When the Spanish first
entered San Francisco Ray in 1775, a naval lieutenant, Don Juan
Manuel de Ayala, name d Alcatraz Island "Isla de los Alcatraces"
(Island of the Pelicans). There are no records indicating its
occupation by Spaniards during the 1775-1810 period. After the
short lived Bear Revolt in 1846, Mexico in 1848 ceded the island
to the United States. The famous 12 acre precipitous rocky island,
facing the Golden Gate, was declared a military reservation by
all executive order on November 6, 1850. A part of the area's
defensive system, along with Lime
Point Military Reservation,
intended to guard the entrance to the bay, its first fortifications
were begun in 1853 under the direction of Lieutenant Zealous
Bates Tower, U.S. Corps of Engineers, and consisted in the main
of a brick 200
by 100 foot citadel,
batteries, two barrack structures for troops, and three cell
blocks
First garrisoned on December 30, 1859, the post was officially
designated Alcatraz Island hot was often referred to as Fort
Alcatraz. By 1861 the fort had 85 cannon and a garrison of 130
men. The island became a detention camp for political prisoners
during the Civil War. Later it was a disciplinary barracks for
military prisoners, a prison for recalcitrant Indians, and then
a P.O. W. facility for Spanish American Philippines Islands prisoners
and World War 1 conscientious objectors. Alcatraz Island had
been privately owned when the War Department bought it because
of its strategic location. It was used as a fort until the disastrous
1906 earthquake, when San Francisco jail inmates were transferred
there for safekeeping. "The Rock," as it was popularly
called, was an Army prison from 1917 to 1933, when title to the
island passed to the Department of Justice.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons, an agency of the Justice Department,
took it over and ran the establishment as a maximum security
prison for incorrigible criminals until 1964, when it was shut
down because of its progressively decaying condition and deteriorating
assurances of incarceration. Asserting century old treaty rights
and planning to convert it into a center for Native American
studies, a large group of militant American Indians occupied
the island in defiance of the federal government for 9 months
ending in June 1971.
Now a part of the Golden
Gate National Recreation Area, Alcatraz Island has since emerged
as one of San Francisco's most popular attractions for tourists
and American history huffs under the aegis of the National Park
Service
History
by Colonel Herbert M.
Hart, USMC (Retired)
"Frowning
Alcatraz, Key of San Francisco," was the 1866 description
of the fortress, expanded by a 1884 comment: "it commands
the entrance to the Golden Gate, and forms an effectual defense
for the harbor of San Francisco." It "is 450 feet wide,
1,650 feet long, irregular in shape, and encircled by powerful
batteries, in which are said to be mounted some of the heaviest
guns ever cast in America." This view dates from military
prison days, was taken from new parade ground level east of the
lighthouse. In modern times, lighthouse and quarters remained,
but were surrounded by other quarters. A 1890 report complained,
"Sanitary defects of the prison are especially apparent
at this season of the year. The ventilation of the buildings
is very faulty. The corridors, kitchen, and mess rooms are disagreeably
and dangerously drafty . . . The prisoner when locked in for
the night is virtually boxed in for so many hours . . . The means
available for solitary confinement are such as have long been
discarded in the better class of civilian penal establishments."
Alcatraz Island's heavy
guns may not have fired a shot in anger in her 81 years as a military
post, but they came mighty close to it on October 1, 1863. That
was when a suspicious ship was noticed approaching Raccoon Straits
and the ensuing confusion included firing between the ship and
the island with Fort Point chiming in.
Routinely during the Civil
War a Revenue Service cutter greeted every arriving ship at the
Golden Gate, but on October 1 she left her station to help a wrecked
Russian ship. Captain William A. Winder, commanding at Alcatraz,
was asked to challenge all ships before permitting them to enter
the port.
"The officer of the
day reported an armed ship towed by small boats in the direction
of Raccoon Straits," reported Winder. After he was unable
to recognize her colors (there was no wind and the flag fell in
folds) Winder decided her course was so unusual, "I deemed
it my duty to bring her to and ascertain her character and the
reason . . .
" I therefore fired
a blank charge, which apparently not attracting her attention,
I directed a gun to be loaded with an empty shell and to be fired
200 or 300 yards ahead of her," he said. His two boats were
busy inspecting other ships, but while waiting for one to return
so that the newcomer could be inspected, "The ship commenced
firing." He thought it might be a salute, but could not be
sure because she was firing broadside and was "entirely enveloped
in the smoke"
As soon as he decided it
was a salute, he started to return a 21-gun answer. Before he
was finished, "Fort Point commenced firing."
Finally everyone stopped.
The letter exchange that followed was even more pointed when the
ship was identified as Her Majesty's Ship SUTLEJ, the flagship
of Rear Admiral John Kingcome. The admiral did not take kindly
to the unusual welcome, Captain Winder did not appreciate the
Sutlej's "unusual course" and in the final outcome,
the departmental commander suggested a mild reproof to Alcatraz.
"It is expected that
the delicate duty devolving on military commanders will be exercised
with prudence," he announced in a letter dated five months
later.
The embarrassing international
situation was all part of the game to Alcatraz, however. With
her position recognized as the key to San Francisco Bay, she was
in a sensitive situation throughout the war. In 1864, in fact,
an even greater reaction set in when commercial photographers
were permitted to make 30 photographs that showed every road and
battery.
The War Department heard
about the photos, ordered them suppressed, and demanded to know
who had authorized them. As department head, General McDowell
reported to Washington that the photos had been approved by the
area engineer and authorized by Winder, whose "motive was
one of pride and interest in his important command and a desire
to have himself and the command have pictures of the place."
McDowell denied any disloyal
motives on Winder's part, including rumors that he was influenced
by the fact his father was in the Confederate Army. If be wanted
to be disloyal, McDowell suggested, as an officer of intelligence
he would not "have acted so openly and undisguisedly as be
did."
The real losers in the proposition
seem to have been the San Francisco firm that claimed it took
the views on a $400 contract from the Army, and had spent $1,500
in the process. They hoped to recoup the difference by selling
their photos for a rumored $100 to interested soldiers. Instead,
the pictures and negatives wound up at the War Department.
Had Confederate agents obtained
and interpreted the photographs, they would have found that Alcatraz
had not changed materially from 1861 when she bad 85 cannon and
130 men. In one of his last acts before resigning to join the
Confederacy, General Albert S. Johnston had rushed 10,000 muskets
and 150,000 cartridges to Alcatraz. His successor, General Sumner,
had proposed posting 400 men on the island. And in 1864, an official
estimate was that 600 artillerymen were needed to man the works.
This was not to be. In fact,
details from Alcatraz were siphoned off frequently. Thirty men
spent months guarding Mare Island Navy Yard until they could be
relieved by Marines from the USS LANCASTER. Another detail
was dispatched to man a battery on the south end of Angel Island,
later the location of the vegetable garden tended by Alcatraz
troopers.
Rumors of election riots
placed the entire garrison on alert frequently. The bulk of the
force was shifted to San Francisco to keep order in 1865 in the
unsettled days following Lincoln's assassination. The Bay area's
official half-hourly gun salute on the day of Lincoln's funeral
was fired by the batteries of Alcatraz.
Alcatraz' important position
was recognized as early as 1849 when it was bought in the name
of the United States by John Fremont, acting governor of California,
for $5,000. Despite charges that the $5,000 never was paid, the
government moved in and by 1853 a construction detail had arrived.
"Temporary buildings for the accommodation of workmen have
been erected, excavations made, masonry commenced," reported
an 1854 inspection, and "The batteries on this island might
be completed in about one year."
General Wool ordered six
8-inch and six 32-pound guns to be mounted on Alcatraz, despite
the inspection report characterizing "Alcatrazes" Island
as "a highly important point in the water defenses, where
200 guns ... should be mounted."
The initial work at Alcatraz
was finished in 1858. By 1861, the post included a belt of encircling
batteries, a massive brick guardhouse, and a three-story barracks
that could hold 600 men. Then, with rumors of secession, came
rumors that Kentucky born Johnston planned to take over the city
from headquarters on the island.
"There is treason on
Alcatraz," reported one contemporary account of a message
sent to the White House. "To insure success of the scheme,
Albert Sidney Johnston was placed in command at Fort Alcatraz,"
the version continued. "It was arranged that the leaders
in San Francisco with a force of picked men sufficient for the
purpose, should surprise and capture the fort."
The fact was Johnston was
in San Francisco and not on the island. "As long as he held
his commission he would maintain the authority of the United States
to the last extremity," intimates insisted. And
When General Sumner relieved
him of his command, Sumner was able to report, "It gives
me pleasure to state that the command was turned over to me in
good order. General Johnston . . . was carrying out the orders
of the Government."
As the war progressed, these
orders involved Alcatraz in a variety of duties. In 1863, a suspicious
clipper schooner was towed to Alcatraz when inspectors from the
USS CYANE found 15 armed men and unmanifested cannon and
ammunition hidden below her decks. The crew was questioned in
separate cells on Alcatraz. A plot was revealed for the schooner
to take on other military stores elsewhere, then to act as a Confederate
privateer against the coastal ships.
Another plan to capture
the California mail steamers was uncovered in 1864 by the arrest
of plotters when they arrived in San Francisco. A result was an
order for all steamer passengers to be searched for concealed
weapons and for all ship officers to be armed in order to discourage
attempts to commandeer the vessels.
Political prisoners were
imprisoned at Alcatraz during the war, a hint of things to come.
In 1868 it became a disciplinary barracks and military prison.
During the seventies, troublesome Indians were sent to Alcatraz;
in 1900, Philippine prisoners arrived at Alcatraz. Conscientious
objectors were kept there during World War 1.
The Army need for the Alcatraz
prison was gone by the 1930's just when the rise of organized
crime called for a maximum security penitentiary. In 1934, the
Federal Bureau of Prisons took over San Francisco's prime fortress
for a 30-year occupation that earned it a reputation dreaded by
criminals as "The Rock."
Except for
the shape of 12-acre island, this version of Alcatraz bears little
resemblance to the later period of Army or prison use. Almost
all of these buildings had been replaced by time prison was closed
in 1963. As Army post in 1870's, Alcatraz had room for 300 men
in two frame barracks. Officers' quarters, hospital, offices,
and storerooms were in the citadel that was two-storied, and a
basement, measuring 200 by 100 feet. Prisoners were kept in three
buildings that had total of 113 cells which averaged eight by
six by 3 feet. A bowling alley, gymnasium, and theater provided
amusement at isolated post. At the start of Civil War, commander
officer complained that island had no place to keep prisoners
and that both guard and prisoners were jammed into casemates overlooking
the wharf. He noted that temporary wooden store sheds could not
contain required three months' supplies, and much had to be stored
outside the wall of fortification. The island was supplied with
fresh water by barge "which a besieging force might cut off,"
and he asked authority to bore a well. Later, a 50,000 gallon
cistern was built. Work on post continued even after war and a
1866 inspection noted the men were constructing earthworks. At
that time, its redoubt's had 105 guns manned by eight officers
and 146 men and condition of post "reflects great credit
on the commanding Officer." Only improvement the 1866 report
could suggest was the refinishing of the bunks in barracks.
Enlisted
Barracks
Officers Quarters
This article
was reprinted with permission from Old Forts of the Far West,
published in 1965
Post Civil
War Alcatraz Fortifications
by Justin M. Ruhge
Colonel George Mendell was still in charge
of the works on Alcatraz in 1871. When he learned that $50,000
was available for fiscal year 1871, he immediately began work
on Batteries 1, 2, 3 and 4 at the northwestern end of the Island.
Inasmuch as Alcatraz's defenses already consisted of barbette
batteries, Mendell's work here consisted mostly of remodeling
rather than new construction. In most instances, the project
called for enlarging the terrapleins and building new, thicker
earthen parapets on top of the old scarp walls, new breastwork-height
walls of brick, new brick and concrete magazines under earthen
traverses and new platforms. During the year a 15-inch Rodman
was mounted at Battery 2 on a new wooden platform.
Alcatraz's armament as of June 1871 was
a mixture of the new and the old. Mounted in the different batteries
were:
Type of Cannon
Quantity Mounted
200-pounder Parrott
rifles
3
100-pounder Parrott
rifles
5
10-inch Columbiads
2
8-inch Columbiads
16
15-inch Rodmans
5
10-inch Rodmans
16
42-pounder smoothbores
8
24-pounder Howitzers
8
This makes a total of 63 guns of which 55 were in barbette and
8 in casemate.
By July 1872, Colonel Mendell reported
that there were nine 15-inch guns on the island of which five
were mounted and that there were an additional two granite platforms
ready. These two platforms were in Battery 5 and were center
pintle.
Mendell's annual report for fiscal year
1873 listed a large number of accomplishments at both ends of
the Island. The masonry of several magazines, bombproofs, and
shell rooms had been completed. The old north caponier had been
converted into a magazine and a traverse. Parapets were made
and covered with sod from Fort Point. A tunnel across the northwestern
end of the Island, joining Batteries 2 and 4 was constructed.
This was the only tunnel constructed on Alcatraz despite many
legends.
A year later in 1874 Alcatraz was stripped
almost bare of armament. All that were mounted were two 15-inch
Rodmans in Battery 3 and one in Battery 2. The two guns in Battery
3 were still mounted on their Civil War platforms.
In fiscal year 1875, Mendell concentrated
on the southeastern end of the Island, constructing retaining
walls, magazines and traverses. Here he converted the old south
caponier into a modern magazine in a manner similar to the old
north caponier.
In fiscal year 1876, the last year in
which funds were available for construction, Mendell succeeded
in mounting two more 15-inch Rodmans, giving the Island a total
of five in their emplacements. However, as at Fort Point, the
operations on Alcatraz were closed down on June 30, 1876. All
citizen employees were discharged at the close of the last fiscal
year except the overseer and a carpenter.
Of the 13 batteries projected, Mendell
had completed 8 of them. Fifteen traversed magazines had been
constructed. Of the projected thirty-six 15-inch platforms, he
had only seven in place. Alcatraz Island had not become the strongly
fortified place that it once had been; yet next to West Battery
at Fort Point, it was the most strongly fortified point in San
Francisco Bay. The armament on Alcatraz was then five 15-inch
Rodmans at the end of this interim period of construction after
the Civil War.
Army Units
Assigned to Alcatraz
Data Source
Date(s)
Unit(s)
Order of Battle of United States
Land Forces in the World War (1931-1949)
