Fortifying America
In November, the Examiner is running a special series on military architecture in honor of America’s veterans. The articles are featuring fortifications in the United States that were created by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, plus those built by the Continental Army, British, French, Spanish, Native Americans and Confederates.
Today, we travel southeastward to the sunny state of Florida and the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. It is the oldest European masonry fort in the United States. Several Native American fortresses were constructed out of stone masonry, which are much older. (See article on Fort Hill, Ohio.) Construction was begun on the Castillo de San Marcos in 1672 and completed in 1690.
Saint Augustine, FL was originally founded in 1565 as an impromptu base from which Spanish forces could attack a new French colony on the St. Johns River, about 35 miles (67km) to the north. However, it was not intended at the time to be the main town of the Spanish province of La Florida. The capital, Santa Elena, was on Parris Island, SC. The headquarters of the Spanish mission system in La Florida was originally on Saint Catherine’s Island, GA.
See the Examiner articles on Colonial Architecture and Fort Caroline, FL:
http://www.examiner.com/architecture-design-in-national/what-did-colonial-period-homes-really-look-like & http://www.examiner.com/architecture-design-in-national/fort-caroline-jacksonville-florida-1564
The Muskogean Native American provinces of Georgia and South Carolina proved far harder to subdue that the Timucua of Florida or the Aztecs of Mexico. In fact, it was the other way around. By 1585, the Spanish had been driven out of Santa Elena, and by 1670 most of the Spanish missions and forts in what is now Georgia, had been destroyed. Meanwhile, the English and French were constantly raiding the coast of La Florida. Most of these destructive actions were by privateers with letters of marquee from their kings, while others were plain ole pirates, operating illegally. Sir Francis Drake burned St. Augustine to the ground in 1585. In 1668, Robert Searle, an English pirate, did much damage to the town.
With most of its interior territory taken back by the powerful Muskogean provinces (ancestors of the Creek, Choctaw and Alabama Indians) St. Augustine had been designated a presidio or garrison town and its role had become primarily that of a supply and rescue center for the Spanish treasure fleets that regularly followed the Gulf Stream northward past the Florida Peninsula, before heading east across the Atlantic Ocean. The economy of St. Augustine was subsidized by the Spanish government for this reason.
The queen regent of Spain, Mariana, had authorized replacement of St. Augustine’s vulnerable wood forts after Robert Searle’s attack in 1668. When the Charlestowne Colony was settled in 1674, the Spanish Crown panicked. Now, St. Augustine would be subject to land attacks, also. If the British captured St. Augustine, it could be used as base for raiders to pick off Spanish treasure ships like clay pigeons. The Spanish government would be cut off from its flow of gold and silver, while the Spanish colonies would become extremely isolated from their masters in Europe. Therefore, the Spanish government authorized the construction of a massive stone fortress facing St. Augustine’s harbor, but with enhanced defenses on the landward side, to protect it from land-based attacks.
Where did the Spanish find stone to build Castillo de San Marcos? As most readers probably know, there are very few stone outcrops in Florida, especially near the coast. However, the residents of St. Augustine discovered a type of soft stone under the soil that in about 50 million years would become limestone. It is called coquina. It is a mixture of seashells, sand and mud that is compressed enough to hold its form, but easily cut into blocks from deposits. Once exposed to the air and sun, coquina forms an almost ideal construction material for fortresses. It is tough, but resilient. Eighteenth century cannon balls would bounce off the exterior of Castillo de San Marcos.
Since now they were also concerned about a landward attack, Spanish engineers designed a square structure with star-point bastions; protected by a moat and outer infantry and field artillery earthworks. The design worked, the fort was never captured, but attacked several times in the late 1600s and the first half of the 1700s.
There is one glaring weakness in the original design of Castillo de San Marcos. The cannons were all mounted ON TOP of the fortress at the corner bastions. The ceilings of the spaces behind the walls were wood! This would have exposed the garrison to devastating shrapnel if the English attackers had brought along the right artillery; namely mortars.
French military engineers and artillerymen were generally more skilled than their English counterparts in the early 1700s. For example, in 1757 when General Montcalm’s French and Indian army attacked Fort William Henry near Lake Champlain, New York, he brought along mortars that hurled 100 pound shells over the 30 feet thick walls of the English fort. French engineers designed temporary earthen fortifications, which protected their gun crews from the ineffective English fire. Even though, the English DID have protection over their heads inside the fort’s walls, they agreed to surrender in a matter of days If Montcalm’s army had attacked the Castillo de San Marcos before 1738, within hours, there would have had few, if any, living Spanish artillerymen.
Attacks on Castillo de San Marcos
In 1702, during the Queen Anne’s War, a Carolina army under the command of Governor James Moore attacked St. The town’s 1200 citizens and 300 member garrison too refuge inside the Castillo. Moore’s troops laid siege to the fortress. The artillery that the English army took along was ineffective. Their cannon balls bounced off the coquina. They did not bring along anti-personnel artillery such as mortars and grape shot canisters. The siege was lifted upon the arrival of a Spanish fleet. The smaller English ships were trapped inside St. Augustine Bay. The English burned their ships, burned St. Augustine and then walked back to Carolina on foot. There was no North or South Carolina back then.
In 1738, at the onset of renewed hostile relations between England and Spain, Castillo de San Marcos’s defenses were significantly improved. The Colony of Georgia had been founded six years earlier. The colony had recruited tough Scottish Highlands to garrison a new fortress on St. Simons Island, which was about 100 miles north of St. Augustine; and south of the mouth of the Altamaha River, which Spain considered to be the northern boundary of La Florida.
In this second construction phase, the height of the walls of Castillo de San Marcos was raised to protect its interior from howitzer fire. Stone vaults replaced the vulnerable wood structure of the original structure, and cannon platforms were constructed around the periphery of the fort, so that opponents field positions could be adequately covered.
The timing of the new construction was fortunate for the Spanish and unfortunate for their enemies in Georgia. In 1739, General James Edward Oglethorpe led a seven ship English flotilla against St. Augustine. The ships bombarded the newly strengthened fort and the town of St. Augustine for 27 days. Since the solid shot of the naval cannons were ineffective, Oglethorpe tried blockading the town and fort in hopes of starving the garrison and citizens into submission. Safe within the newly strengthened walls of the fort, they persevered. Eventually, the morale of Oglethorpe’s own army was seriously in peril. He unilaterally withdrew the siege, and in the process left several cannons on the landward side of the fort. Castillo de San Marcos, was never seriously challenged again.
As the victor in the Seven Years War against France and Spain, Great Britain took possession of Castillo de San Marcos and all of Florida in 1763. The fort primarily served as a military prison during the American Revolution. Spain was on the winning side, this time. Both the fort and Florida were returned to Spain in the Treaty of Paris in 1783. However, by then very few Spanish-speaking people lived in Florida. It was mostly occupied by Creek Indians (Seminoles) and English colonists.
The indigenous Indians of Florida were virtually exterminated by disease, Spanish serfdom and English sponsored slave raids. Large numbers of Creek Indian farmers occupied their abandoned lands during the 1700s. There were also several communities composed of Africans, who had escaped slavery in Georgia, but adopted Creek Indian clothing and customs. They were known as the Black Seminoles. The Province of La Florida had little value to Spain now, so it was given to the United States in 1819. The Castillo de San Marcos was never involved in another significant military action.
Castillo de San Marcos is a unit of the National Park Service. It is open most days of the year, and regularly sponsors living history events. Check their web site: http://www.nps.gov/casa/index.htm for updated information of events and touring schedules.
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