now Los Angeles is a blue town, a liberal town, and one that rejoices in its diversity. But it could’ve been a close call. Before the Civil War, half of L.A.’s Anglo residents were Southerners. In the 1860 presidential election here, Abraham Lincoln came in third. On the first Fourth of July of the war, someone hoisted the Confederate flag over the town’s central plaza. Three U.S. Army officers here resigned, left California and became Confederate generals; soon, members of a secret militia too had “gone to Dixie.” Had secession been put to a vote, Southern California would probably have joined the slave-holding Confederacy.