“Not of the Ruling Power”: Captain Ingram’S Partisan Rangers in California

By J.G. Kearney

Not of the Ruling Power

A group of six men held up two stages in California one summer night in 1864 and made off with enough silver and bullion to last them a few lifetimes. Handing the second stage driver a blank receipt that stated the funds were going to the aide of the Confederate States of America, the captain of the unit, R. H. Ingram, began the legend of Bullion Bend. Generations of treasure seekers and Civil War enthusiasts have reviewed stories of the holdup and subsequent shoot-out with local law enforcement. The gang was to be known as one of the few Partisan Ranger outfits to operate so far west of the active military operations. Were they really Confederate sympathizers or just a ruthless gang of opportunists making the most of the confusion of the time?

Not of the Ruling Power endeavors to reveal a closer look at the individuals involved in this incident as well as the divided loyalties that influenced Californias media, politics, and citizens. Captain Ingrams partisan rangers themselves create a web of links to some of the most pertinent concerns and incidents the United States faced during the Civil War. Not just a holdup in Californias Gold Country, Bullion Bend triggered fears for the Federal Unions national defense. The estimated number of loyal secessionists living in California was enough to cause grave concern that if Ingram and his raiders escaped, a significant following could be encouraged to join them. However, just how loyal were the lawmen involved and to which side?

Testimony from the men involved and research, including insightful genealogical sources with accounts from grandchildren of individuals involved, has helped give these figures a truer color and dimension not previously considered. Its a tale that needs no fictional embellishment to be entertaining!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524500412

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by J.G. Kearney.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016907829

ISBN:       Hardcover       978-1-5245-0043-6

                 Softcover         978-1-5245-0042-9

                 eBook               978-1-5245-0041-2

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Rev. date: 05/27/2016

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CONTENTS

Part I The Lay of the Land

Introduction

I.   California Politics Off & On the Fence

II.   Military Allegiances

III.   A Pacific Fleet for Both Sides

IV.   The Media Bias

V.   Southern Migration

VI.   Partisan Rangers & Famous Foxes

VII.   Ingram’s Plan

VIII.   A Panic Run

IX.   The Stage Hold Up

Part II Dealing With Actions

X.   The Law of Hangtown

XI.   Somerset House Shoot – Out

XII.   The Pursuit

XIII.   The Rest of Their Lives

XIV.   Legends of Bullion

Authors Note

Bibliography

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Not of the Ruling Power

California’s Fight in the Civil War

Heroes & scoundrels, the circumstances and actions surrounding

Captain Ingram’s Partisan Rangers

And the Great Bullion Bend Stage Coach Robbery

Of El Dorado County

By

J.G. Kearney

2014

To Eileen and Lois,

It’s not History, it’s 3-d -multi-media sci-fi and Eastwood wrapped up in unassuming sources called non-fiction.

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Introduction

The Lay of the Land

T he summer solstice was at it’s peak and darkness came late that June 30 th 1864. The men had been careful to travel in separate groups to avoid any suspicion as they made their way from the guerrilla hang-out and training camp on Preston Hodges Ranch and crossed the valley into the gold country. They did not wear the grey uniforms of the Confederacy but they considered themselves soldiers just the same, with a leader who had seen combat and held a commission as Captain in the CSA. They called their group Ingram’s Partisan Rangers and this action was only the beginning to their plans.

To those looking back now, the Civil War was nearing its end but to these men living in that time, the outcome was as yet far from definitive. They all had family living ‘back in the states’ though they themselves were settled in California. The Gold Rush of 1849 had lured several of the men like Preston Hodges, out where they had turned to lives of business and agriculture. California’s separation and distance from the colonial portion of the United States made it seem a world away from the decisions made by presidents and lawyers. It also made it seem as though their voices were not heard or heeded.

The men made their way to the rendezvous that had been planned on the stage road past Placerville. The hold-up site: a bend in the road where prudent drivers slowed their vehicles. Much like the route today Highway 50, then the ‘Overland Route,’ had many such turns and twists that demanded the careful attention of teamsters and stage drivers. It also had a multitudinous amount of wealth being transported annually from the silver mines in the Comstock Lode through to the Pacific and the world beyond.

What could these men, masks in hand, have thought as they waited hidden alongside the mountain road? Were they going to make a difference against wrongdoing and corrupt political schemes? This was an action they had carefully planned. For the men who had already sworn into the secret society of the Knights of the Golden Circle like Tom Poole, it was a stab at the ruling power in government; a government that was ignoring gross offenses against law abiding citizens and their legal property and laying authoritarian taxation upon its citizens. It was generally perceived that the vast amounts of gold and silver, -over a ton a day being shipped from the Comstock Lode in 1863-was going to the benefit of this Federal Government and helping the boys in blue. To hold up a stage and procure funds from the Wells Fargo box would be synonymous to ambushing a Union payroll.

To the men who had been born and raised in Missouri, like the youngest of the rangers, Alban Glasby, it was nothing but right to rob the Federal Government, or Wells Fargo…we had a right to retaliate.. for what they were doing to our people back home. The gold, silver or any other treasure taken was to be used to recruit and outfit much needed men for the southern cause. None of the men at the hold-up had made a living off of crime or tried to before this. Their occupations included blacksmithing, carpentry, shop-keeping and ranching. They hadn’t agreed to become members of a Partisan Ranger outfit for the purpose of getting rich but to richen the chances of the Government they most affiliated with. They had all agreed should they be attacked by civilians or civilian law enforcement, every effort would be made to avoid conflict. However, should they be hunted down by a military detachment (what they had anticipated would happen) then they would fight to the death! Their leader, Capt. Rufus Henry Ingrim, CSA, had a blank receipt ready to hand to the stage driver. It indicated that their mission was strictly military. Wells Fargo could fill out whatever amount had been lifted by the Rebels, later.

Bullion Bend went down in history that night. The robbery and the unfilled confederate receipt caused generations of treasure hunters to scour the ravines near Bullion Bend and all along the trail to Somerset House where the infamous shoot-out occurred, even though all of the treasure had been accounted for as soon as the trials of the gang members began. At the time these men and their actions would be responsible for launching one undersheriff’s famous career as a detective, influencing another’s choice to change his career away from law enforcement and snuffing out the life of one deputy entirely. The perpetrators did not end up on the winning side of the war nor did they get to make any contribution to the Southern cause that would make it into military journals or mention. Mainly, they would be remembered as a gang of robbers that robbed bullion from two stages and ended the life of a beloved deputy of El Dorado County, California.

The planning and execution of the Bullion Bend hold up has been diminished to an act of mere highway robbery, a happenstance that was not uncommon in the early days of Stage Coach travel in the west. This story however holds the fascination of many who learn of it for more reasons than simply another tale of the wild west. It’s facets embrace emotions and arguments that were tender to our nation at the time and topics that are still issues to our country today. Though the far west seemed a world away from the hot issues of the Civil War and indeed often considered capable of ignoring that bloody tempest entirely if one chose to do so, the evidence from that time indicates this was not really true. The lawmen and the hit men involved in this action adventure story, give an exciting view of how individuals in the far west were dealing with and what they had to deal with, concerning their torn nation.

This one robbery and the subsequent court cases that came to their ultimate conclusion after the formal end to the Civil War help open our eyes to a view of just how California’s citizens were divided and the narrow fence the state balanced upon before, during and even after the War of the Rebellion.

1

California Politics Off & On the Fence

I n 1863 there was no apparent winding down of the War and California had only recently elected a Republican, Leland Stanford, after a long line of Democratic Governors. This victory was largely due to the split in the Democratic party, Leland receiving 56,056 popular votes, the competing democrat candidates each receiving about 30,000 popular votes! The Golden State was not as galvanized pro-union as Washington D.C. would have liked. In fact, Lincoln advocated for the commencement of construction of the transcontinental railroad largely in order to keep the Pacific coast in the Unio n . The Pacific Railroad Bill was passed in the House of Representatives May 6, 1862 amid reports of battles such as Shilo, and the Monitor and