Camp Babbitt | |
|---|---|
| Visalia, California, United States | |
  Camp Babbitt  Camp Babbitt | |
| Coordinates | 36°20′07″N119°17′16″W / 36.33528°N 119.28778°W Coordinates: 36°20′07″N119°17′16″W / 36.33528°N 119.28778°W |
| Type | Military camp |
| Site information | |
| Owner | United States Army |
| Controlled by | 2nd California Cavalry |
| Open to the public | Yes |
| Site history | |
| Built | June 24, 1862 |
| Fate | Abandoned 1865 |
Camp Babbitt was an American Civil War Union Army camp located in two sites in the vicinity of Visalia, California.
The first site of Camp Babbitt, established on June 24, 1862, was located one mile northeast of the center of the town of Visalia, in Tulare County. It was first garrisoned by two companies of the 2nd California Cavalry. The post was named for Lieutenant Colonel E. B. Babbitt, Quartermaster General of the Department of the Pacific.
The post was first intended to maintain order in the area where strong pro Confederate sentiments were creating unrest. In an attempt to control subversion of the Union cause in the secessionist hotbed of Visalia, on the orders of General George Wright, Captain Moses A. McLaughlin moved his company D and another in October 1862 over the Sierra Nevada Mountains from the Owens Valley in four and a half days to take command of Camp Babbitt. [1] On December 12, three men from Visalia rode in front of a dress parade of the garrison and cheered for Jeff Davis, prompting McLaughlin to order their immediate arrest. On December 24, 1862, McLaughlin wrote for reinforcements, in the face of rising tensions between the Union and Secesh factions.
On December 31, McLaughlin issued orders for the arrest of the owners and publishers of the "Expositor", the local secessionist newspaper. That same day he was instructed by headquarters by telegram to release all political prisoners after they had taken the oath of allegiance. Both owners eventually swore the oath, one after a time in the jail. However this did not stop them from continuing to publish their paper opposing the war and the Union cause. [2]
By April 12, 1863, Lt. Col. William Jones, was commander at Camp Babbitt, ordered Captain McLaughlin to reinforce Camp Independence with a detachment of 24 men of Company D and 18 men of Company E, 2nd Cavalry, California Volunteers, with a 12-pounder howitzer, and four six-mule government wagon teams, carrying rations, ammunition, and forage. Elements of Company D and Company E under Captain McLaughlin, on the resumption of hostilities in the Owens Valley marched there in April 1863 via Keyesville, where they engaged in the Keyesville Massacre. They then moved on to Camp Independence, in the Owens River Valley, participating in the final campaign of the Owens Valley Indian War, and escorted almost 1000 Paiute to Fort Tejon in July 1863.
On February 18, 1865, Captain Herman Noble sent a detachment of Company E, 2nd California Cavalry, under Sergeant Rowley, from Camp Babbitt near Visalia in a long pursuit of men believed to be the Mason Henry Gang. It took them across the deserts of Southern California, south to Sonora, Mexico. The March 15, 1865, issue of The Visalia Delta described the pursuit:
After the end of the Civil War, on October 2. 1865, the post was relocated about a mile northeast of its first site. Various dates have been given for its abandonment, from late in 1865 to August 19, 1866." [4] Its last garrison was New Company A, 2nd California Cavalry which in November 1865, marched from Fort Miller to Camp Babbitt, where it remained until ordered to Camp Union, near Sacramento, for muster out, in April, 1866. [5]
The original site was near Race and Santa Fe Streets. The second site was in the vicinity of Ben Maddox Way and Houston Avenue.
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 building numerous camps and fortifications, suppressing secessionist activity and securing the New Mexico Territory against the Confederacy. The State of California did not send its units east, but many citizens traveled east and joined the Union Army there, some of whom became famous.
The Pacific coast theater of the American Civil War consists of major military operations in the United States on the Pacific Ocean and in the states and Territories west of the Continental Divide. The theater was encompassed by the Department of the Pacific that included the states of California, Oregon, and Nevada, the territories of Washington, Utah, and later Idaho.
Galvanized Yankees was a term from the American Civil War denoting former Confederate prisoners of war who swore allegiance to the United States and joined the Union Army. Approximately 5,600 former Confederate soldiers enlisted in the "United States Volunteers", organized into six regiments of infantry between January 1864 and November 1866. Of those, more than 250 had begun their service as Union soldiers, were captured in battle, then enlisted in prison to join a regiment of the Confederate States Army. They surrendered to Union forces in December 1864 and were held by the United States as deserters, but were saved from prosecution by being enlisted in the 5th and 6th U.S. Volunteers. An additional 800 former Confederates served in volunteer regiments raised by the states, forming ten companies. Four of those companies saw combat in the Western Theater against the Confederate Army, two served on the western frontier, and one became an independent company of U.S. Volunteers, serving in Minnesota.
The 2nd Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry was a cavalry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent its entire term of service in the western United States, with most of its companies dispersed to various posts.
Fort Gaston was founded on December 4, 1859, in the redwood forests of the Hoopa Valley, in Northern California, on the west bank of the Trinity River, 14 miles (23 km) from where the Trinity flows into the Klamath River. It was located in what is now the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. Fort Gaston as part of the Humboldt Military District was intended to control the Hupa Indians and to protect them from hostile white settlers. The post was named for 2nd Lieutenant William Gaston, of the First Dragoons, who had been killed May 17, 1858, during the Spokane–Coeur d'Alene–Paloos War.
Daniel Showalter (1830–1866), was a California miner, state legislator, duelist, secessionist, and Confederate States of America military officer in Texas.
The District of Southern California was a 19th century district of Department of the Pacific, a command of the United States Army.
The 1st Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry was a cavalry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was first formed of five companies as 1st Battalion, 1st Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry between August and October 31, 1861, at Camp Merchant near Oakland. After the battalion was organized it was sent to Southern California, three companies being stationed at Camp Latham, near Los Angeles, and two at Camp Carleton, near San Bernardino. November 20–29, 1861, a detachment under Second Lt. C. R. Wellman was stationed at Camp Wright, and pursued and captured Dan Showalter's party west of the San Jose Valley and Warner's Ranch. The battalion remained in Southern California until the spring of 1862, when it became part of the California Column, and formed the advance force of that Column during the march to New Mexico Territory and Texas. In 1863, the Regiment was brought to full strength when seven more companies were raised to bring it to a full strength of twelve companies. The five companies first organized were mustered out August 31, 1864, the terms of service of most of the men having expired. Two new companies, B and C, were organized in New Mexico, by consolidation of the few men whose terms had not expired, and by new enlistments, and two new companies were enlisted in California, A and E, which, upon the completion of their organization, were sent to Arizona. All of the companies of First Volunteer Cavalry stationed in New Mexico and Texas, were ordered to assemble at Baird’s Ranch, near Albuquerque, to be mustered out of the service, during the month of September, 1866. Company M was the last mustered out on the September 30, 1866. 1st Volunteer Cavalry Regiment spent its entire term of service in the western United States in California and New Mexico Territory and Texas.
The 2nd 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. Organized at San Francisco and Carson City September 2, 1861, to December 30, 1862, and attached to Department of the Pacific. The regiment was first assembled at the Presidio, San Francisco, and after completing its organization, five companies were sent to Oregon and Washington Territory, to relieve the regular troops, and two companies were sent to Santa Barbara. The troops of this regiment sent to Oregon were afterwards returned to California. It was mustered out during the month of October, 1864.
Visalia, California, commonly known in the 1850s as Four Creeks, is the oldest continuously inhabited inland European settlement between Stockton and Los Angeles. The city played an important role in the American colonization of the San Joaquin Valley as the county seat of Old Tulare County, an expansive region comprising most if not all of modern-day Fresno, Kings, and Kern counties.
The 7th California Infantry Regiment 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, serving in California and Arizona Territory. They were known as the "Gold Diggers" in reference to the large number of recruits from the California's "Mother Lode" region. Later, they were also called the "Hungry Seventh" for the privations they suffered in Arizona, particularly at Fort Mason. The Regiment included many veterans of the Mexican–American War.
Clarence Edmund Bennett (1833–1902), usually referred to as Clarence E. Bennett, a graduate of West Point, a career American Army officer who saw duty almost exclusively in Western frontier assignments, served in the American Civil War in California, New Mexico and Arizona Territories and later in Reconstruction occupation forces and frontier duty during the later Indian Wars.
The Keyesville massacre occurred on April 19, 1863, in Tulare County, now Kern County, California, during the Owens Valley Indian War. White settlers and a detachment of the 2nd California Volunteer Cavalry under Captain Moses A. McLaughlin, killed 35 Tübatulabal and Owens Valley Paiute men, "about ten miles from Keysville [sic], upon the right bank of Kern River".
John Mason, with Jim Henry, was one of the leaders of the Mason Henry Gang organized by secessionist Judge George Gordon Belt. The group posed as Confederate partisan rangers, but acted as outlaws, committing robberies, thefts and murders in the San Joaquin Valley, Monterey County, Santa Clara County, Santa Cruz County and later in the counties of Southern California.
Camp Latham was a temporary United States Army tent camp in Los Angeles County, California extant from fall 1861 to fall 1862 in the military District of Southern California during the American Civil War. Camp Latham was located on the south bank of Ballona Creek, approximately .75 mi (1.21 km) southwest of what is now called Culver City station. Short-lived Camp Kellogg was located nearby, just north across the creek.
The Owens Valley War was fought between 1862 and 1863, by California Volunteers and local settlers against the Owens Valley Paiutes, and their Shoshone and Kawaiisu allies, in the Owens Valley of California and the southwestern Nevada border region. The removal of a large number of the Owens River Native Californians to Fort Tejon in 1863, was considered the end of the war. Minor hostilities continued occasionally until 1867.
The Mason Henry Gang were bandits operating in Central and Southern California in 1864–1865. As the Civil War was in progress, they were able to pose as Confederate Partisan Rangers, and their original mission was to rid the area of (anti-slavery) Republicans. But when it became clear that the Confederate cause was lost, they turned to outlawry, plundering and killing without mercy.
Moses A. McLaughlin (1834–1899) was an Irish-born California Militia officer, Union Army officer, farmer, later a doctor. As Captain, 2nd Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry, he is best known for his role in the 1863 Keyesville Massacre, and subsequent campaign that forced the capitulation of the Owens Valley Paiute in the Owens Valley Indian War and their removal to Fort Tejon.
Joaquin Jim was a Eastern Mono, war leader of the Owens Valley Indian War. Joaquin Jim, implacable war leader of the Mono allies of the Owens Valley Paiute, never surrendered to American forces or made peace with them, but reported to have ceased warfare against them in 1864.
The California Indian Wars were a series of wars, battles, and massacres between the United States Army, and the Indigenous peoples of California. The wars lasted from 1850, immediately after Alta California, acquired during the Mexican–American War, became the state of California, to 1880 when the last minor military operation on the Colorado River ended the Calloway Affair of 1880.