Santa Rosa was the scene of much strife during the trouble between the settlers known as squatters and the grant miners. The quarreling and bickering between the two factions became intense during the year 1862, and from May until September, civil war was a constant menace. The cause of the trouble was that a grant of eleven leagues of land in the Sonoma Valley, known as the Late Toma Ranch, was made by the Mexican Government in 1844 to Captain Fitch. Captain Fitch died in 1849 leaving the land to be divided among his heir, the value of which amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, the administrators of the estate exhibited very little business ability, and the money was soon squandered . When the emigrants arrived during the period of 1849 to 1852, a large percentage of them being agriculturists from the Western States settled on the rich land believing the land belonged to the United States and not knowing of the Mexican Grants.
The Sheriff was forcibly resisted in serving the warrants to eject the squatters from the land and two companies of the National Guard, Petaluma Guard and Emmet Rifles, were detailed by Special Order No . 27 to assist the Sheriff and his posse in delivering the writs and ejecting the residents. This was accompli shed by September 30, 1862, when the Sheriff discharged the military companies to go back to their usual occupations.
The Washington Guard was organized during this period to be in readiness should a repetition of the disturbances occur. However, no more trouble was experienced along this line and it is assumed the r rapidly decreasing membership of the corps was responsible for the disbandment and mustering out of the Washington Guard, April 7, 1866 . The arms were returned to the State soon after disbandment.
Despite the notation in the Historical Record [1] which stated that the company was mustered out, April 7 , 1866, there is every indication the corps reorganized, September 22nd of that year and remained in service until August 1867. This fact is borne out in a Muster Roll of July 22, 1866, and also a letter from James Armstrong, Commander of First Infantry Battalion, Second Brigade to Major George W. Smiley, Assistant Adjutant General, March 14, 1867, and written from Petaluma, in which the Major stated the company was unable to maintain its organization up to the required standard of the Law and recommended an early disbandment. There is also evidence of a final mustering out in the form of a receipt from the Adjutant General's Office in Sacramento, September 9, 1867, for arms and accoutrements returned to the State by the Washington Guard.
1. Historical Record Second Brigade 1861-1868, Page 251 .