FORE MORE THAN THREE DECADES the stained-glass front windows of the Union Hotel on First Street stood admired but mainly ignored. In the last month controversy arose regarding the depiction of the Confederate flag and one of windows. In a statement to political correctness, the window is now covered by an American flag.

As a work of art, the window depicting the Confederate flag has done what a good work of art should do — i.e., appeal to the emotions and speak to the human condition. The window has sparked conversation and thought, therefore achieving its function as more than mere decoration. What few know is that the crossed American and Confederate flags represent a very contentious and difficult time in Benicia’s history.

In 1861, Benicia was at the center of a fight over slavery and secession. The debate over slavery was no mere academic exercise in Benicia. Within the city’s borders resided several slaves. On a ranch near Cordelia, about a dozen slaves were housed to be leased for use in the mines or farms. Slavery was a business in Benicia, and in California. Scholars have estimated that California had over 1,000 slaves at the start of the Civil War.

Benicia was also a stop on California’s Underground Railroad. White abolitionists, led by Rev. Thomas Starr King, and black abolitionists, led by Mary Ellen Pleasant, ran an active and efficient Underground Railroad that passed through Benicia from the mines in Gold Country and on to San Francisco. There are no records as to how many slaves were freed, but there are newspaper accounts of Rev. King riding into camps and freeing slaves at gunpoint and Pleasant walking the wharves of San Francisco telling newly arrived slaves that they were free in California.

Also living in Benicia were freed and escaped slaves. Among the freed slaves was Adam Willis, former property of Singleton Vaughn, whose articles of manumission — freedom papers — are on file in the property records of the Solano County archives.

Secession, too, was not an idle topic in Benicia in 1861. Starting in 1846, Southern businessmen and politicians flowed into the state. They formed an alliance among themselves that they called “The Chivalry” or the “Chivs.” The Chivs worked politically to fill all three branches of state and county governments with men who either owned slaves or supported slavery. Many supported secession from the Union to either join the Confederacy or start their own pro-slavery country.

Two events stopped the Chivs and the Confederacy from taking control of the state. The first was the election of Leland Stanford as governor. Running with the newly organized Republican Party in opposition to secession and slavery, he won by a narrow margin and took firm control of the executive branch. The second was an action by Abraham Lincoln. Literally within minutes of taking the oath of office, Lincoln dispatched Army Colonel E. D. Baker to relieve Gen. Johnston, a pro-secession and pro-slavery general who was in command of the California Army District. When Col. Baker arrived in California and assumed command, he immediately sent armed troops from San Francisco to reinforce the garrison at the Benicia Arsenal. Specifically, the very building where the Benicia Historical Museum now resides was guarded by troops to keep the munitions and arms within from falling into Confederate hands.

In Benicia the fight over slavery and secession came to a head after news of the bombing of Fort Sumter, S.C., was delivered to California by Pony Express. That Sunday, Sylvester Woodbridge, in a vain and misguided attempt to soothe the situation, gave a sermon where he called for God to provide guidance and strength to the leaders of both the Confederate and Union governments. Yelling and bitter fist-waving immediately erupted from the congregation. The pro-secessionists were upset that an old-school Presbyterian would call for God’s intervention to help the Union, and the anti-secessionists were fiercely angry that their minister would call for divine guidance for rebels and slavers. Woodbridge was the first minister of the first Protestant church in California, located where the main fire station now stands on Military. He saw his congregation disintegrate literally before his eyes. The congregation is said to have carried their fight outdoors.

Within weeks, casualty lists from the battle of Bull Run started appearing in California newspapers and it was obvious to Californians that this was no mere political squabble. As the casualty lists lengthened, Leland Stanford and his Republican allies became stronger and the Chivs disintegrated into political irrelevance. Woodbridge became a minister to Union troops and gave impressive eulogies for dead soldiers. Nevertheless, the Benicia Presbyterian Church never recovered and Woodbridge decamped to San Francisco in 1868. That year his church was disassembled and used to build the Congregational Church which still stands on L Street and is now an artist’s studio.

The Benicia Arsenal became the central logistics point for the California Volunteers during the Civil War. Six regiments of infantry, three regiments of cavalry, one battalion of native cavalry and one battalion of mountaineers came through the Arsenal for equipment, training and pay. The Arsenal and Benicia literally were the center of Union activities on the West Coast during the war.

If anybody would like to read more about this interesting page in Benicia history, they are referred to my monograph in the most recent Solano Historian titled “Preaching politics from the pulpit: Rev. Sylvester Woodbridge and the demise of the first Protestant church in California.”

Dr. Jim Lessenger is a historian and author who lives in Benicia. This article was written as a freelance reporter for The Herald and has no connection with any organizations for which he volunteers.

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