The new man, Major Juan Márquez Cabrera, formerly governor of Honduras, checked the Castillo work carefully with the construction master. Those long years without an engineer had left them a heritage of mistakes—skimpy foundations, levels miscalculated—that had to be set right. From Havana came a military engineer, Ensign Don Juan de CÃscara. During his brief stay he gave valuable guidance for continuing the work, built the ramp to San Pablo bastion, and laid foundations for the ravelin and its moat wall.
The 1680s were turbulent years. In 1682, the year the ravelin was finished, a dozen or so pirate craft in the Straits of Florida seized numerous Spanish prizes, including the Florida frigate on its way to Veracruz. They raided Mosquito Inlet, only 60 miles south of St. Augustine. In the west, pirates struck Fort San Marcos de Apalache and even went up the San MartÃn (Suwanee) River to rob cattle ranches in Timucua.
Work on the Castillo fell further and further behind schedule. Márquez appealed to the curate for dispensation to work on Sundays and holy days. Because of a history of bad relations with Márquez, the request was refused. Márquez appealed to higher authorities. When approval came, however, it was too late, for invasion came first.
On March 30, 1683, English corsairs landed a short way south of theCentinela de Matanzas, the watchtower, at Matanzas Inlet near the south end of Anastasia Island and about 14 miles from St. Augustine. Under cover of darkness, a few of the raiders came up behind the tower and surprised the sentries.
The march on St. Augustine began the next day. Fortunately a soldier from St. Augustine happened by Matanzas and saw the motley band. Posthaste he warned the governor, who sent Capt. Antonio de Argüelles with 30 musketeers to meet them on Anastasia. A mile from the presidio the pirates walked into the captain’s ambush. After exchanging a few shots—one of which lodged in Argüelles’ leg—the Englishmen beat a hasty retreat down the island to their boats. They sailed to St. Augustine and anchored at the inlet in plain sight of the unfinished Castillo.
Márquez, his soldiers, and the townspeople worked day and night to strengthen the Castillo. Missing parapets and a firing step were improvised from dry stone. Expecting the worst, everybody crowded intothe fort. But the corsairs, looking at the stone fort and nursing their wounds, decided to sail on.
After this scare, the Castillo crew worked with renewed zeal. By mid-1683 they had completed the San AgustÃn and San Pablo bastions. Governor Márquez sent the crown a wooden model to show what had been done.
This was progress made in the face of privation—hunger that made the people demand of Márquez that he buy supplies from a stray Dutch trader from New York. It was unlawful, but the people had to eat. Imagine the joy in the presidio soon afterward when two subsidy payments came at one time! Márquez gave the soldiers two years’ back pay and had enough provisions on hand for 14 months. The 27 guns of the presidio, from the iron 2-pounder to the 40-pounder bronze, all had their gunner’s ladle, rammer, sponge, and wormer, along with plenty of powder and shot. There was also an alarm bell in San Carlos bastion.
By August 1684 Governor Márquez started on the fort rooms and finished them the next spring. Courtyard walls paralleled the four curtains, and foot-square beams spanned the distance between them. Laid over these great beams were 3-inch planks, supporting a slab roof of tabby masonry. On the north were the powder magazine and two big storerooms. Quarters were along the west curtain, guardroom and chapel on the south, and rooms on the east included a latrine and prison. Altogether there were more than 20 rooms.
The only major work yet to do was beyond the walls. The surrounding moat, 40 feet wide, needed to be deepened, for only part of the moat wall was up to its full 8-foot depth. In fact, of the outworks only the ravelin was finished.
With the fortification this far along, Governor Márquez could give more attention to other business, such as Lord Cardross’ Scottish colony at Port Royal, South Carolina. This was, in the Spanish view, a new and obnoxious settlement that encouraged heathen Indians to raid mission Indians. Furthermore, it was in land recognized as Spanish even by the English monarch.
So in September 1686, Márquez sent Captain Alejandro Tomás de Léon, with orders to destroy the colony, which he did. He then sacked and burned Governor Joseph Morton’s plantation on Edisto Island.
This cannon tube is typical of most 18th-century guns and bears the cipher of Carlos III, showing it to be Spanish.
This cannon tube is typical of most 18th-century guns and bears the cipher of Carlos III, showing it to be Spanish.
This bird’s-eye view of Castillo de San Marcos shows how it is laid out and why. The fort was located at the north end of Saint Augustine and on the water for defensive reasons. The moat protected it on four sides, and the Matanzas River lent additional protection as well. The only entrance was at the point closest to the town, so the inhabitants could quickly go to the fort if danger threatened. The fort was designed, too, so that every wall could be seen from some vantage point inside the Castillo. No attacking force could sneak up to the very walls without the defenders seeing them. The original Castillo was simply the exterior walls. Parallel to them were the inner, or courtyard, walls, built also of stone. Beams spanned the space between exterior and inner walls and held up platforms upon which guns sat aimed at the surrounding countryside or out over the water. Such a structure offered scant bombproof defense against incoming projectiles. And the wooden beams were subject to rot in the humid, subtropical air.BastionsEach corner of the fort is protected by a diamond-shaped bastion. From the bastion the adjacent walls could be protected from an attacking force, and in conjunction with the neighboring bastions a deadly crossfire could be turned on any force that got so close.Guard RoomsSt. Augustine was a garrison town and no one lived inside the Castillo. When soldiers were on guard duty—usually a period of 24 hours—they slept and prepared their meals in these rooms.Storage RoomsMost of the rooms around the central courtyard were used for storage. They were stockpiled with gunpowder, ammunition, weapons, lumber, tools, and food, such as beans, rice, flour, and corn, that could be used in time of siege.Work began on stone vaults in 1738 to solve these problems. First, carpenters built wooden forms that supported the stone until all pieces of the arch were in place. As the form was removed, other workers began dumping sand, rubble, earth—anything to build up the level—into the spaces above the arches. Over this a cement-like mixture of sand and coquina was placed and tamped down and built up in stages until the desired height was reached. The result was a wide gun platform on top that would support the heaviest guns and provide bombproof spaces beneath.
This bird’s-eye view of Castillo de San Marcos shows how it is laid out and why. The fort was located at the north end of Saint Augustine and on the water for defensive reasons. The moat protected it on four sides, and the Matanzas River lent additional protection as well. The only entrance was at the point closest to the town, so the inhabitants could quickly go to the fort if danger threatened. The fort was designed, too, so that every wall could be seen from some vantage point inside the Castillo. No attacking force could sneak up to the very walls without the defenders seeing them. The original Castillo was simply the exterior walls. Parallel to them were the inner, or courtyard, walls, built also of stone. Beams spanned the space between exterior and inner walls and held up platforms upon which guns sat aimed at the surrounding countryside or out over the water. Such a structure offered scant bombproof defense against incoming projectiles. And the wooden beams were subject to rot in the humid, subtropical air.BastionsEach corner of the fort is protected by a diamond-shaped bastion. From the bastion the adjacent walls could be protected from an attacking force, and in conjunction with the neighboring bastions a deadly crossfire could be turned on any force that got so close.Guard RoomsSt. Augustine was a garrison town and no one lived inside the Castillo. When soldiers were on guard duty—usually a period of 24 hours—they slept and prepared their meals in these rooms.Storage RoomsMost of the rooms around the central courtyard were used for storage. They were stockpiled with gunpowder, ammunition, weapons, lumber, tools, and food, such as beans, rice, flour, and corn, that could be used in time of siege.
This bird’s-eye view of Castillo de San Marcos shows how it is laid out and why. The fort was located at the north end of Saint Augustine and on the water for defensive reasons. The moat protected it on four sides, and the Matanzas River lent additional protection as well. The only entrance was at the point closest to the town, so the inhabitants could quickly go to the fort if danger threatened. The fort was designed, too, so that every wall could be seen from some vantage point inside the Castillo. No attacking force could sneak up to the very walls without the defenders seeing them. The original Castillo was simply the exterior walls. Parallel to them were the inner, or courtyard, walls, built also of stone. Beams spanned the space between exterior and inner walls and held up platforms upon which guns sat aimed at the surrounding countryside or out over the water. Such a structure offered scant bombproof defense against incoming projectiles. And the wooden beams were subject to rot in the humid, subtropical air.
Bastions
Each corner of the fort is protected by a diamond-shaped bastion. From the bastion the adjacent walls could be protected from an attacking force, and in conjunction with the neighboring bastions a deadly crossfire could be turned on any force that got so close.
Guard Rooms
St. Augustine was a garrison town and no one lived inside the Castillo. When soldiers were on guard duty—usually a period of 24 hours—they slept and prepared their meals in these rooms.
Storage Rooms
Most of the rooms around the central courtyard were used for storage. They were stockpiled with gunpowder, ammunition, weapons, lumber, tools, and food, such as beans, rice, flour, and corn, that could be used in time of siege.
Work began on stone vaults in 1738 to solve these problems. First, carpenters built wooden forms that supported the stone until all pieces of the arch were in place. As the form was removed, other workers began dumping sand, rubble, earth—anything to build up the level—into the spaces above the arches. Over this a cement-like mixture of sand and coquina was placed and tamped down and built up in stages until the desired height was reached. The result was a wide gun platform on top that would support the heaviest guns and provide bombproof spaces beneath.
Work began on stone vaults in 1738 to solve these problems. First, carpenters built wooden forms that supported the stone until all pieces of the arch were in place. As the form was removed, other workers began dumping sand, rubble, earth—anything to build up the level—into the spaces above the arches. Over this a cement-like mixture of sand and coquina was placed and tamped down and built up in stages until the desired height was reached. The result was a wide gun platform on top that would support the heaviest guns and provide bombproof spaces beneath.
Next they set course for Charleston but again, as had happened in 1670, a storm blew them away from the hated English colony. Leon’s vessel, theRosario, was lost, and he along with it. Another ship was driven aground, and the last of the little armada limped back to St. Augustine.
Actually the real contest for the southeast was in the backcountry where English traders operated. Governor Márquez sent soldiers and missionaries from St. Augustine to the Apalachecola nation in western Georgia. For the Spaniards, however, it was a losing fight—an exciting, exasperating struggle of diplomacy and intrigue, trade and cupidity, war and religion, slavery and death.
Captain of cuirassiers Diego de Quiroga y Losada assumed the governorship on August 21, 1687, after Márquez fled to Cuba in April. That same day he stopped work on the Castillo because there was no way to feed the workers. These troubles and the certainty of reprisals from the Carolinians sent Capt. Juan de Ayala Escobar directly to Spain for help. He came back with 80 soldiers, the money for maintaining them, and even a Negro slave to help in the fields. The black man, one of a dozen Ayala had hoped to deliver, was a much-needed addition to the colony, and Captain Ayala was welcomed back to St. Augustine with rejoicing “for his good diligence.â€
Soon there was more black labor for both fields and fortifications. From the Carolina plantations, an occasional slave would slip away and move southward along the waterways. In 1687 a small boat loaded with nine runaways made its way to St. Augustine. The men found work to do and the governor took the two women into his household as servants. It was a fairly happy arrangement: the slaves worked well and soon asked for Catholic baptism.
A few months later, William Dunlop came from Charleston in search of them. Governor Quiroga, reluctant to surrender converted slaves, offered to buy them for the Spanish crown. Dunlop agreed to the sale, even though the governor was as usual short of cash and had given him a promissory note. To seal the bargain, Dunlop gave one of the slaves, a baby girl, her freedom. Later the crown liberated the others.
This incident resulted in a knotty problem. First,commerce with Carolina, as an English colony, was illegal. Secondly, the crown could not buy freedom for every runaway that came to Florida, as more and more Carolina blacks left their English masters, seeking refuge. The slave issue made any hope of amicable relations between the Spanish and English colonists impossible. Eventually the Spaniards decreed freedom for all Carolina slaves coming to Florida, and the governor established a fortified village—Gracia Real de Mose—for them hardly more than a cannon shot from the Castillo.
Construction work on the Castillo resumed in the spring of 1688, after a shipment of corn came from Apalache. In Havana Governor Quiroga bought for 137 pesos a stone bearing the royal arms to be set into the wall over the gate. At this time, too, the little town entered its “stone age,†for as surplus materials from the crown quarries became available, masonry buildings gradually took the place of the board-and-thatch housing that had been traditional here since the founding.
Until the outworks could be finished, the Castillo was vulnerable to siege guns and scaling ladders. Nevertheless it was impossible to push the heavy work of quarrying, lumbering, and hauling at this crucial time. There were too many other pressures. Belatedly trying to counteract English gains and strengthen their own ties with the Indians, the Spaniards built a fort in the Apalachecola country. Unfortunately the soldiers had to be pulled back to St. Augustine when Spain declared war on France in 1689.
This time Spain and England were allies. Yet Governor Quiroga wondered at the presence of English vessels off both northern and southern coasts. As a bit of insurance he wrote a letter telling of a strength far beyond what he had, in the hope that if an English ship would capture the letter they would not know of St. Augustine’s weakness. For again the supply situation was critical, and swarms of French corsairs infested the waters between Florida and Havana. Two provision vessels were lost in the Keys and a third fell into French hands. Until food eventually came in from Havana and Campeche, the soldiers had to live on handouts from the townspeople.
In the royal arms of Spain, the lions stand for the province of León and the castles for the province of Castile. The shield is surrounded by the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece, a knightly order founded in 1430, of which the Spanish monarch was grand master. The story of the Golden Fleece recalls the courageous exploits in the ancient Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts.
In the royal arms of Spain, the lions stand for the province of León and the castles for the province of Castile. The shield is surrounded by the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece, a knightly order founded in 1430, of which the Spanish monarch was grand master. The story of the Golden Fleece recalls the courageous exploits in the ancient Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts.
The inner workings of the Castillo drawbridge.Pulling up the drawbridge was like locking the door. Once it was pulled up flush against the walls and the portcullis—the heavy grating made of solid yellow pine—rolled shut, no one could get into the fort. To raise the bridge, trapdoors were removed so that the counterweights could descend into the pit. A windlass also lay beneath this trapdoor. Soldiers inserted bars into holes bored into the windlass and rotated it, causing the lifting drums to revolve. The chains, attached to the far end of the bridge, pulled the bridge up as the chains turned on the lifting drums. The counterweights helped neutralize the weight of the bridge so that three soldiers were able to lift its great weight—approximately 1,900 pounds. When the bridge was in the upright position, the soldiers then rolled the portcullis shut behind them, and secured it. This was done every night or in time of danger.
The inner workings of the Castillo drawbridge.Pulling up the drawbridge was like locking the door. Once it was pulled up flush against the walls and the portcullis—the heavy grating made of solid yellow pine—rolled shut, no one could get into the fort. To raise the bridge, trapdoors were removed so that the counterweights could descend into the pit. A windlass also lay beneath this trapdoor. Soldiers inserted bars into holes bored into the windlass and rotated it, causing the lifting drums to revolve. The chains, attached to the far end of the bridge, pulled the bridge up as the chains turned on the lifting drums. The counterweights helped neutralize the weight of the bridge so that three soldiers were able to lift its great weight—approximately 1,900 pounds. When the bridge was in the upright position, the soldiers then rolled the portcullis shut behind them, and secured it. This was done every night or in time of danger.
The inner workings of the Castillo drawbridge.
Pulling up the drawbridge was like locking the door. Once it was pulled up flush against the walls and the portcullis—the heavy grating made of solid yellow pine—rolled shut, no one could get into the fort. To raise the bridge, trapdoors were removed so that the counterweights could descend into the pit. A windlass also lay beneath this trapdoor. Soldiers inserted bars into holes bored into the windlass and rotated it, causing the lifting drums to revolve. The chains, attached to the far end of the bridge, pulled the bridge up as the chains turned on the lifting drums. The counterweights helped neutralize the weight of the bridge so that three soldiers were able to lift its great weight—approximately 1,900 pounds. When the bridge was in the upright position, the soldiers then rolled the portcullis shut behind them, and secured it. This was done every night or in time of danger.
To lessen the chances of famine in the future, Florida officials resolved to plant great fields of corn nearby. And where was better than the broad clearings around the fort? Acres of waving corn soon covered the land almost up to the moat. When the crown heard of these plantings, back to Florida came a royal order banning corn fields within a musket shot of the Castillo. A whole army could hide in the tall corn without being seen by the sentries!
The Castillo drawbridge.
The Castillo drawbridge.
A new governor, Don Laureano de Torres y Ayala, arrived in 1693. At the outset he had to deal with hostilities between St. Augustine and Charleston—hostilities that mocked the Spanish-English alliance in Europe.
More importantly, however, to Governor Torres belongs the credit for completing Castillo de San Marcos. Torres saw the last stones go into place for the water battery—bright yellow coquina that was in contrast to weathered masonry almost a quarter of a century old. In August 1695 the workmen finally moved out of the Castillo to another job: a seawall that would keep storm tides out of the city.
The pile of stone on which Cendoya had planned to spend some 70,000 pesos and which Hita had estimated would cost a good 80,000 if built elsewhere, ended up costing at least 138,375 pesos, a tremendous sum impossible to translate into today’s money. But more than the money, it was the blood, sweat, and hardship of the Florida soldier that paid the cost. For the funds came out of money never paid. Let the Castillo be his monument!
And what did completion of this citadel mean? Only a year later, soldiers gaunt with hunger slipped into the church and left an unsigned warning for the governor: If the enemy came, they intended to surrender, for they were starving.
Weapons of the 17th and 18th centuries may seem crude and primitive to a late-20th-century observer, but they could rain death and destruction on any foe. See the feature on Ordnance, pages44-45, for more details.
Weapons of the 17th and 18th centuries may seem crude and primitive to a late-20th-century observer, but they could rain death and destruction on any foe. See the feature on Ordnance, pages44-45, for more details.
The test of the Castillo’s strength was not long in coming. Relations with France had become peaceful, but incursions by the English-led Indians kept the backcountry inflamed. As tensions increased, Gov. José de Zúñiga y Cerda looked at the St. Augustine defenses with an experienced eye. Zúñiga knew, after a military career spanning 28 years, that strong walls were not enough. The Castillo’s guns were ancient and obsolete—many of them unserviceable. The powder from México so fouled the gun barrels that after “four shots, the Ball would not go in the Cannon.†Arquebuses, muskets, powder, and shot were in short supply.
Once again Captain Ayala sailed directly to Spain to ask for aid. It was a race against time, for the War of the Spanish Succession with France and Spain allied against England had broken out. Gov. James Moore of Carolina lost no time moving against St. Augustine in 1702. If he could capture the Castillo, he would clap an English lock on the Straits of Florida and forestall a possible Spanish-French attack on Charleston.
On the way south, Moore’s forces destroyed the Franciscan missions in the Guale country. At St. Augustine they avoided the Castillo and occupied the town, whose inhabitants had fled to the fort. South and west of its walls, where the town approached the fort, the Spaniards burned many structures that could have hidden the enemy advance.
Moore’s 500 Englishmen and 300 Indians vastly outnumbered the 230 soldiers and 180 Indians and Negroes in the Castillo’s garrison, but Moore was ill-equipped to besiege the Castillo. He settled down to await the arrival of more artillery from Jamaica, and thus matters stood when four Spanish men-of-war arrived and blocked the harbor entrance, bottling up Moore’s fleet of eight small vessels. Moore burned his ships, left most of his supplies, and retreated overland to the St. Johns River. He left St.Augustine in ashes, but the Castillo and its people survived.
The ease with which the English had taken and held the city for almost two months made it clear that more defenses were needed. Moreover, English and Indian obliteration of the missions in Apalache, Timucua, and Guale had reduced Spanish control to the tiny area directly under the Castillo guns.
In the next two decades strong earthworks and palisades, buttressed at strategic points with redoubts, made St. Augustine a walled town, secure as long as there were enough soldiers to man the walls. But in those dark days who could be sure of tomorrow? In 1712 cameLa Gran Hambre—the Great Hunger—when starving people even ate the dogs and cats.
At last the war ended in 1714. The threat to St. Augustine lessened, but it was an uneasy kind of peace with many “incidents.†In 1728 Col. William Palmer of Carolina marched against the presidio. The grim walls of the fort, the readiness of the heavy guns, and the needle-sharp points of the yucca plants lining the palisades were a powerful deterrent. Palmer “refrained†from taking the town. For their part, the Spaniards fired their guns, but made no sorties.
Palmer’s bold foray to the very gates of St. Augustine foreshadowed a new move southward by the English, beginning with the settlement of Savannah in 1732. With his eye on Florida, James Oglethorpe landed at St. Simons Island in 1736, built Fort Frederica, and nurtured it into a strong military post. From Frederica he pushed his Georgia boundary southward all the way to the St. Johns River—a scant 35 miles from St Augustine.
Mortars have long held an important place in the family of field artillery because of their ability to throw a projectile over a barrier. The Spaniards were among the earliest to use mortars whose trajectory could be varied, thereby making the mortars even more effective.
Mortars have long held an important place in the family of field artillery because of their ability to throw a projectile over a barrier. The Spaniards were among the earliest to use mortars whose trajectory could be varied, thereby making the mortars even more effective.
Meanwhile, Castillo de San Marcos began to show signs of being 50 years old. The capable engineer and frontier diplomat Antonio de Arredondo came from Havana to inspect Florida’s defenses and make recommendations. Backed by Arredondo’s expertise, Gov. Manuel de Montiano wrote a frank letter to the governor of Cuba, who was now responsible for Florida’s security: “Your Excellency must know that this castle, the only defense here, has no bombproofs for the protection of the garrison, that the counterscarp is too low, that there is no covered way, that the curtains are without demilunes, that there are no other exterior works to give them time for a long defense; ... we are as bare outside as we are without life inside, for there are no guns that could last 24 hours and if there were, we have no artillery-men to serve them.â€
The Treaty of Madrid, 1670, aimed at stopping the Spanish-English contest along the South Atlantic coast by confirming Spanish claims as far north as 32°30′. The English agreed to this but within a few years continued their push southward. Savannah, settled in 1733 was well within Spanish territory.Selected attacksNationalityCharleston 1670, 1706Spanish″, 1706FrenchEdisto Island, 1706SpanishPort Royal, 1686SpanishSanta Catalina Island, 1680EnglishFort Frederica, 1742SpanishSt. Simons Island, 1742SpanishSanta Maria Island, 1683EnglishSan Juan de Puerto, 1683EnglishFort San Diego, 1740EnglishSt. Augustine, 1683, 1702, 1728, 1740EnglishMatanzas Inlet, 1683, 1740, 1741, 1742, 1743EnglishLittle Matanzas Inlet, 1686FrenchMosquito Inlet, 1682FrenchSanta Fe, 1702EnglishSanta Catalina de Afuica, 1685EnglishSan Juan de Guacara, 1693EnglishAyubale, 1704EnglishSan Pedro de Patale, 1704EnglishApalache Fort, 1677, 1682FrenchSan Carlos, 1693English
The Treaty of Madrid, 1670, aimed at stopping the Spanish-English contest along the South Atlantic coast by confirming Spanish claims as far north as 32°30′. The English agreed to this but within a few years continued their push southward. Savannah, settled in 1733 was well within Spanish territory.
The Treaty of Madrid, 1670, aimed at stopping the Spanish-English contest along the South Atlantic coast by confirming Spanish claims as far north as 32°30′. The English agreed to this but within a few years continued their push southward. Savannah, settled in 1733 was well within Spanish territory.
Defending the FortThe most serious attack on the Castillo took place when James Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia, arrived off Saint Augustine on June 13, 1740, with 7 warships and 1,400 troops. Oglethorpe’s arrival was not entirely unexpected. The English and Spaniards were rivals in Europe and continued their contest in the New World, with the Spaniards becoming increasingly restive as the English penetrated into the lands south of Charleston. By the time Oglethorpe arrived in Georgia, only about 150 miles north of the Castillo and on land the Spaniards considered their own, tensions were high. Oglethorpe wanted to guarantee that his new settlements would be secure from Spanish attack, so he decided to capture and occupy Spain’s base in Florida—before they decided to attack him. Oglethorpe had his work cut out for him, because the Castillo was superbly sited. Creeks and marshes protected it to the west and south. On the east the bay stretched to a shallow bar across the harbor entrance that kept heavy warships out of range. The only land approach was from the north. An English spy for Oglethorpe reported that the fort was well supplied and staffed. There were “22 pieces of Cannon well mounted on the Bastions from 6 pound’rs to 36.... There is a guard of a Lieutenant, a Serjeant & 2 Corporals & 30 Soldiers here who is relieved Every Day.... There is a Mote Round it of 30 foot wide & a draw Bridge of about 15 foot long, they draw every Night & Lett it down in the Morning.†With this kind of information Oglethorpe knew what he was up against and came prepared. Fortunately for the defenders, the attackers were divided. Some had landed on Vilano Point and on Anastasia Island, opposite the Castillo and were setting up batteries there. Some troops were on the mainland where they had seized vacant Fort Mose, a free black settlement just north of the Castillo. Though the total British force outnumbered the defenders, Gov. Manuel de Montiano reasoned that his forces could attack one segment before it could be reinforced by the other two. This is exactly what the Spaniards did, overwhelming the British force at Fort Mose. Undecided about further land attack, the British then began shelling the Castillo and the town from their siege batteries in a bombardment that lasted 27 days. But the British mortars and siege guns were too far away to be totally effective and the damage they did was slight. Some of the newer stonework was damaged. Only two Spanish soldiers were killed during the attack and another had a leg shot away. Among the British there was no agreement regarding another course of action. Oglethorpe himself was down with a fever, and the troops had become unnecessarily tired by purposeless maneuvering. With the approach of the hurricane season, the naval commander refused to continue the blockade, and British forces left. The Castillo and its defenders had done what they were meant to do.
The most serious attack on the Castillo took place when James Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia, arrived off Saint Augustine on June 13, 1740, with 7 warships and 1,400 troops. Oglethorpe’s arrival was not entirely unexpected. The English and Spaniards were rivals in Europe and continued their contest in the New World, with the Spaniards becoming increasingly restive as the English penetrated into the lands south of Charleston. By the time Oglethorpe arrived in Georgia, only about 150 miles north of the Castillo and on land the Spaniards considered their own, tensions were high. Oglethorpe wanted to guarantee that his new settlements would be secure from Spanish attack, so he decided to capture and occupy Spain’s base in Florida—before they decided to attack him. Oglethorpe had his work cut out for him, because the Castillo was superbly sited. Creeks and marshes protected it to the west and south. On the east the bay stretched to a shallow bar across the harbor entrance that kept heavy warships out of range. The only land approach was from the north. An English spy for Oglethorpe reported that the fort was well supplied and staffed. There were “22 pieces of Cannon well mounted on the Bastions from 6 pound’rs to 36.... There is a guard of a Lieutenant, a Serjeant & 2 Corporals & 30 Soldiers here who is relieved Every Day.... There is a Mote Round it of 30 foot wide & a draw Bridge of about 15 foot long, they draw every Night & Lett it down in the Morning.†With this kind of information Oglethorpe knew what he was up against and came prepared. Fortunately for the defenders, the attackers were divided. Some had landed on Vilano Point and on Anastasia Island, opposite the Castillo and were setting up batteries there. Some troops were on the mainland where they had seized vacant Fort Mose, a free black settlement just north of the Castillo. Though the total British force outnumbered the defenders, Gov. Manuel de Montiano reasoned that his forces could attack one segment before it could be reinforced by the other two. This is exactly what the Spaniards did, overwhelming the British force at Fort Mose. Undecided about further land attack, the British then began shelling the Castillo and the town from their siege batteries in a bombardment that lasted 27 days. But the British mortars and siege guns were too far away to be totally effective and the damage they did was slight. Some of the newer stonework was damaged. Only two Spanish soldiers were killed during the attack and another had a leg shot away. Among the British there was no agreement regarding another course of action. Oglethorpe himself was down with a fever, and the troops had become unnecessarily tired by purposeless maneuvering. With the approach of the hurricane season, the naval commander refused to continue the blockade, and British forces left. The Castillo and its defenders had done what they were meant to do.
The most serious attack on the Castillo took place when James Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia, arrived off Saint Augustine on June 13, 1740, with 7 warships and 1,400 troops. Oglethorpe’s arrival was not entirely unexpected. The English and Spaniards were rivals in Europe and continued their contest in the New World, with the Spaniards becoming increasingly restive as the English penetrated into the lands south of Charleston. By the time Oglethorpe arrived in Georgia, only about 150 miles north of the Castillo and on land the Spaniards considered their own, tensions were high. Oglethorpe wanted to guarantee that his new settlements would be secure from Spanish attack, so he decided to capture and occupy Spain’s base in Florida—before they decided to attack him. Oglethorpe had his work cut out for him, because the Castillo was superbly sited. Creeks and marshes protected it to the west and south. On the east the bay stretched to a shallow bar across the harbor entrance that kept heavy warships out of range. The only land approach was from the north. An English spy for Oglethorpe reported that the fort was well supplied and staffed. There were “22 pieces of Cannon well mounted on the Bastions from 6 pound’rs to 36.... There is a guard of a Lieutenant, a Serjeant & 2 Corporals & 30 Soldiers here who is relieved Every Day.... There is a Mote Round it of 30 foot wide & a draw Bridge of about 15 foot long, they draw every Night & Lett it down in the Morning.†With this kind of information Oglethorpe knew what he was up against and came prepared. Fortunately for the defenders, the attackers were divided. Some had landed on Vilano Point and on Anastasia Island, opposite the Castillo and were setting up batteries there. Some troops were on the mainland where they had seized vacant Fort Mose, a free black settlement just north of the Castillo. Though the total British force outnumbered the defenders, Gov. Manuel de Montiano reasoned that his forces could attack one segment before it could be reinforced by the other two. This is exactly what the Spaniards did, overwhelming the British force at Fort Mose. Undecided about further land attack, the British then began shelling the Castillo and the town from their siege batteries in a bombardment that lasted 27 days. But the British mortars and siege guns were too far away to be totally effective and the damage they did was slight. Some of the newer stonework was damaged. Only two Spanish soldiers were killed during the attack and another had a leg shot away. Among the British there was no agreement regarding another course of action. Oglethorpe himself was down with a fever, and the troops had become unnecessarily tired by purposeless maneuvering. With the approach of the hurricane season, the naval commander refused to continue the blockade, and British forces left. The Castillo and its defenders had done what they were meant to do.
The construction of the bombproof vaults in 1738-40 and 1751-56 provided a substantial room for the guard. Bedding was laid on the raised platform at left.
The construction of the bombproof vaults in 1738-40 and 1751-56 provided a substantial room for the guard. Bedding was laid on the raised platform at left.
Cuba’s governor was a resourceful administrator eager to meet his responsibilities. He sent guns, soldiers, artisans, convicts, provisions, and money. The walls would be raised five feet and masonry vaults, to withstand English bombs, would replace the rotting beams of old rooms in the Castillo. Stronger outworks would be built, too. To supervise the project, Engineer Pedro Ruiz de Olano came from Venezuela. The work began in April 1738 rather inauspiciously. The master of construction, one Cantillo, was a syphilitic too sick to earn his 16-realdaily wage. Much of his work fell to his assistant, a 12-realmaster mason. All six stonecutters were Negroes. One was an invalid, and none of them as yet had much skill with coquina. For moving stone, there was but one oxcart. The labor gang—52 convicts—was too small. Nevertheless, quarry and kiln hummed with activity, and in the Castillo the crash of demolition echoed as the convicts pulled down old structures and began trenching for the new bombproofs. They started on the east, because this side faced the inlet where enemy action was likely.
As usual, misfortunes beset the work. Cantillo’s illness worsened and Blas de Ortega came from Havana to replace him. Eight convicts working at the limekiln deserted. Engineer Ruiz moved a crew of carpenters, sawyers, and axemen from work on the Castillo to rebuild a blockhouse where the trail to Apalache crossed the St. Johns River.
The oxcart driver broke his arm. Quarrying and stonecutting dragged. The old quarry played out. Luckily, a new one was found and opened, even though farther away. And Havana sent two more carts and more stonecutters and convicts.
It was well into October before the carpenters began setting the forms for the vaults. The masons followed close on their heels and finished the first of the massive, round-arched bombproofs before the year ended. Just a year later all eight vaults, side by side along the east curtain, were done. Each one spanned a 17- by 34-foot area, and had its own door to the courtyard. Windows above and beside the door let in light and air.
Forts are often described with words like impregnable, unassailable, grim, invulnerable, and redoubtable. These descriptions often came about because of their armaments. A strategically positioned fort with a full complement of weaponry would be a problem for any invader, because the fortress, unlike naval ships, provided a stable platform upon which guns could be mounted and trained on the enemy. Anyone approaching within approximately 500 yards would be in great danger, even though the artillery in those times was not always accurate and aim was extremely difficult.Tools for GunsThe tools used to operate the ordnance had a variety of functions. The wet sponge swabbed out the cannon to make sure all sparks were extinguished. The ladle dumped the exact amount of powder needed into the chamber. The scraper removed any powder residue. The worm removed unfired bits of cartridge and wadding. The point was to make sure the cannon was clean before it was loaded and fired.1. Sponge2. Powder ladle3. Scraper4. Worm5. 24-pounder cannon6. 16-pounder cannon7. 12-pounder cannon8. Grape shot, side view9. Tongs for handling hot shot10. Garrison carriage, top view11. Garrison carriage, side viewThese illustrations come from Tomás de Morla’sA Treatise on ArtilleryBasically all artillery falls into two categories: mortars and guns. Mortars were designed to fire the largest and heaviest projectiles on a curved trajectory. They could shoot over obstacles or fortifications, landing on, and perhaps piercing, the deck of a ship, or hitting a pile of powder kegs or other supplies behind fortified walls, or just wreaking havoc and demoralizing the people. Guns fired their projectiles in a flat trajectory, and their effectiveness in turn depended upon the weight of the shot: the greater the weight of the shot, the greater the muzzle velocity—the speed at which the shot exited the gun—and the farther the shot would go and the deadlier it would be.The first artillery pieces were made of forged iron. The greatest concern was in producing a weapon that could containthe explosive force of the gunpowder, hurl the projectile at the enemy, and not blow up in the faces of the gun crew. Once guns could be cast in a single piece in either brass or bronze, great strides were made in the effectiveness of the artillery pieces. By the 18th century bronze seems to have been the metal of choice. The guns and mortars were highly decorated. All bore the coat of arms of the sovereign. Usually the maker was identified in some way; the name might be part of the base ring or shown in a cipher below the sovereign’s arms. Garlands of flowers, animals, and mythical creatures sometimes decorated the piece. All Spanish guns were named—Vindicator,Invincible,Destroyerare a few examples—and the authorities made sure that each gun’s whereabouts was always known. This has been invaluable for present-day historians investigating what guns were used where and when. Guns were classified by the weight of the projectile: a 12-pounder gun shot a 12-pound ball. The kinds of projectiles varied greatly: solid shot, canister shot (a container full of bullets), grape shot (cloth container full of bullets), and bombs or grenades (hollow shot filled with gunpowder) fired from a mortar. Sometimes solid shot was heated until it was red hot. If it landed on a ship, hot shot could set a wooden ship afire. Ordnance enabled a fortification to meet the potential the military engineers had hoped for when they sited and built it.
Forts are often described with words like impregnable, unassailable, grim, invulnerable, and redoubtable. These descriptions often came about because of their armaments. A strategically positioned fort with a full complement of weaponry would be a problem for any invader, because the fortress, unlike naval ships, provided a stable platform upon which guns could be mounted and trained on the enemy. Anyone approaching within approximately 500 yards would be in great danger, even though the artillery in those times was not always accurate and aim was extremely difficult.
Tools for GunsThe tools used to operate the ordnance had a variety of functions. The wet sponge swabbed out the cannon to make sure all sparks were extinguished. The ladle dumped the exact amount of powder needed into the chamber. The scraper removed any powder residue. The worm removed unfired bits of cartridge and wadding. The point was to make sure the cannon was clean before it was loaded and fired.
Tools for Guns
The tools used to operate the ordnance had a variety of functions. The wet sponge swabbed out the cannon to make sure all sparks were extinguished. The ladle dumped the exact amount of powder needed into the chamber. The scraper removed any powder residue. The worm removed unfired bits of cartridge and wadding. The point was to make sure the cannon was clean before it was loaded and fired.
1. Sponge
1. Sponge
2. Powder ladle
2. Powder ladle
3. Scraper
3. Scraper
4. Worm
4. Worm
5. 24-pounder cannon
5. 24-pounder cannon
6. 16-pounder cannon
6. 16-pounder cannon
7. 12-pounder cannon
7. 12-pounder cannon
8. Grape shot, side view
8. Grape shot, side view
9. Tongs for handling hot shot
9. Tongs for handling hot shot
10. Garrison carriage, top view
10. Garrison carriage, top view
11. Garrison carriage, side view
11. Garrison carriage, side view
These illustrations come from Tomás de Morla’sA Treatise on Artillery
These illustrations come from Tomás de Morla’sA Treatise on Artillery
Basically all artillery falls into two categories: mortars and guns. Mortars were designed to fire the largest and heaviest projectiles on a curved trajectory. They could shoot over obstacles or fortifications, landing on, and perhaps piercing, the deck of a ship, or hitting a pile of powder kegs or other supplies behind fortified walls, or just wreaking havoc and demoralizing the people. Guns fired their projectiles in a flat trajectory, and their effectiveness in turn depended upon the weight of the shot: the greater the weight of the shot, the greater the muzzle velocity—the speed at which the shot exited the gun—and the farther the shot would go and the deadlier it would be.
The first artillery pieces were made of forged iron. The greatest concern was in producing a weapon that could containthe explosive force of the gunpowder, hurl the projectile at the enemy, and not blow up in the faces of the gun crew. Once guns could be cast in a single piece in either brass or bronze, great strides were made in the effectiveness of the artillery pieces. By the 18th century bronze seems to have been the metal of choice. The guns and mortars were highly decorated. All bore the coat of arms of the sovereign. Usually the maker was identified in some way; the name might be part of the base ring or shown in a cipher below the sovereign’s arms. Garlands of flowers, animals, and mythical creatures sometimes decorated the piece. All Spanish guns were named—Vindicator,Invincible,Destroyerare a few examples—and the authorities made sure that each gun’s whereabouts was always known. This has been invaluable for present-day historians investigating what guns were used where and when. Guns were classified by the weight of the projectile: a 12-pounder gun shot a 12-pound ball. The kinds of projectiles varied greatly: solid shot, canister shot (a container full of bullets), grape shot (cloth container full of bullets), and bombs or grenades (hollow shot filled with gunpowder) fired from a mortar. Sometimes solid shot was heated until it was red hot. If it landed on a ship, hot shot could set a wooden ship afire. Ordnance enabled a fortification to meet the potential the military engineers had hoped for when they sited and built it.
The tops of the ponderous vaults were leveled off with a fill of coquina chips and sand. Tabby mortar was poured onto the surface, and tampers beat the mixture smooth. After the first layer set, others were added until the pavement was six inches thick. The whole roof was thus made into a gun deck, and cannon were no longer restricted to the bastions alone. For unlike the old raftered roof, the new terreplein was buttressed by construction that could take tremendous weight and terrific shock; and masonry four feet thick protected the rooms underneath from bombardment. In San Carlos bastion, by mid-January of 1740, they had finished the tall watchtower and the new parapet.
It was the English settlement of Georgia that had spurred all this activity. In fact, Spain’s plan for recovery of Georgia and other Spanish-claimed land was well past the first stages. Troops were assembling in Havana and reinforcements of 400 had already come to Florida. The situation came to a head when Spanish officials boarded Capt. Robert Jenkins’ shipRebecca, believing the English mariners to be illegally carrying goods to Spanish settlements, an enterprise forbidden by Spanish law. In the ensuing scuffle, Jenkins’ ear was sliced off. Jenkins, back in London, reported to Parliament that the Spanish officer who handed him back his ear said: “Carry it to your King and tell his majesty that if he were present I would serve him in the same manner.â€
Alexander Pope, the couplet maker, smiled and said: “The Spaniards did a waggish thing/Who cropped our ears and sent them to the King.†But others were not amused, and England and Spain declared war in 1739. It was called, of course, the War of Jenkins’ Ear.
England’s main target was the Caribbean, with Havana at center with Portobelo, Cartagena, and St. Augustine on the perimeter. Admiral Edward Vernon quickly won fame with his capture of Portobelo in 1739. Oglethorpe tried to imitate him in Florida. Already he had probed the St. Johns River approaches; St. Augustine would be next.
Governor Montiano, however, was fully aware of weaknesses. “Considering that 21 months have been spent on a bastion and eight arches,†he pointed out, “we need at least eight years for rehabilitation of the Castillo.â€
The Mechanics of a SiegeMilitary engineers built forts for several reasons: to protect cities, to protect strong points from falling into enemy hands, to be a visible symbol of governmental authority. If a fort could not be taken by surprise, an attacking party had to take the fort by force. The process of surrounding an enemy’s strong point and slowly cutting off all contact with the outside world is known as a siege. Sieges go back to Biblical times, but the principles were formulated by Sébastien le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707), a French military engineer who served in the armies of Louis XIV. He created a very formal, disciplined science, and his plan was maddeningly simple. First a trench parallel to the fort was dug out of gun range so the attackers could move in supplies and troops. Sappers—crews of trench diggers—then dug zigzag trenches toward the fort; the zigzag pattern made it more difficult for defenders to hit the trenches. Next the sappers dug a second parallel that included some batteries for shelling the fort. Additional zigzag trenches and parallels would be dug until the attackers were in a position to concentrate their fire at one point on the fortification to breach its walls. The fortress would then have no alternative but to surrender or be stormed. Conducting a textbook perfect siege did not always result in success, for the fort’s defenders would not have been idle. They would fire cannon at the sappers. Often they dug counter trenches out from the fortress and planted mines to blow up the work of the attackers. And they would send out nighttime raiding parties, too.1st ParallelMilitary engineers, called sappers, construct trenches and raise earthworks to protect the attacking forces.Line of attackMortar fire destroys cannon and drives defenders to cover; siege lines prevent supplies from reaching the fort.2nd ParallelSiege guns destroy cannon and weaken fort walls.3rd ParallelSiege guns breach the walls, enabling attacking forces to enter the fort.A Fort’s DefensesAttackersOUTER WORKSGlacisCovered WayMoatRavelinINNER FORTMoatParapetScarpRampartMagazine
The Mechanics of a SiegeMilitary engineers built forts for several reasons: to protect cities, to protect strong points from falling into enemy hands, to be a visible symbol of governmental authority. If a fort could not be taken by surprise, an attacking party had to take the fort by force. The process of surrounding an enemy’s strong point and slowly cutting off all contact with the outside world is known as a siege. Sieges go back to Biblical times, but the principles were formulated by Sébastien le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707), a French military engineer who served in the armies of Louis XIV. He created a very formal, disciplined science, and his plan was maddeningly simple. First a trench parallel to the fort was dug out of gun range so the attackers could move in supplies and troops. Sappers—crews of trench diggers—then dug zigzag trenches toward the fort; the zigzag pattern made it more difficult for defenders to hit the trenches. Next the sappers dug a second parallel that included some batteries for shelling the fort. Additional zigzag trenches and parallels would be dug until the attackers were in a position to concentrate their fire at one point on the fortification to breach its walls. The fortress would then have no alternative but to surrender or be stormed. Conducting a textbook perfect siege did not always result in success, for the fort’s defenders would not have been idle. They would fire cannon at the sappers. Often they dug counter trenches out from the fortress and planted mines to blow up the work of the attackers. And they would send out nighttime raiding parties, too.1st ParallelMilitary engineers, called sappers, construct trenches and raise earthworks to protect the attacking forces.Line of attackMortar fire destroys cannon and drives defenders to cover; siege lines prevent supplies from reaching the fort.2nd ParallelSiege guns destroy cannon and weaken fort walls.3rd ParallelSiege guns breach the walls, enabling attacking forces to enter the fort.
The Mechanics of a Siege
Military engineers built forts for several reasons: to protect cities, to protect strong points from falling into enemy hands, to be a visible symbol of governmental authority. If a fort could not be taken by surprise, an attacking party had to take the fort by force. The process of surrounding an enemy’s strong point and slowly cutting off all contact with the outside world is known as a siege. Sieges go back to Biblical times, but the principles were formulated by Sébastien le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707), a French military engineer who served in the armies of Louis XIV. He created a very formal, disciplined science, and his plan was maddeningly simple. First a trench parallel to the fort was dug out of gun range so the attackers could move in supplies and troops. Sappers—crews of trench diggers—then dug zigzag trenches toward the fort; the zigzag pattern made it more difficult for defenders to hit the trenches. Next the sappers dug a second parallel that included some batteries for shelling the fort. Additional zigzag trenches and parallels would be dug until the attackers were in a position to concentrate their fire at one point on the fortification to breach its walls. The fortress would then have no alternative but to surrender or be stormed. Conducting a textbook perfect siege did not always result in success, for the fort’s defenders would not have been idle. They would fire cannon at the sappers. Often they dug counter trenches out from the fortress and planted mines to blow up the work of the attackers. And they would send out nighttime raiding parties, too.
1st Parallel
Military engineers, called sappers, construct trenches and raise earthworks to protect the attacking forces.
Line of attack
Mortar fire destroys cannon and drives defenders to cover; siege lines prevent supplies from reaching the fort.
2nd Parallel
Siege guns destroy cannon and weaken fort walls.
3rd Parallel
Siege guns breach the walls, enabling attacking forces to enter the fort.
A Fort’s Defenses
A Fort’s Defenses
The Cubo Line originally stretched from the Castillo to the San Sebastian River. It was strengthened and rebuilt repeatedly by both the Spaniards and the British. The city gate, a part of the line, was built in 1808, only a few years before the United States took control of Florida.
The Cubo Line originally stretched from the Castillo to the San Sebastian River. It was strengthened and rebuilt repeatedly by both the Spaniards and the British. The city gate, a part of the line, was built in 1808, only a few years before the United States took control of Florida.
His concerns were genuine, for work on the vaults had to stop as the war dried up construction funds. The fort was left in a strangely irregular shape. The east side, including San Carlos bastion, was at the new height, but all others were several feet lower. The old rooms still lined three sides of the courtyard.
On June 13, 1740, seven British warships dropped anchor outside the inlet. The long-expected siege of St. Augustine had begun. Montiano hastily sent the news to Havana and with it a plea for help. He had 750 soldiers and the 120 or more sailors who manned the galliots. Rations would last only until the end of June.
The attackers numbered almost 1,400, including sailors and Indian allies. While the warships blockaded the harbor on the east, William Palmer came in from the north with a company of Highlanders and occupied the deserted outpost called Fort Mose. Oglethorpe landed his men and guns on each side of the inlet and began building batteries across the bay from the Castillo.
Montiano saw at once that all the English positions were separated from each other by water and could not speedily reinforce one another. Fort Mose, at the village of the black runaways a couple of miles north of the Castillo, was the weakest. At dawn on June 26 a sortie from St. Augustine hit Fort Mose, and in the bloodiest action of the siege scattered the Highlanders and burned the palisaded fortification. Colonel Palmer, veteran of Florida campaigns, was among the dead.
As if in revenge, the siege guns at the inlet opened fire. Round shot whistled low over the bay and crashed into fort and town. Bombs from the mortars soared high—deadly dots against the bright summer sky—and fell swiftly to burst with terrific concussion. The townspeople fled, 2,000 of them, some to the woods, others to the covered way where Castillo walls screened them from the shelling.
For 27 nerve-shattering days the British batteries thundered. At the Castillo, newly laid stones in the east parapet scattered under the hits, but the weathered old walls held strong. As one Englishman observed, the native rock “will not splinter but will give way to cannon ball as though you would stick a knife into cheese.†One of the balls shot away agunner’s leg, but only two men in the Castillo were killed during the bombardment.
The heavy guns of San Marcos and the long 9-pounders of the fast little galliots in the harbor kept the British back. Despite the bluster of the cannonades, the siege had stalemated. Astride the inlet, Oglethorpe and his men battled insects and shifting sand on barren, sun-baked shores, while Spanish soldiers in San Marcos, down to half rations themselves, saw their families and friends starving. On July 6 Montiano wrote, “My greatest anxiety is provisions. If these do not come, there is no doubt that we shall die in the hands of hunger.â€
The very next day came news that supplies had reached a harbor down the coast south of Matanzas. Shallow-draft Spanish vessels went down the waterway behind Anastasia Island, fought their way out through Matanzas Inlet and, hugging the coast, went to fetch the provisions. Coming back into Matanzas that same night, they found the British blockade gone; they reached St. Augustine unopposed.
Oglethorpe made ready to assault the Castillo despite the low morale of his men. His naval commander, however, was nervous over the approach of the hurricane season and refused to cooperate. Without support from the warships, Oglethorpe had to withdraw. Daybreak on July 20—38 days since the British had arrived at St. Augustine—revealed that the redcoats were gone.
This 1763 engraving shows the finished Castillo after all the bombproof vaults and a new ravelin had been built.
This 1763 engraving shows the finished Castillo after all the bombproof vaults and a new ravelin had been built.
Beyond the military aspects, which were so vital to the decision to establish St. Augustine, the city had become a vibrant community of soldiers, their families, government officials, and shopkeepers. Religion and the church played an important part in the life of the community. This page from a Roman Catholic missal. printed in 1690, is open to the service for Easter The right-hand column recounts the story of how the Marys went to the tomb and found it empty.
Beyond the military aspects, which were so vital to the decision to establish St. Augustine, the city had become a vibrant community of soldiers, their families, government officials, and shopkeepers. Religion and the church played an important part in the life of the community. This page from a Roman Catholic missal. printed in 1690, is open to the service for Easter The right-hand column recounts the story of how the Marys went to the tomb and found it empty.
This was why the Castillo had been built—to resist aggression, to stand firm through the darkest hour. Years of dogged labor and privations had brought the Castillo to the point where it could easily withstand a siege. Yet it remained unfinished, while in 1742 Spanish forces from Havana and St. Augustine tried unsuccessfully to take Oglethorpe’s settlement at Fort Frederica. The next year Oglethorpe moved unsuccessfully against St. Augustine.
Work still needed to be done on the vaults, but other projects were even more urgent. First, came repair of the bombardment damage. After that, the defenses around fort and town were strengthened and a strong new earth wall called the hornwork was thrown up across the land approach, half a mile north of town. And for a year or more a sizable crew was busy at Matanzas building a permanent tower and battery, since the events of 1740 had again shown the vital defensive importance of this inlet a few miles south of St. Augustine.
Several years slipped by with nothing being done to Castillo itself, the heart of the defense system. Termites and rot were in the old rafters, and in 1749 part of the roof collapsed.
The governor’s appeal to the crown eventually brought action. Engineer Pedro de Brozas y Garay came from Ceuta in Africa to replace Ruiz, who was returning to Spain. Having overseen the construction of the last fort rooms, it was Brozas who, with Governor Alonso Fernández de Heredia, stood under the royal coat of arms at the sally port, as the masons set in the inscription giving credit to the governor and himself for completion of the Castillo in 1756. The ceremony was a politic gesture, carried out on the name day of King Fernando VI; but in truth there was still a great deal to do.
The new bombproof vaults had raised the Castillo’s walls by five feet. Where once they had measured about 25 feet from foundation to crown of parapet,now they were more than 30. The little ravelin of 1682 could no longer shield the main gate, and as yet the covered way screened only the base of the high new walls. The glacis existed only on the plans.