California State Military
DepartmentCalifornia State Military
Department
Official Name: Washington Rifles, First Brigade, Fourth
Division
Location: Sacramento, Sacramento County
| Name | Date of Rank | Date of Commission |
| Thomas L. Roberts, Captain | May 27, 1861 | June 27, 1861 |
| W. A. Thompson, First Lieutenant | May 27, 1861 | June 27, 1861 |
Responding quickly to the wave of patriotism
and military zeal which spread over California at the beginning
of the Civil War, and realizing the need for men with military
training in the Union Forces, the Washington Rifles, a volunteer
company of eighty-one men, was organized in Sacramento, May 27,
1861, under the Military Laws of the State and immediately tendered
their services to the Governor:(1) They were
accepted forthwith and the company mustered into the services
of the United States as Company E, First
Regiment of Infantry, California Volunteers.(2)
The Captain and First and Second Lieutenants holding the same
positions in the new Regiment and the Brevet Lieutenant being
the Second Lieutenant of-Company A, Third
Regiment of Infantry, California Volunteers.
1. Adjutant General Report
1861, pages 52, 105.
2. For further activities
of the Washington Rifles refer to History of Company E, First
Infantry Regiment, California Volunteers in the Civil War.
This history was written in 1940 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in conjunction with the office of the Adjutant General and the California State Library
1. Name of Unit: Washington Rifles . Item No.: B3413-1
2. Military Unit Designation: 1st Brigade, 4th Division
3. Date of Organization: May 27, 1861
5. Inclusive dates of units papers: 1861
6. Geographical Location or Locations: Sacramento City & County
7. Records Series Descriptions:
a. Organization Papers none
b. Bonds none
c. Correspondence (Unclassified letters) none
d. Election Returns 1 doc (1861)
e. Exempt Certificates, Applications for none
f. Muster Rolls, Monthly returns none
g. Oaths Qualifications 6 docs (1861)
h. Orders none
i. Receipts, invoices none
j. Requisitions none
k. Resignations none
l. Target Practice Reports none
m. Other none
8. Miscellaneous:
"...the company mustered into the service of the United States as Company E, First Infantry, California Volunteers." Outline History of Calif. National Guard, Vol. 2, #105.