"Narrative of a California Volunteer" is a memoir by Judge Walter Murray that details his experiences as a member of Colonel
Stevenson's 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers. The Regiment was formed in New York in 1846 to serve in California during
the Mexican American War. It was transported around Cape Horn in 5 Ships and the troops were garrisoned at Monterey, Santa
Barbara, Los Angeles and San Diego. Murray's company arrived in San Francisco in 1847 and served in Santa Barbara. They were
sent on to Baja California where they fought in the Battle and Siege of La Paz.
Walter Murray was born in Gloucestershire, England in 1826. Apprenticed to a lawyer, he was sent to America in 1842; by 1846
he was living in New York, where he learned of the California Volunteers, a regiment commanded by Col. Jonathan D. Stevenson
of New York. The regiment was intended to serve in the Mexican War with the understanding that, following the American possession
of California, the Volunteers would be discharged and provided with settlements in the newly obtained land. Murray’s company
was one of the few to see actual battle, as most of Stevenson’s Regiment arrived in California too late to take part in military
service. Following his duties with the Volunteers, Murray tried his hand at mining gold in Sonora and, finding it unsuitable,
made his living providing miners with supplies from San Francisco. Murray also established and published the Sonora Herald.
Having married, Murray moved to San Luis Obispo, where he studied law, served as a Justice of the Peace, and published the
San Luis Obispo Tribune. At the time of his death in 1875, Murray was the District Judge of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara,
and Ventura counties.