F I R S TP R E V692NEXTLAST

A Rebel Raider in San Francisco Bay
At three in the morning of March 15th, 1863 the clipper schooner, J.W. Chapman silently eased out of the Pacific Street Wharf in San Francisco. As the ship waited to take the breeze it was immediately surrounded by cutters from sloop of war, Cyane and the tugboat, Anashe. Boarding parties from the cutters soon discovered, hidden in the J.W. Chapman, pistols, rifles, two brass 12-pound cannons, powder, and 29 Confederate rebels. Also discovered was a letter of marque signed by President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis.

The ship had been under surveillance by SFPD Captain Isaiah W. Lees for almost a month. Papers found on the J.W. Chapman indicated that the Confederate plan was to cut the telegraph wires between Sacramento and San Francisco, blow up the Union arsenal at Benecia, then return to the San Francisco Bay and take control of Fort Point and Fort Alcatraz. This, the rebels hoped, would stop the flow of gold into Union banks. Thirty years later the vigilant Captain Lees would become San Francisco's Chief of Police.
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