New York Theater Invades Pioneer California
- New York History Review
- 7 days ago
- 31 min read
by Travis P. Wagner, Ph.D. and Peter Meyerhof, Ph.D. Copyright ©2026 All rights reserved by the authors
After America declared war on Mexico on May 13, 1846, New York City politician Jonathan D. Stevenson proposed forming a volunteer regiment of New Yorkers. He contacted President James K. Polk to offer his services, and Polk accepted. In June, the 7th New York Regiment of Volunteers, also known as Stevenson’s Regiment, was officially recognized by the War Department. During New York City's difficult economic times, Stevenson primarily recruited soldiers in Lower Manhattan, particularly around Broadway and the Bowery. As a result, part-time and amateur actors and entertainers were among his recruits. The regiment, with 660 soldiers and officers, was ordered to the Mexican province of Alta California. In March 1847, Colonel Stevenson and his three transport ships arrived in San Francisco Bay. With ample free time and eagerness for entertainment, these soldiers brought New York City-style entertainment from the antebellum era to their posts across Alta California. Until the summer of 1847, California had not experienced the raucous, working-class theater popular in New York City, with its mix of melodrama, farce, comedy, music, and active audience participation. That is when the first American theater opened for its inaugural night of entertainment in Sonoma, California.[1]
While the exact date of the first organized commercial American theatrical performance in Sonoma is uncertain, we know it occurred during the summer of 1847. As noted in the April 14, 1855, issue of The Golden Era, and based upon an interview with one of the former participants, “At Sonoma, Company C of the N. Y. Regiment, which was stationed there early in 1847, organized a dramatic club in the summer of that year, the object at first being the amusement of the actors and their comrades in arms.” From attainable accounts, Sonoma appears to have taken the lead in the early institution of theatrical amusements in Alta California. [2] Despite the frequently repeated claim that Monterey hosted “the First Theater in California,” the available evidence does not support this. Following Sonoma’s lead, Santa Barbara was the first to follow in August 1847. It was in the spring of 1848 when both Monterey and Los Angeles first organized theatrical performances.[3] The common denominator in these four early pioneer theaters was the soldiers of the New York Volunteers.[4]
NEW YORK’S ANTEBELLUM THEATER
In antebellum urban America, going to the theater was immensely popular, though it was a distinctly different experience from what it is today.[5] Prior to 1830, New York City theatrical performances generally focused on English dramas and comedies, often with English actors. They played at elite theaters designed for upper-class men; few women attended.[6] This began to change after 1830, with a purposeful shift to appeal to a wider audience, especially through productions of English melodramas that became enormously popular among the working class, and these productions began to feature American actors.[7] Melodramas were the most popular type of play during the antebellum period and throughout the 19th Century. The name comes from “music drama,” in which short musical passages were used throughout a play to increase the emotional impact. Melodramas were characterized by a simple moral story with clearly defined stereotypical good-versus-evil characters and always concluded happily. They appealed to working-class audiences who were highly engaged, applauding the heroes, booing the villains, and commiserating with the victims, while reacting boisterously to the actors' mistakes.[8] An important element in the success of melodramas was their visual spectacle and musical appeal, which transcended language barriers, thereby expanding their appeal to many new immigrants.[9]
In 1830, New York City was already the nation’s most populous city, but by 1850 its population had increased by another 154 percent. It was the nation’s busiest port and entry point for most immigrants. In the 1840s and 1850s, two-thirds of all immigrants, 60 percent male, arrived in New York with between 200,000 and 400,000 arriving every year.[10] The vast majority of immigrants were Irish and German. The Irish were seeking refuge from the destitution caused by the potato famine. Germans were escaping political unrest and declining economic prospects.[11] Arriving penniless, or nearly so, the new immigrants were willing to work for low wages, thereby flooding the local labor market with unskilled and semi-skilled workers.[12]
In New York City, the unprecedented population growth transformed and greatly expanded the nascent working class. The result was greater demand for working-class forms of amusement.[13] This was especially true in the Bowery area, which became New York City’s working-class entertainment center abounding with cheap theaters, dance halls, and burlesques. For a typical night’s entertainment, doors opened at 7:00, with the curtain up at 7:30, and the night’s performances, which typically included a farce, a two-act romantic drama, a melodrama, and a pantomime, concluding around midnight, with interludes between the performances filled with song and dance.[14]
The Bowery Theatre, the renowned working-class theater, rebuilt multiple times after fires, reopened on August 4, 1845, with a capacity of 4,000.[15] The theater has now established its preeminence in making theater accessible to a broader spectrum of society.[16] The success of the Bowery Theatre inspired the Chatham Garden Theatre and Olympic Theatre to become working-class theaters.[17] Similarly, Niblo’s Garden pivoted toward a working-class audience. Women were not allowed unless accompanied by a male, thereby encouraging couples and discouraging bad behavior.[18] Minstrel acts, primarily short burlesques featuring white comics and musicians in blackface performing racial stereotypes of the day, were also becoming popular at theaters in the 1840s. The first minstrel show in New York appeared at the Chatham Theatre, soon followed by the Christy Minstrels, appearing regularly at Lower Manhattan’s Mechanics’ Hall.[19]
FORMATION OF THE NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS
The 7th Regiment of New York Volunteers, later renamed the 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers, was arguably the most unique army unit in American history.[20] During his 1844 presidential campaign, James K. Polk had clearly stated his intent to acquire Alta California (in addition to the Oregon Territory) for the United States. As President, Polk was unsuccessful in purchasing the Mexican provinces of Alta California and Nuevo Mexico, so he decided to take California by force. Following America’s declaration of war against Mexico on May 13, 1846, President Polk met with Jonathan D. Stevenson, a New York City politician and colonel in the New York State Militia. Their discussion focused on forming a volunteer regiment with a special mission: its citizen-soldiers would be recruited specifically to conquer, occupy, and colonize the Mexican Province of Alta California. To foster the regiment’s commitment and success in colonizing California, no transportation would be provided for their return after the war.
The regiment’s creation became official on June 26, 1846.[21] It was to consist of 10 companies, with 77 in each. In July 1846, Stevenson opened seven recruiting offices in New York City and three offices in Albany and Chenango County, New York. For the New York City-based companies, recruitment offices were opened in Lower Manhattan, primarily on the Lower East Side. Company A’s office was at Stoneall's Hotel at 142 Fulton Street and Company B’s office was at Harmony Hall, 17 Centre Street. One of the recruiting offices for Company C was at 23 Ann Street, one-half block from Broadway. Company D had two offices in the Broadway area; one at Lafayette Hall, opposite Niblo's Garden on Broadway, and at the American Hall at the corner of Broadway and Grand. Recruiting for Company E was at the old Seventh Ward Democratic headquarters on Madison Street. Company F’s recruitment location was at the White Street Arsenal between White Street, Elm Place, and Center and Franklin Streets.[22] The majority of recruits were mustered into the regiment on August 1, 1846, at Governor’s Island, New York.[23]
The original goal was to depart for San Francisco by August 1, which meant more than 770 men had to be quickly recruited, pass rudimentary medical examinations, mustered in, equipped, organized, and trained.[24] Because it was primarily a colonizing regiment, recruitment originally focused on unmarried men, including farmers, mechanics, carpenters, tailors, and other tradesmen with relevant skills critical to supporting and sustaining post-war American settlements. During the summer of 1846, New York City still faced volatile prices, deflation, and high unemployment as it attempted to recover from the economic turbulence initiated by the financial crisis of 1837 and the panic of 1839. Moreover, depressed wages and unemployment were exacerbated by the major influx of immigrants, resulting in increased competition for jobs.[25] For example, in 1836, cabinet makers made $15 per month; by 1846, the monthly wage had dropped to $8.00.[26] The increased urbanization, high unemployment, overcrowding, and discrimination against immigrants, especially Irish Catholics, provided a fertile recruiting opportunity for would-be adventurers and those seeking a new life. Free passage to California and steady pay appealed to those with wanderlust or hoping to gain a new start where there was less competition and, for some, less discrimination. The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to start anew was made even more attractive by recruiting offices that initially published notices stating that, after the war, veterans would receive 320 acres of land in California for settlement, though this proved erroneous.[27]
However, given the regiment’s tight deadline and the exotic, unfamiliar destination of California, recruiting skilled and semi-skilled soldiers was only marginally successful. As a result, recruitment became open to just about any male over 18. Attracting men of good habits became a matter of chance.[28] Following the initial mustering in, many new recruits deserted as they realized what soldiering actually entailed. Others were discharged for a variety of health and legal reasons, such as being underage. The slowdown in recruitment and logistical demands delayed the scheduled departure until September 26.
Because most of the recruiting occurred in Lower Manhattan, it was not surprising that part-time and amateur actors and entertainers were among those who enlisted.[29] A contributing factor in these men enlisting was that theaters went dark during the summer, and thus, no employment opportunities would be available again until winter.[30]The regiment was soon filled with men of all classes (except the highly wealthy), accompanied by a few wives who could serve as paid laundresses and hospital matrons.[31]
THEATER AT SEA
The bulk of the regiment departed New York Harbor for San Francisco Bay on September 25, 1846.[32] The army had leased three transport ships for the journey: Susan Drew, Thomas H. Perkins, and Loo Choo. Sailing an average of 165 days around Cape Horn with stops in Rio de Janeiro and Valparaiso, the 15,000-mile trip was long and arduous. Each ship carried about 250 soldiers, the crew, and a few women.[33] The crowded ships were also packed with materiel and supplies to sustain the regiment for at least one year, as there were no military supply depots in Alta California. Given the crowded conditions and long days and nights for the soldiers on board, entertainment became an enjoyable diversion. The country’s first sea-based theaters were aboard the three transport ships as actors and musicians entertained their fellow passengers with theatrical and musical performances.[34]
The Thomas H. Perkins transported Companies B, F, G, and part of Company E, as well as Col. Stevenson, the regimental staff, and the all-important regimental band that serenaded the other passengers with multiple band concerts.[35] As with the other ships, soldiers on board the Thomas H. Perkins soon organized a theatrical company. Pvt. William H. Maxwell of Company B, an amateur actor, had brought a box of playbooks and started the “Ocean Theater.”[36] Lt. E. Gold Buffam of Company B led the charge to perform the farce, “Raising the Wind,” along with fellow soldiers Pvt. Cornelius V. H. Lee, Stephen Carr, and Thomas Gannon of Company F, as well as Pvt. Thomas Carnes, and Pvt. Alfred A. Green of Company B. The actors also presented their shipboard version of “The Golden Farmer” that included Sgt. Jim Stayton of Company B. Because of its popularity among the enlisted soldiers, there were multiple performances of the farce, “Bombastes Furioso.”[37] Scenes from Shakespeare were also popular. As noted by Pvt. James Lynch, “like all amateur companies, they undertook Shakespeare’s greatest plays—and murdered them. The more the murder, the more the audience, who were all deadheads [non-paying audience members], enjoyed the sport.”[38] Also on board were a group of soldiers who performed as a minstrel troupe on the ship and on shore while in port at Rio de Janeiro.[39]
The Loo Choo carried Companies A, C, K, and part of Company E, which was split up evenly among the three ships. On board the Loo Choo, in spite of widespread and constant sea sickness, amateur actors donned outlandish costumes to reenact parts of Shakespearean tragedies.[40] Given the challenges of Shakespeare, especially to amateur actors, the tragedies were more likely, unintentionally or not, amusing diversions.
The Susan Drew brought Companies D, H, I, and also part of Company E. On Christmas Day 1846, just south of Cape Horn, some male actors gave a performance that included two female characters. Their clothing was borrowed from the soldiers’ wives. Because of intense swells, they had to stretch ropes across the deck during the performance to keep the actors from falling overboard.[41] On New Year's Eve 1846, there was a performance of “Bombastes Furioso,” subtitled "A Burlesque Tragic Opera.” This popular farce, written in 1810, contained comic songs and dialogue that satirized bombastic military posturing, thereby giving enlisted soldiers a coy chance to laugh at their officers, especially during the play’s final moments, when nearly all the main characters die as a result of each other’s vanity and stupidity.[42] And, on January 9, the curtain was raised on the crudely constructed stage as the ship was treated to a choral concert singing “A Nice Young Man,” “A Yankee Ship and a Yankee Crew,” and “Erin is My Home.”[43]
CALIFORNIA HO!
All three ships entered San Francisco Bay and disembarked at its recently renamed settlement, San Francisco, in March 1847. Within a week of arriving, the regiment’s ten companies dispersed to their respective postings.[44] Company C, commanded by Captain John E. Brackett with a complement of 67 soldiers, a few soldiers’ wives, and possibly a few children, departed San Francisco on April 3, 1847, and arrived by boat the following day at Sonoma’s embarcadero. After a three-mile march, they arrived at their new post.[45] Sonoma, founded in 1834 as a Mexican garrison town, was the northernmost pueblo of Alta California and home to a former mission, Mission San Francisco Solano, the last of the twenty-one missions built in California. Sonoma also contained the former Mexican Army barracks built in 1839-1841. The original Mexican garrison was intended to discourage the Russians at nearby Fort Ross and Bodega Bay from straying further into Mexican territory. Most of the unmarried troops of Company C were housed in the barracks, which the local former Mexican military commander, Mariano G. Vallejo, had offered the company free of charge.[46] When the New York Volunteers arrived in Sonoma, the town’s population was clustered primarily around the central public plaza. In addition to the small number of military, commercial, and religious buildings, there were an estimated 24 houses and only 260 residents in 1848.[47] There was a Catholic church in Sonoma, but as late as 1850, there was still no Protestant church.
THEATER OPENS IN SONOMA
Prior to the arrival of the New York Volunteers, the Treaty of Cahuenga had been signed on January 13, 1847, ending hostilities in Alta California. Unlike some of their fellow New York volunteer companies, which were engaged in military action in Baja California, Company C in Sonoma had little to do. Their daily routine was dull, consisting of seemingly never-ending roll calls, drills, dress parades, and occasional work duties.[48] Occasional threats of hostilities, real or perceived, from indigenous people maintained a minimal level of military excitement.
While New York City had offered a multitude of entertainment opportunities, the small pueblo of Sonoma had little to offer the soldiers of Company C. There were one or two rooming houses and drinking establishments incorporating a billiard room. Occasionally, there was a fandango, but the acute shortage of single young women and general lack of entertainment dampened the soldiers’ mood. It soon became apparent to Company C that they had everything needed to rectify this situation and continue creating their own entertainment as they had done on their ocean voyage to California.
A few of the actors organized a dramatic club in early 1847. The core theatrical troupe included Pvt. William Huefner, Pvt. David Norris, who would soon be elected 2nd lieutenant, and Pvt. Lysander Washburn.[49] In New York, William Huefner, 21, from Germany, had been an occasional actor, David Norris, 24, had been an amateur actor and printer, while Lysander Washburn, 19, from Massachusetts, was a newfound acting talent. A few area residents, including Alexander J. Cox, William Scott, W. E. Weaver, W. E. Taylor, J. Brown, and R. Rykeman, played male characters, while Johny Rowe and C. Cady specialized in impersonating female characters. Women were not part of the troupe as there were very few, and the Anglo women in the area were strongly discouraged by their husbands from performing with the young soldiers.[50]
One of the soldiers had brought some plays published by Turner’s Dramatic Library of Acting Plays.[51]Turner’s publications noted that the “plays were correctly printed from the most approved acting copy with a description of the costume, cast of the characters, entrances and exits, relative positions and the whole of the stage business to which are added properties and directions as now performed in the principal theaters.”[52] Initially, the troupe sought to amuse themselves and their comrades, but as their entertainment became popular throughout the town, demand soon surfaced for a much broader audience. This was no doubt coupled with the realization of the economic potential to augment their meager salaries.[53]
The troupe’s first location for their amusements was facetiously called “Jim Smith’s Dramatic Adobe,” described as an unused adobe storage building converted into a stage.[54] The source of the humorous moniker is unknown, as there was no Jim Smith stationed or living in Sonoma in 1847. However, there was a Pvt. James M. Smith, who was a member of Company K, on the same ship, the Loo Choo, as Company C, and stationed in nearby San Francisco, was in constant contact with the post at Sonoma. To identify the theater, a small lantern was hung over the entrance door. The troupe quickly comprehended the economic opportunity and charged admission: 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children with no free admissions. Given that the soldiers earned only $7 per month, minus 75 cents in obligatory monthly laundress fees, it was more than a day’s pay, a comparatively expensive night of entertainment. During opening night, a group of soldiers decried the new admission policy and, believing they were intimate friends of the acting troupe and deserved preferential treatment, they forced their way into the theater, ignoring the admission fee, and threatened to demolish the theater. Order was soon restored.[55]
Jim Smith’s Dramatic Adobe very soon proved inadequate to accommodate the growing audience as the appeal of Sonoma’s embryonic theater quickly expanded beyond the pueblo’s small population. Demand was also fueled by theater-deprived San Francisco, which would not have its own theater until June 1849.[56] William A. Leidesdorff, who started a steamship operation to haul lumber from Bodega Bay to San Francisco, also ran steamship passenger service from San Francisco to Sonoma in 1847. San Franciscans were soon attending Sonoma’s theatrical productions.[57] The 37-foot Russian-built paddle-wheel steamer was soon joined by a competitor, the sloop Stockton, which also began carrying passengers between Sonoma and San Francisco in November 1847.[58]
To accommodate the theater’s growing audience and capitalize on patrons’ willingness to pay, the troupe turned to Don Salvador Vallejo to convert a large room in his unfinished single-level adobe into a theater. This adobe was located on the southwest corner of First Street West and Spain Street. Salvador Vallejo, the brother of Mariano G. Vallejo, was a former Mexican Army Captain in Sonoma. Although construction of his building had begun sometime after 1843, the Bear Flag Revolt had halted progress. On June 14, 1846, Americans seized control of the town as part of the Bear Flag Revolt in an attempt to overthrow the government of Alta California. Salvador and Mariano Vallejo and two others were taken to Sutter’s Fort and imprisoned for six weeks. However, in 1847, Salvador Vallejo agreed to host the theater, offering the space rent-free and providing the lumber to construct it within his building.[59]
The troupe needed to name their new theater and chose “The Colonnade,” inspired in part by the many columns on the building's exterior. They likely continued their penchant for ironic humor and hyperbole in name selection by recalling Colonnade Row, one of New York’s first luxury developments located at 428-34 Lafayette Street. Built in 1830-31, the opulent structure comprised nine dramatic marble rowhouses with prominent columns and housed notable residents such as the Astors, Vanderbilts, and Roosevelts. Sonoma, and its new theater, were decidedly not opulent.
With the new theater’s capacity greatly expanded, it could now accommodate 200 patrons. Sonoma’s troupe readied their new venue by installing rough-hewn benches for seating and adding a few box seats along the sides. The bare walls of the theater were decorated with tree branches and vines, and colorful blankets were used as the stage curtain.[60] Lilburn Boggs, the Sonoma district alcalde and former governor of Missouri, had a private box outfitted specifically for him and his guests.[61]
Although the precise date of the Colonnade Theater’s inaugural performance has not been established, it occurred sometime in the summer of 1847.[62] Adopting the custom of the day, the Colonnade presented an evening full of entertainment with music provided by Andreas Hoeppner on piano and occasionally a few strolling fiddlers.[63]Hoeppner, a German immigrant, had been given several square miles of land in Sonoma Valley by Mariano G. Vallejo in exchange for teaching piano to his immediate family on a piano forte, one of the first brought to California back in March 1843.[64] Despite multiple printers among the soldiers, there were only two printing presses in California at the time, both in San Francisco. Considering the cost and time involved in printing, it was decided to write the notices by hand.[65] The playbills for the first performance were posted around town with the following announcement:[66]
SONOMA THEATRE
1st. Dance ………………“Cachucha”
2nd. Drama………………“The Golden Farmer”
3rd. ……………………….Comic Song
4th. Farce …………………“The Omnibus”
La Cachucha was a balletized Spanish dance first performed as a solo by Fanny Elssler at the Paris Opera in 1836.[67] She later popularized it in Rossini's opera La Donna del Lago. In the U.S., its popularity was cemented with a circa 1840 Currier & Ives lithograph of Fanny Elssler titled, “In the Favorite Dance La Cachucha.” The actor-soldiers most likely would have seen the dance performed in New York. It is not known who performed La Cachucha in Sonoma, but it was likely one of the male actors, likely for comic relief.
A circa 1840 lithograph of Fanny Elssler and La Cachucha. The performance in Sonoma was a comedic interpretation by soldiers likely donning women’s clothing.
The Golden Farmer; or the Last Crime, was a two-act domestic drama written in 1832 by Benjamin Webster with a version contained in Turner’s Dramatic Library of Acting Plays.[68] This was one of the most popular melodramas of its time. The plot is based on a true event involving the famous highwayman and robber William Davies, known as the “Golden Farmer” because he paid debts with gold coins to prevent his plunder from being traced. His Robin Hood-like status was cemented as some of his plunder was placed under the doors of the local poor. In Webster’s treatment, a highwayman and burglar became an honest and respected farmer through his ill-gotten gains. The farmer’s past catches up when avarice and blackmail tempt him to commit one more crime. In the last scene, he is tragically sentenced to hang. In Sonoma, the production included William Huefner, who played the farmer, William Scott, who played Jemmy Twitcher, and Lysander Washburn, who played Louisa, the farmer’s daughter, as he was reported to have “a smooth face.” Soldiers portrayed all three female roles: Elizabeth, the farmer’s wife; Louisa, the farmer’s daughter; and Mrs. Hammer.[69]
The Omnibus, or A Convenient Distance, was a one-act farce written in the 1830s. As there are two versions of the play, it is unclear which version was performed in Sonoma. One version was issued as number 30 of Turner's Dramatic Library of Acting Plays, which lists Isaac Pocock as the author, based on an adaptation of Richard J. Raymond's farce Cherry Bounce, A Farsetta in One Act.[70] Another version is an adaptation by the famous Irish actor and playwright Tyrone Power.[71] The 40-minute-long production is about a family and their blundering, blockheaded servant on their farm.
The theater was soon in full operation with weekly performances that included drama, farces, pantomimes, singing, dancing, and music.[72] The fame and reputation of Sonoma’s theater spread throughout the region, as noted in the April 19, 1848, issue of the Californian printed in San Francisco.[73]
“THEATRE AT SONOMA.—An amateur Thespian club has been organized in the flourishing town of Sonoma, which performs weekly to crowded audiences. We understand good taste is displayed in the management, selection of plays, scenery, decorations, costumes, &c, and that their miniature theatre in the Colonnade building, on the public plaza, is not only a great source of amusement to the citizens, but an ornament to the town. They perform on Saturday evenings, and their acting is as bueno as could be expected. Any of our citizens visiting Sonoma will no doubt be amused if they give them a call.”
SONOMA’S THEATER GOES DARK
On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall found small gold nuggets in the tailrace of the sawmill on the American River that he was building for John Sutter. With this initial discovery, the extent of the gold was unclear, but the magnitude soon dramatically changed California and Sonoma. While rumors slowly trickled out about gold, the first public announcement of the discovery of gold was made on March 15, 1848, followed by a flood of articles about gold discoveries in California’s only two newspapers, the Californian and the California Star.[74] One of the earliest Sonomans to head for the goldfields in the spring of 1848 was Nicholas Carriger. He met with immediate success and was reputed to be the first individual to return to Sonoma with gold just 11 days later. He possessed several pounds of gold dust and nuggets worth $16 per ounce – enough to purchase over 1,000 acres of land in Sonoma Valley. To the soldiers of Company C and to the townspeople of Sonoma, this must have been a jaw-dropping moment.[75]
On May 3, 1848, orders were issued for Company C to leave on the bark Anita for Monterey, where it would join two other companies and then sail to San Jose, near Cabo San Lucas in Baja California, for occupation duty.[76]While rumors of peace with Mexico were circulating as early as September 1847, such reports became more frequent in the spring of 1848.[77] As was to be expected, the order to head to Mexico was a devastating event for the soldiers. Because a peace treaty would end their enlistment, the last thing the soldiers wanted was to move far from the gold, as they were garrisoned on a favored land route to and from the gold fields, meaning they would be among the first Americans to access the gold. Instead, they were about to be shipped far away with no return date and the potential for military action.
Predictably, prior to Company C’s departure on June 10, 1848, massive desertions occurred with 31 of the soldiers in Company C, nearly one-half, leaving for the gold fields between June 1 and June 9.[78] This included three members of the acting troupe, although one was caught and imprisoned in San Francisco along with nine fellow deserters. These mass desertions rendered the company militarily useless. Consequently, soon after reaching Monterey, they were ordered to return to Sonoma, arriving back on July 15, 1848. But just four days later, on July 19, they were ordered to replace Company H at the Presidio in San Francisco and arrived on August 5. That same day, Company H, led by Capt. John B. Frisbie arrived in Sonoma. These men had been recruited in Albany, New York, and had been stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco since March 1847.[79]
Company C’s departure was sincerely regretted by the townspeople of Sonoma, not only because of the loss of the theater, but because the soldiers of Company C had provided them with a source of off-duty labor and because of “their gentlemanly and orderly deportment individually and collectively.” Sonoma was experiencing major changes. It was reported that, “Not a mechanic or laboring man can be obtained in town, and most of our male citizens have ‘gone up’ to the Sierra Nevada, and are now enjoying ‘golden moments’.”[80]
On August 4, 1848, the 1st New York Volunteers received official news of the peace treaty, and on August 10, they were ordered to disband, and the soldiers mustered out.[81] Company C and its 46 remaining soldiers (some being recently apprehended deserters) mustered out of the service in San Francisco on August 15, 1848. They were followed by Company H, which left Sonoma to be mustered out in San Francisco ten days later.[82] With no actors, the theater officially went dark. As noted in the August 14, 1848, issue of the Californian:[83]
“The Colonnade Theatre, at this place, has closed for the season." It was well attended, however, from the time the Thespians made their debut till they made their exit. The "Golden Farmer," the "Omnibus," and a Russian comedy called "Feodora,"[84] (translated from the German of Kotzbue, by Mr. F. Linz, of Sonoma,) were their last attractions.”
THEATER RETURNS TO SONOMA
California’s winter rains made traveling to and within the gold fields extremely difficult, and placer mining became dangerous due to high river levels. As there were few miners in the goldfields in 1848, miners could safely leave their claims and over-winter in California’s few towns. The return of some of the former soldiers, including their former commander, John E. Brackett, to Sonoma in late fall, meant that theater was possible again. Commencing on Thursday, November 30, 1848, Sonoma was once again blessed with the production of the Golden Farmer interspersed with dancing and an “Ethiopian Band” to conclude the evening.[85] The actors obviously felt quite confident performing their old standby, The Golden Farmer, with minimal rehearsal. The “Ethiopian Band” referred to a minstrel performance in black-face with banjo and fiddle music associated with African Americans in the South.
The reassembled acting troupe found a new location in the 40 by 25 foot upstairs sala of Mariano G. Vallejo’s house, La Casa Grande, which had been the site of many fandangos in the past.83 Built in 1836, the house was the town’s most imposing building. It included a three-story observation tower that faced south across the Plaza and down the main street, Calle Principale, to the embarcadero on Sonoma Creek.
With the town’s population reinforced by wintering miners, the theater became popular once again. Lilburn Boggs and Jacob Leese, Vallejo’s brother-in-law, became patrons of the theater. In mid-December, even the Californio visitors Antonio Franco Coronel and Juan Padilla enjoyed an evening at the Sonoma theater.[86] Performances continued through the spring of 1849 with productions of the Lady of Lyons, Robert Macaire, Othello, and other Shakespearean plays. The actors constituting the newest acting troupe included former soldiers of Company C (Alexander J. Cox, Edward McCarthy, William Scott, William E. Weaver, and Lysander Washburn), and were now enlarged by former soldiers from Companies E and F, previously stationed in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, respectively, as well as by a few volunteers from Sonoma’s civilian population. Even Col. Victor Prudhon, who was General Vallejo’s longtime secretary and once a prisoner of the Bear Flaggers, enthusiastically took lead roles in Shakespearean plays such as Othello. The primary instrumental accompaniment continued to be AndreasHoeppner on the piano and a few fiddlers. As the influx of gold was seemingly plentiful and costs inflated, the price of admission ballooned to $3.00. It was reported that, “As much amusement, perhaps, was derived from the blunders of many of those unskilled players, as from the real cleverness of others. A large amount of the shortcomings might be traced to the free use of the ardent[spirits], the dramatic taste then so prevalent among the volunteer soldiery never having conquered their spirituous proclivities.”[87]
The theater in Sonoma diminished after 1849. Although Sonoma was on one of the two land routes to the goldfields, steamship service from San Francisco to Benicia and Sacramento began in October 1849, bypassing Sonoma and reducing its commercial importance, while San Francisco boomed in population and importance.[88] Sonomans had to travel farther to experience theater. There were at least seven theaters in San Francisco by 1856 staffed with professional actors. The largest and most opulent were the Metropolitan Theatre on Montgomery Street and the fashionable Maguire’s Opera House on Washington Street. Female actresses were now becoming more acceptable. And playbills were posted in Sonoma that advertised plays in San Francisco.
The performers of Sonoma’s first theater moved on, too. Most of the core troupe initially moved back to the mines or to more exciting communities with greater economic opportunities. Johny Rowe, who had specialized in female roles in Sonoma, became famous a few years later in Hawaii, where he was known for his imitation of Lola Montez and her risqué spider dance. William Huefner moved to Sacramento to continue acting.[89] David Norris moved to San Francisco to become the printer for the Alta California. Alexander J. Cox returned to Sonoma but focused on newspapers, publishing Sonoma’s first newspaper, the Sonoma Bulletin, in 1852, with his newspaper office in the Sonoma Barracks, where he had been stationed just a few years before. Cox moved away to publish the Napa Register in 1856, the Healdsburg Review in 1860, and the Mendocino Beacon in 1883. Lysander Washburn remained at Mokelumne Hill to mine while Edward McCarthy moved to Santa Barbara. The other former soldier-actors relocated to various places unknown.
CONCLUSION
In antebellum America, theater, especially working-class theater, became an important form of entertainment in the country’s urban centers. In 1846, a unique set of circumstances created an opportunity to bring predominantly amateur actors and entertainers to the California frontier, where they provided a mini version of New York City-style theater. The catalyst for this transcontinental theatrical experience was the 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers recruited to serve as colonizers of Alta California. The formation of the regiment's bulk in Lower Manhattan during difficult economic times created an opportunity for actors and entertainers to enlist.
Following their arrival in Alta California in April 1847, the soldiers settled into comparatively quiet pueblos, formed thespian clubs, and sought out usable spaces for their performances. While the first English-speaking theatrical performance was most likely in Sonoma, the New York soldiers also established a pioneer theater in Santa Barbara, followed by theaters in Los Angeles and Monterey. Following a short closure during the initial stages of the 1848 “internal” gold rush, the actors returned to Sonoma to restart the theater, but most of the actors returned to the gold fields or to California’s new commercial centers. This initial phase preceded the construction of commercially driven theaters in Sacramento and San Francisco, which employed professional actors.
These artistically inclined pioneer settlers provided an important function in sustaining their brothers-in-arms, as well as others, with critical entertainment. Through the theater, these performers injected American, and especially New York culture, into California. In 1847, this “new” Yankee culture had a significant impact on the dominant social customs, norms, and perspectives of Alta California. However, their initial cultural influence was short-lived, as the impending massive gold-rush-fueled migration introduced a litany of new cultures, customs, and norms.
About the authors: TRAVIS P. WAGNER, PhD, is a professor emeritus of the University of Southern Maine. He earned his Ph.D. at the George Washington University. He recently finished writing a book, Military Honor on Trial: The Saga of Joseph Hooker and George H. Derby, and is now working on the history of the 1st New York Volunteers.
PETER MEYERHOF, PhD, is an independent historian who has researched many aspects of Northern California history. He is currently researching the history of the early Chinese in Sonoma Valley and completing a biography of Robert Semple, a Bear Flagger, newspaper publisher, and President of the 1849 California Constitutional Convention.
Bibliography:
[1] “The First Theater,” San Jose Pioneer, September 15, 1877, 2.
[2] Guy J. Giffen, California Expedition: Stevenson’s Regiment of First New York Volunteers (Biobooks, 1951), 20-21. Stephen Ralph Buss, “The Military Theatre: Soldier-Actor Theatrical on the Frontier Plains” (PhD diss., Washington State University, 1982), 24-25. Charles Vernard Hume, “The Sacramento Theater 1849-1885” (PhD diss., Stanford University, 1955), 37. (Hume erroneously states that the first performance was held in Vallejo, but the town was not established until 1850 by Gen. Mariano G. Vallejo, the founder, most prominent citizen, and largest landowner in the Sonoma District. Oral Sumner Coad and Edwin Mims, Pageant of America: A Pictorial History of the United States, ed. Ralph Henry Gabriel (Yale University Press, 1929), 175-185.
[3] For Santa Barbara’s first performance, see Smith, History of the Theatre, 14-18. For Monterey, the dates of the first Anglo performance vary, ranging from 1848 to 1850. In 1846, a Spanish troupe performed “Adam and Eve” at the home of Rafael Gonzales. See Joseph E. Lawrence, “Drama on the Pacific–The First Theatricals in California,” The Golden Era, May 13, 1855. In September 1847, there was a Mexican performance of the Spanish play, Morayma. See the Californian, October 6, 1847. In F. Smith’s diary, a primary source, he describes the opening date of an Anglo performance in Monterey in the spring of 1848. See C. Adkins transcription of “F. Smith’s Diary,” 1970, Monterey State Historic Park Archives, Folder 36. Other sources for the dates at these respective locations include Lawrence, The Golden Era, May 13, 1855. John McHenry Hollingsworth, The Journal of Lieutenant John McHenry Hollingsworth: Of the First New York Volunteers (Stevenson's Regiment), September, 1846-August, 1849: Being a Recital of the Voyage of the Susan Drew to California; the Arrival of the Regiment in 1847; Its Military Movements and Adventures During 1847-1848-1849; Incidents of Daily Life, and Adventures of the Author in the Gold Mines, (California Historical Society, 1923). Andrew Gibb, "Wartime Collaboration: Theatrical Space and Power in Conquered Los Angeles," Theatre Symposium, vol. 24, no. 1 (2016): 64-75. George Rupert MacMinn, “Bijoux” and "Histrionic Temples.” The Theater of the Golden Era in California (The Caxon Printers, 1941). For Los Angeles, see Joseph E. Lawrence, “Drama on the Pacific–The First Theatricals in California,” The Golden Era, April 29, 1855. Sue Wolfer Earnest, “An Historical Study of the Growth of the Theatre in Southern California, 1848-1894” (PhD diss., University of Southern California, 1947), 7-8.
[4] Two additional pioneer theaters were started in California, but did not involve the 1st New York Volunteers. In San Francisco, soldiers of the New York Volunteers held some minstrel performances, but no actual plays were recorded prior to 1849, when the Eagle Olympic Club was formed in May 1848 to raise funds to find a building for a theatre. Its first performance was in June 1849. See the Californian, May 10, 1848. Constance Rourke, Troupers of Gold or the Rise of Lotta Crabtree (Harcourt Brace, 1928). Edmond M. Gagey, The San Francisco Stage: A History (Columbia University Press, 1950). In Sacramento, the Eagle Theatre held its first informal performance on September 29, 1849, followed by its first official, professional performance on October 18. See Hubert H. Bancroft, “The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft”, vol. XXIII, The History of California, Vol. VI, 1848-1859 (The History Company, 1888), 461.
[5] William Knight Northall, Before and Behind the Curtain: Or, Fifteen Years' Observations Among the Theatres of New York (W. F. Burgess, 1851), 6.
[6] Richard B. Stott, Workers in the Metropolis: Class, Ethnicity, and Youth in Antebellum New York City (Cornell University Press, 1990), 222. Katherine G. Hambridge and Jonathan Hicks, The Melodramatic Moment: Music and Theatrical Culture, 1790–1820 (University of Chicago Press, 2018), 8.
[7] Stott, Workers in Metropolis, 222.
[8] Bruce A. McConachie. Melodramatic Formations: American Theatre and Society, 1820–1870 (University of Iowa Press, 1992).
[9] Sara Marian and Clio Admin, "The Bowery Theatre, 1826-1929." Clio: Your Guide to History. December 3, 2017. Accessed July 10, 2025. https://theclio.com/entry/21656
[10] Stott, Workers in Metropolis, 71.
[11] Robert Ernst, “Economic Nativism in New York City During the 1840’s.” New York History 29, (1948): 170–86.
[12] Ernst, “Economic Nativism,” 170–86.
[13] Zoe Detsi-Diamanti, “Staging Working-Class Culture: George A. Baker’s ‘A Glance at New York’ (1848).” Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies (HJEAS) 15, no. 1, (2009): 11–26.
[14] Burnham, Charles, and Mary Ann Jensen. “New York’s Vanished Theatres.” The Princeton University Library Chronicle 44, no. 2 (1983): 85–114.
[15] George G. Foster, New York by Gas-Light with Here and There a Streak of Sunshine (Dewitt & Davenport, 1850), 87.
[16] Theodore J. Shank, "Theatre for the Majority: Its Influence on a Nineteenth Century American Theatre." Educational Theatre Journal (1959): 188-199.
[17] Detsi-Diamanti, “Staging Working-Class Culture,” 11–26.
[18] Foster, New York by Gas-Light, 87.
[19] Alexander Saxton, “Blackface Minstrelsy.” In Inside The Minstrel Mask: Readings in Nineteenth-Century Blackface Minstrelsy, ed. Annemarie Bean, James V. Hatch, and Brooks McNamara Watkins (Wesleyan University Press, 1996). 69.
[20] Officially, Stevenson’s Regiment was formed as the 7th Regiment of New York Volunteers because it was supposed to be the 7th regiment raised from New York for the Mexican War. However, it was the first regiment raised and fielded. On February 28, 1848, while in California, the 7th New York Volunteers was redesignated as the 1st New York Volunteers by the War Department. In New York, the regiment was also referred to as the New York Legion, Stevenson's New York Legion, Stevenson’s Battalion, Stevenson's New York Volunteers, Stevenson’s California Expedition, the California Guard, and the California Regiment.
[21] Report of the Secretary of War. Senate Document, 29th Congress, 1st Session, Executive Document 439, pp. 5-6, July 17, 1846.
[22] Francis D. Clark, The First Regiment of New York Volunteers (GS Evans & Company, 1882). Donald C. Biggs, “Stevenson’s Regiment in California: An Experiment in Social Action” (PhD diss., University of Minnesota, 1962), 51. The New York Herald. July 11, 1846.
[23] Clark, The First Regiment, 55.
[24] Stevenson, J. D. "Volunteers for the War." Atlas, July 2, 1846.
[25] Ernst, Economic Nativism, 170–86.
[26] Douglas T. Miller, "Immigration and Social Stratification in Pre-Civil War New York." New York History 49, no. 2 (1968): 157.
[27]The New York Herald, July 13, 1846, 2.
[28] Biggs, “Stevenson’s Regiment,” 51.
[29] The Boston Atlas, Thursday Morning, July 2, 1846, 1.
[30] McConachie, Melodramatic Formations.
[31] Walter Murray, “Walter Murray Reminiscences, 1826-1875,” Chapter II, Manuscript C058565. Courtesy of The Society of California Pioneers, San Francisco, CA.
[32] There were 599 men aboard the three ships. Due to an earlier-than-scheduled departure, 49 soldiers were temporarily left in New York. Additional recruiting meant that a total of 841 soldiers ultimately served in the 1st New York Volunteers. Biggs, Stevenson’s Regiment, 218.
[33] "The California Expedition." Atlas, July 25, 1846.
[34] Lawrence, The Golden Era, April 15, 1855.
[35] Clark, The First Regiment, 1882.
[36] Lawrence, The Golden Era, April 15, 1855.
[37] Lawrence, The Golden Era, April 15, 1855.
[38] James Lynch, “With Stevenson to California,” The New York Volunteers in California (The Rio Grande Press, 1970), 16.
[39]Lawrence, The Golden Era, May 13, 1855.
[40] Richard Reinhardt, "To a Distant and Perilous Service," American Heritage 30 (1979): 64-77.
[41] Jospeh Evans, “Around Cape Horn with Colonel Stevenson's Regiment in 1846,” Quarterly of the Society of California Pioneers, 7 (1930): 244-254.
[42] Gibb, "Wartime Collaboration,” 64-75.
[43] Joshua S. Vincent, The Joshua S. Vincent Diary. Transcribed by Chris D’Amando. Courtesy of Phillips Exeter Academy (1951).
[44] Upon their arrival in California, Companies A and B were initially posted to Santa Barbara, but three months later, both companies were sent to La Paz, Baja California, Mexico. Company C was posted to Sonoma. Company D was posted to Monterey for only one month and was then sent to La Paz, Mexico. Company E was posted to Los Angeles. Company F was posted to Santa Barbara and remained there throughout the war. Company G was sent to Los Angeles. Company H remained in San Francisco except for a few weeks in Sonoma prior to mustering out. Company I was posted to Monterey until January 1848, when they transferred to San Diego. (There was no company J, which was common for the antebellum army as a means to eliminate confusion with a company I because the old cursive "J" looked too much like the cursive "I".) Company K remained in San Francisco. The regimental staff made its headquarters in Los Angeles.
[45] Clark, First Regiment.
[46] The California Star, March 13, 1847
[47] Hubert Howe Bancroft, The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft. Volume XXIII. History of California.: Vol. 6, 1848 to 1859 (The History Company, 1888), 5. Carlagaye Olson, “Sonoma: Three Perspectives on the Past,” Interpretive Study Series, California History (1973). Interpretive Planning Unit Design and Construction Division, State of California Department of Parks and Recreation, 35.
[48] Mariano G. Vallejo vs. The United States Court of Claims, Northern District of California, Case 566, February 24, 1855.
[49]Lawrence, The Golden Era, April 15, 1855.
[50] Lawrence, The Golden Era, April 15, 1855.
[51] Tempe E Allison, “The Theater in Early California,” The California Chronicle 30 (1928): 76.
[52] Benjamin Webster, The Golden Farmer; Or, Vell, Vot Ov It? A domestic Drama, in Two Acts (Turner & Fisher, 1836).
[53] Lawrence, The Golden Era, April 15, 1855.
[54] The building’s location has not been determined. Thomas A. Bogar, Theater on the American Frontier (Louisiana State University Press, 2023), 220.
[55] Lawrence, The Golden Era, April 15, 1855.
[56] Rourke, Troupers of Gold. George Tays, “First Theatre in California. Registered Landmark #136,” (1936), State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks. Works Progress Administration Project No. 65-3-3218.
[57] “The First Theatre.” San Jose Pioneer, Sept. 15, 1877, 2. William A. Custis, “First Theater in California.” Out West: A Magazine of the Old Pacific and the New, June 1908, 479-482.
[58] George Emanuels, Schools & Scows in Early Sonoma, (Sonoma Valley Historical Society, 1998), 60-61.
[59] Lawrence, The Golden Era, April 15, 1855.
[60] Allison, “Theater in Early California,” 76.
[61] Allison, “Theater in Early California,” 75-79. Lawrence, The Golden Era, April 15, 1855. “The First Theatre,” San Jose Pioneer, 2.
[62] Bancroft, “Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft,” 243. “First Theatre,” 2. Coad and Mims, The Pageant of America, 180.
[63] Lawrence, The Golden Era, April 15, 1855.
[64] Erastus D. Holden, “California’s First Pianos,” California Historical Society Quarterly 13, (1934): 34–37.
[65] Donald C. Biggs, “The Printers in Stevenson’s Regiment,” The Book Club of California, Quarterly Newsletter, (1956), 30.
[66] Lawrence, The Golden Era, April 15, 1855.
[67] Lisa C. Arkin, “The Context of Exoticism in Fanny Elssler’s ‘Cachucha.’” Dance Chronicle 17, (1994): 303–25.
[68] Webster, “The Golden Farmer.”
[69] Allison, “Theater in Early California,” 76-77.
[70] I. Pocock and R. J. Raymond. The Omnibus: A Laughable Farce, in One Act: Correctly Printed from the Most Approved Acting Copy, with a Description of the Costume, Cast of the Characters, Entrances and Exits, Relative Positions, and the Whole of the Stage Business: To Which Are Added Properties and Directions, as Now Performed in the London and American Theatres: Embellished with a Fine Wood Engraving. (Turner & Fisher, 1837).
[71] “The Omnibus. A Farce in One Act.” Dewitt’s Acting Plays, No. 227. Clinton T. De Witt, Publisher, New York, ND.
[72] Lawrence, The Golden Era, April 15, 1855.
[73] Californian, April 19, 1848, 2.
[74] Californian, March 15, 1848, 2.
[75] History of Sonoma County (Alley, Bowen, & Co., 1879). Biography of Nicholas Carriger (Pacific Press). Nicholas Carriger Autobiography, recorded by Henry Cerruti in Sonoma on May 3, 1874. Microfilm in Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
[76] Kimball Hale Dimmick Diary, 1848. Manuscript HM 4014. The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
[77] California Star, September 11, 1847, 2. Californian, September 22, 1847, 2.
[78] It is unclear how many soldiers were at Sonoma in June 1849, as the army’s post returns for June, July, and August are missing. In May, there were 45 soldiers posted in Sonoma, not including some soldiers on extended duty in San Francisco. See Returns From U.S. Military Posts, 1800-1916; Microfilm Publication M617, Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762-1984, Record Group 94, The National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC.
[79] William T. Sherman, Headquarters, 10th Military Department, Monterey, CA, Orders No. 45, July 19, 1848. Records of the 10th Military Department, 1846-51. File No. M210, Roll No. 7. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC.
[80] Californian, August 14, 1848, 3.
[81] Kimball Hale Dimmick Diary.
[82] Clark, First Regiment, 43.
[83] Californian, August 14, 1848, 3.
[84] Feodora (Feodore: ein Singspiel in einem Akt), was a one-act musical comedy premiering in 1812. The German librettist, August von Kotzebue, was a prolific playwright who also served as a consul for Russia.
[85] California Star & Californian, December 2, 1848, 2.
[86] Antonio Franco Coronel, Tales of Mexican California: Cosas de California, (Bellerophon Books, 1994), 57.
[87] Lawrence, The Golden Era, April 15, 1855.
[88] Weekly Alta California, October 18, 1849, 2.
[89] Giffen, California Expedition, 56.
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