September 9, 1861: Hayward, San Francisco

[This] morning…we left camp at Mission San Jose and moved up to Haywards, fifteen miles, along the east side of the bay, near San Leandro. The road led through a lovely region. A slope from four to eight miles wide lies between the hills and the bay, of beautiful land and of extraordinary fertility. It is all under cultivation, and enormous crops are raised on it. The fields are fenced, the houses American, and all tells of American enterprise. On arriving at Haywards I found a dispatch calling me to San Francisco immediately. I got in camp, left my party, and at night arrived at the city, twenty-three miles distant.