San Francisco Vigilance Committee of 1856 | Page 9

finally reached their destination, was distressingly out of proportion to the work to be done; and the Sheriff, after detaining them for a time, was reported to have dismissed them with but scant courtesy.
Bulletins meanwhile were issued daily and almost hourly, by the physicians in attendance upon Mr. King, detailing his condition. They were posted in conspicuous places, and were read and commented upon by eager and excited crowds. The enlistments into the Vigilance Committee were constantly going on. The French citizens held a meeting and tendered their services to the Committee, and a battalion of three hundred men was at once organized and armed. The Germans had no separate organization, but were distributed in large numbers through the various companies. Arms were collected from all quarters; cannon were obtained from ships lying at the wharves or in the harbor; the gunsmiths shops were thronged; dray loads of muskets and ammunition were taken to the Jail and the Committee Rooms; armed men guarded and observed the Jail night and day; and although every thing was done quietly, no person could escape the conviction that an awful crisis was impending. In all the streets men on foot and horseback were constantly passing and repassing, apparently engaged in their ordinary pursuits; but a close observer could detect by the interchange of a word, a motion, or a significant glance, that they had a mutual understanding and a common purpose, and were on the alert and quick and observant of all that was passing.
On Saturday evening, May 17th, in consequence of a telegraphic dispatch from Mayor Van Ness earnestly requesting his presence, Governor Johnson arrived in the City from Sacramento. He was met by General Sherman whom he had appointed Major General of the Militia, Ex-Mayor Garrison and some others. After a long conference with the Executive Committee at two o'clock in the morning, he went with a sub-committee of that body to the Jail. The Sheriff agreed that a detachment of ten men of the Vigilance force should be permitted to enter and remain in the Jail to satisfy the people of the safe keeping of the prisoner. It was agreed the Committee should not take advantage of the permission to wrest the prisoner from the hands of the Sheriff, but that if they should resolve such a course, they would withdraw their guard. At two o'clock P. M. on Saturday, the process of enrollment was suddenly stopped. Two thousand six hundred men had then been enrolled. In the evening the whole force was broken up into twenty-six companies or divisions, as they were called first, of one hundred men. Each division then made choice of its officers, consisting of a Captain, two Lieutenants; and Sergeants and Corporals were likewise appointed. The Command-in-Chief was entrusted by the Executive Committee to Colonel Charles Doane; who, in all the subsequent military operations proved himself to be a most skillful tactician and efficient commander. The great body of the force at first under his command, was infantry armed with flint-lock muskets, afterwards changed for percussion ones. There were, in addition, a company of horse; two companies of riflemen, and artillerists for two field pieces. The evening closed with a sharp drill of all the divisions.
Sunday the Eighteenth day of May was bright and beautiful. It dawned on the pleasant and picturesque City slumbering in its holy light. The roar and tumult of the populous City in its hours of business were stilled. The sun shone joyously in the deep blue sky, undimmed by cloud or vapor. All was hushed in the breathing repose of nature, and the soft and fragrant air, the still earth, and the unruffled surface of the magnificent bay, graced and dignified by grand old Monte Diavolo looking down upon it from its far off border, seemed united together in the same sweet spirit of devotion. As the day wore on, the bells of the various churches rang out their summons to the house of God. No unusual movement or sound in the early morning gave token of that calm solemn, most fearful uprising of the people which, at a later hour, was to make that day one never to be forgotten by any who took part in or witnessed its extraordinary events. The Executive Committee with consummate prudence had kept their plan of action profoundly secret.
At an early hour in the morning the Commander of the force issued orders to the Captains of Companies to notify their men to appear at Head Quarters, No. 41 Sacramento Street, at nine o'clock A. M. ready for duty. Time was of course required to circulate the notice through the City; but soon the men began to congregate from all quarters and the building, extensive as it was, by half past ten o'clock, was filled,