Fort Moore was the second of two historic U.S. Military Forts in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, during the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

. It lay straight above the junction of the

Hollywood Freeway The Hollywood Freeway is one of the principal freeways of Los Angeles, California (the boundaries of which it does not leave) and one of the busiest in the United States. It is the principal route through the Cahuenga Pass, the primary shortcut ...

and Broadway, on an historic hill that once sheltered the old Plaza. The landmark hill took its name, Fort Hill, from the first fort, and the hill afforded sweeping views of the old adobe town and the vineyards in the swale of the

Los Angeles River , name_etymology = , image = File:Los Angeles River from Fletcher Drive Bridge 2019.jpg , image_caption = L.A. River from Fletcher Drive Bridge , image_size = 300 , map = LARmap.jpg , map_size ...

. Fort Hill was a spur of the ridge that runs from the Quarry Hills (Elysian Park) southward to Beaudry’s Bunker Hill; it originally stretched east between 1st Street and Ord Street. In old photographs, it forms a backdrop just behind the Plaza Church and square. By 1949, what was left of the hill under the fort was cut down when the Hollywood Freeway was put through.However, not all the hill was bulldozed, but some of it has been left west of Hill Street and north of the freeway, although at a fraction of its former height. The fort is now memorialized by the

Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial The Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial is a large stone memorial wall built in 1957 on part of the original location of Fort Moore facing North Hill Street (Los Angeles), Hill Street, in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. Description and history Th ...

, a stone mural on Hill Street, along the south side of

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Mexican–American War

On August 13, 1846, early in the conflict, U.S. naval forces under Commodore Robert F. Stockton arrived at Los Angeles and raised the

U.S. flag The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the ca ...

without opposition. A small occupying force of 50

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

, under Captain Archibald H. Gillespie, built a rudimentary barricade on what was then known as Fort Hill overlooking the small town.

Siege of Los Angeles

The harsh

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

of Captain Gillespie soon ignited a popular uprising among Californios and Mexicans led by General José María Flores beginning on September 22, 1846. Known as the Siege of Los Angeles, Californios assembled a force to retake Los Angeles. Gillespie's fifty marines were able to resist an initial attack on the government house in town and regrouped on Fort Hill, where they strengthened the fortification with

sandbag A sandbag or dirtbag is a bag or sack made of hessian (burlap), polypropylene or other sturdy materials that is filled with sand or soil and used for such purposes as flood control, military fortification in trenches and bunkers, shielding gl ...

s and mounted their

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

. As time passed, the Californio forces opposing the U.S. takeover grew to just over 600 men, with several Californio citizens voicing opposition. General Flores offered an

ultimatum An ultimatum (; ) is a demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a threat to be followed through in case of noncompliance (open loop). An ultimatum is generally the final demand in a series ...

: leave within 24 hours or face attack. Gillespie agreed to withdraw from Los Angeles, under safe passage, on September 30, 1846. On October 7, the U.S. forces regrouped, with Commodore Stockton sending 350 Americans, including 200 U.S. Marines, under U.S. Navy Capt.

William Mervine William Mervine (14 March 1791 – 15 September 1868) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy, whose career included service in the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mervi ...

, to retake Los Angeles. The marines were defeated in their attempt at the

Battle of Dominguez Rancho The Battle of Dominguez Rancho or The Battle of the Old Woman's Gun or The Battle of Dominguez Hills took place on October 8th and October 9th, 1846, was a military engagement of the Mexican–American War that took place within Manuel Domin ...

, as Stockton's fleet fled south to

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

. In December, U.S. Army forces under Captain Stephen W. Kearny were defeated by the Californio Lancers at the Battle of San Pasqual. After regrouping and resupplying forces in San Diego, on January 10, 1847, Los Angeles was recaptured by the combined 700 man forces of John C. Fremont, Stockton and Kearny, after the

Battle of Rio San Gabriel A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

and the

Battle of La Mesa The Battle of La Mesa was the final battle of the California Campaign during the Mexican–American War, occurring on January 9, 1847, in present-day Vernon, California, the day after the Battle of Rio San Gabriel. The battle was a victory for ...

. With the signing of the

Treaty of Cahuenga The Treaty of Cahuenga ( es, Tratado de Cahuenga), also called the Capitulation of Cahuenga (''Capitulación de Cahuenga''), was an 1847 agreement that ended the Conquest of California, resulting in a ceasefire between Californios and Americans. ...

on January 13, 1847, war in Alta California ended. On January 12, 1847, to secure the area from future attack, U.S. forces began erecting a 400-foot (120 m) long breastwork on the same strategic site as the previous Fort Hill and named it the Post at Los Angeles. The plans were later revised, and on April 23 a larger defensive structure was begun on the same site. Constructed by the

Mormon Battalion The Mormon Battalion was the only religious unit in United States military history in federal service, recruited solely from one religious body and having a religious title as the unit designation. The volunteers served from July 1846 to July ...

and the U.S. 1st Dragoons, it was designed for six cannons. It was never completed and was dedicated as Fort Moore on July 4, 1847, named after Captain Benjamin D. Moore, 1st Dragoons, one of 22 Americans killed in the Battle of San Pasqual in

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...

, on December 6, 1846.

Post-War development

Lieutenant

William T. Sherman William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

ordered the garrison withdrawn in 1848, and the fort was abandoned in 1849 and decommissioned in 1853. In later years the site was leveled and became a public playground. In August 1882,Alternate Link
via

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

. Jacob Philippi (c. 1835–1892) purchased a tract of land on Fort Moore Hill and built a

beer garden A beer garden (German: ''Biergarten'') is an outdoor area in which beer and food are served, typically at shared tables shaded by trees. Beer gardens originated in Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital city, in the 19th century, and remain co ...

. He had started the New York Brewery, the first

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

in Los Angeles,Alternate Link
via

. and had owned a saloon in the Temple Block in the center of town. On the summit of the hill he had a rambling structure erected, covering much of the ground with wide galleries, and for many years following, as the story went, local inhabitants of Los Angeles would climb the hill sober and roll down drunk.Alternate Link
via

. It was an approximate equivalent of a later road house, an airy place with a view, refreshments and food, with half of its customers a polite crowd and half of them a tough lot. After Philippi closed down his beer garden resort, he sold the place in 1887 to Mary (Hollister) Banning (1846–1919), widow of the "Father of the Port of Los Angeles" Phineas Banning. She converted it into a residence, what locals came to call the "Banning Mansion." She lived there several years with her daughters, Mary Banning (1871–1956) and Lucy Banning (1876–1929). The enormous old structure made a charming home, which was cut up into suitable parlors and bedrooms and elegantly furnished, with a fine view. It was the scene of many social events attended by the first families of the city who drove up to it in their carriages. With the growth of the city, however, society moved to newer districts and left the old place to end its days as a rooming house.Alternate Link
via

Cemetery

Part of Fort Moore Hill became home to a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

, with the first documented burial tracing back to December 19, 1853. Alternately known as Los Angeles City Cemetery, Protestant Cemetery, Fort Moore Hill Cemetery, Fort Hill Cemetery, or simply "the cemetery on the hill", it was the city's first non-

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

cemetery. The cemetery was overseen by the city starting in 1869. It was not well taken care of, lacking clearly delineated boundaries, complete records or adequate maintenance. The

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the City of Los Angeles in California. The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tem ...

passed a resolution on August 30, 1879, closing the cemetery to any future burials except for those with already reserved plots. By 1884, the city had sold portions of the cemetery as residential lots and the rest to the Los Angeles Board of Education (later the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)). The city never removed any bodies, and the former cemetery was the site of repeated, grisly findings and much negative press. As a result, the city began moving the bodies, most to Evergreen Cemetery, Rosedale Cemetery and Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, with the final bodies being transferred in May 1947. The recent construction of Los Angeles High School #9 resulted in the discovery of additional human remains. These were excavated by archaeologists in 2006.

High school

In 1891, the site became home to the second location of Los Angeles High School (LAHS), located on North Hill Street between Sand Street (later California Street, now part of

101 Freeway 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

) and Bellevue Avenue (later

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in ...

, now Cesar Chavez Avenue). LAHS was at this location on Fort Moore Hill until 1917, when the

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

was moved again. Part of the site was later replaced by the headquarters of the LAUSD. Because of political and financial hardship caused by the construction of the nearby

Belmont Learning Center Belmont may refer to: People * Belmont (surname) Places * Belmont Abbey (disambiguation) * Belmont Historic District (disambiguation) * Belmont Hotel (disambiguation) * Belmont Park (disambiguation) * Belmont Plantation (disambiguation) * Be ...

, the LAUSD moved from the location in 2001 so that a new high school could be built on its location. The new high school, formerly named Central Los Angeles Area New High School #9, is now named Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts and is a part of the adjacent Los Angeles Cultural Corridor. The 238,000 square foot (22,110 m²), $171.9 million facility was designed by the project team of Architect-of-Record HMC Architects and Designer-of-Record Austrian firm

Coop Himmelb(l)au Coop Himmelb(l)au (A pun meaning ''Coop Sky Building'' and ''Coop Sky Blue'') is an architecture, urban planning, design, and art firm founded by Wolf D. Prix, Helmut Swiczinsky, and Michael Holzer in Vienna, Austria in 1968. History Coop Him ...

. Most of Fort Moore Hill was removed in 1949 for the construction of the

,Alternate Link
via

. which was opened in December 1950, and in 1956 a memorial for the old fort and its American pioneers was placed on a site north of the freeway. A recent restoration was completed in January 2019.

References

External links

A Continent Divided: The U.S. - Mexico War
Center for greater Southwestern Studies, the University of Texas at Arlington {{Los Angeles Moore Moore Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles Demolished buildings and structures in Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles Demolished buildings and structures in California 1847 in Alta California History of Los Angeles

Mormon Battalion