Asbury Harpending

Who was Asbury Harpending?

Asbury Harpending, an adventurer and financier in California, Mexico and New York City.

Born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, at the age of fifteen he was sent to college but within the year he ran away to join the filibuster of General William Walker, to Nicaragua but his party was intercepted by American officials. Escaping the authorities he made his way home. His father decided to give him money and send him to California. He made his early fortune mining in California and in Mexico prior to the American Civil War.

In 1861, he joined in a conspiracy to seize San Francisco and create a "Pacific Republic" in California and Oregon, but it failed due to the loyalty and precautions of Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston. Later in 1863, after traveling secretly to Richmond, Harpending obtained a letter of marque and returned to join with other California members of the Knights of the Golden Circle in San Francisco to outfit the schooner J. M. Chapman, as a Confederate privateer in San Francisco Bay. Their object was to raid commerce on the Pacific coast to capture and carry gold and silver shipments back to support the Confederacy. Their attempt was detected and they were seized on the night of their intended departure by the USS Cyane, revenue officers and San Francisco police. The conspirators were tried and found guilty of treason. Asbury Harpending, and the other leaders were each sentenced to ten years in prison confined at Alcatraz. A few months later President Lincoln issued an amnesty proclamation granting full pardon to all political prisoners upon the condition that they take and keep the oath of allegiance. Harpending was given his freedom in February 1864.