Construction on the California State Capitol began during the Civil War using stone, brick, and iron, showing confidence in the future. The capitol building showed that California had come a long way from the days of its transient, chaotic roots, born of the Gold Rush. Once the capitol was located in Sacramento in 1854, there was still no guarantee that the city would remain its permanent home. When it was completed in 1873, it was the largest structure of its day west of the Mississippi River. Its presence has continued to not only dominate the Sacramento landscape for a century and a half but has also come to shape the very outlook and future of Sacramento and of California itself. The state capitol and its majestic dome have become the iconic symbol of the city.

In 1896, the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic began a project to bring trees from Civil War Battlefields to Capitol Park in Sacramento as a memorial to the men who fought to save the Union. On May 1, 1897, a great dedication ceremony was held as 40 battlefield trees were planted amid great fanfare. Today, only a few of the original trees remain. This is the story of this unique Civil War Memorial--as it was and as it is today.