Camp Latham was a temporary
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
tent camp located in
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...
extant from the fall of 1861 to fall of 1862 in the military
District of Southern California
The District of Southern California was a 19th-century district of Department of the Pacific, a command of the United States Army.
History
Department of the Pacific was created January 15, 1861, during the American Civil War. The District of Sou ...
during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
. Camp Latham was located on the south bank of
Ballona Creek
Ballona Creek (pronunciation: "Bah-yo-nuh" or "Buy-yo-nah"
) is an channelized stream in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, that was once a "year-round river lined with sycamores and willows". The urban watercourse be ...
, approximately southwest of what is now called
Culver City station
Culver City station is an elevated light rail station on the E Line (Los Angeles Metro), E Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. The station is located on a dedicated right-of-way alongside Exposition Boulevard — between the intersection ...
.
Short-lived Camp Kellogg was located nearby, just north across the creek.
Background
While located well outside of the disputed battleground of the American Civil War, the
Union still saw fit to station active-duty troops in the west, to discourage Confederate tendencies among the populace, protect supply and communications routes, and for intercessions with
Native Americans
Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States.
Related terms and peoples include:
Ethnic groups
* Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...
.
Los Angeles was a small town in 1860, with an estimated population of perhaps 1,600 people, but it was centrally situated along extant roads, such as the
Gila Trail
:''The Southern Emigrant Trail should not be confused with the Applegate Trail, which is part of the Northern Emigrant Trails.''
The Southern Emigrant Trail, also known as the Gila Trail, the Kearny Trail, the Southern Trail and the Butterfield ...
and the
Old Spanish Trail, and had a functioning harbor at
San Pedro that had been established for shipping the
tallow
Tallow is a rendered form of beef or mutton suet, primarily made up of triglycerides.
In industry, tallow is not strictly defined as beef or mutton suet. In this context, tallow is animal fat that conforms to certain technical criteria, inc ...
and
hides produced by the region's
vast cattle ranches. So, when hostilities broke out back east—and pro-Confederate units such the
Los Angeles Greys
LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to:
Science and technology
* Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation
* Level of service (transportation), Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers
* Level of significance, a ...
and the
Los Angeles Mounted Rifles
California's involvement in the American Civil War included sending gold east to support the war effort, recruiting volunteer combat units to replace regular U.S. Army units sent east, in the area west of the Rocky Mountains, maintaining and buil ...
began mustering locally
—U.S. Army posts were established in the remote, but not entirely inessential, area of coastal southern California. As the newsletter of the
Drum Barracks
Drum Barracks was the Union Army's headquarters for Southern California and New Mexico during the Civil War. It consisted of 19 buildings on 60 acres (240,000 m2) in what is now Wilmington, with another 37 acres (150,000 m2) near the waterfron ...
historical society put it:
Additionally, a word about the weather in the West at the beginning of the Civil War era may be helpful in setting the scene at Camp Latham. Per a
history of Los Angeles
The modern history of Los Angeles began in 1781 when 44 settlers from central New Spain (modern Mexico) established a permanent settlement in what is now Downtown Los Angeles, as instructed by Spanish Governor of Las Californias, Felipe de ...
written nearly 50 years later, "January 1862 was noted for the greatest flood in the
history of California
The history of California can be divided into the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native American period (about 10,000 years ago until 1542), the Exploration of North America, European exploration period (1542–1769), the Spanish colonial ...
. It began raining December 24, 1861, and kept it up almost without cessation for a month."
As more recent scholarship put it: the winter of 1861–1862 was "the wettest and coldest winter on the
West Coast in the last three centuries."
Animals and people drowned by the dozens, rivers washed away roads and bridges (cutting off supply and mail routes between Camp Latham,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, and
Fort Tejon
Fort Tejon in California is a former United States Army outpost which was intermittently active from June 24, 1854, until September 11, 1864. It is located in the Grapevine Canyon (''La Cañada de las Uvas'') between the San Emigdio Mountains and ...
), and as the waterways, marshes and ''
ciénegas'' of the
Los Angeles basin
The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary Structural basin, basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an wikt:anomalous, anomalous group of east–west trending chains of mountai ...
overspilled their banks, everything that was not washed downriver was mired in mud.
History

Camp Latham was established by the
1st California Infantry
The 1st Regiment California Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent its entire term of service in the western United States.
History
Most of the 1st California was recruited from Augu ...
under Col.
James H. Carleton
James Henry Carleton (December 27, 1814 – January 7, 1873) was an American military officer who served in the United States Army during the American Civil War and American Indian Wars. He became notorious for his involvement in the Long Walk of ...
and the
1st California Cavalry
The 1st Regiment California Cavalry was a cavalry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. First formed as a battalion, the unit later expanded to regimental size.
History
The regiment was first formed as the 1st Battalion, 1st ...
under Lt. Col.
Benjamin F. Davis
Benjamin Franklin "Grimes" Davis (October, 1831 – June 9, 1863) was an American military officer who served in Indian wars, and then led Union cavalry in the American Civil War before dying in combat. He led a daring escape from the Conf ...
. It was named for
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...
Milton S. Latham, and Camp Kellogg, which may have been extant for no more than a month, was named for John Kellogg, who organized the
5th California Infantry Regiment
The 5th Regiment California Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent its entire term of service in the western United States, attached to the Department of the Pacific and Department o ...
.
Camp Latham may have been first established when Company A of the First Infantry arrived at the site on September 22, 1861.
By October 2, the local pro-Union newspaper
''Semi-Weekly Southern News'' reported that "three lines of
stages
Stage, stages, or staging may refer to:
Arts and media Acting
* Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions
* Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage"
* ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...
now run regularly between the city and Camp Latham." On October 19, 1861 the ''Nevada Democrat'' newspaper reported, "Camp Latham is the name given to the encampment of volunteers near Los Angeles, where there are now stationed 769 infantry and 454 cavalry, making 1,223 troops in all." Companies D, G, I of the
2nd California Volunteers and companies F, G, and H of the
4th California Volunteers were among those units stationed at Camp Latham.
Camp Kellogg was seemingly founded February 4, 1862 with the contents of 26 wagons and the soldiers of companies C, E, F, G, and I of the Fifth Regiment, arrived from San Pedro.
A Fifth Regiment correspondent reported: "Camp Kellogg will be short lived, I think, as Camp Latham will soon be vacated by the First Regiment and we will take their place; they have a fine place, neatly arranged, and a clear, graveled parade ground. Only a portion of the regiment is there now, being companies K and C, First Infantry, and company C and a part of B, First Cavalry, who are without horses."
As of March 1862, per the ''
Daily Alta California
The ''Alta California'' or ''Daily Alta California'' (often miswritten ''Alta Californian'' or ''Daily Alta Californian'') was a 19th-century San Francisco newspaper.
''California Star''
The ''Daily Alta California'' descended from the first ...
'', "At Camp Latham there are three companies of cavalry and two of infantry. In Camp Kellogg, adjoining Camp Latham, there are six companies." The ''Alta California'' also reported that the rains had turned Ballona from a rill to a river, seemingly swamping Camp Kellogg, resulting in its closure.
Also in March 1862 an intoxicated soldier named George McDermott stabbed to death a local man named Guadalupe Moreno, at "a low liquor shanty operated by a Mexican" that was located just outside the perimeter of Camp Latham. Per the ''Weekly Butte Record'', "The murderer was sent to town under a guard of soldiers, and placed in jail. He attempted to escape after committing the deed. He is said to be only twenty years of age, and until this time was never known to drink, and had always borne a good character. A bill has been found against him for murder by the Grand Jury." In April 1862 McDermott was sentenced to 10 years "in the penitentiary" by the Los Angeles District Court.

An expedition to the
Owens River
The Owens River is a river in eastern California in the United States, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 17, 2011, It drains into and through the ...
led by
George S. Evans
George Spafford Evans (August 8, 1826 – September 17, 1883) was a military officer, miner, businessman, county clerk for Tuolumne County, customs official, and clerk for the California State Senate.
Early life
Born on August 8, 1826, in Tecums ...
from Camp Latham resulted in the establishment of
Camp Independence. Camp Independence was the base of the U.S. Army during the
Owens Valley Indian War
The Owens Valley War was fought between 1862 and 1863 by the United States Army and American settlers against the Mono people and their Shoshone and Kawaiisu allies in the Owens Valley of California and the southwestern Nevada border region. ...
. The
California Column
The California Column was a force of Union volunteers sent to Arizona and New Mexico during the American Civil War. The command marched over from California through Arizona and New Mexico Territory to the Rio Grande and as far east as El Paso, ...
also departed from Camp Latham. Approximately 36 camels from the
U.S. Camel Corps were temporarily relocated to Camp Latham when
Fort Tejon
Fort Tejon in California is a former United States Army outpost which was intermittently active from June 24, 1854, until September 11, 1864. It is located in the Grapevine Canyon (''La Cañada de las Uvas'') between the San Emigdio Mountains and ...
briefly closed.
On the
Fourth of July
Independence Day, known colloquially as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States which commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing th ...
1862, there was a "dress parade and grand review" before Col.
Ferris Foreman
Ferris Foreman (August 24, 1808 – February 11, 1901) was an American lawyer, politician, and soldier. He fought in the Mexican–American War, and was a colonel commanding a volunteer regiment and the District of Southern California during the ...
,
George Washington's Farewell Address
Washington's Farewell Address is a letter written by President of the United States, President George Washington as a Valediction, valedictory to "friends and fellow-citizens" after 20 years of public service to the United States. He wrote it ...
and the
Declaration of Independence
A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...
were read aloud, there was a 100-gun salute to the Union,
and finally soldiers from Camp Latham and their guests "visited the Willows, a beautiful grove on the
right bank
In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water.
Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography.
In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrain alongsid ...
of Ballona Creek, for a promenade to enchanting music." Guests from town included
John Frohling,
Pedro Sainsevain
Don Pedro Sainsevain (né Pierre; November 20, 1818 – October 4, 1904) was a French-born Californian vintner, ranchero, and a signer of the Californian Constitution in 1849. He is best known for his role in Californian winemaking, as one ...
, John Leonce Hoover, and
William Wolfskill
William Wolfskill (1798–1866) was an American-Mexican pioneer, cowboy, and agronomist in Los Angeles, California beginning in the 1830s. He had earned money for land in a decade as a fur trapper near Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he had become a ...
. The University of Iowa Library holds the 1862 diary of an unknown soldier stationed at Camp Latham who was assigned in August 1862 to escort a "
specie
Specie may refer to:
* Coins or other metal money in mass circulation
* Bullion coins
* Hard money (policy)
* Commodity money
* Specie Circular, 1836 executive order by US President Andrew Jackson regarding hard money
* Specie Payment Resumption A ...
train" to
New Mexico Territory
The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912. It was created from the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico, as a result of '' Nuevo México'' becomi ...
. In September 1862, the U.S. military residents of the camp were accused of voting fraud and intimidation of election officials, "wherein the military took possession of the ballot box, and placed therein about 200 illegal votes for county and township officers—being the votes of soldiers in the service of the United States, who are not citizens of this county." The election officers reported their concerns about the conduct of the soldiers to the county. As James Miller Guinn told it in 1915: "The soldiers at Camp Latham at the September election took possession of the polls and cast over 200 votes for the Union candidates for the legislature, defeating the Confederate sympathizers on the Democratic ticket. A great outcry was raised by the defeated candidates over the outrage and the vote of the precinct was thrown out."
In early October 1862 several newspapers reported that "The troops stationed at Camp Latham have been removed to San Pedro for Winter quarters. Two companies of cavalry, under Colonel Evans, now at Owens river, are to be stationed at
Visalia Camp Babbitt">/nowiki>Camp Babbitt">Camp_Babbitt.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Camp Babbitt">/nowiki>Camp Babbitt/nowiki>." The troops never returned to Camp Latham, and the San Pedro post, then called Camp Drum, later became the still-extant Drum Barracks
Drum Barracks was the Union Army's headquarters for Southern California and New Mexico during the Civil War. It consisted of 19 buildings on 60 acres (240,000 m2) in what is now Wilmington, with another 37 acres (150,000 m2) near the waterfron ...
.
No trace remains today of Camp Latham but for many years there stood "the ruins of an old brick oven" built just outside the camp to provide bread for the soldiers. The oven was a relic of Louis Mesmer's bakery operation on the site, built when the Alsace, Alsatian immigrant won the contract to supply Camp Latham with bread. Louis Mesmer later purchased large parts of Rancho La Ballona, and was involved in the failed attempt to create a Port Ballona
Port Ballona is an archaic place name for an area near the center of Santa Monica Bay in coastal Los Angeles County, where Playa Del Rey and Del Rey Lagoon are located today. Port Ballona was a planned harbor and town site from circa 1859 to 1 ...
harbor. Mesmer's son and heir Joseph Mesmer later sold his holdings in the area to one Mr. Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American Aerospace engineering, aerospace engineer, business magnate, film producer, and investor. He was The World's Billionaires, one of the richest and most influential peo ...
, who used the land for his Hughes Airport. Following Hughes' death in 1976, the land has since been developed into the Playa Vista neighborhood.
Description
In October 1861 a Camp Latham soldier wrote the ''Daily Alta California'' expressing a desire for newspapers, and for good horses from Los Angeles (they currently had none), and provided this description of the site:
Sgt. Owen of the San Jose Volunteers wrote his mother, "Camp Latham is a fine spot, seven miles from Los Angeles, bounded by high, rough old mountains on the North—hills, and a perfect love of a brook to the South—sea on the West, and on the East, hills and forests."
On January 6, 1862 a "Letter from Camp Latham," dated to December 30, 1861, was published in the ''Sacramento Daily Union
''The Sacramento Union'' was a daily newspaper founded in 1851 in Sacramento, California. It was the oldest daily newspaper west of the Mississippi River before it closed its doors after 143 years in January 1994, no longer able to compete with ' ...
''. The writer described the conditions of the camp:
In May 1862 the ''Trinity Journal'' published this account from "Charley," Company H, 4th California Infantry Regiment:
Relative location
This is a table of distances (using original/archaic spelling as provided) between Camp Latham and Camp Wright
Oak Grove Butterfield Stage Station is a stage station in the western foothills of the Laguna Mountains, in northern San Diego County, California. It is located on California State Route 79, State Route 79, northwest of Warner Springs, Californ ...
via the wagon roads and footpaths of the day. Many of these locations were stops on the Butterfield Overland Mail in California
The Butterfield Overland Mail in California was created by the United States Congress on March 3, 1857, and operated until June 30, 1861. Subsequently, other stage lines operated along the Butterfield Overland Mail in route in Alta California un ...
that became U.S. Army camps during the Civil War era. This distances appeared in a guidebook to the western United States
The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau.
As American settlement i ...
that was published just after the war in 1866.
See also
* 1862 United States elections
* Rancho La Ballona
Rancho La Ballona was a Mexican land grant in the present-day Westside region of Los Angeles County, Southern California.
The rancho was confirmed by Alta California Governor Juan Alvarado in 1839, to Ygnacio and Augustin Machado and Felip ...
* Rancho Rincón de los Bueyes
Rancho or Ranchos may refer to:
Settlements and communities
*Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad
*Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California
** List of California Ranchos
* Ranchos, Buenos ...
*
*
Notes
References
{{reflist
1861 establishments in California
1862 disestablishments in California
19th century in Los Angeles
American Civil War forts and army posts in California
History of Culver City, California
Military history of Los Angeles
Military installations established in 1861
Military installations closed in 1862