This week marks the anniversary of Robert E. Lee's surrender near the end of the Civil War. Southern California, part of a free state from its beginning, held profound Confederate sentiment in the 1860s and beyond.
This week marks the anniversary of Robert E. Lee's surrender near the end of the Civil War. Southern California, part of a free state from its beginning, held profound Confederate sentiment in the 1860s and beyond.
How did Southern California wind up so … Southern? Well, the Butterfield stagecoach routes ran from Texas through Arizona and New Mexico into L.A., and people heading west brought enslaved Black men and women with them, to the gold fields and, after the gold played out, throughout the state.