Fort Tejon in California is a former United States Army outpost which was intermittently active from June 24, 1854, until September 11, 1864.

The fort's mission was to suppress stock rustling and protect settlers from attacks by discontent Californios (pre-statehood residents) and Native American tribes (including the Paiute and Mojave), and to monitor the less aggressive Emigdiano living nearby.

The Emigdiano, who were closely related to the Chumash of the coastal and interior lands to the west, had several villages near Fort Tejon.

At the urging of Edward Fitzgerald Beale, Superintendent of Indian Affairs in California, the U.S. Army established Fort Tejon in 1854.

Fort Tejon was the headquarters of the First U.S. Dragoons until those Regular Army troops were transferred to the East in July 1861 soon after the outbreak of the American Civil War.

Officers' quarters nearby are only stabilized in a state of arrested decay, with walls buttressed by masonry and lumber and tied together with reinforcing rods.

The park grounds include the original barracks, where the soldiers slept, and also the grave site of Peter Lebeck, which is indicated with a historical marker.

Based on the (uncertain) distribution of foreshocks for this earthquake, it is assumed that the beginning of the fault rupture (the epicenter) was in the area between Parkfield and Cholame, about 60 miles northwest.