Horace Bell

Horace Bell (December 11, 1830 – June 29, 1918), was active in the American era of 19th century California, especially in the Los Angeles region. He was a Los Angeles Ranger, filibuster, soldier, lawyer, journalist and newspaper publisher, and author of two Southern California history books. History Horace Bell was born in Indiana on December 11, 1830. He was educated in Kentucky and then traveled to Hangtown (now Placerville, California) in August 1850 during the California Gold Rush. He spent two years mining with little success. In 1852 Bell came to Los Angeles to visit an uncle, Alexander Bell, who had settled there in 1842 and had become a wealthy and politically influential. Horace Bell was a founding member of the Los Angeles Rangers, a militia company that pursued outlaws in what was then the most violent and lawless county in America. In 1856, he left California to join in the Walkers Filibuster into Nicaragua, becoming a major in Walker's army. In 1859 he joined Benito Juárez's Army in Mexico during the Reform War. He returned to Indiana to join as a scout in the Union Army during the American Civil War.