The Civil War Essay -- American History

The Civil War When the Land Commission turned down Naglee and Pico’s application in 1852, Henry Naglee looked to another Mexican-American War veteran for help. Henry Wager Halleck (1815–1872) had graduated from West Point in 1839. During the conflict, the Army assigned Lieutenant Halleck to duty in California. Halleck spent several months building fortifications in Alta California before he saw action at Mazatlà ¡n. After the war, he returned to California to serve as aide-de-camp to General Bennett C. Riley (1787–1853), the last military governor-general of occupied California. Riley, needing a military secretary of state, appointed Halleck. The station allowed Halleck to be the governor’s representative to the 1849 constitutional convention at Monterey. Halleck became the document’s principal author. Because of his political accomplishments, Halleck was soon practicing law in addition to fulfilling his military duties. His law firm at San Francisco, HALLECK, PEACHY & BILLINGS, would eventually successfully represent most of California’s land grant holders, including Pico and Naglee, in their cases before the Federal Court. Captain Halleck success as a lawyer prompted him to resign his Army commission in 1854. Halleck had a profound interest in early California history. While still at Monterey, he began to gather Spanish-era documents, both originals and transcripts, which eventually numbered several thousand pages. His representation of the land grant holders brought many Mexican-era documents into his possession. While his â€Å"looting† of the provincial archives was possibly illegal, his collecting was fortunate for modern historians. In 1858, the Federal Archives Commission deposited the provincial archives’ remaining contents i... ...yt—lists Miss Ringgold as George’s daughter. Miss Ringgold’s birth date is also uncertain. Several sources say she was born in 1840. The index to the Naglee family papers at Bancroft Library place her birth about 1846. The 1860 Census shows Miss Ringgold—listed as living in George Ringgold’s San Francisco household—as eighteen, placing her birth in 1842. The identity of Miss Ringgold’s mother is also uncertain. George Ringgold’s wife, as shown by the 1860 Census, was Mary Condy Ringgold (1829–1892). Too young to be Miss Ringgold’s mother, she met and married George Ringgold while he was stationed in Charleston after 1850. Miss Ringgold was, most likely, the product of an earlier marriage. George Ringgold left the Army in 1837 to try his hand at other endeavors. Possibly bereaved, he returned to Washington City from Illinois in 1842 and rejoined the Army in 1846.