"Friends in Peace and War": The Russian Navy's Landmark Visit to Civil War San Francisco (review)

The author states that while no battles were fought in California, San Francisco was "an integral part of the Civil War." The reason is that between 1861 and 1864 more than $173 million in gold was shipped from San Francisco to the East Coast of the United States to finance the war. The capture of a gold carrying ship would have strenghtened the credit of the Confederacy. Also the arrival of a Confederate warship in the harbor of San Francisco might have resulted in the capture of the city and the seizure of gold and silver in the U.S. Mint, the customs house, and the post office. Adding to the concern of the Union loyalists was the fact that nearly forty percent of California's population was from slave states and only seven of the state's fifty-three newspapers supported Lincoln in the 1860 election. Worried about the potential threats, San Franciscans asked that a U.S. Navy ship be stationed there to protect the city. Both the commandant of the Mare Island Navy Yard and the commander of the Pacific Squadron wrote to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles about the inadequate defenses in the area. Faced with other demands for ships and men, Welles considered the worries of the San Franciscans as exaggerated. Then federal officials in that area foiled a plot by a local Southern synpathizer to take a fast private schooner to sea, carrying guns and ammunition. It was revealed that the sympathizer had a commission in the Confederate Navy and letters of marque from President Jefferson Davis. Welles sent a disassembled steam powered monitor to guard the harbor. Unfortunately the ship carrying the monitor sank in a storm in San Francisco harbor before it could be unloaded.

Shortly after this ships of the Russian Pacific Squadron arrived in the harbor and were warmly welcomed. San Franciscans believed that the presence of the Russian ships would deter any attack on the city. They also believed that it was a gesture of support for the Union cause. The motivations of Russian officials were different. The threat of a possible war in Europe with Great Britain and France raised the possibility that the Russian squadrons might be blockaded in ports. It was therefore decided to send them to the United States. Secretary Welles offered the Russians the use of the naval repair facilities at Brooklyn and Mare Island near San Francisco. The result was that one Russian squadron went to New York and one to San Francisco. While their ships were being repaired, the Russians became a part of the local scene for nearly a year. Various visits, dinners, balls, and parades celebrated their presence. All this resulted in good will which lasted for many years. An epilogue relates the subsequent history of the major American and Russian persons who were involved in the visit.

The book is based on a small group of American and Russian primary sources, five newspapers, two doctoral dissertations, one M.A. thesis, and a number of books and articles on naval, Coast Guard, diplomatic and local history. The result is an engaging story of an aspect of Civil War History that is largely unknown to the general public.

The author, Assistant Professor C. Douglas Kroll of the College of the Desert, Palm Desert, California, is a graduate of the Coast Guard Academy who served as an officer in that service and later as a chaplain in the U.S. Navy. He retired in 1996 as a commander in the Naval Reserve. Subsequently he earned a Ph. D. in History at Claremont University.