| abstract
| - The Sierran Civil War, widely known within Sierra as simply the Civil War, was a civil war fought from 1874 to 1877 between the Monarchists who were loyal to the King and his government, and the Republicans led by senator Isaiah Landon who opposed the monarchy. The Monarchists won, preserving the Kingdom, with Parliament passing reforms on the monarchy and federal government but many Republican leaders sentenced to life imprisonment or death for treason. 26,000 were killed throughout the course of the war, with the conflict being primarily confined to the Pacific coast and Central Valley in the form of skirmishes. Several major battles in the cities including San Francisco City and Porciúncula occurred during the later stages of the war, as support for the militant Republicans waned and the leadership grew more aggressive. The war ended on November 11, 1877 with the capitulation of Isaiah Landon outside of Ridgecrest, Central Valley, after his forces surrendered in the Battle of Indian Wells, and his lieutenants revealed his location to the Monarchists. Hostilities began when angered citizens, mostly farmers and members of the Democratic-Republicans in the Central Valley provinces revolted against the local governments in response to the apparent death of Prime Minister Ulysses Perry. Perry, a prolific republican and ardent opponent of Smith I, led a nearly successful movement to abolish the monarchy, but he descended into depression following his wife's murder. Perry was later reported missing before personal bodyguards revealed that he was dead, as his disappearance coincided with several gunshots. Although the government declared that his death was suicide, opponents and the public believed he was assassinated at the order of the King. News of his death galvanized republicans who believed the monarchy had descended into tyranny. Isaiah Landon, who was a close friend of Perry, and a senator from San Joaquin declared an armed rebellion against the monarchy, and prompted many of his constituents to take up arms to depose the monarchy. Inactive militia groups which fought during the Mexican-American War and held republican sentiments throughout the nation joined. In the Deseret region, the Mormons, a Christian group originally from the United States, took advantage of the chaos, and declared independence while engaging in open hostilities with the Canaanites, another religious group that were loyal to the Kingdom. The Republicans supported the Mormons' move, and urged all provinces in opposition of the monarchy to secede to form a republic. Towards the end of the war, the conflict placed a great burden on the nation's economy, discouraging investors, merchants, and immigrants from entering the country, and disoriented many citizens tired of violence. The Democratic-Republican Party, whose leadership was dominated by moderates throughout the war, and opposed armed insurrection, denounced Landon following his ascendancy as president of the self-declared Second California Republic consisting of several Republican-controlled towns and forts throughout the Kingdom, and released a series of publications known today as the Principled Papers, which persuaded radical Republicans to cease hostilities and sue for peace. With waning support, Landon resorted to more extreme and controversial means to win his battles, including accepting no prisoners, burning fields, forcing civilians of both sexes and of all ages to fight, and sending ill spies over to enemy lines to infect them. Landon and his men spent their final months criss-crossing the Central Valley, evading the Monarchists, before being caught-off guard in an ambush during the Battle of Indian Wells. Leaving his men at the battlefield, Landon was set off to the United States to gain American military support and spent a night at a republican safehouse in Ridgecrest before his men betrayed him, and revealed his location to the Monarchists. After a brief exchange of gunfire, Landon surrendered, and was arrested. Minor skirmishes would continue for months after Landon's capture and the war's end. The war strengthened the nation's views on the monarchy, whose status as a stabilizing and dignified force, greatly improved the royal family's image. The monarchy worked to establish a stronger dialogue between itself and its citizens, and Parliament passed various laws pertaining to agricultural reform and water rights to please disaffected agrarian farmers. Parliament passed an amendment establishing a legal, controlled process for secession while many leaders of the Republicans, including Landon, were tried and convicted of treason. Landon, who was regarded as a revolutionary hero, was sentenced to death for his war crimes toward the end of the conflict but his sentence was commuted by the King himself, as a symbolic gesture of goodwill between the factions. Landon spent the rest of his life under house arrest at his Fresno estate while other leaders were sentenced to death or incarcerated in federal prisons. The independence of Deseret was not recognized and consequently, its self-declared republic was dismantled, but through an agreement, the Mormons would be allowed to exercise a substantial degree of autonomy as an organized territory. The Canaanites, who had fought alongside the Monarchists, were not given their own territory, and many of the Baahgulist sect fled to southeastern Rainier.
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