Our Own Civil War

Who We Were is a new Zócalo feature that seeks insights into our present reality by taking a look at where we’ve been. In our first Who We Were, William Deverell and Daniel Lynch explore the oft-forgotten history of the Civil War in California.

As the nation commemorates the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, Californians needn’t feel left out. Yes, other states like Virginia, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas provided the front lines of the greatest rupture in American history — but California nonetheless played an important role …