Union soldiers at West Battery, Point San Jose military reservation, (now Fort Mason) overlooking the San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate strait. (photo circa 1865). PARC, GGNRA.
150th Anniversary of the Civil War
The National Park Service is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War (1861 – 1865.) We acknowledge this defining event in our nation’s history and its legacy in continuing to fight for civil rights, or as Abraham Lincoln said in his Gettysburg Address, “that this nation….shall have a new birth of freedom.” To learn more about the National Park Service’s Sesquicentennial Commemoration of the Civil War, please visit The Civil War: 150 Years website.
Expand the tabs below to read more about the history of the Civil War at one, or all of Golden Gate National Recreation Area's respective parksites.
During the Gold Rush, the San Francisco waterfront was congested with ships, wharves, storefronts and boarding houses (photo circa 1853.)Photo courtesy of San Francisco Maritime NHP
California’s Role
Most people know about the great Civil War battles that were fought in the eastern and southern parts of the United States. However, many people are unaware of the significant part that California and Californians played in this epic struggle. California’s involvement in the American Civil War came in the form of strategy, logistics, and politics. The state of California played a valuable financial role as much of the Union government’s funding was supported by gold from California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. The state recruited volunteer soldiers so that regular soldiers could leave the western territories for the battlefields of the East. From California, the U.S Army maintained and built many forts along frontier trails, suppressed Confederate activity and secured the New Mexico Territory against the Confederate forces. Although California did not send organized regiments east, so many California citizens joined the Union Army that the 71st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was known as the California Regiment.
The Issue of Slavery in California
Though slavery is not often associated with California, slavery was a defining issue in the state’s early years under American control. After the Bear Flag Revolt in 1846, the United States took control of California from Mexico and ruled under American military governors. When gold was discovered along the American River in 1848, California was changed forever. As word of great riches in California quickly spread, gold-seekers from around the globe came to San Francisco and the city’s population exploded from 1,000 to a staggering 25,000 in just a few years. The United States had inherited the finest harbor on the Pacific Coast and needed to protect the harbor and its commerce from foreign threat and, with the Civil War, from domestic threat as well. California became a state in 1850 and the military quickly established posts and commenced fortifications at strategic locations, including Fort Point and Alcatraz.
Its population stimulated by the Gold Rush, California was now home to people from the North, often referred to as free-soilers, who were against slavery, and transplanted Southerners who supported slavery and called themselves the Chivs (for ‘chivalry’.) Many Southerners passionately felt that, if necessary, Southern states should be able to leave the Union, to preserve slavery and the larger ideal of states’ rights. The Gold Rush also attracted both free African-American settlers, seeking their own fortunes, as well as slave owners who brought their African-American bondsmen to labor in the gold fields. As new states were added to the Union, Congress tried to achieve a balance by carefully admitting an equal number of slave states and free states. After much heated national debate, California became the 31st state, entering the union as a free state under the Compromise of 1850. However, the state’s new antislavery constitution failed to cover many specifics regarding slavery. Because of these ambiguities, California quickly became a part of the national slavery battle.By 1852 approximately three hundred black slaves worked in the gold fields. These slaves were brought over by southern slaveholders, who did not seem to fear bringing them into California even though it was technically a free state. In the early 1850’s, it was recorded that there were no more than 1,000 African Americans in all of California. However, by 1860, approximately 4,000 blacks lived in the state, most in San Francisco, Sacramento, and in mining towns in the northern half of the state. Some historians argue that California, and San Francisco in particular, should be considered part of the historic Underground Railroad, as this area was part of a large network of roads, stations, routes, and safe houses that helped enslaved people escape to freedom.
Civil War Comes to California
At the time of the war’s outbreak, California was still physically very isolated from the rest of the country. From the East Coast, California could only be reached by either a six-month cross-country trip or a dangerous voyage by ship around Cape Horn. While much of the country learned of the April 12th Confederate firing on Fort Sumter within hours, the news of war reached California 12 days later by Pony Express. After the attack on Fort Sumter, a wave of patriotism inspired many men to join volunteer regiments, most from pro-Union counties in the northern part of the state. Union supporters held large rallies all around the state, especially at Union Square in San Francisco which was named for the pro-Union activity that took place there.With the outbreak of the war, the U.S. government allocated additional military protection to the San Francisco area. As the war prompted an increased need for California gold to back the nation’s currency and control inflation, the shipments of gold out of the Golden Gate increased. In order to protect the great Bay of San Francisco, the military reinforced fortifications at Fort Alcatraz and Fort Point. The military had other reasons to protect the Bay Area. The U.S. Government was concerned about Confederate commerce raiders preying on steamships, sometimes carrying over $1,000,000 in gold to the U.S. Treasury. There was also worry that the British, who had just strengthened their military presence in the Pacific, might attempt to take possession of California while the United States was preoccupied in the east with the Civil War. Even if Britain did not want California for itself, there was the real concern that they might form an alliance with the Confederacy and that San Francisco was vulnerable to attack from the British Navy.
Confederates in California
The U.S. Government was also concerned about Confederates within California causing trouble and threatening the state’s security. At the beginning of the Civil War, many California Democrats, both in the northern and southern parts of the state, supported California’s secession as an independent Pacific Republic. The Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret organization of “Chivs” with many transplanted wealthy Southern members, was particularly powerful in developing plans for California’s secession from the Union. During the war, perhaps twenty percent of California’s population was pro-Confederate. Living mostly in southern California, small groups of pro-Confederates actively tried to rouse anti-Union sentiment, in the hopes of adding gold-rich California to the Confederacy. In order to prevent Confederate privateers (privately-owned vessels granted license to capture enemy shipping) from attacking and robbing ships carrying gold and silver out of the San Francisco Bay, the military Department of the Pacific greatly increased its West Coast troops. The military added 1,700 soldiers in California and 1,900 soldiers in Oregon, equaling nearly a quarter of the United States’ peacetime army.
The End of the War
As the Civil War lingered on and the Union seemed likely to win, the U.S. Army was willing to devote more resources to the Pacific Coast. The end of the bloodshed came in sight when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 9, 1865. Unlike the news of the beginning of the war, which took twelve days to reach California on horseback, the news of its end quickly reached San Francisco via telegraph. The city erupted in great celebration, with citizens cheering in the streets and guns booming from many of the forts around the bay. Less than a week later, on April 15th, another telegraph came bringing less joyous news: this telegraph told the city of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. This time the city descended into chaos. Pro-Union mobs ransacked the offices of a local Confederate newpaper and attacked citizens thought to be pro-Confederate. The military ordered artillerymen from Fort Alcatraz into the city to maintain order, prevent rioting, and punish anyone bold enough to rejoice in the tragedy. Confederate sympathizers throughout California who celebrated Lincoln’s death were arrested and imprisoned on Alcatraz. During the city’s official mourning period, Alcatraz’ batteries were given the honor of sending out a half-hourly cannon shot over the bay as a symbol of the nation’s grief.
Point San Jose
In 1848, the U.S. Government took over California as a result of the Mexican War, and a joint Army and Navy commission was appointed to select points of defense for California. This commission identified the former Mexican battery called Bateria de Yerba Buena located at the sandy hill overlooking San Francisco Bay and Alcatraz Island as an ideal site for fortification. Here the army established Point San Jose Military Reservation, now known as Fort Mason, for its strategic value. On December 31, 1851, when California was finally a state, President Millard Fillmore signed an executive order that also established other military reservations in the Bay Area. The U.S. Army took possession of the 1,450-acre Presidio and the Castillo San Joaquin (now known as Fort Point.)
Civilian Years at Black Point (1852-1861)
While the army legally established the Point San Jose military reservation, they did not maintain any military presence on the land. Known to locals as “Black Point” because of the hill’s dark laurel trees, this appealing location offered stunning views of Alcatraz Island, the Golden Gate, and the Marin Headlands. Because of confusing property title laws and the city’s crushing housing shortage, a few San Francisco citizens began to move onto the unoccupied military land; soon private citizens were illegally ‘squatting’ in the area. Taking advantage of the legal confusion, prominent San Francisco real estate developers Leonidas Haskell and George Eggleton constructed at least five large, private homes at Point San Jose by 1855. Haskell claimed that he never knew the land was army property, and sold the five houses repeatedly during the 1850s. These fine homes with a view attracted the city’s newly emerging middle class and over the next few years, Black Point became a preferred location for San Francisco’s well-educated bankers, merchants and literary figures. This important civilian period in Fort Mason’s history represents a crossroads between local and national history, as a chapter of the national anti-slavery movement was written at Black Point.
John and Jessie Fremont
John Charles Fremont, knicknamed “the Pathfinder,” was known for his exploration of the West. He had led the Bear Flag Rebellion in 1846, fighting on the American side against Mexican forces in the soon-to-be state. Fremont allegedly was the one to name the narrow entrance of the San Francisco Bay the “Golden Gate” after the Golden Horn in Constantinople. John’s wife, Jessie Benton Fremont, was quite influential herself. The daughter of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton, Jessie Benton Fremont was a sophisticated, well read, and opinionated woman and held a deep disdain for slavery.In the late 1850s, California played an important role in the years leading up to the Civil War. Much like the rest of the nation, California’s population was politically divided. In San Francisco, the Democrats divided themselves into two camps: one in favor of slavery and the other against it. The first group, made up largely of Southerners, was known popularly in San Francisco as the “Chivalry,” due to the South’s old-fashioned genteel values. The “free-soilers” were transplanted Northerners who were opposed to the extension of slavery and active supporters of the “Shovelry” faction of the Democratic Party (their popular nickname in San Francisco was the “Shovelry,” since they often appealed to the working class.) Of all the issues that divided those two factions, slavery became the most important.Jessie Benton Fremont used her home, known as "Porter’s Lodge”, as an intellectual salon, where active and bright people could gather. The people who met at her home were openly opposed to the expansion of slavery into the territories newly acquired from Mexico. People who visited “Porter’s Lodge” included politicians, like Edward Baker, future U.S. Senator from Oregon for whom Fort Baker was named, noted writers like Herman Melville, wealthy merchants, and influential public figures such as Reverend Thomas Starr King. Many of these individuals were active in anti-slavery politics.
Senator David C. Broderick
David C. Broderick, son of an Irish stonecutter, was a New Yorker who achieved success in politics. In 1857, he was elected as a Democrat to the United State Senate at a time when the Democratic Party of California was sharply split between the pro-slavery group and the “Free-Soil” advocates. Broderick was staunchly opposed to the expansion of slavery and worked closely with his political friends, including Leonidas Haskell, to support the anti-slavery movement. In 1859, Broderick’s political opponent, California State Supreme Court Chief Justice David S. Terry, a vocal advocate of slavery expansion in California, gave a searing speech attacking Broderick and his antislavery stance. Tempers flared between the two politicians and Terry challenged Broderick to a duel. Tragically, Terry mortally wounded Broderick in the duel. Friends rushed Broderick to Leonidas Haskell’s home at Black Point. Despite the doctor’s best efforts, he died in Haskell’s house three days later, reportedly saying “They killed me because I am opposed to the extension of slavery and a corrupt administration.” The Broderick-Terry duel drew national attention and Senator Broderick’s death turned him into a martyr for the anti-slavery movement. Political opponents accused Terry and his southern sympathizers of assassination. The duel, reflecting the nation’s larger and more violent divisions, pushed the country further towards a civil war.
Reverend Thomas Starr King
A New Yorker by birth, King made a name for himself preaching at the Hollis Street Church in Boston. He emigrated to California in 1859, when he was invited to serve as the pastor for the First Unitarian Church of San Francisco. The Reverend preached against slavery, segregation and the mistreatment of free blacks. Due to his liberality and his amazing oratory skills, King quickly became a highly respected figure amongst both San Francisco’s white anti-slavery cohort and its African-American community. King became close with Jessie Benton Fremont, frequenting her home to convene with other, like-minded anti-slavery activists and political figures. His spellbinding oratory at public rallies helped arouse anti-slavery spirit in San Francisco and gave the name to Union Square.
Leonidas Haskell
Along with Jessie Benton Fremont, Leonidas Haskell was very politically active and well-connected as a “free-soiler.” As one of the real estate developers of the Black Point neighborhood, he helped shape and direct the political leanings of this civilian community. The little neighborhood of fine houses on Black Point became home to a small but influential group of residents who were openly hostile to secession and slavery and as a San Francisco neighborhood, it became a focal point in the growing conflict over slavery in California.
Military Use during the Civil War
The outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 changed Black Point forever. John Fremont returned to military service as commanding general of the Department of the West; his wife Jessie moved with him to St. Louis. The Fremont’s neighbor and longtime friend, Leonidas Haskell, accompanied them to serve as his chief of staff. In 1863, San Francisco hummed with worrisome rumors of Confederate warships lurking in Pacific waters, preying on California gold shipments. In response, Army officials called for construction of a new fortification at Black Point, to supplement the two recently completed fortresses at Alcatraz Island and Fort Point.On October 13, 1863, the military took formal possession of Black Point, reestablishing the area’s original name, Point San Jose. The army constructed two batteries at the northern tip of the point, destroying Fremont’s house in the process. By May of 1864, construction was complete and soon the West Battery mounted six 10-inch Rodman cannons, while the East Battery held six 42-pound rifles. To accommodate the new officers and soldiers, the military constructed a post headquarters, hospital and barracks, clustered around a rectangular main parade ground.
Early Military Planning for Alcatraz
After the U.S. government took control of California from the Republic of Mexico in the late 1840s, it identified Alcatraz Island as a place of great strategic military value. Located in the middle of the bay, the island offered 360-degree military protection. The Army’s Corps of Engineers designed a "Triangle of Defense", planning to install guns on Alcatraz, Fort Point and Lime Point (ultimately never constructed) to guard the entrance of San Francisco Bay. The 1848 discovery of gold in California catapulted the territory to the center of national attention and prompted the need for additional military protection. To learn more about Civil War events and personalities in California and the San Francisco Bay Area, please visit the Civil War at Golden Gate page.
Building Fortress Alcatraz
Originally, the army’s plans for developing the fort at Alcatraz Island was part of the “Third System of U.S. military fortifications” identified as the third generation of American forts. Traditionally, the military plan for constructing such a fort was to select a strategic location, cut the site down to sea level and then construct a multi-tiered masonry fort with thick stone and brick walls. However, the nature of Alcatraz Island’s geology did not lend itself well to this traditional military plan. Because of the island’s natural height and isolation, the site already had great strategic potential. Instead of cutting the rock and soil down to sea level, the Army Corp of Engineers incorporated Alcatraz’ rugged topography into its defense plan.Army construction started on Alcatraz in 1853. Blasting at the rock and laying brick and stone, laborers created steep walls around the island. Behind the walls, the army placed cannon at the north, south, and west sides to enable gunfire at incoming enemy ships. When the work was finished, the army had constructed emplacments for 111 cannons that encircled the island. To the north and south, masonry towers jutting out from the island midway between gun batteries held smaller guns to protect the sides of the island. For more information on the guns of Fort Alcatraz, please visit the Alcatraz fortifications page.Crowning the island near the lighthouse (the first built on the Pacific coast in 1854) was a defensive barracks called the Citadel. The Citadel was the final defense if the island was attacked. Constructed of sturdy brick walls with rifle-slit windows, the two upper stories provided living quarters, and the basement featured kitchens, dining halls, and storage for food, water and ammunition. Soldiers entered the Citadel by crossing a drawbridge over a deep dry moat surrounding the building. The Citadel could hold 100 men during peacetime and double that number under attack. By rationing provisions, troops could withstand a four-month siege. With the army’s state-of-the-art military construction, Alcatraz Island became the most powerful of all Pacific Coast defenses.
Nature seems to have provided a redoubt for this purpose in the shape of Alcatrazes [sic] Island…..situated abreast the entrance directly in the middle of the inner harbor, it covers with its fire the whole of the interior space lying between Angel Island to the North, San Francisco to the South, and the outer batteries to the West.... a vessel passing directly to San Francisco must pass within a mile.- The Board of Engineers for the Pacific Coast, 1852
The Evolution of Alcatraz as a Military & Civilian Prison
Though Alcatraz is now famous for its role as a federal prison, its history as a holding place for criminals began before the Civil War. The army first used the guardhouse’s basement cell room in 1859 to contain soldiers who had committed crimes. Because of the island’s escape-resistant location in the middle of San Francisco Bay, other army posts began to send their hardcore soldier prisoners to Alcatraz for safekeeping. By 1861, the government designated Fort Alcatraz as the official military prison for the entire Department of the Pacific.It was during the Civil War that the military began to house a different kind of prisoner. When President Lincoln suspended the writ of habeus corpus in 1863, the judicial system could arrest individuals and imprison them without trial in a court of law. The Union government in San Francisco now used the Alcatraz guardhouse to imprison private citizens, accused of treason, as well as soldiers. At this time, treason was broadly defined to encompass any pro-Confederate or anti-Union sentiment, from rejoicing in the Union’s loss of a battle, refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Union, or recognizing the Confederate States of America, to plotting or privateering for the Confederate cause. Many local politicians and citizens, whose loyalty to the Union was suspect, were arrested and jailed on Alcatraz to serve time. These prisoners could be detained without a trial and despite a lack of sufficient evidence of their crimes.
Fort Alcatraz’ Military Significance
By 1859, as the country was heading towards a civil war, Fort Alcatraz stood as the only permanent completed military fortification on San Francisco Bay (and west of the Mississippi River.) Unfortunately, the “Triangle of Defense” was not yet operational. Fort Point was still under construction and would not be finished until 1861 and the army’s Lime Point construction had stalled due to land ownership issues. The plans for forts on Angel Island, Yerba Buena Island and Point San Jose were even farther behind and only existed as drawings on engineers’ maps.In contrast, the army continued to work on Alcatraz throughout 1860 and 1861, expanding and improving the island’s existing fortifications. The military also used the island as a training ground for soldiers. New troops continually arrived on the island, underwent training, and departed for other assignments. With many new enlistees, the military personnel on Alcatraz increased to over 350 by the end of April 1861. The army slowly increased the number of men assigned to Alcatraz throughout the Civil War, reaching a high point of 433 men in early 1865. The army shipped most of these soldiers out to the Southwestern frontier; however, some were sent to battlefields in the East.
Protecting San Francisco from Enemies of the Union
From the very beginning of the Civil War, the government considered Fort Alcatraz to be one of the strongest and most formidable military fortifications in the entire United States. As rumors came to light that Southern sympathizers were plotting to separate San Francisco and its wealth from the Union, Fort Alcatraz’s coastal defense position became even more significant. A series of events at Fort Alcatraz illustrated both some admirable aspects of war as well as some chilling ones. During the Civil War, the country’s new division pitted brother against brother, turning former friends and allies into enemies. Fort Alcatraz became a political backdrop, illustrating how war and rumors called certain people’s military allegiance into question.
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
Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston’s role during the Civil War tells a compelling story about duty and loyalty during wartime. Johnston, born in Kentucky and raised in Texas, served in three different armies: the Texas Army, the United States Army and the Confederate States Army. Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States, considered Johnston to be the finest military officer in the United States. By January 1861, while still a member of the Union Army, Johnston was rewarded with the appointment of Commander of the Department of the Pacific in California; one of his many responsibilities included the protection of Fort Alcatraz.Despite Johnston’s great military experience and leadership capabilities, his southern roots and association with Jefferson Davis undermined the public’s faith in his commitment to defend the Golden Gate from potential southern attack. Many San Francisco citizens who questioned his loyalty spread rumors that local confederates had approached him to seek his help in attacking the city.
However, while Col. Johnston served the Union Army, he did faithfully fulfill his duty to calm the threat of war locally and to protect San Francisco. Fearing an attack on Benicia Arsenal, he ordered the transfer of rifles and ammunition to Alcatraz for safekeeping. Johnston also ordered the acceleration of Fort Point’s construction and demanded that they position its first mounted guns to defend against attacks from the city. Col. Johnston directed those under him to maintain calm among San Francisco’s civilian population and provided additional troops to defend their posts against any attempts to seize them.While the Union Army was confident that Col. Johnston would not do anything dishonorable, they feared that he was still too vulnerable to potential Southern influence. In April 1861, Col. Johnston was relieved of his post. After returning to the South, Johnston accepted a commission as general in the Confederate Army and died at the battle of Shiloh as one of the greatest heroes of the Confederacy.
The J.M. Chapman
The first threat to California's security occurred in March, 1863. The Union government learned that a group of Confederate sympathizers planned to arm a schooner, the J.M. Chapman, use it to capture a steamship which would raid commerce in the Pacific, and threaten to blockade the harbor and lay siege to the forts. However, the Confederates' plans were thwarted when their ship captain bragged about their scheme in a tavern. On the night the Chapman was to sail, the U.S. Navy seized the ship, arrested the crew and towed the Chapman to Alcatraz, where an inspection revealed cannons, ammunition, supplies, and fifteen hiding men. One of these men, a prominent San Franciscan, had papers signed by Confederate President Jefferson Davis ensuring him an officer's commission in the Confederate Navy as a reward for this daring plot.Rather than becoming Confederate heroes, the three ringleaders were arrested as traitors and confined in the Alcatraz guardhouse basement during the investigation. After a quick trial and conviction for treason, they were spared ten years imprisonment on Alcatraz by a pardon from President Lincoln. The Unionists in San Francisco were shocked by the incident and feared that other Confederates were plotting in their midst.
H.M.S. Sutlej
In October 1863, an unidentified warship entered San Francisco Bay. Because there was no wind, the flag hung limp and men in rowboats towed the ship. The ship did not head toward the San Francisco docks but instead, made way towards Angel Island and the army arsenal and navy shipyard. The commanding officer at Alcatraz had a duty to ensure that no hostile warship entered the bay.
Captain William A. Winder, Post Commander, ordered the Alcatraz artillery to fire a blank charge as a signal for the ship to stop. The rowboats continued pulling the ship. Winder then ordered his men to fire an empty shell toward the bow of the ship, a challenge to submit to the local authority. The ship halted and responded with gunfire, which Winder confirmed was a 21-gun salute. Through the smoke, the Alcatraz troops could finally see the British flag waving on the H.M.S. Sutlej, flagship of Admiral John Kingcome. Alcatraz responded with a return salute.Soon messages were exchanged rather than gunfire. As Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy's Pacific Squadron, Kingcome wrote that he was displeased at his reception in San Francisco. Captain Winder explained his actions by saying, "The ship's direction was so unusual I deemed it my duty to bring her to and ascertain her character." The U.S. Commander of the Department of the Pacific supported Winder and replied that Kingcome had ignored the established procedures for entering a foreign port during war. Winder later received a letter of gentle reminder to act cautiously. Many San Franciscans applauded Winder's actions knowing that Great Britain favored the Confederacy.
The Bradley and Rulfolson Photography Controversy
Fortunately, eight of the fifty Bradley & Rulfolson photos have been recently found. A descendent of a Civil War soldier station at Alcatraz donated them to the City of Sacramento. (photo circa 1864)
Out of pride for Alcatraz’ grand fortifications, the Fort Alcatraz commander Captain Winder authorized noted commercial photographers Bradley and Rufolson to take photos of the island in the summer of 1864. The photographers were very thorough, capturing fifty different views of the island, including the Citadel, the dock, the soldiers’ barracks and every road and gun battery on the island. In order to offset the photographers’ expenses, prints of the photographs were to be made into portfolios and sold to the public for $200 a set.However, the War Department in Washington, D.C. did not commend Winder for his initiative and pride in his post, but rather questioned Winder's motives because his father was an officer in the Confederate Army. The Secretary of War ordered all the prints and negatives to be confiscated as a threat to national security. Later, Captain Winder humbly requested a transfer to Point San Jose, a small defense post on the mainland, later renamed Fort Mason.
The Winder Family: One of Many Divided Families during the Civil War
Besides dividing the nation, the Civil War sometimes divided families, especially in the border states of Maryland, Missouri and Kentucky where slaveholding was legal but Union sentiment was also strong. The family of Captain William A. Winder was one example, and their commitment to the Confederacy cast the pall of suspicion on the commander of Fort Alcatraz.
One local newspaper stated that while commanding Alcatraz, Captain Winder “was feeding the rebel prisoners held there on the fat of the land and off from silver plates.” This printed exaggeration was a particularly charged assertion because his father, Brigadier General John H. Winder, was vilified in the North as the Confederate officer in charge of prisoner-of-war camps for Union Soldiers, camps notorious because of near-starvation rations and unhealthy conditions.
Two of Captain William Winder’s half-brothers were also captains in staff positions for the Confederate Army, while his second cousin, Brigadier General Charles S. Winder died in combat at the head of the famous Stonewall Brigade, an elite unit once commanded by Stonewall Jackson himself!
Given the number of Confederates in Captain Winder’s family, it was no wonder that criticism mounted in the wake of the Bradley and Rulfolson photography fiasco to the point that that Alcatraz garrison was reinforced by a contingent whose officer-in-charge outranked Winder. Chastened and humbled, Captain Winder sought transfer and the army reassigned him to the command of the Fort Mason post for the remainder of the war. Shortly thereafter, he resigned his commission. Nevertheless, in later years, Winder received testimonials for his loyal service from a number of influential officers, including the Commander of the Department of California, Brigadier General George Wright, who wrote, “I was fully convinced of his loyalty to the Government. At the frequent inspections I made of Alcatraz during his command, I always found everything in the most perfect order and satisfactory condition. His system of alarm signals to prevent surprise, and general preparations to meet any emergency, evinced a thorough knowledge of his duty and responsibility of the most important defense of the harbor and city of San Francisco.” (from a report in an 1894 Congressional Edition)
The End of the War
As the Civil War lingered on and the Union seemed likely to win, the U.S. Army was willing to devote more resources to the Pacific Coast. The end of the bloodshed came in sight when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 9, 1865. Unlike the news of the beginning of the war, which took twelve days to reach California on horseback, the news of its end quickly reached San Francisco via telegraph. The city erupted in great celebration, with citizens cheering in the streets and guns booming from many of the forts around the bay. Less than a week later, on April 15th, another telegraph came bringing less joyous news: this telegraph told the city of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. This time the city descended into chaos. Pro-Union mobs ransacked the offices of a local Confederate newpaper and attacked many citizens thought to be pro-Confederate. The military ordered artillerymen from Fort Alcatraz into the city to maintain order, prevent rioting, and punish anyone was bold enough to rejoice in the tragedy. Confederate sympathizers throughout California who celebrated Lincoln’s death, were arrested and imprisoned on Alcatraz. During the city’s official mourning period, Alcatraz’ batteries were given the honor of sending out a half-hourly cannon shot over the bay as a symbol of the nation’s grief.
Pre-Civil War Era
In 1851, the War Department established a Board of Engineers for the Pacific Coast. The Board recommended casemate fortifications for a pair of works at the Golden Gate, and barbette batteries on Alcatraz Island. The construction of a fort on the southern shore was the highest priority, and a state-of-the-art fortification at Fort Point was perceived as "the key to the entire Pacific Coast [from] a military point of view." 1
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began work on Fort Point in 1853. Plans specified that the lowest tier of artillery be as close as possible to water level so cannonballs could ricochet across the water's surface to hit enemy ships at the waterline. Workers blasted the 90-foot cliff at the construction site, down to 15 feet above sea level. The structure was protected by 7-foot thick walls and had multi-tiered casemated construction typical of Third System forts. While there were more than 30 such forts on the East Coast, Fort point was the only one of its type built on the West Coast.
Although work began in 1853, the completion of Fort Point was delayed because of the cost and complexity of building multi-storied tiers of arched brick casemates, which would also need to withstand the severe storms of the Pacific Ocean. By 1860, the fort had been raised to the barbette (top) tier and could accommodate ninety cannons yet to be installed.
Civil War Era
In 1861, with war looming on the eastern horizon, the Army mounted the first 55 guns at the fort. Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, commander of the Pacific branch of the Army, prepared the defenses of the Bay and ordered the first garrison for Fort Point. Kentucky-born Johnston then resigned his commission to join the Confederate Army (he was later killed at the battle of Shiloh in 1862). Fort Point never had to fire its guns in defense during the Civil War; the war came and went, without the Confederate Army ever launching an assault on the Bay. Although the Fort never came under attack, its mere presence created a deterrent that would have weighed heavily in the minds of those who sought to undermine the Union's grip on the Pacific Coast.
Post-Civil War Era
Severe damage to brick forts on the Atlantic Coast during the war - Fort Sumter in South Carolina and Fort Pulaski in Georgia - challenged the effectiveness of masonry walls against rifled artillery. Troops soon moved out of Fort Point, and the Army never again continuously occupied it. However, in 1870 some of the fort's cannon were moved to East Battery on the bluffs nearby, where they were better protected. The fort nonetheless remained important to the Army. Because the land on which the fort stands was cut down to within 15 feet of the water, a seawall was needed for protection. This 1,500-foot-long wall is an impressive engineering feat. Granite stones were fitted together and the spaces between them sealed with strips of lead. Completed in 1869, the seawall held fast for more than 100 years against the Golden Gate's powerful waves, until it began to give way in the 1980s. The National Park Service rebuilt the wall and placed boulders seaward to deflect the force of the waves.
Design and Construction
Fort Point stands as an example of Third System fortification architecture. The fort had three tiers of casemates (vaulted rooms housing cannon), and a barbette tier on the roof with addition guns and a sod covering to absorb the impact of enemy cannon fire. The Civil War showed the vulnerability of masonry forts, like Fort Point, to rifled cannon. Thus, not long after completion, Fort Point became virtually obsolete. In the 1870s, East Battery, an earthwork fortification just to the south east of Fort Point, was constructed to bolster the defensive capabilities of the now obsolete fort.
Artillery and Hotshot
Fort Point never mounted the 141 cannon that its planners envisioned. By October 1861 there were 69 guns in and around the fort, consisting of 24, 32, and 42-pounders, as well as 8 and 10-inch Columbiads. After the war, the Army installed powerful 10-inch Rodman guns in the lower casemates; these could fire a 128 pound shot more than 2 miles. At its greatest strength, the fort mounted 102 cannon. In addition, the fort had "hotshot" furnaces, which allowed iron cannon balls to heated red hot, loaded into a cannon, and fired at wooden ships to set them ablaze.
Garrison Life
During the Civil War, as many as 500 men from the 3rd U.S. Artillery, the 9th U.S. Infantry, and the 8th California Volunteer Infantry were garrisoned at Fort Point. Stationed several thousand miles from the major theaters of combat, the men spent their days in a routine of drills, artillery practice, inspections, sentry duty, and maintenance chores. Enlisted men bunked 24 to a casemate on the third tier; officers had single or double quarters on the floor below. To supplement coal fuel, soldiers gathered driftwood from the shore to stay warm.
Within one year of the United States’ occupation of the Presidio in 1846, its crumbling buildings were repaired by the Army’s New York Volunteers. Upon the discovery of gold in California in 1849, the sudden growth of San Francisco in size and significance prompted the U.S. government to establish a permanent military reservation on the bay. By executive order of President Fillmore, the United States reserved the Presidio for military use in November 1850. United States flag
During the 1850’s, the Army Corps of Engineers built Fort Point—a four-tiered brick and granite fort designed to hold 126 cannon—at the mouth of the bay. In 1861, the outbreak of the Civil War reemphasized the economic and military significance of California and, one year later, the first major expansion at the Presidio since its acquisition by the United States began. Following the Civil War, Presidio soldiers fought the Modoc Indians in the Lava Beds of northern California and the Apache Indians in the southwest during the Indian Wars of the 1870’s and 1880’s. Also in the 1880’s, a large-scale tree planting and post beautification program was initiated. By the 1890’s, the Presidio had evolved from a modest frontier outpost to a major military installation and a base for American expansion into the Pacific.
Beginning in the 1890’s, U.S. Cavalry stationed at the Presidio patrolled three newly-created National Parks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California—Sequoia, General Grant and Yosemite—before the creation of the National Park Service in 1916. During the 1898 Spanish-American War and the subsequent Philippine-American War, thousands of troops camped on the Presidio while awaiting deployment to the Philippines—including all four African-American "Buffalo Soldier" regiments. Upon their return to the United States, many sick and wounded soldiers were treated in the Army's first permanent general hospital, Presidio (later Letterman) Hospital.
By 1905, twelve reinforced-concrete artillery batteries were built along the San Francisco headlands to supplement bay defenses. Presidio coast artillery units were stationed at Fort Scott, while cavalry and infantry troops were garrisoned on the Main Post.
