California State Military
DepartmentOfficial or Other Titles: Sacramento Cadets
Commanding Officers
California State Military
DepartmentEdwin A. Sherman, Captain (Elected June
13, 1856)
George L. Prentice First Lieutenant (Elected June 13, 1856).
The Sacramento Cadets were organized June 13, 1856, by a group of fifty-eight young men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five years as a company of Light Infantry, it having been the intention to change at a later date to Light Artillery. The young men composing the unit were ambitious and impatient to become an active force in the development of the California Militia. Edwin A. Sherman, who was elected Captain of the company was the nephew of Captain Sherman of the "Flying Artillery" who served with distinction in the war with Mexico under General Worth. A.Watson another youth active in the formation of the company was a cousin of Colonel W. H. Watson of the "Baltimore Battalion" who fell at the head of his command at the Battle of Monterrey during the war with Mexico. There could be no doubt of the patriotic zeal of these young men, and it is to their credit that they endeavored honestly and sincerely to procure equipment and be mustered in as a unit of the State Militia. A Bond in the sum of $2,500 was posted and numerous requests for arms were made to both the Quartermaster-General and the Governor., but owing to the scarcity of arms at that time it was impossible to supply the equipment requested.