A Santa Cruz sheriff, fireman and collector of port revenues, his trail ended in Missouri, or was it Michigan?

It is believed that Lorenzo Longley Logan was born in Maine about 1822 and relocated to Kentucky before arriving in California. No information is available regarding his family or early life. He first appears in Santa Cruz County, California, in the voter's registration of 1854. From the early 1850s to his departure from Santa Cruz County in 1860 or 1861, he served as a Santa Cruz sheriff, collector for the port of Santa Cruz and was one of the city’s first fireman. Logan supplemented his income locally as a woodsman until he left for Nevada City, California about 1860-61.

On August 10, 1861, Lorenzo Logan enrolled as a private in Company G of the 1st California infantry. After a training period at Camp Union, guard duty on Alcatraz Island and training at Fort Drum in Southern California, Company G joined the California Column.

The California Column referred to those military regiments that made their way from Southern California to Arizona and New Mexico during the Civil War to protect those territories against Confederates and Indians. They moved in increments through Southern California to Yuma, Arizona, and on to Tucson. Logan was involved in several engagements with hostile Apache Indians in the Tucson Area during early 1863. In August 1863 he likely took part in the Gila River campaign before being sent to New Mexico.

While in New Mexico, Company G had encounters with Indians living in that territory. During one of these engagements Logan is reported to have suffered arrow wounds resulting in his being discharged for medical reasons at Fort McRae, New Mexico on April 24, 1864.

Local Santa Cruz historian Tom McHugh provides two possible accounts of the death of Lorenzo Logan. The first indicates that, "he [Logan] died at the hands of Missouri guerillas and was killed at the age of 42 in April 1864." The second suggests that "he [Logan] died in Sylvanus, Michigan July 17, 1864 from a variety of causes originating from arrow wounds inflicted in New Mexico." Future historians may finalize the story of this colorful Santa Cruz resident.

USCR, 1860 US Census, CA, Santa Cruz; CMWR, Pg. 365; SCSn November 12, 1972)