Fort Moore
| Fort Moore | |
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| Los Angeles, California | |
The Banning Mansion near summit of Fort Moore Hill, 1887.
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Old Los Angeles: 'C' marks Fort Moore. ('P' marks the Plaza.)
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 Fort Moore
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| Coordinates | 34°03′30″N 118°14′31″W / 34.058333°N 118.241944°W |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1846 and 1847 |
Terra Cotta Relief of Military Raising American Flag.
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| Location | 451 North Hill Street Los Angeles, California |
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| Designer |
Kazumi Adachi Dike Nagano Henry Kreis Albert Stewart |
| Type | Memorial Wall |
| Material |
Stone Terra cotta |
| Length | 78 feet (24 m) |
| Height | 45 feet (14 m) |
| Opening date | July 3, 1957 |
Fort Moore was the second of two historic U.S. Military Forts in Los Angeles, California, during the Mexican–American War. It lay straight above the junction of the Hollywood Freeway and Broadway Avenue, on an historic hill that once sheltered the old Plaza.
The landmark hill took its name, Fort Hill, from the first fort, and the hill afforded sweeping views of the old adobe town and the vineyards in the swale of the Los Angeles River. Fort Hill was a spur of the ridge that runs from the Quarry Hills (Elysian Park) southward to Beaudry’s Bunker Hill; it originally stretched east between 1st Street and Ord Street. In old photographs, it forms a backdrop just behind the Plaza Church and square. By 1949, what was left of the hill under the fort was cut down when the Hollywood Freeway was put through.
The fort is now memorialized by the Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial, a stone mural on Hill Street, along the south side of Grand Arts High School.
On August 13, 1846, early in the conflict, U.S. naval forces under Commodore arrived at Los Angeles and raised the American flag without opposition. A small occupying force of 50 Marines, under Captain Archibald H. Gillespie, built a rudimentary barricade on what was then known as Fort Hill overlooking the small town.
The harsh martial law of Captain Gillespie soon ignited a popular uprising among Californios and Mexicans led by General José María Flores beginning on September 22, 1846. Known as the Siege of Los Angeles, Californios assembled a force to retake Los Angeles. Gillespie's fifty marines were able to resist an initial attack on the government house in town and regrouped on Fort Hill, where they strengthened the fortification with sandbags and mounted their cannon. As time passed, the Californio forces opposing the U.S. takeover grew to just over 600 men, with several Californio citizens voicing opposition. General Flores offered an ultimatum: leave within 24 hours or face attack. Gillespie agreed to withdraw from Los Angeles, under safe passage, on September 30, 1846.
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Wikipedia