9.10.05

F I R S TP R E V239NEXTLAST

Abraham Lincoln and Civil War Reenactors, Fisherman's Wharf
San Francisco's involvement in the Civil War was limited. While the Confederacy desperately longed to take the city and its wealth from silver and gold mining, it did not have the resources to launch a campaign. The North, well aware of the city's value, built up a number of forts and batteries to protect San Francisco. The Union even sent in a naval ironclad to protect the bay. Isolated as the city was, news took 10 days to arrive here during the 1860s. When news of Lincoln's assassination finally reached San Francisco, a city law was enacted that called for the jailing of anyone cheering the news of the murder. 29 men were imprisoned for just such an offense on Alcatraz, which had been turned into a prison to hold captured Confederates.
[ MAP D-14 ]


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