The 1856 Committee was also much larger than the Committee of 1851, claiming 6,000 in its ranks. The Committee worked very closely with the formal government of San Francisco. President of the vigilance committee, William T. Coleman was a close friend of Governor J. Neely Johnson and the two men met on several occasions working towards the shared goal of stabilizing the town. Another important figure at this time who would later come to make a name for himself in the Civil War is William T. Sherman. Sherman was running a bank when Governor Johnson requested he become the commander of the San Francisco branch of the state militia. Sherman accepted the position two days before the murder of King by Casey.