This map of St. Augustine was drawn in 1764, one year after the British took control of Florida. It was based upon the surveys of Juan de Solis, a longtime resident of St. Augustine. At the extreme right, dominating the little settle-ment, is the Castillo, renamed Fort St. Mark by the British. On the large parade ground in the center stand an unfinished Spanish church and a guardhouse. At the top of the parade ground is the large Governor's House with its formal gardens at the rear. The cluster of build-ings at the far left are the Franciscan Convent and Church. Almost all of the other buildings are the homes and shops of the St. Augus-tinians. Close examination of the map will re-veal that the area around these buildings are filled with gardens, small orchards, and yards, just like any other small village of that time.
To the fanfare
of trumpets, the firing of cannon, and the shouts of 700 colonists,
Pedro Menen-dez de Avile's stepped ashore on September 8, 1565. As the
flags flapped briskly in the breeze, Father Francisco Lopez celebrated
a solemn mass of thanksgiving and Menendez and his company knelt to
kiss the cross and receive the priest's blessing. Menendez then proclaimed
that the land belonged to King Philip II of Spain. St. Augustine was
established.
St. Augustine was not to be just another military outpost. Its existence
and future were intimately tied to the Castillo, yet it developed its
own identity. Menendez had brought artisans and
craftsmen with him, but many had returned to Spain or gone to Habana
when the hoped-for riches did not materialize. Some, however, had stayed.
Slowly the military and civilian popula-tions blended. The soldier became
a settler, and the settler saw his daughters marry the soldiers and
his sons become soldiers.
As the soldiers married, they built homes, and raised families. Within
three or four generations, the military came to be domi-nated by the
natives of St. Augustine. They, their sons and grandsons served in the
army and, as local citizens, contributed to the life of the community.
For the soldier-settler, his service in the army was not just at any
outpost, his service was in defense of his home and family.
A major furor arose in 1755 when, after a re-organization of the military
structure, the com-panies in St. Augustine were alerted that they would
be reassigned to Habana. Since 59 percent of the soldiers were married
men, many feared that the resulting liquidation of property would be
so disruptive that St. Augustine would permanently lose its civilian
character and become just another military station. The order was changed
so that just the unmarried men were sent to Habana. The character of
the city was preserved, and it continues today, a living, vibrant city
reflecting its Spanish heritage.
France in Canada
and could exert tremendous pressure on the ill-prepared Spanish forces
in the Caribbean. The result was that Habana was besieged and captured.
To recover this vital port Spain ceded Florida to Britain at the end
of the war.
In the 21 years that St. Augustine belonged to Britain the city served
as a base of operations against Georgia and South Carolina during the
American Revolution and as a prison for Americans. Lt. Gov. Christopher
Gadsden of South Carolina was confined in the Castillo, and three of
that colony's Signers of the Declara-tion of Independence-Thomas Heyward,
Jr., Arthur Middleton, and Edward Rutledge-were held in the State House.
In 1784, Florida reverted to Spain. The Spaniards, hoping to build up the popula-tion, allowed emigrants from the United States to enter. Spain's involvements in the Napoleonic Wars sapped her wealth and energy, and Spain could only maintain a small garrison at St. Augustine. As it was, the Castillo itself steadily fell into disrepair. By 1821 Spain's weakness and the strength of the United States were both apparent, and Spain, under U.S. pressure, ceded Florida for the last time.
Castillo de San Marcos Grew Out Of Necessity:
In the spring of 1668 in the thick of night, a near tragic event in St. Augustine helped convince officials in Spain that a new and impenetrable fortress must be constructed if their struggling community was to survive.
The deciding even was a near successful pirate attack. According St. Augustine historian J.R. Van Campen in "The Story of St. Augustine,: an English pirate named Robert Searles and his band managed to trick an unsuspecting harbor pilot and land on the beach.
The residents of St. Augustine were expecting a more friendly group of arrivals from Vera Cruz, Mexico, that fated night. They soon discovered not friends, but cutthroats in their midst.
Be the time the govern, residents and some of the garrison soldiers were able to barricaded themselves inside the city's wooden fort, it was too late, The pirates pillaged town by night-killing as they went through its streets-but were unable to capture the fort by the next day. When the invaders finally left St. Augustine, they left 60 of its inhabitants behind-dead or injured.
It was a dangerously close call for the early residents of St. Augustine, but it still provided strong impetus for building a more permanent fort in the settlement.
Another factor that influenced Spain's decision to further fortify St. Augustine was the found of Charleston S.C. by the English. In 1670 an expedition sailed from St. Augustine to strike the first blow against their encroaching neighbors, but a storm at sea prevents their ever reaching the English fort.
In the fall of 1699, Queen Regent Marianna of Spain directed the Viceroy of Mexico to finance the construction of "an impregnable stone fortress" here, writed Van Campen.
Also the plans for what would eventually be the Castillo de San Marcos were laid. All the earlier forts in Florida had been built from wood, but the never survived the coastal humidity. This new structure would be made from coquina, a calcified rock formed from shell found in great abundance on Anastasia Island.
The fort took almost a quarter of a century to complete at the expense of thousands of hours of toil. Stone masons imported from Cube shaped and laid the huge chunks of coquina rock in place. The blocks had been floated by rafter from quarried on the island. By 1696-24 years after its beginning-the Castillo de Marcos was nearly complete.
Not only has the castle of St. Marks survived attacks by pirate, shipboard cannon and fierce storms through the centuries, the Castillo has also survived the great enemy of all---the passage of time. Now, more than two and a half centuries later, the gates of the fort remain open to the inspection of visitors from everywhere.
The National
Park Service will continue firing the reproduction anon at least on
weekends. Park rangers portraying Spanish soldiers in the mid-18th century
will conduct the demonstrations.
Submitted by Jo Ann Scott