Columbus Sims

Who is Columbus Sims?

Columbus Sims, lawyer, Colonel of California Volunteers in the American Civil War.

Columbus Sims was a born in South Carolina. He came to Los Angeles, California in 1852. A popular attorney, he was known for an incident in which he threw an inkstand at his opponent during an altercation in court, an act of contempt of court that did not result in his disbarment. In 1853, he served as a United States District Attorney, Pro Tem, in Oregon. Later, he acted as attorney for Pancho Daniel, leader with Juan Flores of the Flores Daniel Gang on trial for the murder of Los Angeles County Sheriff James R. Barton, until sickness compelled him to retire from the case. From 1856 to 1860, he was the Clerk of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. On May 4th, 1859, Sims, with other influential men like A. J. King and Henry D. Barrows, served on a committee to raise funds to build the first Protestant church in Los Angeles.

In early 1861, during the beginning of the American Civil War, Sims, although a Southerner by birth, was President of the Los Angeles Union Club. On September 10, 1861, he was appointed Lt. Colonel of the 2nd Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry, and placed in charge of Camp Alert at the Pioneer Race Course in San Francisco, where the twelve cavalry companies of the Second Cavalry were assembled. Two months later, on November 13, 1861, he was promoted to Colonel of the Second Cavalry following the resignation of his predecessor Andrew J. Smith.