Last spring, in one of my posts of Catalina Island, I made a post (March 26) with some thoughts of how the C.S.S. Shenandoah affected the California coast.  In this post I want to feature a new friend, a fellow Civil War reenactor in California. His name is Alonso Chattan.  His  Living History persona is Alonzo Goodblood, Major, Medical Services.  He attends the Fort Point events in San Francisco. In addition to  his passion for Civil War history, he plays the Great Highland Bagpipes and Uilleann pipes.  He has a great love for Celtic music.

Alonso says there is a good bit of Civil War reenacting in the Bay Area and in Northern California.  He says they have large groups of Civil War reenactors, including the NCWA and ACWA .  He adds:
“Angel Island and Fort Point at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge on the San Francisco side as well as several forts were manned throughout the war to prevent Confederate ships from entering the bay. Never fired a shot in anger. I am told the only time it happened was when a British ship entered the bay and its flag was furled. The garrison on Angel Island fired across its bow; the Brits thought it a salute and, fortunately, the flag unfurled and was visible thus avoiding an incident.
“The rangers at the fort told us that and I have no reason to doubt it. I hope you do get to visit Fort Point. It is a marvelous piece of period architecture. The walls are a fantastic bit of brick artistry. California granite was used for the staircases. Really worth a trip to visit.”

I am going to have a post about Clan Chattan, which Alonso belongs to, in the future.  Here is a great Living History photo of Alonso.