Sam Kee Laundry

There is an unprepossessing building in Napa, located at 1245 Main street, which has a rather checkered history. Originally built as the Pfeiffer Building in 1875, it is the oldest commercial and oldest stone building in the city of Napa. It has been part of a brewery, a boarding house and alleged bordello, a saloon, a laundry involved in a famous series of court cases, a meat market and deli, and most recently, a wine tasting bar.

The Pfieffer Building was built by Phillip Pfeiffer and was part of Barth’s Bavarian Brewery, arguably the first brewery in Napa. By 1901, it housed the “Old Stone Saloon” and in 1937, Sam Kee moved his laundry business into the building. The building housed the Sam Kee laundry until 1977, when the business, then owned by Bik Wong, closed its doors for good, the last remnant of a Chinatown and Chinese laundries in Napa. It then housed Andrews Meat Market and Deli until 2002 when Vintner’s Collective moved in. The building was heavily damaged in the 2014 Earthquake and rebuilt.

While all of this is important, Sam Kee and his business were very important in United States legal history. In the mid 1800s, Chinese immigrants to the United States were generally well received. There was a labor shortage, especially in California and the Chinese who came here filled the gap. This was not to last long. Competition in the Gold Fields and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, meant that there were thousands of young Chinese men who were willing to work for lower wages than Americans. This led to a rapid rise in anti-Chinese discrimination, especially in California and the western states. After California passed a series of anti-Chinese laws, many of which were soon found unconstitutional, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which forbid any immigration from China and forbade citizenship to Chinese immigrants. This was a stark reversal of the Burlingame Treaty of thirty tears earlier which allowed Chinese people to immigrate freely to the United States.

In the wake of the Chinese Exclusion Act, many cities and towns began to pass “nuisance” laws, that while being non-discriminatory on their face, were applied almost exclusively to the Chinese residents of the city or town. Napa was one of these. In 1887, Sam Kee was arrested and fined for operating a “public laundry” within the city of Napa. A recently enacted municipal ordinance declared that public laundries were a “nuisance” and the operator would be fined 100 dollars or put in jail for refusal to pay the fine, “not to exceed one day for each dollar of the fine”. Sam Kee refused to pay the fine and was subsequently jailed. He then asked the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals for a Writ of Habeus Corpus. Habeus Corpus was granted in In Re Sam Kee, 31 F. 680 (9th Cir. 1887) because the US Supreme Court had recently decided Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 6 S. Ct. 1064 (1886) and the Ninth Circuit had previously decided The Stockton Laundry Case, 26 F. 611 (9th Cir. 1886). Both of these cases declared “nuisance laws” in violation of the 14^th Amendment of the United States when disproportionately applied to Chinese businesses.

In the opinion of the court, it was noted that the laundry had been operating in Napa for twenty years and that Sam Kee had been its owner for eight. Thus, the building Phillip Pfeiffer had built in 1875 housed a business not only with a long history in Napa, but also one that played a small part in ending discrimination against Chinese. It wouldn’t be until 1943 that the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed, but the striking of “nuisance laws” was a first step.

GETTING THERE: From 414 Mason Street: Take Interstate 80 East toward Sacramento and then take Exit 33 onto CA-37W; then take Exit 19 onto CA-29N toward Napa. Take CA-221N and then stay on Soscol Avenue. Follow Soscol Avenue to Clinton Street. Turn left on Clinton Street and the building will be four blocks up on the left hand side.

 

Petaluma Adobe

 

Located in the City of Petaluma on the banks of Adobe Creek sits the remains of the largest privately owned rancho in Northern California, Rancho Petaluma. The Petaluma River Valley had long been home of the Coast Miwok. The valley had a mild climate, abundant fresh water and wildlife, fertile soil and it’s proximity to the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean made the valley an ideal place for the Coast Miwok to settle. For centuries before European contact, the Coast Miwok lived in this resource rich area.

The establishment of Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma in 1823, forever changed the lives of the Coast Miwok in the area. Villages were emptied and the indigenous people became part of the mission system. Yet, the area north of San Francisco was sparsely populated for some time. That began to change with the establishment of Fort Ross, the Russian outpost on the coast in 1812. When Mexico became independent of Spain in 1821, foreign trade was tolerated and, in some cases, encouraged. However the new Mexican Republic became very wary of “foreign influence”. The passage of the Decree for the Secularization off the Missions of California by the Congress of the First Mexican Republic in 1833 was an attempt to lessen the Spanish influence of the mission system.

In 1834, Governor Jose Figueroa ordered Mariano G. Vallejo, the Commandant of the Presidio of San Francisco, to move north, secularize the mission of San Francisco de Solano in Sonoma, and establish a military presence north of San Francisco in order to counter Russian expansion from Fort Ross. Figueroa also granted Vallejo the initial 44,000 acres of what would become Rancho de Petaluma; partially as a reward for his service and partially to provide a means of support for the military presence north of San Francisco Bay.

Vallejo began construction on what would become his Petaluma Adobe in 1836. Rather than have numerous small building scattered over the rancho lands, Vallejo decided to build one large building to house workshops and living quarters. Construction, expansion and improvement continued over the next ten years and the Petaluma Adobe became the largest privately owned adobe building in California. At its height, Rancho Petaluma employed 600-2000 laborers including Californios, local Miwok, Hawaiians, and others. The primary economic activity was cattle ranching, but there was also sheep ranching, grain farming, a grist mill, a blacksmith’s shop, harvesting and weaving of wool, and candle making.

With the Bear Flag Revolt and the Mexican American War, the Rancho Petaluma became less and less profitable. General Vallejo sold and subdivided much of the land and in 1857 sold the remaining land and the building to William Whiteside. In 1859, Whiteside deeded the property to local attorney, William D. Bliss. In 1910, the Bliss family wanted to donate the adobe and seven acres of property to the City of Petaluma to be used as a public park. Petaluma Parlor #27 acquired the property in March of 1910 and maintained it until 1951 when it was deeded to the state.

The Adobe currently is in need of more restoration and it is open to the public. Various rooms hold authentic artifacts to illustrate what life was like during the Ranch Era. The Park hosts various school and living history groups during the year.

Getting there: From San Francisco: Take US 101N to Exit 472B to CA-116 East. Follow CA-116 East to the entrance to the park.

For further information please contact: Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park

3325 Adobe Road Petaluma, California 94954

(707) 762-4871

Oakland Museum of California

 

  

  Over two years ago, when the lock-downs for the COVID-19 pandemic began, I wrote a column naming several museums and historic landmarks around the state which had online exhibitions, virtual tours and other online resources for people to visit from the safety of their homes. Admittedly, most online museum tours, exhibitions, or galleries simply not the same as physically visiting the place and viewing the items. One of the museums which I listed was the Oakland Museum of California, which has a large part of many of its collections available for online perusal. The Oakland Museum is unique in that it showcases the natural history, history, and art of our beloved state, often with a focus on the interaction of people in California and groups who have been underrepresented in the “standard” historical narrative.

    The Oakland Museum was created by amalgamating three separate museums, the Oakland Public Museum, the Oakland Art Gallery, and the Snow Museum of Natural History. Each of these museums had a focus upon one of three areas, California History, California Art, and California’s Natural History so it seemed natural to combine the three museums into one. The eventual merger of the three museums began in 1954 when the boards of the three organizations formed a non-profit to merge the institutions into one. In 1961, the voters authorized a bond issue to build a new home for the combined museum and, in 1969, the museum opened its doors. Created during the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement, and the anti-Viet Nam War protests, the new museum’s goal was to be more inclusive, more “a people’s museum”, more interactive, and more “open”. This approach was not without controversy and still guides the museum’s overall mission to this day.

    After you enter the museum, I suggest that you go to the California History Gallery first. There you will find a number of displays telling the story of our state from the indigenous people, to first contact, to the Spanish Era, the Mexican Era, the Gold Rush, the coming of the railroads, the growth of the movie industry, petroleum, and agriculture, to the growth of the electronics and technology industry and beyond. Of special interest are the exhibits on the contact between the indigenous peoples and the early Spanish, the Gold Rush and the effects of the railroads. In each of these exhibits, the curators do an excellent job of not only presenting the history but of telling of the interaction between groups and cultures, and how that created the society in which we live.

    Next is the Natural History Gallery. Here the curator has decided to begin with the physical geography of California and then the rest of the collection is divided by geographic area. There are exhibits on coastal regions, the Sierra Nevada, the Central Valley, the deserts, the Bay Area and even the Sierra Buttes. One of the highlights, for me at least, was an exhibit on what happened to the oaks which gave Oakland its name and how their fate was unplanned, unforeseen, and serves as a cautionary tale for environmental preservation.

    Finally, there is the California Art Gallery. This can be considered, alongside the History Gallery, the “gem” of the museum. First, the museum is the repository of the Dorothea Lange archive and has a display of many of her photographs. It is also home to Albert Bierstadt’s 1868 painting of the Yosemite Valley, William Keith’s 1878 painting of the King’s River Valley, and Henry Raschen’s “California Miner with a Pack Horse”. There is also an exhibition on Edith Heath and Heath Ceramics, a retrospective on Hung Liu, and works from many contemporary artists and craftspeople. What is displayed in the gallery is but a fraction of the museum’s holdings and the staff rotates exhibits on a regular basis.

    So, now for the important items. The cost to enter the museum is $16.00 per adult 18 years of age or older. For Seniors, 65 and older the cost is $11.00. Youths between the ages of 13-17 pay just $7.00 and Children 12 years of age and younger are free. There is an additional $5.00 charge for any “special exhibitions”. The Museum is currently open Wednesdays through Sundays 11:00-5:00 with extended hours on Fridays until 9:00 pm. It is closed on various holidays and public observances. Please check the museum’s website at: https://museumca.org/ for further information and to purchase tickets. Be advised that the museum still requires masks, proof of vaccination, and social distancing at this time.

Getting There: The Oakland Museum of California is easily reached by BART. The station nearest the museum is Lake Merritt which is on the Orange Line. If you take BART. You exit the station and walk one block east on Oak Street from 9^th to 10^th Street. The Museum’s address is 1000 Oak Street.

If you are driving from 414 Mason Street: Cross the Bay Bridge and take 580 East to 980 West/Downtown Oakland. Take the Jackson Street exit; you will be on 5th Street. Continue straight on 5th Street to the third stoplight (Oak Street). Turn left and continue on Oak to 10th Street.

The OMCA garage is located at 1000 Oak St. with entrances on Oak and 12th Streets. Parking fees are $5 per hour with an early-bird discounted flat rate of $20 (in before 10 am, out before 5 pm). Those parking before 8 am and leaving before 10 am will pay the regular incremental rate.

The Museum has a café and a gift shop.

Fortuna

 

 On the northeast bank of the Eel River, four and one half hours north of San Francisco lies the city of Fortuna. It is the third largest city in Humboldt County, the home to the annual Fortuna Rodeo and several other events. Before European settlement, the area where Fortuna is today was the home of members of the Wiyot Tribe, who named the area Vutsuwitk Da’l, after a legend where a young woman cooked eels for a young man with whom she was in love and threw the ashes of her cooking fire into the river where Fortuna now sits.

Fortuna was founded in 1874, and originally named “Slide” for a large earth slide nearby. In 1875, the town was called “Springville” after the construction of the Springville Lumber Mill and the numerous natural springs in the area. Because there was already another “Springville” in California, the post office, which opened in 1876 was named “Slide”, the original name of the town. In 1884, the citizens of the town petitioned the state legislature to change the name of the town to “Fortuna” after the Spanish word for “fortune” and in 1888, the petition was granted.

For years, the primary industries in Fortuna were lumber, ranching, fishing and farming. While, farming and ranching are still large industries in the area, fishing and lumber have been on the decline. Today, Fortuna is still dependent on ranching and farming but tourism is becoming more and more important too. The city hosts several events throughout the year from the Daffodil Festival in March, the Fortuna Rodeo and Redwood AutoXpo in July, the Apple Harvest Festival in October to the Lighted Parade in December, there is always something going on in or near Fortuna.

Nearby are the Humboldt Redwoods, Richardson Grove, and Grizzly Creek State parks, all of which preserve old growth redwood trees. Humboldt Redwoods State Park is home to the famed “Avenue of the Giants”. It and Grizzly Creek State Park were the forest moon of Endor in Return of the Jedi. In Fortuna itself is Rohner Park, home to the Fortuna Rodeo Grounds and the Depot Museum. The museum, housed in the former Northwestern Pacific Depot, built in 1889 and relocated to its present location in 1974, the museum has several displays tracing Fortuna’s history from the Native Wiyot people to the present era. It also houses the archive of the Humboldt Beacon newspaper, providing a valuable research collection for those who are interested. The museum is open from 12:00 pm – 4:30 pm Thursday through Sunday, September through May and daily in June through August. It is best to call the museum to make sure that it is open and staffed. (707) 725-7645. The museum is located at 3 Park Street, Fortuna, CA.

GETTING THERE: From 414 Mason Street, Get on US 101 N and drive north for approximately 4 hours, take exit 668 to 12^th Street in Fortuna. Turn right onto Main Street and then Left onto Park Street. The Museum will be on your right.

Since you may wish to spend the night in Fortuna, I can recommend the Redwood Riverwalk Hotel, 1859 Alamar Way in Fortuna. (707) 725-5500 and I can also suggest the Double D Steakhouse for dinner. 320 Main Street, (707) 725-3700.

Fort Ross Chapel

 

From the early 1600’s on, many European nations looked to “New World” as a potential source of wealth. The Empire of Russia began it’s colonization efforts in the 1741when Vitus Bering sighted the mainland of Alaska and claimed it for Russia. The first permanent Russian settlement in North America was founded on Kodiak Island in 1784. n 1808, the Russian-American Company established it’s headquarters, named New Archangel, on Sitka Island and looked to expand south. In 1812, Fort Ross was originally established to provide food for the Russian-American Company settlement in New Archangel and farming efforts never met demand.

Located in the stockade a small Russian Orthodox Chapel was built in the 1820’s to serve the spiritual needs of the Russian settlers and the native Kashaya Pomo, some of whom converted to Orthodoxy. For 30 years, the outpost remained under the control of the Russian American Company. In 1841, the Company decided to sell Fort Ross. The poor farming and the declining sea otter population made the Fort an economic drain on the Company. The Fort was sold to Captain John Sutter who sent John Bidwell to remove several buildings and moveable goods to his fort in the Sacramento Valley. On January 1, 1842, the Russian-American flag was lowered at Fort Ross and the remaining 100 Russian settlers set sail from Bodega Bay for Sitka.

Eventually, the Fort was sold to George W. Call in 1873 who established the 8,000 acre Call Ranch and ran a successful ranch and lumber business. Many of the Fort’s buildings were put to use, one as a hotel and saloon and another as a dance hall. The chapel was used for weddings and as a barn. In 1903, George Call sold 2.5 acres including the Fort to the California State Landmarks Commission. The Fort was deeded to the state in March of 1906. On April 18, 1906, the earthquake damaged the fort and destroyed the Chapel. Between 1916 and 1918, the Chapel was rebuilt. In 1925, the Chapel began to be used for Orthodox religious services for the first time since 1841 and on September 23, 1928 the Chapel was dedicated by the Historic Landmarks Committee of the Native Sons of the Golden West. The plaque reads:

“This Chapel was part of a settlement founded by the Russians in 1812 and known as Fort Ross. The Fort was in the form of a quadrangle, about 300 feet square, inclosed by a redwood wall, with two block-houses at opposite corners. Fort Ross contained fifty-nine buildings, nine of which, including this Chapel, were within the inclosure. The Russians withdrew in 1841, selling their improvements and stock to John A. Sutter of Sutter’s Fort. Property acquired by the State of California in 1906. Tablet placed by Historic Landmarks Committee, Native Sons of The Golden West, 1928”

The Chapel was granted National Historic Landmark status on October 8, 1969. On October 5, 1970, the Chapel was completely destroyed by an accidental fire.  It was taken off the list of National Historic Landmarks due to its destruction on December 7, 1971 and was reconstructed in 1973. The Calls owned and lived at the remainder of their ranch until 1973. The Chapel is still used for Orthodox services twice a year on July 4 and Memorial Day and is known as Holy Trinity Chapel.

Rosie The Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park

 

 

   World War Two is the event which changed the World, the United States and California forever. Before the War, California was, and in many places still is, an agricultural powerhouse; but the War made the Golden State an industrial one as well. As recently as 2018, manufacturing accounted for 10.67% of the state’s economic output worth $316.76 billion dollars. As early as the 1850’s, there was manufacturing in California, but it was the need for war materiel that accounted for the rapid expansion of the industrial sector of the state’s economy. With this growth came the need for workers, and millions came to the shipyards, factories, and manufacturing plants located in California, leaving a legacy of demographic diversity which exists today.

    The San Francisco Bay Area was transformed, seemingly overnight. Thousands of workers flooded the area filling jobs in the shipyards and factories which ran twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week to meet the demands of the government for war materiel. One of the towns most heavily affected was Richmond. In 1930, Ford built a 500,000 square foot assembly plant in Richmond, which became the largest assembly plant built on the West Coast at that time. Production at the plant began in 1931 and Ford became the third largest employer in Richmond after Standard Oil and the Santa Fe Railroad. With the United States entry into World War Two, the Office of War Production issued an order that as of February 2, 1942 all production of civilian automobiles and light trucks would end for the duration of the war. In 1940, Henry J. Kaiser established the first of his four shipyards in Richmond which again provided employment for the citizens of Richmond and the surrounding area.

    During the war, the Ford Assembly plant became the “Richmond Tank Depot”, one of only three in the country, and 49,359 jeeps and 90,000 other vehicles were assembled there. The Kaiser Richmond shipyards produced 747 Liberty ships. After the war, the shipyards were shut down, however, the changes made to Richmond were permanent. Kaiser and others needed workers for thir plants so they recruited African-Americans and women to work as many of their male and Caucasian workers went into military service. Housing was built for the influx of new workers and cities boomed. Kaiser set up a health care system for his workers that became Kaiser Permanente Health Care, one of the country’s largest HMOs.

    The Ford Assembly Plant still stands and has been repurposed. In the oil building of the plant is the Rosie The Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park Visitor Center. In the Visitor Center is a small museum dedicated to the role of women in war production and how World War Two resulted in huge demographic shifts in the country and in the Bay Area. The park itself consists of twenty three sites, buildings and markers which tell the story and legacy of the war effort in the Bay Area and beyond. From the large scale employment of women and African-Americans, which led to the women’s rights and civil rights movements of the 1950’s to today to the sacrifices that the people at home made to support the war effort, to the institutions which were started during the war and continue today, the park does preserve and present the transformation of California and the country as a whole.

    Highlights of the park include the Ford Assembly Plant, which today houses several businesses including Mountain Hardware, the Rosie The Riveter Memorial located in Marina Bay Park on land that was the former Richmond Shipyard #2, two former wartime housing developments, Atchison and Nystrom Villages, the Nystrom School, the SS Red Oak Victory, the Cafeteria, Rigger’s Loft and the General Warehouse.

GETTING THERE: From 414 Mason Street, take I-80 East toward Sacramento. From I-80 East, take exit 13B, on the right, for I-580 West toward Richmond/San Rafael. From I-580 West take exit 9B to Cutting Boulevard. Turn right on Cutting Boulevard. Take the first right onto Harbour Way South. Stay on Harbour Way South until you see the National Park sign. Turn into the parking area and go to the back of the Ford Plant. Turn right and follow the access road to the Visitor Center. The Visitor Center is open from 10 am to 5 pm all year with the exception of New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: The Park’s website is https://www.nps.gov/rori/index.htm. The Park’s mailing address is 1414 Harbour Way South, Suite 3000, Richmond, CA 94804. The phone number is: 510-232-5050

Broderick-Terry Duel

 

  

  Dueling has been a part of the human experience since at least the Middle Ages if not before. Starting as the medieval trial by combat, dueling as a method to establish the guilt or innocence of a person or to defend their, or another party’s “honor”, has a long and checkered history. One of the earliest recorded trials by combat occurred in 630 in the Kingdom of the Lombards in Northern Italy. Trial by combat was first sanctioned in France by Louis the Pious in 803, and in the Holy Roman Empire by Otto The Great in 967. It had long existed in Saxon, Burgundian, Frankish, and Lombard legal codes and well as Irish Brehon law.

    Beginning in the 1100’s, trial by combat was gradually replaced by trial by jury and the two coexisted for some time. In 1215, article 29 of the Magna Carta guaranteed the right to a trial by jury in England, yet the last judicial combats were fought long after. France’s last trial by combat was in 1386, Italy had trial by combat as late as 1560, and it wasn’t until 1819 that Great Britain abolished wager by battle. By the 17th century, trial by combat was a relic of a more “superstitious and barbarous time” to paraphrase Edmund Burke.

    Dueling to settle private disputes and “affairs of honor” had always been considered quasi-legal at best, even if it was not directly outlawed. Here in what would become the United States, the first duel was fought in 1621 in Massachusetts Bay, not long after the founding of the colony. The idea of a duel resolve alleged slights and insults had become ingrained in European upper middle class and aristocratic culture for some time, but here in the United States, it took on a new dimension. Not only was dueling a method to settle “affairs of honor” but often political disputes were resolved via the duel. The most famous of these was the duel in which Vice-President Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton at Weehawken on July 11, 1804, which later was immortalized in a famous “Got Milk” commercial. There were others, including a duel between Button Gwinnett, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Lachlan McIntosh in 1777, in which Gwinnett was fatally wounded; a duel in 1806 between future president Andrew Jackson and Charles Dickinson, Dickinson was killed and Jackson became the only US president to have killed a man in a duel; a duel in 1820 between Stephen Decatur and James Barron, in which Decatur, hero of the Wars against the Barbary Pirates and the War of 1812, was killed, and a duel between Henry Clay and John Randolph of Roanoake in 1826 among others.

    Here in California, the most famous and the last “notable duel in the United States”, took place between Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court David S. Terry and US Senator David C. Broderick on September 13, 1859 near Lake Merced, just outside of San Francisco. This duel, which for all intents and purposes was the last political duel in the United States would have consequences not just for California, but for the United States as a whole.

    David C. Broderick was born in Washington DC in 1820. He was the son of an Irish stonecutter who immigrated to the United States to work on the US Capitol building. In 1823, Broderick’s parents moved to New York City and after attending public school, the young Broderick became involved in politics joining the Democratic Party and becoming active in the Tammany Society. In 1846 he was the Democratic Candidate for New York’s 5th congressional district and lost. Broderick headed west in 1849 and 1850 found him in San Francisco where he worked as an assayer and smelter of gold. He reportedly also minted ten dollar gold coins which contained only eight dollars worth of gold, keeping the difference to finance his political aspirations.

    Broderick quickly became involved in the nascent Democratic Party in California, serving as a state Senator from 1850 to 1852 and as the Acting Lieutenant Governor from 1851 to 1852. He was then elected United States Senator from California and served from 1857 until his death in 1859. While he was active in politics in California, Broderick was aligned with the “Free Soil”, anti-slavery faction of the Democratic Party. He also brought Tammany Hall style corruption to San Francisco and while he was acting Lieutenant Governor, he was San Francisco’s political boss.

    David S. Terry was born in 1823 in Kentucky and in 1831 moved to Texas and then California in 1849. Terry read law while in California, was admitted to the bar, and then became active in Democratic Party politics. In 1855 Terry became involved in his first high profile case, representing Maria Encarnacion Ortega de Sanchez who was being cheated out of the proceeds from the operation and partial sale of Rancho Llano de Tesquisquita and Rancho Lomerias Muertas, two land grands totaling over 49,000 acres that she had inherited from her husband. Also in August, 1855, Terry was elected to finish the remaining term of California Supreme Court Justice Alexander Well, who died suddenly and was reelected to a full term in November. In 1857, he was appointed Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court. Terry was a political ally of Broderick even though Terry was a member of the pro-slavery faction of the California Democratic Party.

    In 1856, Terry stabbed Sterling Hopkins, a member of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance. He was released by the committee. In 1859, Terry sought another term on the state Supreme Court but the state Democratic Party nominated Warner Cope instead. Terry blamed is former friend and ally Broderick for failing to secure the nomination. He then proceeded to make some very caustic remarks about Broderick, which led to the duel.

    Broderick and Terry met to fight their duel in a ravine, just south of Lake Merced. Broderick’s pistol discharged early and Terry fired his at the Senator. At first, Terry thought that he had only wounded Broderick, but Broderick died three days later at the home of Leonidas Haskell, which still stands as Quarters 3 in Fort Mason. Terry was charged with murder but acquitted in 1860. He then moved to Texas and joined the 8th Texas Cavalry, fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy and became commander of the 37th Texas Cavalry by war’s end. He was involved in a scandal involving his wife Sarah in the 1880’s and was killed attacking a judge who had ruled against her.

    Broderick, became a martyr upon his death. He was seen as someone who died for the cause of abolition. Thousands attended his funeral and Broderick Street was named in his honor. California became one of the few states to pass a law specifically outlawing dueling. Terry and the pro-slavery Democrats were accused of assassination, thus further cementing California’s place in the “free soil” camp. In 1872, California make it illegal to duel in the state with punishments of up to four years in state prison. The laws prohibiting dueling in California were repealed as “obsolete” by AB 3326 in 1994.