California Militia
and National Guard Unit Histories
Placerville Guards
(Placerville Guard)
Official or Other Titles: Placerville
Guards, 4th Brigade, 1st Division, California Militia. Somitimes
referred to as Placerville Guard on documents.
Location:
Placerville El Dorado County
Inclusive dates of units papers: 1853-1856
Mustered in: January
30,1855
Commanding Officers (1)
Rank L. A. Norton, Captain, Elected January
30, 1855
Albert W. Bee; First Lieutenant, Elected
January 30, 1855
Alexander Hunter, Captain, Elected November 28,1855
William Jones, First Lieutenant. Elected
November 28, 1855
Unit papers on file at the California State Archives:
a. Organization Papers 3 documents (1855)
b. Bonds 1 document (1855)
c. Correspondence (Unclassified letters) 19 documents (1853-1856)
d. Election Returns 1 document (1855)
e. Exempt Certificates, Applications for none
f. Muster Rolls, Monthly returns 4 documents (1855)
g. Oaths Qualifications none
h. Orders none
i. Receipts, invoices 10 documents (1855)
j. Requisitions 1 document (1855)
k. Resignations none
l. Target Practice Reports none
m. Other none
Official History
Placerville being situated in a very mountainous
section of this State gave cause for the organization of a company
of volunteer militia, as a protection to the citizens of Placerville
and the Immigrant Trains, from attacks by the hostile Indians
that inhabited the rugged regions. Therefore, a volunteer independent
company was formed by the citizens of the community during the
year of 1853.
There is very little material on record of this company prior
to 1855 except for two letters on file in the Adjutant General's
Office. One of these written by R. M. Anderson in September of
1853 requested a supply of arms and accoutrements for the company.
The other letter was a reply from William C. Kibbe, the Quarter-
Master General, stating the inability of the Government to furnish
this company with arms until later in the fall of 1853 or spring
of 1854.
It is evident that owing to the inability of the State to supply
the arms requisitioned for by the volunteers at that time, caused
a lack of enthusiasm on the part of the instigators of the movement
to develop a permanent company, and a second effort was and carried
out in January of 1855, for the organization of a militia company
under the new Military Law of 1855 concerning the inde pendent
companies already in existence prior to that year. This law embodied
the principle that all independent companies were to reorganize
as new companies, otherwise they could claim no benefits of the
pending Act. With this in view it is assumed that this volunteer
company in Placerville disbanded to reorganize, as there is no
further record until a reorganization on January 30, 1855, when
the company became designated as the Placerville Guard and was
termed as Volunteer Infantry, attached to the Fourth Brigade.
The election of officers on January thirtieth for this reorganized
company is the first to be found in the records inthe Adjutant
General's Office. This election placed L.A. Norton as Captain
and Albert W. Bee as First Lieutenant of the newly organized
Placerville Guard which was the third military company organized
in the State. The company received their arms and accoutrements
on February twentieth with Captain Norton and Lieutenant Bee
taking out a Bond for the same.
One of the special duties performed by the men of the Placerville
Guard was to stand guard at the executions of Mickey Free and
Crane, two notorious bandits of the;early days. On another occasion
these troops were ordered to San Francisco on behalf of the State
Government to uphold laws which the Vigilante Committee had taken
into their own hands. Some opponents of the Governor's movement
stole the company's arms and stopped the expedition, after which
Captain Norton resigned but not, however, until the trouble was
over and the arms returned. (2)
In November of 1855, Lieutenant Bee wrote to theAdjutant-General
asking that the company be disbanded as Captain Norton had moved
to Carson Valley and that left him alone in command of the company.
He also felt the citizens were losing interest and did not give
much encouragement to a military organization when they felt
there was little prospect of seeing active service. Captain Norton,
however, did not approve of the letter written by Lieutenant
Bee, as he felt the company could be rejuvinated by discharging
some of the members for non-attendance to duty, and electing
a new captain, tendering his own resignation.
From returns made to the Quarter-Master General on November 28,
1855, it appears that an election was held by the company to
fill the vacancies occasioned by the resignation of Captain Norton,
who had accepted a position elsewhere, and of Lieutenant Bee
for reasons unknown. In these returns another statement appeared
to the effect that there were no evidences on file that any of
the officers had been commissioned since the company first organized.
Neither was a record of any arms having been returned to the
State. However, it is assumed through the lack of interest shown
by members the company was disbanded the latter part of 1855.
Footnotes
(1) No record of commanding officers in
the Adjutant General's Office until 1855.
(2) From a letter written to the newspaper,
The Mountain Democrat of Placerville. This letter was
from L. A. Norton, whose father was Captain Norton of this company.
This history was compiled
in 1940 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in conjunction
with the California National Guard and the California State Library.