The calamitous San Francisco 1906 earthquake struck at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18. That morning, as aftershocks jarred and fires spread, an increasingly unnerved population started to panic. Hundreds massed at the Ferry Building in an attempt to escape the city. The tense disarray and lack of order stirred the growing crowds. A young man recalled, "On down the street we came across groups of men about whiskey and beer kegs drinking from cans, hollering, screaming, cursing in the most terrible manner." Another noted: "Throughout the whole day constant trouble had been experienced owing to a large number of drunks along the waterfront. The uncontrolled crowds rushed from saloon to saloon, looting the stocks and becoming intoxicated early in the day." Mobs raided saloons and refused to assist in the fire fighting efforts. As ensuing confusion accelerated, the Mayor's office received report after report of disorder and chaos.

San Francisco Mayor Eugene Schmitz quickly issued a bold proclamation to the city: "The Federal Troops, the members of the Regular Police Force and all Special Police Officers have been authorized by me to KILL any and all persons found engaged in Looting or in the Commission of Any Other Crime." Within two hours of the initial earthquake, Army troops were posted along Market Street, two men to a block, and Presidio troops marched into the city. To the traumatized residents of San Francisco, seeing soldiers in the streets posed both a comforting assurance and a troubling prospect. Schmitz's infamous edict authorized the U.S. Army to maintain order and protect property in the streets of an American city. However, the Mayor was not in a position of legal authority to order forces to shoot down citizens on command. The presence of military within the city enforced and undermined the city government's authority, but neither Schmitz nor General Funston advocated martial law.

Soldiers rest by their gear in downtown San Francisco.
Credit: Bob Bowen Collection

In the confusion following the initial shock and subsequent aftershocks and fires, army troops maintained law and order, closed the saloons, and evacuated residents. They also investigated accounts of looting. By the second day, law enforcement included Army and Navy forces, as well as police forces, the California National Guard and various volunteer groups. Without an organized center of control, the various enforcers were each following and issuing different orders.

General Order No. 12, issued three days after the earthquake, divided the city into six military districts each under control of the five law enforcement divisions. The General Order further stated that all divisions were to conduct themselves in "temperate action in dealing with the unfortunate people who are suffering from the awful catastrophe that has befallen them." This warning was the response to citizen's reports of incidents regarding military misconduct. Citizens had complained of rash or unnecessary evacuations. One such occasion occurred along Polk Street where soldiers evacuated inhabitants "with bayonets fixed" several hours before the fire threatened the area. "There was abundant time to save many valuable articles which were by this time lost. I did not understand at the time, nor have I since been able to understand," recalled a resident. Witnesses reported the looting of homes by the soldiers before dynamiting. The California National Guard was the subject of headlines such as "Blame the Militia for Much Looting." In one instance, the 20th Infantry Regiment arrested National Guardsmen for looting while members of the 11th Infantry were arrested as they "tapped a barrel." Troops did carry out Schmitz's order to shoot and kill looters - even presumed looters. The reports of citizens shot as a result of the Mayor's Proclamation vary greatly, and range from one dozen up to one hundred. Brigadier General Funston, however, denied involvement of any regular Army troops and his immediate supervisor, Major General Greely, attributed these occurrences to other military units.

Brigadier General Funston	Major General Greely

The police were given authority to "conscript manpower" for digging latrine ditches and organizing bread lines. But residents charged that Presidio soldiers forced them to clear streets or bury the dead, and that private automobiles were seized by the troops. The military, though, denied that they commandeered civilian "forced labor." A Navy midshipman recalls a detachment of Marines from Fort Mason assisting in "rounding up and impressing men to assist the fire fighters." Funston responded and issued a directive to city military district commanders. Whether it impressed civilian labor or not, the Army was equally disappointed in citizen contributions. Their reports note: "We received very little help from the real citizens, most of whom were engaged elsewhere looking after their own particular interests."

Aware of controversy over earlier actions by Funston to mobilize troops, conflicting reports about the behavior of the troops, and the inherent contentiousness of the army's role in the city, Greely advocated a withdrawal. In a request for army responsibilities to be transferred to local civil authorities and the Red Cross, Greely stated: "The spirit of American institutions is obviously adverse to the quartering of troops in times of peace in large cities." He was also very aware that while the soldiers had been reasonably well behaved, on July 1st the city's saloons were to reopen, inviting potential conflict for both military and civilians. On July 2nd, the U. S. Army troops pulled out of the city of San Francisco.

Resources

Dillion, Richard. "San Francisco's Occupying Army, 1906" San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle 14 April 1985.

"General Funston Warns Troops - 'No Forces Labor!'" Presidial Weekly Clarion (Presidio of San Francisco) , 27 April 1906, 1.

Hansen, Gladys and Emmet Condon. Denial of Disaster, (San Francisco, Comeron and Company, 1989).

Letter from John to Miss Lucy R. Schaeffer of San Diego. 14 May 1906. (SFHC)

Pond, Commander John E., U.S. Navy (Retired). "The United States Navy and the San Francisco Fire," U.S. Navel Institute Proceedings, September, 1952, Vol 78, no. 9, 985.

Russell Sage Foundation, San Francisco Relief Survey: The Organization and Methods of Relief Used After the Earthquake and Fire of April 18, 1906, (New York: Survey Associates, Inc., 1913).

Strobridge,William. "Soldiers in the Streets, 1906," The Pacific Historian, Spring 1978 (vol. 22, no. 1).

Thomas, Gordon and Max Morgan Witts, The San Francisco Earthquake, (New York: Stein and Day, 1971).

Thompson, Erwin N. Defender of the Gate: The Presidio of San Francisco, A History from 1846 to 1995, (Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California, National Park Service, 1995).