Joseph Lancaster Brent Joseph Lancaster Brent ( November 30 , 1826 — November 27 , 1905 ) , lawyer , politician in California and Louisiana , Confederate Brigadier General . Early life . Joseph Lancaster Brent was born on November 30 , 1826 , in Pomonkey , in Charles County , Maryland . He received his legal education at Georgetown University . In 1850 he came to California from Baltimore on a sailing ship bringing his law library with him , the first in Southern California . As an attorney in Los Angeles he made his reputation representing the Californio landowners who were defending their claims to their ranchos . His reputation resulted in his election as a member of the California State Assembly for the 1st District , representing Los Angeles from 1856 to 1858 . Between 1855 and 1858 , Brent purchased a portion of Rancho San Rafael , making him one of the first Americans to own land in what is now called Glendale . The land was located across the Los Angeles River from what is now Griffith Park . He named his property Santa Eulalia Ranch . He was also a school commissioner and a leader of the movement to create a public school system in Los Angeles . Civil War . In mid - February 1861 , Joseph Lancaster Brent , as a wealthy attorney and former state legislator of southern sympathies , was one of the prominent Angelenos who signed the petition to form the Los Angeles Mounted Rifles in response to a call by Governor John G . Downey for the formation of militia companies " to preserve order " just before the start of the American Civil War . The Los Angeles Mounted Rifles formed as a secessionist militia , composed of Californios and Americans from the southern states who had settled in Southern California . Following the fall of Fort Sumter , the Los Angeles Mounted Rifles left for Texas and Federal troops occupied Los Angeles . Brent decided to return to the east , selling his rancho , and boarded the Panama steamer SS Orizaba at San Diego . On this ship , he joined former U . S . Senator William M . Gwin and former U . S . Attorney Calhoun Benham also trying to make it back to join the South ' s war effort . However they were arrested in Panama City for treason , by Brigadier General Edwin Vose Sumner while in Colombian waters . This incident could have involved the United States in a war with Colombia except for the trio giving consent to the arrest in order to avoid any harm to the citizens of Panama City . They were finally released upon order of U . S . President Abraham Lincoln . Brent immediately went South to became a major and the ordnance officer for General John B . Magruder on the Virginia Peninsula . He then transferred west as General Richard Taylor ' s ordnance officer . He was promoted to Brigadier General and given command of the Louisiana Cavalry Brigade on April 17 , 1864 , becoming the only California citizen to become a Confederate general . He fought in Louisiana for the rest of the war . One of the most interesting events in the war to involve Brent was the sinking of USS " Indianola " on February 24 , 1863 . The " Indianola " was tasked to interdict the Confederate flow of supplies from the Red River . General Taylor ordered Brent to engage the Union ironclad with two boats , the former tugboat " Webb " and recently captured paddle steamer " Queen of the West " . They overtook " Indianola " and attacked from each side , ramming her seven times before the ironclad ran her bow on the west bank of the river and surrendered . The loss of " Indianola " was deeply distressing to the Union . It ended Admiral David Dixon Porter ' s efforts to blockade the Red River by detached vessels while keeping the body of his fleet above Vicksburg , Mississippi , and it prompted Farragut ' s costly run by the South ' s forts at Port Hudson , March 14 , 1863 . After the Civil War . After the war , he practiced law in Baltimore , until 1870 when he married Rosella Kenner , daughter of the Louisiana planter and politician , Duncan Farrar Kenner . Brent settled in Louisiana , where he managed Kenner ' s plantations until his death in 1887 . Meanwhile his wife had a son and daughter . He became a prominent and influential citizen . As a member of the Legislature , he did effective work in fighting the Louisiana lottery . In 1876 , he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from Louisiana . Brent returned to Maryland after 1887 , and participated in government there . He died on November 27 , 1905 in Baltimore , Maryland .