Alcatraz Island later invalidated the sale and paid Frémont nothing. Frémont and his heirs sued for compensation during protracted but unsuccessful legal battles that extended into the 1890s. Following the acquisition of California by the United States as a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) which ended the Mexican–American War, and the onset of the California Gold Rush the following year, the U.S. Army began studying the suitability of Alcatraz Island for the positioning of coastal batteries to protect the approaches to San Francisco Bay. In 1853, under the direction of Zealous B. Tower, the United States Army Corps of
Alcatraz coup accordingly. Consider this layout of the club suit: South wants three tricks from clubs but the opponents have been successful in concealing the location of the Q. South calls for the J from dummy, and East follows suit with the 3. South now perpetrates the Alcatraz Coup by discarding from a different suit, thus committing a revoke. Then: Presumably, the idea behind the name is that any bridge player attempting the "coup" should be locked up in a maximum security facility. According to a 1961 article by Albert Morehead: "The classic hand for the Alcatraz Coup, which was not then