History
When California joined the Union on September 9th, 1850, it was truly the Wild West. Prospectors from the East and around the world flocked to the region with the hopes of striking it rich, while coastal cities grew and boom towns came and went.
Amidst the rush of settlers, numerous American Indian tribes in the region, who had been interacting with the Spanish for decades, struggled with the latest flood of foreigners to their land. As the population grew, so did the U.S. Military presence.
One strategic area that the U.S. military established a garrison was at a mountain pass once known as Portezuelo de Cortes. This ancient pathway between the mountains connects Southern California to the Central Valley and has been used for hundreds of years. Today known has Tejon Pass, its name has its origins in 1806, when Father Francisco Garces discovered a dead badger, or Tejon in Spanish, at the mouth of the canyon.
By the mid-1850s, this well-established pathway served as an important route for settlers and native people. Accordingly, it was a logical location to establish a military fort there within Grapevine Canyon, particularly due to the abundance of fresh water and wood for fuel. The soldiers stationed at Fort Tejon were primarily posted there to protect and control the Indians who were living on the Sebastian Indian Reservation. Additionally, they protected those Indians and other settlers from raids carried out by other groups in the region.
On August 10, 1854, Fort Tejon was officially manned by the United States Army. The fort served as the headquarters for the First U.S. Dragoons. The early years were largely uneventful, save the great earthquake of 1857, named after the fort.
In July 1861, soldiers from the fort were ordered to Los Angeles, in order to quell confederate sympathizers in the city and provide a strong government presence. In 1863, California volunteer soldiers occupied Fort Tejon. On September 11, 1864, Fort Tejon was officially abandoned after only ten years of service.
Today, it is preserved as Fort Tejon State Park. There are two restored adobe structures, the Barracks and Officer’s Quarters, from the original fort. The barracks has an outstanding museum with uniforms, artifacts, and history on the fort and the lives of the men who lived there.
Our Visit & Recommendations
Fort Tejon State Historic Park (4201 Fort Tejon Rd, Lebec, CA 93243) is located north of Los Angeles along Interstate I-5. It is one of the few sites in California associated with the American Civil War.
We visited on a rather warm June day, but enjoyed every minute. The grounds themselves look, geographically, much as it did in the mid 19th-century. Today there are two reconstructed adobes: the enlisted barracks and the Officer’s Quarters.
In the enlisted barracks, a small museum is available to explore. There are a ton of neat uniforms, weapons (revolvers, rifles, and sabers), along with other artifacts related to the fort and the lives of the soldiers who were stationed there.
Other than those two adobes, the grounds have two reconstructed wooden buildings, one representing a jail and the other a guard house. Additionally, there are numerous oak trees dating back hundreds of years on the property.
I wandered around the grounds and admired the surrounding mountains and trees, which helped me gain an understanding of why this valley was so important.
Before finishing up my time at Fort Tejon State Historic Park, I chatted with the park rangers and admired the mountain howitzer that was on display, which was also fired a few times during my visit.
This brass mountain howitzer is similar to what the U.S. Army would have utilized in this western terrain during the mid to late 19th-century.
