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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.
After the
Civil War, Confederate sympathizers
caught celebrating the death of President Lincoln were sent to
Alcatraz
along with other military convicts and various malcontents of society. It was also after the war that thousands of emigrants began to flood to
the west, creating the
Indian Wars
of the late 1800’s. At this time,
Indians
were often utilized by the cavalry as scouts and those convicted of mutiny
or other crimes, were sent to
Alcatraz,
housed side by side with some of the worst murderers, rapists and
criminals in the West. Other
Native
Americans who thwarted the U.S. Government were also sent to the
"Rock. The first
Native
American to be sent to
Alcatraz
was a man named Paiute Tom, who was transferred from Camp McDermit in
Nebraska on June 5, 1873. Two days later, he was shot and killed by
a guard. The reason for the transfer and the killing have been lost
in history. |
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