Fort Alcatraz

I recently blogged about a unique Civil War event on Alcatraz island.  "Civil War on Alcatraz?  But it was a federal prison in the 1960's."  Ah yes . . . but first it was a Civil War fort.  Yes, I took pictures.  See below.

You may already be familiar with Ft. Point under the Golden Gate Bridge, and the overnight reenactment we recently held there, and the great photos I took. Ft. Point is a huge Civil War fortress with room for many, many guns.  Still, artillery accuracy was abysmal back then and the Union Army didn't want to rely on a single fortress to protect the most important shipping port on the west coast; millions of dollars in treasure (mostly gold) flowed through the Golden Gate every month and it was a target for Confederate invasion.

The solution: add two more forts, one on the north side of the Golden Gate and one on Alcatraz.  Thus, the island became Fort Alcatraz.  After the war, the fort was used as a military prison.  When the army decided they didn't need it any more, the island was transfered to the federal prison system, who knocked down the beautiful old Civil War fort to make room for the federal prison you see today.  (Ft. Point was almost destroyed as well, to make room for the Golden Gate Bridge.)

The good news: there are still a lot of Civil War ruins on Alcatraz, more than most people know.  So the park service set up a living history day and several dozen reenactors gladly spent the day touring the island and educating the public.  We got to see some pretty cool stuff; things that aren't on the public tour.  Here are my favorite shots from the day:

[cpg_imagenormal:172,img_9055.jpg][cpg_imagenormal:172,img_9076.jpg][cpg_imagenormal:172,img_9096.jpg][cpg_imagenormal:172,img_9129.jpg][cpg_imagenormal:172,img_9169.jpg][cpg_imagenormal:172,img_9238.jpg][cpg_imagenormal:172,panorama_4s.jpg][cpg_imagenormal:172,panorama_7.jpg]

See the rest of the gallery here.