Historic California
Posts, Camps, Stations and Airfields
Camp Curtis
(Camp on Janes
Farm)
A
Civil War-era image of Camp Curtis
Today, all that remains of Camp Curtis
is a California Historical Landmark. Before its official establishment
in September 1862 was called Camp on Janes Farm and was used
by local volunteer companies of the California Militia as early
as 1858. Camp Curtis was the headquarters of the 1st Battalion of Mountaineers of California
Volunteers from 1862 until 1865. In 1863, Captain George Ousley
and 34 soldiers of Company B of the Battalion first garrisoned
Camp Curtis near Daby's s Ferry and then moved to Fawn Prairie
on the Hoopa Trail. A bronze tablet commemorating the camp's
site was unveiled on October 5, 1930.
Location:
Location: Take the Sunset Avenue off ramp from US Highway 101,
go North 0.9 mile on L. K. Wood Boulevard frontage road in Arcata
Camp Curtis
by Justin Rihge
Camp Curtis was the headquarters of the
Mountain Battalion of California Volunteers from 1862 to 1865.
The Camp was located one mile north of Arcata, Humboldt County.
In 1863 Captain George Ousley with Company B first garrisoned
the Camp near Daby's Ferry and then moved to Fawn Prairie on
the Hoopa Trail. A plaque identifying the site of the Camp can
be found along Highway 101 north of Arcata. A detachment was
dispatched in early June 1862 by Captain Eugene B. Gibbs, commanding
Camp Curtis, to a crossing on the Mad River about three miles
from Arcata and there established a temporary post to safeguard
the area's settlers from Native American depredations.
