The Drum Barracks Civil War Museum in Wilmington (near the Los Angeles Harbor) recently announced an upcoming exhibit highlighting “a particularly colorful California Civil War character”, Assemblyman Daniel Showalter. Showalter is best remembered for killing Assemblyman Charles W. Piercy in an 1861 duel, and later being the leader of the Confederate forces in the only Civil War skirmish to occur in California.
The exhibit is the result of a research project by historian Robert Arconti which uncovered a notable collection of documents, including the rediscovery of the only known photograph of Showalter and two previously unpublished letters from members of the Showalter family of Pennsylvania.
The exhibit will run for at least six months from its opening on Saturday, November 5, 2011, after which parts of it will become a smaller permanent exhibit. This exhibit will be co-promoted with a reenactment event of the “Capture of the Showalter Party” in Temecula on November 19-20, marking the 150th anniversary of that episode.
The exhibit should be well worth the price of admission.
