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Area description and history
The
military presence on Point Loma has, much
like the ebb and flow of the Pacific waters
which bathe its shores, waxed and waned
according to the needs of defense. During
the 1790s, a little battery of cannon
named "San Joaquin" was constructed
at Punta de Guijarros (Ballast Point,
a southern appendage of Point Loma) to
thwart the designs of British naval forces.
"San Joaquin" fell into ruin
by the mid-1830s when San Diego rancheros
were welcoming the appearance of foreign
ships as partners in a burgeoning hide
and tallow trade..
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Several decades later, when U.S. and various
European powers began to militarize themselves
as a means of asserting global imperial
designs, attention was once again turned
to fortifying Point Loma. Building at
Ballast Point was initiated in 1898 as
a consequence of the war fever with Spain,
and the U.S. Army facility was named one
year later after Civil War Major General
William Starke Rosecrans.
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