Also known as the "West Garrison"

With concern mounting over threats to the Bay Area from Confederate sympathizers and naval forces, the federal government established Camp Reynolds (also known as the West Garrison when the whole island was Fort McDowell) on Angel Island in 1863. Artillery batteries were built near the camp and at Point Stuart, Point Knox, and Point Blunt. Fears that the confederates might slip into the Bay and attack naval installations at Mare Island and the Benicia Arsenal were never realized.  Click to see photos of Civil War era officers who later served on Angel Island

After the Civil War, Camp Reynolds became an infantry camp, serving as a depot for recruits, and as a staging area for troops serving in campaigns against the Apache, Sioux, Modoc, and other Indian tribes. By 1876, this was a busy camp with over 200 soldiers and a complete village including a church, bakery, blacksmith, shoemaker, laundry, barber, trading store, and photographer.

In 1886, a report critical of Pacific Coast harbor defenses led to development of new gun batteries on the southwest side of the island, facing the Golden Gate. Batteries Ledyard, Wallace, and Drew (the remains of which are visible today) were in operation by 1902, but were decommissioned as obsolete just five years later.

In 1900, the army designated the entire island as Fort McDowell, and referred to various installations with geographic designations. Camp Reynolds thus became West Garrison, and what we know today as Fort McDowell was called East Garrison.  In 1941, after the Immigration Station closed, it was renamed the North Garrison. Today, visitors and staff generally use descriptive rather than geographic names. On these pages, for example, Fort McDowell refers only to the facilities the army would have called East Garrison.

Angel Island has a large collection of wooden military buildings erected from 1863 on.  Most of the buildings are closed both for safety reasons and to slow their deterioration, but two have been restored.

The two-story buildings at the top of the Parade Ground are known as Officer's Quarters #10 and #11. They were built on Yerba Buena Island in the early 1867 or 1868 for the U.S. Army Engineers and were barged to Angel Island in early 1882.  The Bake House was built on its present site in 1863, but after the turn of the century it served as quarters for NCO staff and a school teacher.

Quarters 10 and the Bake House were restored by the efforts of Dr. Bob and Mary Noyes. These buildings are now open to the public for docent-led tours.  

An annual Living History Day/Artillery Battle is presented at Camp Reynolds each year, to re-enact what might have happened if the South had ever made it to the island.  

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