Camp Cady


Camp Cady was a U.S. Army Camp, on the Mojave Road near the Mojave River in the Mojave Desert, located about 20 miles east of modern-day Barstow, California in San Bernardino County, at an elevation of 1690 feet. Camp Cady was named after Major Albemarle Cady, 6th Infantry Regiment, who was a friend of Carleton and commander at Fort Yuma in 1860.

History

Camp Cady was established during the Bitter Spring Expedition in 1860, by Major James H. Carleton, and Company K, 1st U.S. Dragoons, as a base camp for Carleton's campaign to punish Paiute who had attacked travelers at Bitter Spring on the Los Angeles - Salt Lake Road.
After the Bitter Spring Expedition, Camp Cady was garrisoned off and on until it was abandoned for a time in early part of the American Civil War after Fort Mohave was abandoned in May 1861. Sometimes used by California Volunteers patrolling the area in 1862, it was used by them after Fort Mohave was re-garrisoned in 1863 to guard the Mojave Road until the end of the Civil War. It was later garrisoned by the U. S. Army as one of a number of posts on the Mojave Road to protect travelers on the road from Paiute attacks along the road, from 1866 to 1871, when it was abandoned, after the Paiute where deemed pacified.

The site today

At the site of Camp Cady there remain some ruins and a historical marker east of Barstow, within the Camp Cady Wildlife Area.

California Historical Landmark

Marker Camp Cady #963-1 on the site reads: