Alcatraz History

It Begins... 1700's & 1800's

"Alcatraz was never no good for nobody."

-Frank Wathernam, the last prisoner to leave Alcatraz (March 21, 1963)

• The first visitors to the island, later known as Alcatraz, are believed to have been the Coastal Miwok and the Costanoan Indians, nearly 10,000 years ago. Because the island was barren and barraged by harsh winds, the Indians chose to inhabit nearby Angel Island, which was wooded and had numerous springs. However, Alcatraz was home to a variety of birds and there is evidence that the Indians relied heavily on Alcatraz as a food resource, specifically for the delicacy of bird eggs.
  
  
• August 5, 1775- The Spanish frigate, San Carlos, entered San Francisco Bay. After noticing the predominance of birds on the island, the pilot of the ship, Jose de Canizarer, and the ship's master, Juan Manuel de Ayala named the island, La Isla de los Alcatraces ("island of pelicans").
  
  

 

1775-1838- During Spanish rule in California, Alcatraz remained unused and unoccupied.

July 20, 1838- Mexico passed a law allowing the Governor of California to grant possession of California's coastal islands to upstanding Mexican citizens.

April 20, 1846- A naturalized citizen of Los Angeles, named Julian Workman, petitioned California's Governor Pio Pico for possession of Alcatraz.

June 8, 1846- Workman's petition was granted with the stipulation that he build a lighthouse on the island. Upon being granted control of the island, Workman immediately turned possession of Alcatraz over to his son-in-law, Francis Temple. However, before Temple was able to exact his claim, American Naval forces seized California and its coastal islands, including Alcatraz.

 

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Having noticed Alcatraz's potential as a fortress to protect America's new acquisitions, American Military Governor John Charles Fremont purchased the island from Francis Temple. Fremont expected a sizable compensation from the U.S. government in exchange for the island, but the government invalidated the sale and seized the island without paying Fremont anything. Fremont and his heirs filed countless lawsuits over the matter, but were never victorious.

Although the U.S. Army surveyed Alcatraz numerous times, possession of the island did not occur until 1848, when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War and ceded California to the U.S.

January 24, 1848- James Marshall, the construction boss of a saw mill that was being constructed near the American River at the base of the California Sierra Nevada's, discovered gold.

November 6, 1850- President Millard Fillmore signed an executive order that established Alcatraz as a military fort to protect the new boom city of San Francisco from possible invasion by hostile sea-faring vessels.

1852- Plans for defenses on Alcatraz were approved with 53 guns drafted into the plans. The plans included blasting away chunks of the perimeter of the island to create steep slopes thereby making the fortress difficult to invade on foot.

$500,000 was budgeted to complete the building of defenses on Alcatraz. Shortly after building began in early 1854, however, it was decided that an additional 155 iron seacoast cannons needed to be added to the final construction plans to make the island a top-notch fortress.

June 1, 1854- The lighthouse on the island was completed and became fully operational. This was the first lighthouse to be built on the Pacific coast.

December 30, 1859- Construction on Alcatraz was completed and command of the island was turned over to Captain Joseph Stewart. Company H, Third Artillery troops became the first U.S. military personnel to be stationed on the island.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, it was decided that Alcatraz needed to increase its weaponry in order to be an effective fort. 124 cannons were added to the defense plans.

July 20, 1864- The first of the new cannons were installed on the island. These were also the first of this kind of cannon to be placed on the Pacific coast.

It was also during the Civil War that Alcatraz became a military prison. Its first inmates were two naval officers and two soldiers that would not take an oath of loyalty to the U.S.

During its use as a prison, Alcatraz held many military offenders, as well as several notable civilian inmates.

April 15, 1865- When news of President Lincoln's assassination reached San Francisco, altercations broke out between defenders of Lincoln and those who were celebrating the news. An order was put out that anyone publicly cheering Lincoln's assassination would be arrested. A total of 39 civilians were jailed on Alcatraz under these pretenses. They were released after serving two months on the island.

Things ran smoothly on Alcatraz until the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898 brought about a huge increase in prisoners on the island. It was decided upon that Alcatraz needed major renovations in order to accommodate large numbers of prisoners in secure structures.

In preparation for the planned renovations, the armaments on Alcatraz were slowly removed until, by 1901, there were no fully functional weapons remaining on the island. In all its years as a military post, the weapons on Alcatraz had never been fired in hostility.

Return to Main Alcatraz Page at

Comprehensive History of Alcatraz:

(New!)  Alcatraz 2002 Renovation! 

The 1700's & 1800's - the beginning

1900-1950 - crime and prison escapes...

1950 until today - the world changes...

Special Thanks:  The following information was compiled and licensed for use by:

neysa76@hotmail.com