The last remaining original Civil War era military facility in the Los Angeles area.

The Civil War is a pivotal event in the history of the United States. Unfortunately, few people realize that California played an important role in that conflict. Although the major engagements took place in the East, troops from Drum Barracks, kept California in the Union, protected much of the Southwest and secured the territory which is now Arizona and New Mexico for the Union.

The Drum Barracks Civil War Museum is housed in the last remaining wooden building of Drum Barracks, named after Adjutant General Richard Coulter Drum, head of the Department of the Pacific. This facility served as the Union Army headquarters in the Southwest (Southern California and the Arizona Territory) from 1861 - 1871. Drum Barracks, which was first called Camp Drum, served as the main staging, training and supply base for military operations in the Southwest, and occupied approximately sixty acres of land with an additional thirty-seven acres near the harbor. The land was sold to the Army by Phineas Banning, and B. D. Wilson, who each received one dollar, with the agreement that the land would revert back to them after the camp was closed.

After the surrender at Appomattox, Californians from Camp Drum continued to soldier in the Southwest during the Indian Wars. The California units were recognized by the army commanders of the time as being among the best equipped and trained in the U. S. Army. Drum Barracks included the most important medical facility in the western states. The hospital at the camp, recognized as the best equipped and staffed medical facility west of the Mississippi River, was so vital that the facility was kept open for two additional years after the closure of the camp.

 The structure housing the museum served as the junior officer's quarters of the camp. In the early 1960's, the building was due to be demolished, but through the efforts of community groups, it was saved and opened to the public as a museum in 1987.

Lumber was ordered from New York City, shipped around the Horn, and arrived in late 1862. Construction began immediately and is estimated to have cost one million dollars. The buildings were completed in September of 1863 and occupied by their first commanding officer, Lt. Colonel James Freeman Curtis. Many California Volunteers came through this camp and went east to fight in the war. From 1861 to 1865 approximately 17,000 Californians served in both volunteer regiments in the West and in regiments fighting in the East.

Camp Drum was home to the California Column, formed and commanded by Colonel James Henry Carleton, first commander of the camp. In 1862, Texas Volunteers had taken control of the territory, which is now Arizona and New Mexico, for the Confederacy. Colonel Carleton was ordered by the War Department to gather his troops and retake control of the territory. Thus, 2,350 men began a march to Santa Fe during the driest summer of the century. On the way to Santa Fe, the California Column fought the Battle of Picacho Pass, the westernmost battle of the Civil War. Colonel Carleton successfully marched his large body of troops through much of the most inhospitable territory in the United States without the loss of a single soldier, a feat regarded as a masterpiece of military planning and execution.