page_title: Fort Alcatraz
section_title: 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: Fort Alcatraz / History / 19th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Alcatraz Light, original
context_page_description: Fort Alcatraz was a United States Army coastal fortification on Alcatraz Island near the mouth of San Francisco Bay in California, part of the Third System of fixed fortifications, although very different from most other Third System works. Initially completed in 1859, it was also used for mustering and training recruits and new units for the Civil War from 1861 and began secondary use as a long-term military prison in 1868.
  Major improvements, needed because of changes in artillery, began in the 1870s, but were underfunded and never fully completed, as the post came to be seen less as defense and more as a jail. The site was not used for any major works of the Endicott Board’s plan for the defense of the Bay.
  A large concrete prison block was erected between 1910 and 1912. In 1933–1934, this was modernized and became the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.
context_section_description: The earliest recorded owner of Alcatraz was William Workman, of the Workman-Temple family to whom it was given by Mexican governor Pio Pico in June 1846, with the understanding that Workman would build a lighthouse on it. Workman was co-owner of Rancho La Puente and personal friend of Pio Pico. Later in 1846, acting in his capacity as Military Governor of California, John C. Fremont, champion of Manifest Destiny and leader of the Bear Flag Republic, bought the island for $5,000 in the name of the United States government from Francis Temple. 
  In 1850, President Millard Fillmore ordered that Alcatraz Island be set aside specifically for military purposes based upon the U.S. acquisition of California from Mexico following the Mexican–American War. Fremont had expected a large compensation for his initiative in purchasing and securing Alcatraz Island for the U.S. government, but the U.S. government later invalidated the sale and paid Fremont nothing. Fremont and his heirs sued for compensation during protracted but unsuccessful legal battles that extended into the 1890s.
  Following the acquisition of California by the United States as a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the Mexican–American War (1848), and the onset of the California Gold Rush the following year, the U.S. Army began studying Alcatraz Island for coastal batteries to protect the entrance to San Francisco Bay. In 1853, under the direction of Zealous B. Tower, the United States Army Corps of Engineers began fortifying the island, continuing until 1859, at cost of $87,698 
  The start of construction was a citadel, in this case meaning a lightly fortified barracks, at the top of sandstone rock outcrops. In every other Third System works, such structures are masked from direct fire by more solid fortifications, but not here. The upper part of the island was encircled with walls built of stone and bricks abutting the rock faces, unlike most other Third System works, which laid a heavier hand on the natural landscape. 
  Near the wharf, though, a later sallyport and a fortified barracks showed a more conventional design.
  A lighthouse was built and 11 cannons were fixed.
  Army engineer James B. McPherson, later to become a prominent general during the Civil War, was one of the earliest commanders to serve on Alcatraz in 1858. In 1859 Captain Joseph Stewart became commander of the active fort.
  Alcatraz was used to house soldiers who were guilty of crimes as early as 1859. By 1861, the fort was the military prison for the Department of the Pacific and housed Civil War prisoners of war (POWs) as early as that year. Starting in 1863, the military also held private citizens accused of treason, after the writ of habeas corpus in the United States was suspended.
  The number of cells were increased in 1867 and the facility became a long-term military prison in 1868. Alcatraz was crucial to defense during the American Civil War (1861–1865), having some 111 cannons encircling the island at peak, and was also used as a war camp.  During the Civil War, the local federal forces had the onerous task of preventing  local fighting between the Union and Confederate supporters who were both part of the population of California, and to protect San Francisco. 
  For example, in 1863, Asbury Harpending outfitted a schooner, the J. M. Chapman as a confederate privateer, intending it to prey on the Pacific Mail ships, which often carried cargoes of precious metals. The plan was interrupted early by the USS Cyane, among others. Consequent to this, more and more were arrested for treason or enemy sympathies. To hold the increased number of prisoners, a temporary makeshift wooden prison was built in 1863 to the north of the guardhouse. In 1864, 15-inch Rodman cannons were added to the fort's armament, and more bombproof barracks built. By end of the Civil War in 1865, there were more than one hundred cannon on the island.
  As the civil war ended, the military prison housed Confederate sympathizers who celebrated Lincoln's death. During the Indian Wars that followed the civil war, I
caption: Lighthouse and citadel building, c. 1893
exif: {}