San Francisco, CA

Headnote
San Francisco, Ca..... From its local situation in reference to the gold region, San Francisco must always remain the great seat of the ocean trade of California. Already it has extensive mercantile communications with all parts of the world. It is connected with New York by two lines of steam packets, one by the way of Panama, making the distance in about four weeks, a packet leaving either city every fortnight, and carrying the mail; the other, also a semi-monthly line, by the Lake Nicaragua, which accomplishes the distance in about four days' less time. The shortest passage from San Francisco to New York has been 21 days. (Gazetteer of the United States of America, 1854)
    Place Unit Type
    City or Town
    Containing Unit
    Date Type
    A few days after arriving from New York, the transport ship "Aquila" sinks at its wharf in San Francisco Crime/Disasters
    - A total eclipse of the Moon late in the evening is visible across much of the United States Science/Technology
    Agoston Haraszthy brings 100,000 vine cuttings from Europe to the vineyards of northern California Business/Industry
    American filibuster William Walker departs San Francisco for Central America Military/Violent
    An American clipper-ship burns in the Pacific leaving her crew in boats thousands of miles from land. Crime/Disasters
    - Around midnight, a total eclipse of the Moon is visible across much of the United States Science/Technology
    Bret Harte publishes his first short story in San Francisco, California Education/Culture
    California Breckinridge Democrats organize in San Francisco Campaigns/Elections
    California Senator David Broderick dies of a wound received in a duel three days earlier over slavery in the state Crime/Disasters
    Clipper ship sails from New York to San Francisco in record time Business/Industry
    First Japanese Ambassador leaves Japan for the United States US/the World
    First Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States arrives in California US/the World
    First Japanese Diplomatic Mission to the United States arrives in Hawaii US/the World
    First Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States arrives in Panama enroute to Washington, D.C. US/the World
    First Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States arrives in Washington D.C. US/the World
    First Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States departs Hawaii for San Francisco US/the World
    First Japanese warship arrives in San Francisco Bay US/the World
    First ship in regular service from New York to California via Cape Horn arrives in San Francisco Commercial
    Former California Supreme Court Judge Terry shoots California Senator Broderick in a duel over slavery in the state Crime/Disasters
    French filibuster Gaston Raoul Raousset arrives in the northern Mexican state of Sonora Battles/Soldiers
    Future newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst is born in San Francisco, California Personal
    Gaston Raousset departs Mexico for San Francisco Battles/Soldiers
    Horace Greeley arrives home in New York City after his tour of the West Education/Culture
    Horace Greeley arrives in Denver on his tour of the West Cultural
    Horace Greeley arrives in Kansas on his tour of the West Cultural
    Horace Greeley arrives in Sacramento on his tour of the West Education/Culture
    In California, Nevai Shalom, the second Jewish cemetery in San Francisco, is dedicated Religion/Philosophy
    In California, San Francisco's first street railway begins operation Business/Industry
    In California, the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad Company is incorporated Business/Industry
    In northern California, a river steamer sinks in the Sacramento River but all aboard are rescued Crime/Disasters
    In San Francisco Harbor, the U.S.S. Camanche is finally launched into the waters of the Pacific Battles/Soldiers
    In San Francisco, Democratic Party talks aimed at uniting Electoral College votes against the Republicans fail Campaigns/Elections
    In San Francisco, Emperor Norton I dissolves the United States republic and declares an absolute monarchy Education/Culture
    In San Francisco, William Ralston founds the Bank of California, initial capital two million dollars in gold Business/Industry
    In Washington, a major military reorganization divides the nation into five large military districts Battles/Soldiers
    Joshua Norton of San Francisco proclaims himself Emperor Norton I of the United States Education/Culture
    Mary Brown dies in San Francisco, California Personal
    Off the Oregon coast, a loaded passenger ship sinks in a massive storm with heavy loss of life Crime/Disasters
    On the Farralon Islands, the deadly twenty-minute exchange of shots of the "Egg War" kills two Crime/Disasters
    Pony Express plans to deliver mail from New York to San Francisco in nine days Business/Industry
    San Francisco lumber vessel sunk off the Oregon coast with all hands Crime/Disasters
    Several Native American leaders of Far West tribes leave San Francisco for a trip to the East Lawmaking/Litigating
    Small earthquake strikes San Francisco Bay but with no damage or injuries Crime/Disasters
    Steamship from San Francisco to Oregon wrecked and thirty passengers and crew drown Crime/Disasters
    The first Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States departs San Francisco for Panama US/the World
    - The first Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States hosted in San Francisco US/the World
    The first official baseball game in California is played in San Francisco Education/Culture
    The first overland mail for California leaves St. Louis for San Francisco Business/Industry
    The first overland mail from California arrives in St. Louis, twenty-five days out from San Francisco Business/Industry
    The oldest surviving athletic club in the United States is founded in San Francisco Cultural
    Two heavy early afternoon tremors strike San Francisco, California but start no fires and cause no fatalities Crime/Disasters
    Warriors of the Southern Ute tribe ambush mail coach in Utah, kill two Crime/Disasters
    - Weeks of dangerously high temperatures prevail in central California Crime/Disasters
    Date Title
    New York Times, “Great Floods in the Potomac and Shenandoah,” April 20, 1852
    New York Times, “Mormonism in the East,” September 19, 1857
    New York Times, “A Warning ,” June 4, 1858
    New York Times, “The New Orleans Committee,” June 5, 1858
    Chicago (IL) Tribune, “Revolution in New Orleans,” June 6, 1858
    New York Times, "The Tribune on Manifest Destiny," July 10, 1858
    New York Herald, "The Mormons Brought to Terms," July 15, 1858
    (St. Louis) Missouri Republican, “The Great Overland Mail,” October 3, 1858
    San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “Time Table by the Butterfield Overland Mail Route,” October 11, 1858
    New York Times, “Health of New Orleans,” November 2, 1858
    New York Herald, “The Gila Gold Mines,” January 16, 1859
    San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “Filibusterism and Disunion,” April 1, 1859
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Gold Hunters,” May 23, 1859
    San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “Pleasant Reunion of Pioneers,” September 30, 1859
    New York Herald, “Emigration to California,” November 13, 1859
    San Francisco (CA) Bulletin, “The Farce of San Quentin,” January 18, 1860
    San Francisco (CA) Bulletin, “Five Runaway Boys Captured,” February 24, 1860
    Boston (MA) Advertiser, “The Coming Men,” April 17, 1860
    Boston (MA) Advertiser, “Relations with Japan in Jeopardy,” June 30, 1860
    New York Herald, “The California Mails,” July 1, 1860
    San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, "The Pony Express," September 26, 1860
    San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, "Complaints Against the Oregon Overland Mail," November 30, 1860
    San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, "Change of the Schedule Time of the Pony Express," December 4, 1860
    San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “Prospects of the Speedy Completion of the Pacific Telegraph,” March 27, 1861
    San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “Doing at Virginia,” June 12, 1861
    San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “From the Oil Region of Pennsylvania,” June 19, 1861
    San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “Disreputable Weapons of Political Warfare,” June 27, 1861
    New York Herald, “The Pacific Telegraph Line,” October 21, 1861
    How to Cite This Page: "San Francisco, CA," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/9531.