Part one: City, Arsenal have always been part and parcel

FROM THE BEGINNING, the city of Benicia and the Benicia Arsenal were joined at the hip. In 1847, two years before the Benicia Barracks were founded, the “Military Reservation” was included east of the city in the first Benicia Survey. The fate of the city has risen and fallen in unison with the Arsenal since — first as a cavalry barracks, then as an Arsenal and finally as an industrial park.

The city and the Arsenal are well situated for success. Positioned at an important choke point on the north side of the Carquinez Strait that connects the Sacramento Delta to the San Francisco Bay, they share a southern exposure, a broad bay and high ground that can be easily defended.

The land was originally tree-less rolling hills covered with wild grasses. There was no year-around water source, so the Patwin Indians who populated the area for millennia stayed close to the water when they ventured away from the rich hunting areas of the Suisun Marsh to the northeast and the oaken woodlands to the north. The Patwin lived in small bands of fewer than 100 persons and spoke a dialect of the Wintun Indians who lived in the Benicia-Vallejo area, the Napa Valley, and the Sacramento River valley. The Patwins were primarily a hunter-gatherer society: they ground acorns with stone tools and traded with tribes to the east for obsidian, from which they made arrowheads. The arrowheads, stone implements and a few baskets are all that remains of them.

While there may have been limited European contact before 1810, it was in that year that Captain Gabriel Moraga, the first European born in California, became one of the first Spaniards to explore the Carquinez. He engaged a large group of Patwin on the shores of the Suisun Marsh, northeast of where the Arsenal currently rests, slaughtering them. The surviving children, including Francisco Solano after whom our county was later named, were taken as slaves to Mission Dolores in Yerba Buena. Two decades later epidemics of smallpox and syphilis swept through the California Indian tribes and by 1823 the Patwin lands were owned by the Church.

Mission Solano in Sonoma at the northernmost end of the El Camino Real and the Mission Road was the last to be founded. Father Jose Altimira, a Franciscan trained in Spain, was assigned in 1819 to Mission Dolores. He soon became dissatisfied with the unexciting rhythm of mission life and came up with a plan to found a new mission north of Mission San Rafael. Bypassing Church leadership, he applied directly to Governor Don Luis Arguello, who presented the plan to the Territorial Assembly in Monterey in 1823. The legislature approved the scheme and added the transfer of Mission San Rafael to the new mission.

When the ecclesiastical authorities caught word of the plan, three cornered negotiations ensued that resulted in the foundation of Mission Solano, named after St. Francis of Solano, a martyred Peruvian missionary.

The territory that belonged to the Mission was enormous and probably included present-day Benicia and most of the property north of the Carquinez. Several ranchos, including Petaluma and Suscol, were formed by the Mission priests to provide food and income.

Father Altimira relied on flogging and imprisonment to bring the Patwin neophytes into the Church; many escaped. In 1826 they rebelled and burned the buildings, forcing Altimira to flee to Mission San Rafael and eventually to Spain. The Mission then went through a succession of priests until secularization.

Part two: The rise of California’s most powerful landowner

THE MISSIONS AND THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT owned most of the property in California prior to 1830. At that time, only 21 pieces of property were in private hands in all of Alta California; thus, there was little property for new immigrants, the sons of the Californio dons, and, most important, the legions of unemployed Spanish army veterans left to their own devices after Mexico renounced the Spanish crown in 1821.

Further, the missions were never intended by the Council of the Indies — which ran affairs in the New World for the Spanish Crown — to be permanent. They were intended to exist for only about 10 years until enough neophytes were converted to establish a pueblo, at which time the mission churches would become parish churches.

Beginning in 1833 and over the next 16 years, the missions were secularized by the California Department of the Mexican government. The initial plan was to divide out the public and religious segments of the missions and turn the public parts over to the Indians. Unaware of their value and inexperienced in matters of land ownership, the Indians quickly lost them to gamblers and land speculators. Mission Solano was secularized in 1834, leaving a power vacuum in the northern tier of Mexican California and vast stretches of land to be divided. Stepping into the power void was Mariano Vallejo.

Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo was born at the most distant outpost of a Spanish Empire that lasted from the first voyage of Columbus to the capture of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines by the United States during the Spanish-American War. He was, above all else, a Californio, a Spanish Creole born in California and an officer and a gentleman. A major California city would be named after him and, seven decades after his death, the U.S. Navy would launch a nuclear submarine named in his honor — the only foreign general to be so honored.

The third son of Spanish Sergeant Ignacio Ferrer Vallejo and Maria Antonia Lugo, Vallejo was born into the military at the Presidio of Monterey on July 4, 1807. He was christened in the still-existent presidio chapel the following day. He grew up in an extended military family and in his adolescence attracted the attention of Governor Pablo Vicente de Sola, who became his mentor and who taught him that diplomacy could be far more effective than the sword, especially in distant California. When Sola returned to Mexico to become part of its first legislature, Vallejo became personal secretary to Governor Luis Arguello.

Now a semiautonomous department of Mexico, California thrived on the relaxation of laws, especially those that pertained to the establishment of ranchos. Vallejo’s father was granted the fertile Rancho Bolsa de San Cayetano in 1822. In 1824, at the age of 19, Mariano became a member of the California territorial legislature, el diputacion, meeting in Monterey. At the age of 22 Vallejo was appointed a second lieutenant and in 1829 defeated Estanislao and the Miwok Indians among reports of brutality on both sides. Vallejo next came to the attention of Governor Jose Figueroa, a prime mover in California history and a man who was part Aztec. In 1832, Vallejo married the frank, beautiful 17-year-old Francesca Benicia Maria Filipa Carrillo, member of a wealthy and politically powerful Californio family. Francesca was reputed to be intelligent, a good shot with firearms, and a prodigious horsewoman.

Vallejo was transferred to the San Francisco Presidio; a year later their first son arrived. Later that year, Figueroa advanced Vallejo to the rank of general and placed him in command of a military post in Sonoma adjacent to the mission. After secularization of the missions, Figueroa awarded Vallejo the 66,000-acre Rancho Petaluma, formerly part of the mission.

During the subsequent decade, Vallejo made peace with his neighbors — the Russians at Fort Ross, the padres of the mission, and the Patwin Indians — through a cunning alliance with the 7-foot-tall Chief Solano. The large adobe homes on the Sonoma Plaza and at Rancho Petaluma soon were renowned for their hospitality.

General Manuel Michaeltorena, a personal friend of the tyrannical General Santa Ana, landed in California with a military force in August 1842 to become Governor. Soon, Michaeltorena and his government were broke and needed money to create a standing army to deal with the increasing American immigration across the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He approached the Californios for money; Vallejo ran a hard bargain. In exchange for $5,000 to support a military battalion, Vallejo received $11,000 in agricultural equipment and the 80,000-acre Rancho Suscol, an immense area that included what is now Vallejo, Benicia, the Arsenal and the western part of the Suisun Marsh.

Part three: Acquisition of land under Mexican rule

THERE WAS CONSIDERABLE DIFFERENCE between how land grants were issued in the Spanish and Mexican periods of California history.

In Spanish times, the land belonged to the King of Spain and was administered by the Viceroy in Mexico city and the Governor in Monterrey, California. During the Spanish era, the word “land grant” was a misnomer. The King maintained actual ownership over all the land, but “concessions” and reconacimientos (recognitions) were officially granted to the missions and individual users. Presidios were formed and along with them ranchos del ray — Royal Ranchos — to supply the presidios with food.

As the missions were formed, gigantic swaths of land were transferred to the church by concession. These lands were subsequently broken into administrative units of mission ranchos, such as the Ranchos Suscol and Petaluma. Later, military veterans, such as Sergeant Jose Ortega who discovered San Francisco Harbor, were awarded concessions for large swaths of land distant from both the Royal and Mission Ranchos. Lastly, four square leagues were set aside for the use of pueblos and lands — called rancherias — were also set aside for the Indian tribes.

Mexican authorities, like the Spanish, also gave vague cattle-grazing permits. When the Mexican laws of 1824 and 1828 clarified the issue so that actual grants of full title could be made, governors were given authority to grant vacant lands to “contractors (empresarios), families, and private persons, whether Mexicans or foreigners, who may ask for them for the purpose of cultivating and inhabiting them.”

The steps to ownership began with a petition to the governor that contained a written description of the land and a diseno, or map. Grants made to families and private persons were not to be held valid without previous consent of the Territorial Deputation or of the supreme government. Grants to empresarios for colonization purposes called for final approval of the supreme government. The laws required the governor to issue and sign a document “to serve as a title to the person interested,” and to keep a record of petitions and grants, with maps of the lands granted. Failure to cultivate or occupy the land within a proportionate time would void the grant. To secure the right of ownership and to freely dispose of the land, the colonist was expected to prove cultivation of occupancy before the municipal authority. In this way not only were the Petaluma and Suscol ranchos granted to Mariano Vallejo, but the Rancho Suisun was granted to Francisco Solano, “chief of the tribes of the frontiers of Sonoma.”

In addition to the ranchos at Suscol and Petaluma, Vallejo owned land in the San Ramon Valley and on the coast of Marin and Mendocino counties. The land owned by Solano was probably a front for Vallejo’s ownership. By the fourth decade of the 19th century, Solano had become a vassal of Vallejo, who had his own private army of Indians to keep other Indian groups in line and to ward off Mexican and American squatters. By 1846, the Americans were starting to trickle over the Sierra Nevada Mountains and into Johann Sutter’s Fort, at what is now Sacramento. Vallejo was to become the focus of a rebellion and in the process meet Robert Semple.

Part four: Robert Semple: Eccentric visionary

DR. ROBERT BAYLOR SEMPLE was a dentist who also had worked as an attorney, medical doctor, farmer, businessman and newspaper writer before coming west in a wagon train in 1846. He was an exceptionally tall man — estimates of his height vary from 6 feet, 9 inches to 7 feet — and somewhat of an eccentric, renowned for wearing fringed buckskins and a coonskin cap turned backward so that the tail dangled in his face. During the winters Semple would wear a heavy buffalo robe coat over his buckskins.

Semple participated in the Bear Flag Revolt of June 10, 1846. Described as “an almost bloodless guerilla war, with comic opera overtones,” the Revolt consisted of a group of Americans who left Sutter’s Fort, secretly entered Sonoma, captured Mariano Vallejo, manufactured a series of flags with bears on them, raised them, and then transported Vallejo back to Sutter’s Fort via the Pena Adobe, which now lies on Interstate 80 between Fairfield and Vacaville.

Semple assumed the role of the adult of the raiding party, members of which later called themselves “Bear Flaggers.” He tempered the hotheads (the Bears) who wanted to shoot up the town and hang people. He and Vallejo became friends during the ordeal and Vallejo would later refer to Semple as “El Buena Oso” — the “Good Bear.” It was Semple who assisted the ailing Vallejo back to Sonoma once he was released by the Bears. By the time Vallejo returned to Sonoma, the Mexican war was over and California was part of the United States, ruled by a military governor.

One published account has it that the Bear Flaggers were sailing from Sonoma to Sacramento when Semple turned to Vallejo and pointed to what is now Benicia, saying something to the effect that that bay would make a good site for a town. Since the Bear Flaggers actually journeyed through what is now Vacaville, the story is undoubtedly untrue. It’s more likely that Semple was searching for business deals and saw the property on one of his later trips from San Francisco to Sacramento.

Semple first approached the Martinez family with the idea of building a town on the south side of the Carquinez Strait, but opposition from Walsh and Frisbe, owners of the land to the east of Martinez, squashed the deal. So, Semple approached Vallejo to buy the land that is now Benicia.

There is no record of what went on in the negotiations between these two hardheaded businessmen, but Vallejo sold the land to Semple for $500 in gold and a promise to name the town after his wife, Francesca. When the Alcalde of Yerba Buena received word that Semple planned to name his new town “Francesca,” he immediately changed the name of his small pueblo to San Francisco. Thus, Semple was left to name his new town Benicia. Later, Francesca Vallejo started referring to herself as Benicia and probably visited the town named after her.

The Feb. 6, 1947 edition of the Californian contained the contents of the agreement between Vallejo and Semple:

“In the town of Sonoma, Upper California, on the twenty-second day of the month of December, in the year eighteen hundred and forty-six, Messrs. Mariano G. Vallejo and Robert Semple, the first being the owner in fee of land known by the name of Soscol, in the Jurisdiction of San Francisco, have agreed upon the following articles:

“1st. That between them, of their free will and accord, will found on the aforesaid land, a city, which shall be called, ‘Francesca,’ commencing the same as soon as possible.

“2nd. Said city to be built on the strait of Carquinez, within the Bay of San Francisco, commencing at a rock situated within said strait, and marked with the initials, ‘R.S. 1846,’ thence extending to the west five miles which shall be the present length of said city, and the breadth one mile from North to South.

“3rd. The title to said land, being now held by Mr. Vallejo its legitimate possessor, he, by this agreement, grants to Mr. Semple in fee, and for his use (en propriedad y uso fructo), one individable half of said five miles of land, with the condition that all of this said land (conpension) shall be dedicated to the building of the said city Francesca.

“4th. As soon as circumstances may require it, there shall be established, at the cost, and on account of the contracting parties, a ferry, to facilitate the quick and easy communication between the two sides of the strait. Also, wharves to expedite the loading and unloading of the vessels which may trade there.

“5th. Semple, on his part, obliges himself to pay alone the costs of the survey and plan of the said place, and to direct personally said operation.

“6th. All the benefits, privileges and advantages which may result from the sale and leasing of lots, wharves, &c. &c., shall be divided equally between the two contracting parties, when and how they may judge convenient.

“7th. As soon as the population shall be prepared for the establishment of PUBLIC SCHOOLS, they will set apart for their use and the embellishment of the city, seventy-five percent of the net products of the FERRIES and WHARVES.

“8th. Messrs. Vallejo and Semple reserve the right of adding to this contract such additional articles as they may deem necessary, which shall not be contradictory to the preceding.

“9th. For the sale or leasing of lots, or any contract, which shall refer to the building and advancement of the city and its population, it shall be necessary that the contracting parties concur, and that both sign such contracts.

“And that the preceding articles shall have due force, and fulfillment; the two contracting parties declare that they bind themselves and their successors, and their property in possession or to be possessed, and both sign before the Justice of the Peace of this jurisdiction, and the witnesses in attendance as the law requires.

“M.G. VALLEJO R. SEMPLE

“VOR. PRUDON, witness. WM. M. SCOTT, witness.

“Done and executed in my presence this 23d day of December, 1846.

“(Signed) JOHN H. NASH, J.P.

“Translated and recorded in the original, and translation on pages 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 & 32, of the land records of the District of San Francisco, Jan. 19th, 1847, by WASHINGTON A. BARTLETT,

“Chief Magistrate of San Francisco.”

Part five: Semple backed by wealthy diplomat

ROBERT SEMPLE, as was and is typical of developers, had no real money of his own. So in seeking to buy the land that would become Benicia, he approached the richest man in California at the time, Thomas Larkin.

Larkin, United States Consul to Mexican California, had extensive land holdings and business connections. With Larkin’s money, Semple ordered in 1847 a survey of his future city to be done by Jasper O’Farrell, who also did the original survey of the city of San Francisco.

With survey in hand, Semple got down to the business of selling lots. In addition to proposed streets and lots, the first survey included a “Military Reservation” to the east of the town.

The “Relinquishment Agreement” was executed so that Larkin could be included in the deal. It was reprinted in the July 10, 1947 edition of the Californian:

“In the town of Sonoma, Upper California, on the eighteenth day of the month of May, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, the following, by mutual and spontaneous consent, was agreed to between Don Mariano G. Valejo [sic] and Robert Semple.

“1st. That making use of the right of retraction which belongs to them, it is their will to annul as they in fact do annul, the contract celebrated between the two on the twenty-second day of December, last year one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, by which the former ceded in favor of the latter the dominion and perpetual and hereditary usufruct of an indivisible half of five miles of land on the estate of Soscol, in the Straits of Carquinez, with the object of founding in said land a city to be called Francisca, as the said contract expresses; which was celebrated in presence of Mr. J.H. Nash, at the time Alcalde of this jurisdiction, and is recorded in the Magistrate’s office of Sonoma, and likewise in that of the Yerba Buena, now San Francisco, at folios 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, and 32, in the month of January, of the present year, being then Magistrate of that jurisdiction Mr. Washington A. Bartlett.

“2nd. That whereas neither of the before-mentioned contracting parties have laid out any expense in the said place, nor sold any lots, nor granted any rights or privileges to any one; neither has any other person directly or indirectly gone to any expense in the said place, which to this day remains still in the same state as it was in, on the said twenty-second day of December, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, both (of the contracting parties) by mutual consent, wish and agree that the said land, referred to in the contract of said date, return to the possession of Don Mariano G. Vallejo, its legitimate and sole owner, with the same rights and privileges which he had to and in it before said contract, which by these presents is declared to be null and void, by both contracting parties retracting spontaneously, freely, without compulsion, deceit, or fraud of any kind, the mutual obligations which they had contracted, and wishing to desist from and renounce, as they in fact do desist from and renounce in their own name and in that of their heirs, administrators or representatives &c., all and every one of the articles of the said contract, without exception.

“In certification and testimony of all which, they signed these presents, on the above date, in the presence of the Alcalde of this jurisdiction, Citizen L. W. Boggs and the undersigned witnesses.

“(Signed,) M. G. VALEJO [sic]

“R. SEMPLE

“(Witness) JACOB P. LEESE, VOR. PRUDON.

“Territory of California, District of Sonoma. Personally appeard [sic] before me the undersigned Alcalde of the Dictrict of Sonoma, Don Mariano G. Vallejo, and Robert Semple, all being personally known to me as the persons whose names are subscribed to the within instrument of writing, and acknowledged the same to be their act and deed, for the purposes therein-mentioned.

“Given under my hand and private seal at the office in Sonoma this 19th day of May, 1847.

“(Signed) LILBURN W. BOGGS.”

The “Deed for Benicia city,” from M.G. Vallejo to Semple and Larkin was executed on May 19, 1847. The Semple deeds were recorded on Dec. 10, 1847, and the Larkin deeds recorded Dec. 18, 1847.

There were no deeds from Semple to Larkin after Semple withdrew from the Benicia land project and there was no land swap between Larkin and Semple for Larkin’s Colusa properties. After Semple’s death in 1854, the remaining Benicia properties that were in Robert Semple’s name became the property of his wife, who in turn sold them.

Part six: A partnership unravels

IN 1886, HISTORIAN Hubert Howe Bancroft wrote these words about the beginning of Benicia:

“Mariano Vallejo’s chief motive was to increase the value of his remaining lands, by promoting the settlement of the northern frontier; and he was willing to dispose of his interest in the proposed town. The earliest original record that I have found is a letter of May 4, 1847, in which Robert Semple writes of Thomas Larkin’s desire to buy the General’s (Vallejo’s) interest, and expresses his approval if the change suits Vallejo. Semple states he is closing up his business and will move his newspaper to Francisca by August at latest.

“Accordingly, on May 18th at Sonoma, Semple deeded back his half of the property to Vallejo. The next day, the 19th, Vallejo deeded his whole property, reserving the right to some town lots, to Semple and Larkin for a nominal consideration of $100.

“Semple transferred his newspaper in May, not to Francisca but to San Francisco, and the Californian issues of May 29th and June 5th contained notices of the proposed town, sale of lots, establishment of a ferry, etc. Meanwhile Semple had gone in person to Francisca to start his ferry and have the town site surveyed by Jasper O’Farrell.

“Doubtless the city founders had counted on deriving an advantage from the resemblance of the name Francisca to San Francisco, against Yerba Buena, a name little known in the outside world. But the dwellers on the peninsula, as we have seen, had checkmated them by refusing in January to permit Yerba Buena to supplant officially the original name. Accordingly the speculators deemed it wise to yield; Semple writes on June 12th from ‘Benicia,’ and after a parting wail in the Californian of the 12th, the change to Benicia is announced in the issue of the 19th.

“In his letter of the 12th to Larkin, Semple says the plan is completed and the lots are numbered; several have been selected by men who propose to build. On June 29th articles of agreement were signed at San Francisco by Semple and Larkin. Lots of even number were to belong to Larkin and odd numbers to Semple; wharves and all privileges equally divided; each to sell or convey his interest without interference by the other; each donates 4 squares for public uses; each gives a lot for ferries, and 4 lots in 100 for town use. Semple returned at once to the strait; and in July Larkin contracted with H.A. Green of Sonoma for lumber, and with Samuel Brown to build 2 two-story wooden houses for $600 and 2 miles of land at the Cotate Rancho.

“The doctor was full of enthusiasm, was delighted at the success of vessels in reaching his port, and had no doubt that Benicia was to be the Pacific metropolis in spite of the lies told at the villages of S.F. and Sonoma. His great trouble was Larkin’s lukewarmness in the cause. It required the most persistent urging to induce L. even to visit the place late in the autumn. That a man in his senses should look out for a few dimes at Monterey and neglect interests worth millions of dollars at Benicia seemed to Semple incomprehensible.

“The doctor’s marriage that Christmas to Maj. Cooper’s daughter did not dampen his zeal. At the end of December, 28 citizens petitioned the governor for a new district to be set off from Sonoma under an alcalde and on Jan. 3, 1848, the governor granted the petition, appointing Stephen Cooper alcalde, and on the same day (!) consulting Alcalde Boggs at Sonoma as to the desirability of the proposed change.

“The boundaries of the Benicia District were: from mouth of Napa River up that stream to head of tide-water, east to top of ridge dividing Napa from Sacramento valleys, northwards along that ridge to northern boundary of Sonoma district, east to Sacramento River, and down that river and Suisun Bay to point of beginning.

“Early in 1848, E.H. Von Pfister began to act as Larkin’s agent. But in May came the gold fever to interrupt for a time Benicia’s progress toward greatness. On May 19th, Semple wrote that in three days not more than two men would be left; on the same day Von Pfister announced that in two months his trade had been only $50, and that he was going to the Sacramento, leaving Larkin’s business in charge of Cooper; and now H.A. Green came at last to work on long-delayed houses, actually completing one of them!

“Semple remained, for his ferry and transportation business became immensely profitable. The doctor promptly realized that the discovery of gold, notwithstanding its temporary effects, was to be the making of Benicia and a death-blow to its rival, San Francisco. All that was needed was to establish a wholesale house, obtain for ships the privilege of discharging their cargoes, if not of paying duties, at the strait, and induce one or two prominent shippers to make use of the privilege.

“Scores of traders came to Benicia from the mines, anxious to buy there and avoid the dangers and delays of a trip to San Francisco. If Larkin would only see his opportunity! But the Monterey capitalist was apathetic, blind to his opportunities, as his partner thought. Exhortations, entreaties, and even threats seem to have had but little effect on him. Semple from July to December tried to make him understand that he was years behind the times, that he was by no means the ‘live go-ahead Yankee’ for whom Semple thought he had exchanged Vallejo, that he must wake up.

“On July 31st he threatened if Larkin did not come and go to work by Aug. 20th, to having nothing more to do with him. In December his indignation knew no bounds, when he learned that Larkin was thinking of erecting a row of buildings in Yerba Buena! This he declared the hardest blow yet aimed at Benicia, worse than all the lies that had been told, since it showed that the chief owner had no confidence in the new town. ‘For God’s sake, name a price at which you will sell out,’ he writes, and offered $25,000 for Larkin’s interest. Of actual progress in the last half of 1848 we have no definite information; but Bethuel Phelps finally became a partner with Semple and Larkin; and several years elapsed, as we shall see, before Benicia’s dreams of metropolitan greatness came to an end.”

Part seven: U.S. moves in; Gen. Vallejo stands ground

UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES entered California as early as 1845 with the Fremont Expedition. With the onset of the Mexican War in 1846, U.S. Navy and Army troops occupied the territory and established bases of operation. One such base was the Presidio of San Francisco and from there, Army and Navy officials searched the area of the San Francisco Bay for appropriate locations for other bases.

The city of San Francisco was thought to be incapable of sustaining a large Army site because of the high price of land and the vulnerability of the peninsula to invasion. The site at Benicia was decided upon as early as 1847 because of its free land and strategic location on the Carquinez Strait, which linked the Bay to the California interior.

While cavalry and infantry units populated the land at “Benicia Point” as early as 1847, Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Silas E. Casey of the 2nd U.S. Infantry became the founder and first commandant of the Army outpost when he founded “the post at Point near Benicia” on April 30, 1849. At the same time, a quartermaster depot was established and wooden quarters for both infantry and cavalry units were constructed.

From the very beginning, the cavalry post, quartermaster depot, and arsenal were not a part of the city of Benicia. The land was purchased directly from Vallejo, Semple, Larkin, and Bethuel Phelps and appears as a “Military Reservation” on the first survey. During the 116 years they co-existed, the city never made an attempt to incorporate the Arsenal property into the city boundaries. That issue would have to be resolved when the Arsenal closed in the mid-1960s.

The Benicia Arsenal was formally established between April 19 and April 25, 1851, by Brevet Captain Charles P. Stone. The infantry barracks, quartermaster depot, and arsenal would share the same location but operate semi-independently until 1924, when they were united under one command by General John Pershing.

Lacking adequate funding and considering the poor quality of bricks in California at the time, to construct the Arsenal Capt. Stone elected to use local sandstone quarried on the Arsenal grounds and redwood transported by ship from the Marin headlands. Over the next nine years, a guardhouse, two warehouses, a hospital, five magazines, a wharf, and a fortress-like warehouse were constructed of locally quarried sandstone.

One of the reasons for the lack of funding from Washington, Stone discovered, was concern on the part of the War Department that the title to the Arsenal property was not secure. Title to the land occupied by the barracks and arsenal was recorded in phases:

1. Deed from Robert Semple and wife and others (Larkin), dated April 16, 1849, and recorded July 5, 1949, in book C, pages 295-296, of records by L.W. Boggs, Alcade for Sonoma. Also recorded in Benicia, November 19, 1849, in book A, pages 460-461, of the records of Solano County.

2. Deed of release from Mariano G. Vallejo, dated December 27, 1854, not recorded.

3. Deed of release from Thomas O. Larkin, dated December 30, 1854, and recorded January 24, 1855 in book I, page 347, of the deed records of Solano County.

4. Deed of release from Bethuel Phelps, dated January 20, 1855, and recorded January 20, 1855 in book H, pages 340-341, of the records of Solano County.

In addition, an act of the California Legislature approved on March 9, 1897, ceded the title to land below the high-water line to the Army to be used in trust as long as the Arsenal occupied the land.

Title to land was the key battle of 19th century California — that, and water. With the end of the Mexican War that had been deliberately provoked by President Polk to gain what would become the southwestern United States, Mexico and the U.S. finalized the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo — part of which was a clause recognizing legitimate land claims in the former Mexican lands. Congress established a land commission to judge the legitimacy of each claim, and Mariano Vallejo’s Rancho Suscol became Land case 318ND.

Vallejo petitioned the Land Commission in San Francisco by submitting certified and translated copies of the following documents:

1. A handwritten map.

2. A colonization grant to Vallejo dated March 15, 1843, signed by Governor Micheltorena and countersigned by Francisco Arce as secretary ad interim.

3. Another grant dated June 19, 1844, showing that Vallejo had requested the purchase of the tract for the sum of $5,000, that the governor had sold it to him for that sum and received payment, and declaring him to be the owner of the land without restriction. This paper also purported to be signed and countersigned by Micheltorena and Arce.

4. A certificate, dated December 26, 1845, and signed by Pio Pico as governor and attested by Jose Maria Covarrubias, setting forth that both above-mentioned grants had been approved by the Departmental Assembly on September 26, 1845.

5. A letter dated March 16, 1843, addressed to Colonel D. Guadalupe Vallejo, military commandant of the line from Santa Juez to Sonoma and signed by Micheltorena and sealed with the seal of the Departmental Government. This letter purported to document that the Rancho Nacional Suscol was transferred from the Mexican government to Vallejo in trade for goods and silver.

6. Letters and documents supporting the claim and documenting that Vallejo was using the land.

The Land Commission certified Vallejo’s claim in 1855. Then came the squatters. As hordes of Americans rushed into the state to work the mines — and work the miners — they settled on lands that were the property of the Californios, including Vallejo. Many of the Californios, Vallejo included, had proved the ownership of the land before the land commission and took steps to eject the squatters. But the squatters had important allies in the U.S. government who saw the vast tracts of land owned by the Californios as potential farms and cities.

Jim Lessenger is a docent at the Benicia Historical Museum and the author, most recently, of “Commanding Officer’s Quarters of the Benicia Arsenal.”