"Friends In Peace and War": The Russian Navy's Landmark Visit to Civil War San Francisco

By C. Douglas Kroll
Illustrated, maps, notes, index, 188 pp., 2007. Potomac Books Inc., 22841 Quicksilver Dr., Dulles, VA 20166, $22.95 plus shipping.

Reviewer: Joseph Derie
Joseph Derie is a VMI graduate and a long time Civil War buff and military book reviewer. A retired Coast Guard officer and licensed officer of the Merchant Marine, he is a Certified Marine Investigator and marine surveyor.

Review:
One of the lesser-known Civil War stories is the extended visits by Russian Navy squadrons to New York and San Francisco. These came about as a result of tensions between Russia and the European powers as a result of Poland's desire to be a free country and no longer a part of the Russian Empire.

Russia had just fought and lost the Crimean War (1854-1855) with England, France and Turkey. England and France's sympathy for Poland's independence found Russia's outlet-to-the-sea-challenged Navy looking for places to harbor its fleet, to prevent a blockade in the event of war. This led to the visits to New York and San Francisco.

The United States had always had friendly ties with Tsarist Russia. In addition, Tsar Alexander II's Feb. 19, 1861, Emancipation Manifesto, which freed the serfs throughout Russia, stirred the hearts of many Unionists, predating as it did Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation by almost two years.

The Tsarist government's refusal to meet with a Confederate diplomat and expulsion of him from the country, compared with England and France's warmer reception and perceived assistance to the Confederate States, apparently belying any stated neutrality also was noted by the Union.

Ships of the Russian Pacific Squadron under Rear Admiral Andrei Alexandrovich Popov started arriving in San Francisco in September 1863, and stayed until August 1864, when the war scare over Poland had subsided.

During that time ships were repaired at the Mare Island Navy Yard, the Russians assisted San Francisco following an earthquake and subsequent fire and the officers of the squadron were feted at a Russian invitation-only ball, where apparently many people (including Admiral Popov) lost their hats due to a deplorable cloakroom operation.

What San Francisco got - besides Russian money to oil the wheels of commerce - was perceived protection from Confederate assault from the sea. We know now that San Francisco was never threatened, but San Franciscans living day to day during the fog of the Civil War didn't know that.

One of the strong points of this book is the author's use of original sources, newspapers and government records to show how threatened San Francisco felt by Confederate cruisers (such as the Alabama, Sumter, Florida and Shenandoah) and Confederate privateers.

Citizens, politicians, government officials and newspaper editors were constantly badgering the federal government for more guns and soldiers for the forts in San Francisco Bay and for more federal warships.

The Union Army and Navy and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service (the forerunner of the U.S. Coast Guard) took their job seriously. The volume describes ships (including a British man-of-war) and rowboats being fired on for acting suspiciously.

To add to the tumult, the Chapman, a ship purchased by individuals with Confederate letters of marque (the government authorization to act as a Confederate privateer) was seized prior to sailing - the ship's captain apparently talked while in his cups. The conspirators were later fined $10,000 each and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The Union Navy eventually sent a Monitor-type ironclad, the USS Camanche, in pieces to be assembled in San Francisco for harbor protection. The ship carrying it arrived safely but sank at the dock before the Camanche could be unloaded.

Throughout their stay the Russians stated they would protect San Francisco if a Confederate (or any cruiser) arrived in the bay and began shelling the town indiscriminately.

At one time Admiral Popov wrote he would assist the local authorities in repelling any attack. (This very un-neutral-like statement was quickly retracted by the Russian government.)

"Friends in Peace and War" is well-written and will be of interest to Civil War naval enthusiasts, those with an interest in the war in the West, and those with an interest in the fog of war and people's perceptions during the Civil War.