funeral marches played by the band floated mournfully on the still night air; with slow and measured tread the procession entered our city. and passing up Main street halted in front of MeCune's llall. The pall-bearers received the coffin from the hearse and bearing it up the flight of stairs to the hall, placed it on the catafalque prepared for the occasion. A guard of honor was detailed, and stationed in the hall, after which the coffin was opened, and for several hours there was a throng of visitors to look at the corpse of the gallant soldier whose life has been sacritieed upon the altar of his country. Although con- siderably emaciated the features of the deceased had not undergone sufficient change to prevent thosewhoknew him from recognizing his familiar faire .
" Abont 9 o'clock Sunday morning, the pro- cession was again formed the coffin was placed in the hearse and escorted ont of the city. . \ detachment of the Petaluma Gnards, in con- junction with the detachment from the National Guards, proceeded with the body to Healdsburg. Six pall-bearers. selected by the citizens of Santa Rosa, met and escorted the corpse to the plaza, in that town, where an appropriate ad- dress was delivered by General O. Hinton. The procession again took up its line of march for Healdsburg, arriving at the residence of the lamented Roderick Matheson at 5 o'clock in the evening. The citizens of Healdsburg had made every necessary preparation to pay suita- ble honor to the memory of their esteemed fellow-eitizen, who was to find a last resting place in their midst. At 11 o'clock on Monday, the Rev. Mr. Thomas, of San Francisco, deliv- ered an appropriate and touching funeral dis- course, after which the body of Colonel Matheson was eonsigned to its mother earth. and a military salute fired over his grave.
" He sleeps his last sleep, he has fought his last battle, No sound can awake him to glory again."
JOIN M. CAMERON.
The following sketch of the life of John Mil- Jer Cameron, who, together with his wife, re- poses in the Sebastopol Cemetery, is worthy a place in this history, not only on account of his own merits and worth, but because in his family young Abraham Lincoln made his home, all un- conscious of the measure he was to fill in the drama of life. In all the histories of Lincoln mention is made of his residence with the Cam- eron family :
" Rev. John Miller Cameron, a resident of Sebastopol, Sonoma County, California, and a minister of the gospel in Pacific Presbytery, of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, was born in Elbert County, Georgia, on the 12th of August, 1791, and died at his residence at Se- bastopol, Sonoma County, after a painful and distressing affliction of two months, on the 12th of February, 1875, being eighty-six years, six months and nine days old.
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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.
" The deceased went with his father and family, while a youth, to Kentucky, in the year 1504. and settled near the month of the Green River, in Henderson County, at which place he was married to Mary Orendorff, in 1811; from which place he removed to the Territory of Illi- nois, and settled in what is now White County, in 1813. He removed from there to Bellville, in St. Clair County, in 1816, and from there to Sangamon County in 1818. This last move was made about the time Illinois was admitted into the Union. He stopped for a time near Springfield, after which he settled on Rock Creek. in the same connty. lle was at the time a eandidate for the ministry in the bounds of Sangamon Presbytery, and about the year 1827 was licensed to preach, and devoted the principal part of his life-time to the ministry until 1832, when he removed to Fulton County, Illinois, where he was instrumental in building up seve- ral church organizations. He remained there until 1837, when he removed to the Territory of Iowa, and settled in Jefferson County, where he was instrumental in building several more church organizations. Shortly after the admnis- sion of the State into the Union, he again re- moved to Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa, and at that place built up an organization and erected the first house of worship in the place, devoting a portion of his time to preaching in the counties of Mahaska, Wapello, Van Buren, Jefferson, Keokuk, Henry, Jasper and others. He was always punctual in attendance to the appointments of the church, and seldom failed to meet his own. In the spring of 1849 he started with his family across the plains to Cal- ifornia, and arrived at a place known as Fre- mont about the 1st of October the same year, remaining there but a short time. He then went to Sacramento, where he remained during the winter. In the summer of 1850 he removed to Martinez, preaching occasionally until the fall of 1851, when he removed to Sonoma Coun- ty, near the present town of Sebastopol, where he purchased a farm, on which he has since re- sided. He was set apart to the whole work of
the ministry by California Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1554, after which his time was mostly spent in visiting destitute places, preaching and organizing churches, and after the organization in visiting and supplying said churches, until prevented by affliction and extreme old age.
" Ilis wifedied after a short illness, at her home in Sonoma County, on the 25th of March, 1876. at the advanced age of eighty-two years. Ile and his wife had eleven children-ten daughters and one son. Nine of the daughters are still living, all but one in California. Thomas Por- ter Cameron, his son, was killed by the explo- sion of the steamer Secretary in 1854, near San Francisco. One daughter, the wife of A. Mc Namer, died at the family home in 1855; one resides with her family near Cincinnati; the others are Mrs. Judge B. B. Berry, Mrs. S. M. Martin, Mrs. Rev. B. N. Bonham and Mrs. (. Purvine, of Sonoma County; Mrs. Judge T. A. Brown, of Contra Costa County; Mrs. Dr. B. B. Bonham, of Butte County; Mrs. Henry Lys- ter. of Monterey County and Mrs. Cynthia War- ner, of Petaluma, the widow of the son deceased. The deceased had at the time of his death fitty- one grand-children and sixty-five great-grand- children. Since the death of the wife of de- ceased, he has seemed to be broken down in spirits, discontented, lonely and dejceted. Father Cameron was eminently a pioneer at the time of his settlement in Illinois in 1813, in Iowa in 1837, and in California in 1849; those States respectively not having been admitted into the Union. His life has been spent upon the frontier, and his occupation practically to clear the way for those who would follow. He was a devoted husband, kind and affectionate father and generous neighbor. He died as he had lived, faithful to every obligation; was beloved by all who knew him, and a large number of rel- atives and friends mourn his loss. He was a mem- ber of the Masonie fraternity about fifty years."
SALMI MORSE.
The Petaluma Argus of March 1, 1884, said editorially: " On last Saturday a telegraphic dis-
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1
patch from New York announced the finding of the body of Salmi Morse in the Hudson River under cireninstances strongly indicating deliberate sui- cide. For several years past the name of Salmi Morse has been prominently before the people of United States in connection with his persistent the efforts to gain for his " Passion Play," the right of exhibition. Ilis long and fruitless struggle to achieve this end in New York City is familiar to all who keep posted on the current news of our country, but we hazard little in saying that many persons in Sonoma and adjoining counties who personally knew Mr. Morse, have never once thought of associating him with the Salmi Morse of ' Passion Play' fame. The attention of the writer was first attracted to Mr. Morse at a Methodist camp-meeting, near Liberty school house in this county, the summer of either 1856 or 1857. After the usual sermon the exercises consisted in alternate singing and prayer. A eall was made for Brother Morse to lead in prayer. As is usual in Methodist meet- ing the entire membership assumed a kneeling posture, when Mr. Morse, a man small in stature and bald-headed, stepped npon a bench and with his head thrown back. delivered a very carnest, eloquent invocation, to which emphasis was given by a rapid forward and backward movement of the head. At that time we got the impression that he either was or had been a Baptist minister. Time sped on and in a few years we were involved in civil war. Mr. Morse was a Unionist of the most radical type. Ile contributed many communications to the Argus on national polities. Ile was a vigorous and forcible writer, but so ultra that even the Argus, accounted among the most radical of journals, often found it necessary to tone down and ex- tract some of the vinegar and gall from his articles. His whole soul seemed to be wrought up to a white heat of righteous indignation over the iniquity of human slavery, and he never seemed to tire in anathematizing that accursed institution. He was a frequent visitor of the Argus sanctum during war time, and he never
departed without leaving it vapory with his in- vective against those who were trying to found a government with human slavery as its . chiet corner-stone.' lle was a great reader. and evidently a close student of the Bible. One of his most telling shots was the calling the atten- tion of the readers of the Argus to the 12th chapter of Numbers as an unanswerable refu- tation of the pro-slavery theory that the black race was to be servile and despised on account of the curse of God visited upon Ham and his descendants. During the closing years of the civil war, Mr. Morse had a ranch in the upper part of Mendocino County, from whence he sent occasional contributions to the Argus. That his ranching business was not a financial success will readily be inferred from the fact that in the spring time of each year he usually came to the lower valleys and devoted his time to grafting and budding fruit trees. From and after 1866 the Argus lost sight of Mr. Morse for more than a decade. and only had knowledge of him again when there was a furor over the introduction of the . Passion Play ' in San Francisco. It was during this lapse of years, probably, that he traveled abroad and visited the Holy Land. from whence he drew the inspiration for his biblical play. ITis career has certainly been a most checkered one. Earnest and zealous in all his undertak- ings, his life became essentially a ' warfare." Even before his great life struggle had fairly begun, there was a glint to his eyes. when aroused to earnestness on any subject, that be- tokened a brain very sensitive to morbid influ- ences. His was not an organism fitted to challenge the 'slings and arrows' of a great city like New York. What the outcome would be was only a question of time. The time came at the noon of night. On the one hand was the city that he thought had wrongfully proscribed the . Passion Play,' the crowning work of his life, and on the other the placid lindson. Of the latter Salmi Morse asked and received repose from the moil of life."
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.
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CHAPTER XXIII.
ANIMALS NATIVE OF SONOMA COUNTY -- GRIZZLY, BROWN AND BLACK BEAR - PANTHER-FOX- WOLF-COVOTE-WILD-CAT -- MOUNTAIN-CAT-ELK. DEER, ANTELOPE, ETC.
ITTELL, who is good authority, enumer- ates the indigenous animals of California as follows: The grizzly bear ; the black bear ; the cinnamon bear; the elk ; one decr ; one antelope ; the mountain-sheep; the panther ; the wild cat ; the gray wolf ; the coyote ; three foxes ; the badger ; the raccoon ; the opossum ; the mountain-cat ; the weasel ; two skunks ; one porcupine ; three squirrels ; two spermophiles : two ground-squirrels ; three rats ; three jumping- rats : one jumping-monse : nine mice : one mole ; three hares ; two rabbits ; the seal; the sea- otter ; the sea-lion ; the beaver ; two vultures ; the golden eagle ; the bald eagle ; the fishhawk; eighteen other hawks ; nine owls ; the road- runner ; twelve woodpeckers : four humming- birds ; eleven flycatchers ; one hundred and nine singers ; one pigeon ; two dores ; three gronse ; three quails ; one sandhill crane ; forty- one waders ; sixty-six swimmers, including two swans and five geese : about two dozen snakes, including the rattlesnake ; half a dozen salmon ; two codfish ; and one maekerel.
Of these, all were indigenous to Sonoma County except the opossum, the jumping-rats, the mountain-sheep, and possibly a few varie- ties of the birds and salmon. Our grizzly bear (Ursus horribilis) is the largest and most formidable of the quadrupeds. He grows to be
four feet high and seven feet long, with a weight, when very large and fat, of a thousand pounds. being the largest of the carnivorous animals. and much heavier than the lion or tiger ever get to be. The grizzly bear, however, as ordi- narily seen, does not exceed eight hundred or nine hundred pounds in weight. In color the body is a light grayish-brown, dark brown about the ears and along the ridge of the back. and nearly black on the legs. The hair is long, coarse, and wiry, and stiff on the top of the neck and between the shoulders. The " grizzly," as he is usually called, was at one time exceedingly numerous for so large an animal ; but he offered so much meat for the hunters, and did so much damage to the farmers, that he has been indus- trionsly hunted, and his numbers have been greatly redneed. The grizzly is very tenacious of life, and he is seldom immediately killed by a single bullet. llis thick, wiry hair, tough skin, heavy coats of fat when in good condition, and large bones, go far to protect his vital organs ; but he often seems to preserve all his strength and activity for an hour or more after having been shot through the lungs and liver with large rifle balls. He is one of the most dangerous animals to attack. There is mneh probability that when shot he will not be killed outright. When merely wounded he is fero-
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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
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