Soldiers of the (Mechanized) Artillery, 40th Infantry Division (California Army National Guard) patrol Los Angeles during 1992 civil unrest. Photo from the U.S. Field Artillery School, via Wikimedia Commons.
| Year | Deployment | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1846 | U.S. Navy & Marine Corp Units | U.S. forces, under the command of Commodore William Stockton, invade the Los Angeles Area (then a province of Mexico) and capture Los Angeles. |
| 1847 | U.S. Navy, Marine & Army Units* | U.S. forces, again under the command of Commodore William Stockton, recapture Los Angeles months after losing it to a rebellion by Mexican residents. |
| 1861 | U.S. Army Troops | Recognizing a high number of pro-Confederate sympathizers in Los Angeles during the Civil War, President Lincoln garrisons 6,000 federal troops in the Los Angeles area to check potential insurrection and assistance to the Confederacy. |
| 1894 | U.S. Army Troops | A nationwide labor strike by railroad workers against the Pullman Company and major railroads is met by a deployment of six companies of U.S. troops to quell mob attempts to shutdown rail traffic. |
| 1941 | U.S. Army Troops | Labor strife threatens to cripple vital military aircraft production at North American Aviation's plant in Inglewood (producing 20 percent of military aircraft for the Army Air Forces and the British Royal Air Force). President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders in 2,600 federal troops to keep the plant operating. |
| 1965 | National Guard Troops | Civil disorder is sparked after a California Highway Patrol traffic stop in the Watts area escalates into a physical confrontation between the motorist and family members and police. More than 13,300 California National Guard troops are mobilized and deployed into Los Angeles County in response. |
| 1992 | National Guard, U.S. Army & U.S. Marine Corps Units** | Civil disorder is sparked by acquittals of LAPD officers accused of beating black motorist Rodney King in a traffic stop in Lake View Terrace. More than 9,800 California National Guard troops are mobilized and deployed into Los Angeles County. In addition, President George H.W. Bush, at the request of then California Governor Pete Wilson, orders about 1,500 U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton and 1,800 troops from U.S. Army 7th Infantry Division at Fort Ord (both installations in California), to be staged in the Los Angeles area as additional security forces. Only about 600 of these federal troops, however, end up deploying from their staging areas onto Los Angeles streets. |
| 1994 | National Guard Troops | After the Northridge earthquake, California National Guard troops are mobilized and deployed into Los Angeles County to assist with recovery and maintaining order. |
| 2001 | National Guard Troops | 78 troops provide security for LAX in the wake of the September 11 terrorism attack in New York. |
| 2019 | U.S. Army Special Operations Troops | U.S. Army Special Operations units conducted an almost week-long series of urban military exercises in and around the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and in Downtown Los Angeles. |
| 2020 | National Guard Troops | Civil disorder is sparked throughout the country and locally, in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Long Beach, Pasadena, Santa Monica and West Hollywood, by the death of a black man at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 1,000 California National Guard troops are mobilized and deployed into Los Angeles County to assist local police. |
* Also resulted in the establishment of Fort Moore on July 4, 1847. The fort, named for Captain Benjamin D. Moore (killed 1846, Battle of San Pasqual in action against Mexican militia), overlooked the Pueblo of Los Angeles and garrisoned 200 U.S. Army troops. It was abandoned after only one year. The site is now part of the Los Angeles Unified School District Headquarters.
** More than 13,000 troops are deployed in the Los Angeles area due to the April 1992 urban unrest. Of these, 9,800 were National Guard. Federal military units deployed included 2,000 troops from the U.S. Army 7th Infantry Division at Fort Ord, California, and 1,500 marines from the U.S. Marine Corps 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, California. These forces were collectively referred to as Joint Task Force Los Angeles, commanded by U.S. Army Major General Marvin Covault, Commanding General of the 7th Infantry Division (Light). Troops of the 7th Infantry Division were air transported into area, arriving at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro beginning in the late evening hours of April 30, 1992. Marine forces later convoyed in on May 2. - Information provided by Morgan P. Yates, former MP, 7th Military Police Company, 7th Infantry Division.
