- Joined
- May 3, 2013
- Location
- Pennsylvania
Part 1 - The Plan
“The Federal authorities learned of the plan through an informer and set up a 24-hour watch on the J. M. Chapman. A nearby steam tug kept her steam up and fires banked, ready to stop the privateer the moment she set sail. Not far away, the Cyane kept careful watch as well.
The J. M. Chapman raised anchor at dawn on March 15, 1863, and sailed slowly out from the wharf. Only two officers were visible on deck, and the vessel looked as innocent and harmless as any craft that ever left the port of San Francisco. When she was about 300 yards from the dock, however, two boatloads of armed seamen from the Cyane drew even with the schooner and boarded her without resistance. The steam tug had held back because the undependable Captain Law, having arrived too late to catch the ship after a night of drinking, was still on the wharf calling for the J. M. Chapman to come back for him.”[1]
So ended the attempt by two native Kentuckians and a British acquaintance to outfit a privateer and use it to capture Pacific steamer carrying California gold bullion. Confederate sympathizer Asbury Harpending, Jr., born into a wealthy southwestern Kentucky family, was the brains behind the operation. Online descriptions refer to him as an adventurer and entrepreneur, but a look at his autobiography The Great Diamond Hoax would suggest con-man would be a good addition to the list. If Harpending were writing this article he would also claim to be a “Southern gentleman” as well.
When Asbury reached the age of 16 it was apparent that he was not going to sit back and run the family farms. He'd already run off to join one of William Walker's filibustering expeditions, but had returned home broke and bedraggled after it was broken up by U.S. authorities. With his father’s consent and a little financial backing he left for California in 1857. By his own account he parlayed his last $5 into $400 by the time he reached California and then, by means of good luck, charm and an inborn financial acumen increased that to $60,000 before his 17th birthday. By 1860 Harpending was financially well off and had made a niche for himself in the pro-Southern element of California society. He became a member of the Knights of the Golden Circle (in his autobiography Harpending names the society the Band of Thirty) and over the next couple of years took part in plots to have California secede or to seize control of the state.
By the autumn of 1861 it was apparent neither of those events was going to happen. Many Confederate supporters returned to the South to serve militarily or politically. Others chose personal fortune over military glory and headed for the silver mines of Nevada. Asbury Harpending went east with another goal in mind. Among the ideas hatched by the Knight of the Golden Circle was a plan to seize one of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company’s vessels carrying California gold to the east and divert it to the Confederacy. Traveling across Mexico and through a then rather porous blockade Harpending arrived in Richmond in early 1862. In his autobiography Harpending claims several meetings with Jefferson Davis and Judah Benjamin. He returned to California in July, 1862 with a naval captain’s commission and blank letters of marque issued by the Confederate government to be filled in when the details were known.
Putting the plan into action was another matter. Harpending was known for his outspoken pro-Southern beliefs. He claimed he had been rigorously searched on his return to California from Richmond by authorities looking for anything suspicious, but he’d taken the precaution of sending his papers ashore with another passenger. This is where Alfred Rubery came into play. Rubery was a British citizen and nephew of John Bright, a prominent British Quaker politician who was well known for his anti-slavery views. Traveling in the South before the war Rubery had become enamored of the southern ‘aristocracy’. Having made acquaintance of Harpending after his return to California, they became inseparable friends and Rubery became a willing conspirator. He would be used to make the necessary purchases.
The plan began to come together. A ship, crew and armaments and other supplies would be necessary. An island off the Mexican coast would be used as a staging area. After landing the supplies the ship would make a quick trip to Manzanillo to deliver the appropriate paperwork to Confederate agents. The ship would then return to the island and outfit as a privateer. A Pacific Mail steamer would be seized and its cargo of gold shipped to the Confederacy. In The Great Diamond Hoax Harpending stated “Then we proposed to equip the captured liner as a privateer and figured to intercept two more eastbound Pacific Mail steamers before the world knew what was happening, in those days of slow-traveling news. After that we proposed to let events very much take their own course. It was a wild, desperate undertaking at the best, but we were all of an age that takes little stock of risks.” Harpending and Rubery went so far as to check out the Mexican Cerros Island (now Isla Cedros) for use as their base.
“The Federal authorities learned of the plan through an informer and set up a 24-hour watch on the J. M. Chapman. A nearby steam tug kept her steam up and fires banked, ready to stop the privateer the moment she set sail. Not far away, the Cyane kept careful watch as well.
The J. M. Chapman raised anchor at dawn on March 15, 1863, and sailed slowly out from the wharf. Only two officers were visible on deck, and the vessel looked as innocent and harmless as any craft that ever left the port of San Francisco. When she was about 300 yards from the dock, however, two boatloads of armed seamen from the Cyane drew even with the schooner and boarded her without resistance. The steam tug had held back because the undependable Captain Law, having arrived too late to catch the ship after a night of drinking, was still on the wharf calling for the J. M. Chapman to come back for him.”[1]
So ended the attempt by two native Kentuckians and a British acquaintance to outfit a privateer and use it to capture Pacific steamer carrying California gold bullion. Confederate sympathizer Asbury Harpending, Jr., born into a wealthy southwestern Kentucky family, was the brains behind the operation. Online descriptions refer to him as an adventurer and entrepreneur, but a look at his autobiography The Great Diamond Hoax would suggest con-man would be a good addition to the list. If Harpending were writing this article he would also claim to be a “Southern gentleman” as well.
When Asbury reached the age of 16 it was apparent that he was not going to sit back and run the family farms. He'd already run off to join one of William Walker's filibustering expeditions, but had returned home broke and bedraggled after it was broken up by U.S. authorities. With his father’s consent and a little financial backing he left for California in 1857. By his own account he parlayed his last $5 into $400 by the time he reached California and then, by means of good luck, charm and an inborn financial acumen increased that to $60,000 before his 17th birthday. By 1860 Harpending was financially well off and had made a niche for himself in the pro-Southern element of California society. He became a member of the Knights of the Golden Circle (in his autobiography Harpending names the society the Band of Thirty) and over the next couple of years took part in plots to have California secede or to seize control of the state.
By the autumn of 1861 it was apparent neither of those events was going to happen. Many Confederate supporters returned to the South to serve militarily or politically. Others chose personal fortune over military glory and headed for the silver mines of Nevada. Asbury Harpending went east with another goal in mind. Among the ideas hatched by the Knight of the Golden Circle was a plan to seize one of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company’s vessels carrying California gold to the east and divert it to the Confederacy. Traveling across Mexico and through a then rather porous blockade Harpending arrived in Richmond in early 1862. In his autobiography Harpending claims several meetings with Jefferson Davis and Judah Benjamin. He returned to California in July, 1862 with a naval captain’s commission and blank letters of marque issued by the Confederate government to be filled in when the details were known.
Putting the plan into action was another matter. Harpending was known for his outspoken pro-Southern beliefs. He claimed he had been rigorously searched on his return to California from Richmond by authorities looking for anything suspicious, but he’d taken the precaution of sending his papers ashore with another passenger. This is where Alfred Rubery came into play. Rubery was a British citizen and nephew of John Bright, a prominent British Quaker politician who was well known for his anti-slavery views. Traveling in the South before the war Rubery had become enamored of the southern ‘aristocracy’. Having made acquaintance of Harpending after his return to California, they became inseparable friends and Rubery became a willing conspirator. He would be used to make the necessary purchases.
The plan began to come together. A ship, crew and armaments and other supplies would be necessary. An island off the Mexican coast would be used as a staging area. After landing the supplies the ship would make a quick trip to Manzanillo to deliver the appropriate paperwork to Confederate agents. The ship would then return to the island and outfit as a privateer. A Pacific Mail steamer would be seized and its cargo of gold shipped to the Confederacy. In The Great Diamond Hoax Harpending stated “Then we proposed to equip the captured liner as a privateer and figured to intercept two more eastbound Pacific Mail steamers before the world knew what was happening, in those days of slow-traveling news. After that we proposed to let events very much take their own course. It was a wild, desperate undertaking at the best, but we were all of an age that takes little stock of risks.” Harpending and Rubery went so far as to check out the Mexican Cerros Island (now Isla Cedros) for use as their base.
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