Volunteer Forty-niners
Subtitle: Tennesseans and the California gold rush
By: Walter T. Durham.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Nashville
Language: eng
Number of pages: 324
Subjects: Migration, Internal -- United States -- History -- 19th century; California -- Gold discoveries; California -- History -- 1846-1850; Tennessee -- Population -- History -- 19th century
Description: Other than the Civil War, no single event of the nineteenth century affected so many Americans as did the California Gold Rush of 1849. Responding with the same enthusiasm shown by the Mexican War volunteers, Tennessee gold seekers rushed to be among the first from the South to reach the California mines.

In Volunteer Forty-Niners, Walter T. Durham provides the first comprehensive examination of the role Tennessee and Tennesseans played in creating a new state and a new society on the West Coast. Drawing from such archival sources as personal narratives in letters and diaries, public records, and newspaper reports, Durham has woven a wealth of information into his recounting of their adventures. He follows many of the emigrants into the mines and details the activities of others in commerce and government.

In the process, he shows that Tennesseans made an enormous contribution to the beginnings of government in California. Among the many offices they held were governor, assemblyman, sheriff, state senator, secretary of state, state treasurer, controller, U.S. senator, U.S. marshal, U.S. surveyor general, and Indian commissioner.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 295-306) and index.
Table of contents: title: California gold!; title: By land and sea in '49; title: Going for the gold; title: Trailing southern routes; title: Via Fort Smith and Santa Fe; title: The California Trail in '49; title: Slow passage; title: The thing must have its run; title: The birth of a state; title: Political gold; title: Not for the faint of heart; title: Beyond the mines; title: Statesmen and filibusters; title: Gold and the gospel; title: Home again.