[Illustration: Spain, England, and France vied for the land and
wealth of the New World. This map, while not showing actual
settlement and possession of the land shows what each nation thought
was theirs. Spain’s dominions were more extensive than those of
Britain or France, for the Spaniards were the first to explore and
to begin to claim and settle the land.
The spice fleet from the Philippines sailed to Acapulco, on Mexico’s
west coast, the goods were hauled overland to Veracruz, and then carried
by ship to Havana.
Fleets of ships filled with silver, gold, spices, precious woods, and
other products of the New World left Havana for Spain each year.
The silver fleet from Perú brought the treasure to the isthmus of Panamá
where it was transshipped to Portobelo and then on to Havana via
Cartagena.
Spanish St. Augustine served as the northernmost outpost of the
Caribbean, watching over the waters of the Gulf stream, Spain’s highway
to Europe.]
[Illustration: Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (1519-74) was the founder of
St. Augustine and first governor of Florida. He struggled throughout
his life to put St. Augustine on a firm footing, fending off French
efforts to destroy his settlement. The engraving is a copy of a
portrait by Titian that was destroyed in a fire at the end of the
last century.]
Spain did not yet see the need for an impregnable fort here. After the
English failures at Roanoke Island in North Carolina in 1586-87, the
weak settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, a few years later did not
impress the powerful Council of the Indies in Madrid as a threat to
Spanish interests. Moreover, the Franciscans, by extending the mission
frontier deep into Indian lands, put the Spanish stamp of occupation
upon a vast territory. The fallacy in this thinking lay in
underestimating the colonizing ability of the English and believing that
an Indian friendly to Spain would never become a friend of England.
The defeat of the powerful Spanish Armada in 1588 was a dramatic
harbinger of things to come; the way was clear for England to extend its
control of the seas. Its great trading companies were active on the
coasts of four continents, and powerful English nobles strove for
possessions beyond the seas. Jamestown, despite its inauspicious
beginning, was soon followed by the settlements in New England and
elsewhere. Between the James River and Spanish Florida stretched a vast,
rich territory too tempting to ignore, and in 1665 Charles II of England
granted a patent for its occupation. The boundaries of the new colony of
Carolina brazenly included some hundred miles or more of
Spanish-occupied land—even St. Augustine itself!
The signs were clear: The fight for Florida was inevitable.
In the middle 1600s at St. Augustine, just south of where the Castillo
now stands, there was a wooden fort. It was almost as large as the
Castillo, but it was a fort only in name. Most of the timbers were
rotten. Smallpox had killed so many Indians that there were not enough
laborers to carry in replacement logs.
Money to maintain the outposts came from New Spain, for, the government
in Madrid reasoned, the Florida forts protected the commercial routes
from México to Spain. Consequently, officials in México City had to find
the silver to pay the troops and buy the food, clothing, and other
supplies that Florida so desperately needed. Despite the orders from
Madrid, payments from México City were always behind, as Floridians knew
from bitter experience.
Yet, if ever there was a time to protect Spanish interests in Florida,
it was now. The English had attacked Santo Domingo and captured Jamaica.
The Dutch had been seen in Apalache Bay on Florida’s west coast. As the
corsairs grew bolder, one governor made this appraisal: “In spite of the
great valor with which we would resist, successful defense would be
doubtful” without stronger defenses.
Proposals for a permanent, stone fort dated back to 1586 after the
discovery of the native shellstone, coquina. For years officials in
Spain, México, and Florida argued about what needed to be done. By 1668
payments and sufficient supplies of food were eight years behind. The
townspeople and the soldiers lived in poverty and the old wooden fort
was on the verge of falling into the sea.
The sack of St. Augustine was a blessing in disguise, for it shocked
Spanish officials into action. The governor of Havana lent 1,200 pesos
for masting and rigging St. Augustine’s frigate, thus ensuring the
presidio’s communication with its supply bases. The Viceroy released the
1669 payroll plus money for general repairs, weapons, gunpowder, and
lead for bullets. He also promised 75 men to bring the troop levels to
authorized strength. And St. Augustine was allowed to keep an 18-pounder
bronze cannon that had been salvaged from a shipwreck. This aid—12
months of life for the colony—totaled at least 110,000 pesos. Included
was the hire of mules for the 75 recruits to ride from México City to
Veracruz. Hiring the animals was easier than finding men, however.
Fifty-one of them arrived at last in 1670; the rest had deserted or
died. Officials in St. Augustine, however, were not sure that the new
troops were particularly loyal to Spanish interests.
It was Mariana, Queen Regent of Spain, who gave permanent aid to St.
Augustine in three decrees addressed to the viceroy. On March 11, 1669,
she ordered him to pay the Florida funds on time and add a proper amount
for building the fortification proposed by the governor. Next, on April
10, she commanded him to support a full 300-man garrison in Florida
instead of the customary 257 soldiers and 43 missionaries. Finally, on
October 30, she enjoined him to consult with the governor about an
adequate fortification and provide for its construction.
[Illustration: Billions of sea creatures produced the coquina that
provided the building blocks of the Castillo. Because of the high
water table, the layers of rock were damp when quarried. Once
trimmed and shaped, the rock dried and hardened. During the British
bombardment of 1740, the walls absorbed the impact of the cannon
balls and very little damage was done.]