U.S. soldiers arrived in San Bernardino in December, 1858, taking over the stockade and building more posts nearby, including Camp Prentiss and Camp Carleton,  to fight the Mojave Indians. Troops stayed at San Bernardino until March, 1862. They returned for five months in 1863, in response to reports that a leading secessionist recently released from prison was threatening to kill everyone responsible for his jailing. In October, the troops were recalled again. Soldiers again occupied the post in the summer of 1865 to check rumors of a secession plot, but, this was short lived. During the years of U.S. Army occupation, the fort was extended far beyond its original limits.

Today, there is nothing left of the old stockade, which was situated on the site now occupied by the courthouse located on Arrowhead Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets in the center of downtown San Bernardino.

Fort Tejon - Situated in Grapevine Canyon, Fort Tejon was located on the main route between California's great central valley and Southern California. The fort was built in 1854 to protect area area citizens and the Sebastian Indian Reservation from the warlike Paiutes, Chemeheui, Mojave tribes to the southeast, as well as suppressing the cattle rustling that was rampant in the area. It soon became an important military, social, and political center and in 1858 was the western terminus of the experimental US Army Camel Corps, which utilized the imported animals in an effort to carry supplies across arid regions in the Southwest. When the Civil War erupted, the troops from Fort Tejon were sent to guard Los Angeles and later transferred east to fight in the war. In the summer of 1862, violence erupted between the encroaching white settlers and the Owens Valley Paiute, who wanted to protect their lands. Three cavalry companies of California Volunteers forcibly moved the Paiute to the Sebastian Indian Reservation, but the authorities there refused to accept responsibility for them. In 1863 several hundred of these Indians were brought to Fort Tejon, which was then being used by the California Volunteers. The next year the Indians were were transferred to the Tule River Indian Reservation and the U.S. Army closed Fort Tejon in September, 1864, formally ending its career as an active military post. The land was then operated as the Tejon Ranch, which utilized fort’s old adobe buildings as stables, storehouses and residences for ranch workers.

In 1940, the Tejon Ranch Company deeded five acres, including the old parade ground, the foundations, and remnants of the original adobe buildings to the State of California to be utilized as a state park. Restoration began on the adobe buildings in 1947 and today, the site, listed on the National Register of Historic Places maintains several restored and recreated buildings of the original fort, including, the barracks, officer's quarters, and quartermaster building. The park is located 70 miles northwest of Los Angeles, near the top of Grapevine Canyon, via the Fort Tejon exit off I-5.

Contact Information:

Fort Tejon State Historic Park

661-248-6692