New San Pedro had been founded just three years earlier, when transportation magnate Phineas Banning built a wharf and cargo facilities at the sheltered northern end of San Pedro Bay. After writing President Lincoln with his concerns about Southern sympathizers in the region, Banning donated some land north of the port, where the Army built Camp Drum and directed military operations in California and Arizona.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 14, 2018 12:56 UTC