Oak Grove Butterfield Stage Station

Oak Grove Butterfield Stage Station is located in the western foothills of the Laguna Mountains, in northern San Diego County, California. It is located on State Route 79, 13 miles (21 km) northwest of Warner Springs and Warner's Ranch. The station was built on the site of Camp Wright, an 1860s Civil War outpost.

Oak Grove Butterfield Stage Station
Oak Grove Butterfield Stage Station
LocationWarner Springs area,
San Diego County, California
Coordinates33°23′23.02″N 116°47′38.75″W
Built1858
NRHP reference No.66000222
CHISL No.482[1]
CHISL No.502[2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1966[3]
Designated NHLNovember 5, 1961[4]

Camp Wright

During the American Civil War, Camp Wright was a Union Army outpost in the Pacific Coast Theater of the American Civil War. It was established to protect the route to Fort Yuma on the Colorado River, and intercept secessionist sympathizers traveling to the east to join the Confederate Army.[5] A detachment of California Volunteer cavalry and infantry first established Camp Wright at Warner's Ranch near Warner Springs, in October 1861. The cold and windy conditions in the higher altitude of the exposed San Jose Valley caused the commander to change its site to the more sheltered Oak Grove location in November.[6]

At about the same time, the Dan Showalter party of secessionists were attempting to avoid the post and make their way across the desert to join the Confederate Army in Texas. They were pursued from Temecula by a 1st Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry patrol from Camp Wright, intercepted in the hills west of the San Jose Valley (site of Warner's Ranch) with the support of a 1st California Infantry detachment from the camp, and captured without shots being fired November 20–29, 1861. After being imprisoned at Fort Yuma, Showalter and the others were released upon swearing loyalty to the Union. They later made their way to the Confederacy.[7]

For a short time in March 1862 Camp Wright was the headquarters of the 5th Regiment California Volunteer Infantry before it moved on.[8] Used for the rest of the war as a transit camp for troops moving along the road to and from New Mexico Territory and Arizona Territory, the camp was abandoned in 1866.

The Oak Grove Butterfield Stage Station, in operation between 1858 and 1860, is the only surviving station of the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach line across the Western United States. The adobe building the stagecoach station used was built in 1858, and on the former site of Camp Wright (1861-1862). It was a stop between Los Angeles and Fort Yuma on the San Francisco to St. Louis route. It is a well-preserved one-story adobe building among California oak woodlands.

Historic Landmarks
Camp Wright plaque
Oak Grove plaque

The site of Camp Wright was registered as a California Historical Landmark in 1950.[1]

The Oak Grove Butterfield Stage Station on its site was registered as a separate California Historical Landmark in 1952.[2] The Oak Grove station was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961.[4][9] The location of another nearby station at Warner's Ranch, is also a National Historic Landmark.

See also

References
  1. "Camp Wright". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
  2. "Oak Grove". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
  3. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  4. "Oak Grove Butterfield Stage Station". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2007-11-18.
  5. Warner Spring Ranch Resort.com: History— John Warner Archived June 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  6. Colonel Herbert M. Hart, USMC (retired), Historic California Posts: Camp Wright from Pioneer Forts of the Far West, published in 1965, The California State Military Museum
  7. Bill Virden, THE AFFAIR AT MINTER'S RANCH, The Journal of San Diego History, SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY, April 1961, Volume 7, Number 2 Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Records of California men in the war of the rebellion 1861 to 1867, By California. Adjutant General's Office, SACRAMENTO: State Office, J. D. Young, Supt. State Printing. 1890. p.672
  9. Patricia Heintzelman and Charles Snell (1975) National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Oak Grove Butterfield Station, National Park Service and Accompanying three photos, exterior, from 1954, 1975 and undated.
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