Camp Latham was a Civil War tent camp, basically an offshoot of San Pedro’s Drum Barracks, from 1861- 62. News coverage this month recognized April 12 as the date the Confederate Army attacked Fort Sumter, which marked the beginning of the Civil War. Spanning from 1861-65, few people realize that a piece of the land that became Culver City hosted a Civil War encampment: Camp Latham.
Named for United States Sen. Milton S. Latham, who also served as California’s sixth governor, Camp Latham was established by the First California Infantry under Col. James H. Carleton and the First California Cavalry under Lt. Col. Benjamin F. Davis. It was Southern California’s initial staging area for the Civil War.
In early 1861, there was rising concern that California, which had just become a state in 1850, might fall to so-called Southern sentiment. It was to curb this spirit in 1861 that a Union camp was established in Southern California. The soldiers, all volunteers, came primarily from Central or Northern California. Sent by ship, they disembarked at San Pedro, walked a full day –18 miles – to establish a tent camp. Camp Latham was located on the south side of Ballona Creek on land that had been claimed by the Machado and Talamantes families in 1819 as their Rancho La Ballona.
Although references existed in some material, like Title Insurance’s 1939 publication Culver City, a Calendar of Events, the exact location of this camp was difficult to define. The Culver City Historical Society hosted a re-enactment program in 1982 by a Civil War Association from Fort Tejon, which sparked interest. Pinpointing the exact location was complicated by the meandering of Ballona Creek before it was straightened and reinforced by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1935. With advances in technology today, access to added materials validated our historical society’s early research on the location of Camp Latham. The camp existed in the area of what is now the intersection of Jefferson Boulevard and Overland Avenue. The society placed a bronze marker at Rotary Plaza on Nov. 12, 2006, to commemorate its historic significance.
It appears that more than 1,500 volunteers were stationed at Latham in its short existence. Artifacts from their on-site brick oven bakery (which appears to have been run by local bakers named Mesmer), and other items have surfaced nearby. Camp Kellogg, a smaller camp was located across the creek to the north.
Because this city is known as “The Heart of Screenland,” it should come as no surprise to hear that Atlanta was burned in Culver City for the filming of Gone with the Wind.