CALIFORNIA LEGENDS

The History & Hauntings of Alcatraz

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The rest of the fortress would take years to complete, as most the area laborers were much more interested in prospecting for gold, rather than the back breaking work of building Fort Alcatraz. Another cause of delay was the lack of quality building materials. While some sandstone was quarried on nearby Angel Island, much of the granite used in the building had to be imported from China.

The first deaths of the island occurred in 1857, when the crew was excavating a roadway between the wharf and the guardhouse. Suddenly, a 7,000 cubic-yard landslide buried several of the laborers and two men were killed.

Fort Alcatraz, courtesy the California Military Museum

However, the fortress slowly took shape, as roadways, additional outbuildings and the final defensive position – the Citadel, was built. Completed in 1859, the fortress included a row of enclosed gun positions to protect the dock, a fortified guardhouse to block the entrance road, and the three-story citadel atop the island, that served as an armed barracks and the last line of defense. The only access to the citadel was a drawbridge over a deep dry moat that surrounded the entire building. The structure was designed to hold as many as 200 soldiers with provisions that could withstand a four month siege.

In December, 1859, Captain Joseph Stewart and 86 men of Company H, Third U.S. Artillery, took command of Alcatraz Island. Fort Alcatraz soon took the lead role as the most powerful coastal defense in the west. In addition to its strategic defensive position, the island also took on the additional role of serving as a stockade for enlisted men. Recognizing that the cold water (53° F) and the swift currents surrounding the island made it an ideal site for a prison, eleven of the soldiers who arrived with Captain Stewart were incarcerated in a cell block in the  guardhouse basement. Just two months later, another soldier, who was said to have been insane, was jailed with the others. Before long, other forts with less secure garrisons began to send their deserters, escapees, and other prisoners to the island.

"I have heard foolish talk about an attempt to seize the strongholds of government under my charge. Knowing this, I have prepared for emergencies, and will defend the property of the United States with every resource at my command, and with the last drop of blood in my body. Tell that to our Southern friends!"

-- Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, Commander of the Department of the Pacific, U.S. Army, 1861

In April, 1861, Alcatraz took on another role -- that of defending the Union state of California from Confederates when the Civil War broke out. As California's population included both Union and Confederate supporters, tensions ran high on the California coast, and the fort and its men were tasked with calming the threat of local war and protecting the City of San Francisco. Commanding the Department of the Pacific, Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston sent 10,000 muskets and 150,000 cartridges of ammunition to Fort Alcatraz and the island became the most powerful fort west of the Mississippi River. The new fortress soon deflated Confederate sympathizers’ hopes that the San Francisco Bay could be taken and California brought into the Confederacy.

Though no one ever attacked the rugged island during the Civil War, the military personnel on Alcatraz increased to over 350 men. 

On August 27, 1861, Alcatraz was officially designated as the military prison for the Department of the Pacific, which covered most of the territory west of the Rocky Mountains. Like most prisons of the time, the conditions in the cell house were terrible, with men sleeping on the stone floors, side-by-side. With no heat, running water or sanitary facilities in the cells, sickness became common among the prisoners.

The first Confederate threat to California occurred in March, 1863 when the army learned that a group of southern sympathizers planned to overtake San Francisco Bay.  Their strategy was to arm a schooner, use it to capture a steamship, blockade the harbor, and attack the fort. However, when the schooner’s captain bragged about the scheme while drinking in a tavern, the news was quickly relayed to Union officials. On the night the schooner was set to sail, the U.S. Navy seized the ship and arrested the crew.  When the boat was towed to Alcatraz, the army found cannons, ammunition and 15 more men hidden in the ship.

During the Civil War, Alcatraz's role as a military prison increased.  When the Confederates were arrested from the schooner, they joined numerous other military prisoners and local civilians who had been arrested for treason. Soon the rooms in the guardhouse were filled and a temporary wooden prison was built in 1863 just north of the guardhouse. Later it was replaced with several adjoining structures called the Lower Prison.  Built by jailhouse labor, as part of their punishment, the prisoners also constructed additional housing on the island.

As the Civil War continued on, the U.S. Army devoted more resources to Alcatraz, and in 1864, the first 15-inch Rodman cannons were mounted. Additional “bomb proof barracks” were also built. By the time the Civil War ended in 1865, the island contained over one hundred cannons. However, the only time they would be used was during the official mourning salute during San Francisco's honorary funeral procession for President Lincoln.

Continued Next Page

The Citadel was the final defensive position for Fort Alcatraz, photo courtesy the California Military Museum

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