Southerners Leave Alabama for California

[CALIFORNIA.] Lucy Smith Crittenden Thornton, Autograph Letter Signed, to her son Harry Innes Thornton, April 5, 1853, Mobile, Alabama. 4 pp., 7.5" x 9.5". Expected folds; a few ink stains on first page; very good.

Lucy Smith Crittenden Thornton wrote this chatty letter from Mobile to her son detailing recent social events and telling of some friends and relatives who were leaving for California. She was a younger sister of Senator, Governor, and twice U.S. Attorney General John J. Crittenden (1787-1863). Crittenden served his second term as Attorney General during the administration of President Millard Fillmore, which had ended just one month before the date of this letter. She also gave her first impressions of her son's new aunt, Crittenden's third wife, Elizabeth Moss Crittenden (1804-1873), whom Crittenden had married just weeks earlier.

Among the immigrants to California mentioned in this letter are:
•Samuel Williams Inge (1817-1868) and his family. Inge was born in North Carolina but moved to Greene County, Alabama, where he studied law and gained admission to the bar. After serving in the Alabama House of Representatives for two years, he won election to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served from 1847 to 1851. On April 1, 1853, President Franklin Pierce appointed Inge as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California.
•Attorney Andrew Glassell Jr. (1827-1901) of Greensboro, Alabama, who established a law practice in San Francisco. He was soon appointed U.S. attorney at Sacramento, but he quit his office during the Civil War when he refused to take a loyalty oath. He moved to Los Angeles in 1865, where he formed a law partnership that specialized in real estate transactions. He was also the first president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (1878-1880).

As Civil War approached, Crittenden tried to keep the Union together by proposing the "Crittenden Compromise" in Congress as a U.S. Senator from Kentucky. When that proposal failed, he returned to Kentucky to convince the state to remain in the Union. One of his sons joined the Confederate Army, while two others joined the Union Army. His nephew, the recipient of this letter, resigned his position, returned to the East, and became an officer in the Confederate Army.

Excerpts:
"Your cousins Ann Mary and Florence arrived at the Battle House. They came in quietly on Sunday morning. Since that time their elegant parlor has been crowded with the beauty and the fashion and the chivalry of Mobile one continuous levee. Your new Aunt is a fascinating woman of medium size pleasing face – fine person – and easy elegant manners – a complete woman of the world – converses well – has a pleasant well-timed word for everyone – uttered with a sweet winning voice – and kind genial manners. She is well calculated to be admired and loved. She knows everybody and all the world runs after her."

"Do not know how long I will be in Mobile. On yesterday Col Inge and family left for Cal. He came to see me in the morning. I could scarcely speak to him for weeping. The idea that they were going to live by your dear Father – and I left behind overcame me completely. I hurried home from N.O. to meet him here – still thinking that may be I would still go with him – but – a letter from your Father met me here – deciding the matter for me – that I must not go now to Cal. It was not in answer to mine telling him I was going but a reply to one in which I said if I had known Mary Robinson was in N. O. on her way to Cal. I would have gone with her. I have sent his letter to your sisters to read and they will send it to you. He did not of course know that he was turned out of office when he wrote. I doubt not he will commence the practice of his profession immediately. Andrew Glassel goes with Col Inge and family."

"Your uncles family will leave for home today. I think he is urged by his friends in Ky. to go home without delay. They want him elected to the Senate next winter – and think he ought to see the people – his old devoted friends again and secure his election. I am surprised of his thinking of public life again – but he cannot live out of it."

"Your uncle declined a public dinner in Mobile and in N. O. also, I believe."

Lucy Smith Crittenden Thornton (1802-1885) was born in Kentucky, the younger sister of future Governor, U.S. Senator, and twice U.S. Attorney General John J. Crittenden (1787-1863). She married Harry Innes Thornton (1797-1861), who was a federal judge in Alabama, and they had at least three children. President Franklin Pierce appointed him as one of the land commissioners to determine the validity of Mexican land grants in California in 1853. She followed him a few months later and died in San Francisco, California, three decades later.

Harry Innes Thornton Jr. (1834-1895) was born in Huntsville, Alabama, and graduated from Princeton University. He moved to California in 1853 and established a law practice in Sierra County, where he was elected as District Attorney. He was elected as a state senator as a Democrat in 1859. When the southern states seceded, Thornton resigned his seat in the state senate, traveled east, and became a lieutenant in the Confederate army. He rose to the rank of colonel with a brevet rank of brigadier general. He was twice wounded. After the war ended, he returned to California and resumed the practice of law in Nevada and then San Francisco. He also became a breeder of thoroughbred horses.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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