Former Senator William Gwin, a Confederate sympathizer, was arrested and fled to Europe to escape trial. Nearly all the California men who volunteered as soldiers for the Union Army stayed in the West to guard facilities. Some 2,350 men in the California Column marched east across Arizona in 1862 to expel the Confederates from Arizona and New Mexico.
Former Senator William Gwin, a Confederate supporter, was apprehended and fled to Europe to evade trial. Many of the California soldiers who joined the Union Army stayed in the West to protect facilities. In 1862, approximately 2,350 men from the California Column marched east across Arizona to remove Confederates from Arizona and New Mexico.