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- Camp Downey
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- In mid-July 1861, the War Department requested
California's Governor Downey for raise a force of volunteers,
infantry and cavalry, to protect that part of the overland stage
and mail route between the Sierras and the Rockies. Recruits
were plentiful and they were sent to two training camps that
had been established on the east side of San Francisco Bay County,
the infantry to Camp Downey and the cavalry to Camp Merchant.
Camp Downey overlooked Lake Merritt in today's Oakland, on today's
Seventh Avenue. The camp was established by Lieutenant Colonel
J. R. West with the 1st Infantry, California
Volunteers, on August 31, 1861, On September 15, Lieutenant
Colonel West and Companies A, B, C, E, G, and H left the camp
en route far Los Angeles.
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