Drum Barracks

California was not neutral ground. Southern sympathy ran strong in Los Angeles, and in 1862 the Army laid out a sixty-acre post here to hold the region for the Union and guard a harbor that moved federal gold, supplies, and men. Drum Barracks became the headquarters for Southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico, and the planning ground for the California Column, which marched some 2,300 volunteers across the deserts to the Rio Grande. The junior officers' quarters is the last wooden building standing, and it holds the museum.

What the plaque says

Established at Wilmington in 1862, Drum Barracks became the United States military headquarters for Southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico. A garrison and base for supplies, it was a terminus for camel pack trains operated by the army until 1863. Abandoned in 1866, its site remains a landmark of the Civil War in California.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Drum Barracks — steps away
  The Union Army built its Southern California headquarters in a county that had voted against Lincoln two to one, and stabled the Army camels here.
• The Banning Museum — 0.4 mi
  The man who made a harbor out of an open bay: freight, dredging, the first railroad in Southern California, and a cupola for watching ships.
• The Port of Los Angeles — 3.4 mi
  The busiest container port in the country, sitting on ground that was dredged into existence: marsh, then landfill, then Pier 400.
• Terminal Island and Furusato — 3.8 mi
  Three thousand Japanese Americans built a village here they called Furusato, and in February 1942 were given forty-eight hours to leave it.

More markers nearby

• Banning Park — 0.3 mi
• S.S. Catalina — 2.6 mi
• Site of Home of Diego Sepúlveda — 2.9 mi
• Liberty Hill Site — 3.3 mi