The Island got its name from the Spanish explorer, Juan Manuel de Ayala who named it “la Isla de Los Alcatrances” (the Island of Pelicans). In the early 1850s Alcatraz was used as a federal fort and it had its own brigade. The United States Army built a fortress at the top of the island. By the late 1850s the military had converted the island into a military prison. During the Civil war it was used as a facility to house prisoners that were confederate sympathizers, deserters, and murderers. At that time the prisoners helped build the facility known as the United States Disciplinary Barracks. The United State Military used the facilities for 80 years, by the nineteen century the island was transferred to the United State Department of Justice
