Camp Lawrence J. Hearn | |
---|---|
Part of Southern California Border District | |
Palm City, San Diego | |
Site information | |
Controlled by | United States Army |
Site history | |
In use | 1916–1931 |
Garrison information | |
Garrison | 11th Cavalry |
Camp Lawrence J. Hearn was a United States Army facility formerly located in Palm City, San Diego, California. The Third Oregon Infantry established the camp in 1916 during its border service; it was abandoned in 1931 by the 11th Cavalry Regiment when the regiment moved to the Presidio of Monterey.
History
Beginning in 1916, the Third Oregon Infantry established the post during its border service. The United States Army maintained Camp Lawrence J. Hearn in honor of Major Hearn of the 21st Infantry Regiment in order to patrol the border during the Mexican Civil War. It was manned by the 1st Cavalry Regiment. It was abandoned in August 1920 but re-established by the 11th Cavalry Regiment in October of that same year. Brigadier General F.C. Marshall visited the post just before he died in a plane crash while traveling to Tucson, Arizona. Until 1921 the post consisted of a tent cantonment with no permanent structures and soldiers requiring medical care would be sent to Fort Rosecrans for treatment. Conditions on the post did not improve significantly. Army Chief of Staff Major General Summerall described them as being like a "logging camp" composed of "tumbledown shacks". In 1924, cavalrymen from the post assisted local officers and federal agents in enforcing a 9 pm curfew at the international border crossing. It continued to be in use until it was abandoned in 1931. Later the Coastal Artillery Corps considered the former post as the site of a future battery. This, however, was never built.
References
- Burton C. Andrus. "Burton C. Andrus Collection: An Inventory of His Collection". United States Army Military History Institute. United States Army. Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
- Report, Issues 9–15. Salem, Oregon: Oregon Military Department. 1904. p. 61. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- "Returns from U.S. Military Posts, 1800–1916" (PDF). U.S. Archives and Records Administration. 1968. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- Fetzer, Leland (2005). San Diego County Place Names A to Z. San Diego: Sunbelt Publications, Inc. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-932653-73-4. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- "The First Regiment of Cavalry, United States Army". The Cavalry Journal. 31. United States Cavalry Association: 182. 1922. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- Richardson Jr., Robert (January 1921). "Eleventh Cavalry". The Cavalry Journal. XXX (122): 458. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- Bevil, Alexander D. (2005). ""The Service Knows and Will Remember": The Aircraft Crash Memorial on Japacha Ridge" (PDF). The Journal of San Diego History. 51 (3). San Diego Historical Society. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- Annual report of the Secretary of War, Part 1. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1918. p. 444. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
The hospital at Fort Rosecrans is in size entirely inadequate. It is used as a base hospital for the troops at Camp Walter R Taliaferro, San Diego; Camp Lawrence J Hearn, at Palm City; the Signal Corps Aviation School and one company of Infantry at Tecate. The hospital is continually overcrowded and many of the patients are being cared for in tents. Estimates for the erection of a 24 bed ward are now being prepared.
- Army appropriation bill, 1921: Hearings before Subcommittee no. 1 of the Committee on military affairs, House of representatives, Sixty-sixth Congress, second session ... March 25, 1920 – April 2, 1920. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1920. p. 330. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
Camp Gen Marshall. Those two camps are along the Mexican border in California, at places where the troops suffer inconvenience due to the very unusual weather conditions that prevail at those places. The temperature goes up as high as 112 or 114 degrees and the humidity is very high. They are living in tents with no comforts or accommodations whatsoever.
- "Army & Navy: Super-Magruder". Time. 2007. Archived from the original on 25 November 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- "Curfew Ban on Tijuana". The Spokesman-Review. 7 March 1924. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- Theresa Muranaka; Cynthia Hernandez. "Time Has No Boundaries". California State Parks. State of California. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
From 1916 to 1931, Camp Hearn, established for potential skirmishes with the troops of Pancho Villa, was a military presence.
- Ruhlen, George. "Fort Rosecrans, California". The Journal of San Diego History. 5 (4). Retrieved 30 May 2011.
A troop of the 11th Cavalry was stationed at Fort Rosecrans from October 1931, following the abandonment of Camp Hearn at Imperial Beach. In August 1932 they moved on to Monterey.
- Erwin N. Thompson (1991). "Interlude, 1920–1935". Cabrillo National Monument. National Park Service. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
The board chose a site for one battery of 155mm guns at Point Loma near the new lighthouse, and recommended a location 1,500 yards south of Coronado Heights and west of south San Diego, on the former Camp Hearn site, for the other 155mm battery, which was never built.
External links
- Steve Schoenherr (29 March 2015). "Military Bases in South Bay". sunnycv.com. South Bay Historical Society. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
32°35′04″N 117°05′24″W / 32.5844°N 117.090°W / 32.5844; -117.090
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