Joseph Stewart ( Alaska ) Joseph Stewart ( 1822 – 1904 ) was an officer in the United States Army notable for serving as commander of Fort Alcatraz , Fort Churchill and the Department of Alaska . His name is occasionally seen as " Jasper Stewart " . Biography . Early life . Joseph Stewart was born in Kentucky and graduated from the U . S . Military Academy at West Point in 1842 . He served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st U . S . Artillery and later the 3rd U . S . Artillery during the Mexican War . On January 3 , 1856 he was promoted captain of Company H in the 3rd Artillery . In December 1859 Captain Stewart took command of Fort Alcatraz . In the years immediately preceding the Civil War , Stewart transformed the fort into the most powerful coastal defense in the west . It was also during Stewart ' s time on Alcatraz that it took on the role of a prison for the first time . 11 soldiers under Stewart ' s command were imprisoned there and soon other nearby forts were sending prisoners there too . Pyramid Lake War . In 1860 a vigilante force was soundly defeated by Paiute Indians in a battle near Pyramid Lake in present day Nevada . This defeat prompted the Federal government to dispatch a contingent of the U . S . Army to the area . Captain Stewart took command of the so - called " Carson Valley Expedition " composed of 200 regular army soldiers from the 3rd Artillery and 6th U . S . Infantry . Stewart was , however , subordinated to Col . John C . Hays who was in command of a regiment of U . S . Volunteers . Hays and Stewart defeated the Paiutes in the second Battle of Pyramid Lake . Fort Churchill . While Hays ' volunteers disbanded shortly after the battle , Stewart ' s regulars remained in the area for some time . Stewart was ordered to construct a permanent army post in the area . Eventually he chose a site along the Carson River which he suggested should be named in honor of General Sylvester Churchill . The U . S . Army confirmed the site and name in August and construction of Fort Churchill began . Construction was completed in 1861 with Stewart as the post ' s first commander . Civil War . During the American Civil War Stewart briefly returned to command Fort Alcatraz . In 1861 he was transferred to the defenses of Washington , DC and commanded the artillery in George A . McCall ' s division of the Army of the Potomac from December 1861 to February 1862 . From April to October 1862 he served as recruiting officer for San Francisco and was the Inspector General of the Humboldt Military District during the Winter of 1862 / 1863 . He was chief of artillery for the Department of the Pacific from April to July 1863 and ended the war as recruiting officer for Salem MA from November to December 1865 . On December 11 , 1865 Stewart was promoted Major in the 4th U . S . Artillery . Post Civil War . Following the Civil War Stewart commanded various forts along the eastern United States including Fort McHenry and Fort Macon . He served as the fifth commander of the Department of Alaska , from January 4 , 1873 to April 20 , 1874 then returned to California in command of the Presidio of San Francisco from May 8 to June 17 , 1875 . From 1876 - 1879 Stewart was in command of Fort Canby engaged against Native Americans during the Bannock War . On July 18 , 1879 Stewart was promoted Lieutenant Colonel of the 3rd U . S . Artillery . He retired on August 25 , 1879 and died in Berkeley , CA on April 23 , 1904 . References . Totton , Kathryn , " Fort Churchill : Nevada Military Outpost of the 1860s " , 1981 Nevada Natural History Association