The English Threat
St. Augustine remained the sole European settlement in what is now the
continental United States for a period of forty-two years. About the
time of its attack by Drake in 1586 it received vague but disturbing
reports of the presence of English settlers to the north in a region
known to the Spaniards as _Jacan_, or the Chesapeake Bay region of
Virginia. This was the ill-fated Roanoke colony. It was followed in 1607
by the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, by the English, which
represented a further violation of territory claimed by Spain as a part
of Florida. Three expeditions, one in 1588 and others in 1609 and 1611,
set out from St. Augustine to reconnoiter these rival settlements.
The Virginia colony survived and others crept down the coast in defiance
of Spain's claims to the territory. The Spanish governors at St.
Augustine repeatedly implored authorities in Spain to strengthen
Florida's garrison and defenses to meet this English threat. But the
mother country, almost constantly involved in wars with European rivals,
or vexed with internal problems, took no decisive action.
In 1665 St. Augustine became one hundred years of age. As if to
celebrate its centennial, the English King Charles II, issued a second
patent opening up the territory south of Virginia to English settlement.
This patent not only disregarded Spanish claims to the area, but even
included within its boundaries the very site of St. Augustine itself.
_A Midnight Raid_
In the spring of 1668, during the delightful month of May, the
appearance of a vessel off St. Augustine's inlet caused a ripple of
excitement. The settlement was awaiting a shipment of flour from
Veracruz, Mexico, and a payment on its subsidy then eight years in
arrears. The harbor pilot put out to bring the vessel across the
treacherous bar. Soon two cannon shot were heard, a prearranged signal
identifying the vessel as the one expected. The people were elated and
retired confidently for the night.
But the ship was not manned by friends as was assumed. It had been
seized by an English pirate, Robert Searles (alias Davis), in the
vicinity of Cuba. When the vessel arrived off St. Augustine the Spanish
captain and crew were compelled upon threat of death to appear on deck
as if nothing were amiss. The unsuspecting harbor pilot was tricked into
firing the identifying signal and made prisoner before he could warn the
settlement.
[Illustration: _The boundaries of Florida grew smaller._]
Around midnight, when the town was peacefully sleeping, the pirate band
rowed stealthily ashore undetected, and scattered through the streets.
The people emerged from their homes expecting to greet friends, but
their joy soon turned to anguished cries of terror. Many were killed by
the pirates in attempting to resist or flee half-clad to safety. In the
darkness it was difficult to distinguish friend from foe. With shouting
pirates at their heels, the governor and part of the garrison managed to
reach their fort and beat off attempts to take it.
The next morning the pirates systematically looted the homes and
churches, and a previously hidden pirate ship appeared in the bay.
Unable to take the fort, the invaders left their captives on the beach
and sailed away under the cover of darkness. St. Augustine's residents
returned to find sixty of their comrades dead in the blood-stained
streets.
_A Stone Fort at Last_
The founding of Charleston, S. C., in 1670 brought the English threat
still nearer. An expedition sailed from St. Augustine to attack the new
settlement but ran into a severe storm and failed to reach its
objective.
The success of the pirate raid on St. Augustine in 1668, combined with
the growing English encroachment on Spanish territory to the north,
finally convinced officials in Spain that something must be done to
bolster Florida's defenses. In the fall of 1669, Queen Regent Marianna
of Spain issued a _cedula_ directing the Viceroy of Mexico to provide
funds for the construction of an impregnable stone fortress at St.
Augustine, similar to the bastions guarding Spanish strongholds in the
Caribbean. All previous forts in Florida had been of wood and soon
rotted in the moist sea air. The new fort would be built of coquina, a
shell-rock formation, found in abundance on Anastasia Island across the
bay from the capital. Several earlier Florida governors had urged its
use without success.
Florida's next governor, Manuel Cendoya, went at once to Mexico to
collect the funds appropriated to begin the new defense work. At Havana,
Cuba, he engaged the services of a competent military engineer, Ignazio
Daza, to plan and supervise its initial stages.
Work on the new structure began during the fall of 1672. Stone masons
and other skilled artisans were brought from Cuba. Quarries were opened
on Anastasia Island. Gangs of Indian workmen and yokes of oxen dragged
the heavy coquina blocks to the water's edge, where they were loaded on
rafts or barges, and ferried across the bay to the fort site.
The massive walls rose slowly. After an enthusiastic beginning progress
lagged at times for want of funds, lack of vigorous prosecution, or when
epidemics thinned the ranks of slaves and Indian workmen. In the spring
of 1683 it was interrupted by a threatened attack, one of many to which
St. Augustine was continually subjected. English pirates landed near
Matanzas Inlet, burned the Spanish outpost there, and advanced toward
the capital. Warned by alert sentinels, the governor sent out a
detachment of musketeers, who waited in ambush and drove the raiders
back to their ships.
By 1696 the great stone fort was about completed except for some of the
outer work, added during later periods. Into its construction went
twenty-four long years of sweat and toil beneath the Florida sun, and
the lives of an untold number of slaves, Indian, and peon workmen. It
was called by the Spaniards _Castillo de San Marcos_, or castle of St.
Mark's.
[Illustration: _The grim walls of Castillo de San Marcos look much
the same as when the stones were lifted laboriously into place._]
_Settlement of Pensacola_
While the English were occupying the Atlantic Coast north of Florida,
hardy French traders and explorers, including the Jesuit, La Salle, came
down the Mississippi River building forts at strategic points. This
threatened Florida on the west. To meet the French threat to the Gulf
coast, the Spaniards under Andres de Arriola established a fort and
settlement at Pensacola in 1698, which later was to become the capital
of West Florida. A previous Spanish attempt by Tristan de Luna to
establish a settlement near this point in 1559 had failed.
_Border Conflict_
Strife between the Spaniards in Florida and their English neighbors to
the north did not at first break out into open warfare. English agents
and traders began to work quietly among the border Indians, weaning some
of them away from Spanish control and influence. These they then armed
and encouraged to raid the Spanish Indian towns. Christian Indians
captured by the English and their Indian allies were sold into slavery.
Florida's Governor Cabrera (1680-1687) complained that they even seized
the "mixed ones," children of Spanish and Indian parentage. Small bands
of Yamassee Indians, then allied with the English, hovered about St.
Augustine, occasionally seizing a stray Spaniard, whom they carried back
to Carolina. The Carolinians even offered the Indians a reward for
captured Spaniards delivered to them upon the pretense that it was to
save the victims from torture.
By 1686, with its Castillo about completed, St. Augustine felt ready to
take the offensive. In the fall of that year its women waved farewell to
soldier husbands and sweethearts. They sailed north in three ships,
destroyed a Scottish settlement at Port Royal, plundered English coastal
plantations, and advanced on _San Jorge_, as the Spaniards called it, or
Charleston. Suddenly a hurricane came up driving two of their vessels
hopelessly aground. The third limped sadly back to Matanzas Bay.
Soon after this expedition a boat-load of half-starved Negro slaves
arrived at St. Augustine, and asked for the Holy Waters of Baptism. They
had escaped from Carolina plantations. In response to demands for their
return the Spanish governor offered to reimburse the English for their
loss. Spanish agents and Indians secretly began to encourage slaves in
Carolina to run away, making it known that St. Augustine offered them
asylum. These refugees increased in number and were allowed to occupy
lands two miles north of the settlement in the vicinity of Mose Creek.
_The Shipwrecked Quakers_
John Archdale, a Quaker, became governor of Carolina in 1695. He frowned
upon the enslavement of Christian Indians and returned four to
authorities at St. Augustine, who wrote him a letter of appreciation and
agreed to reciprocate by according English subjects safe conduct through
Spanish territory. This accounts for the kind treatment accorded a small
company of Quakers enroute to Philadelphia, who were wrecked on the
coast of Florida in the vicinity of Hobe Sound in 1696. The Quakers
reached shore safely only to suffer torturing hardship among the coastal
Indians, who feared Spanish authority but were still savages in most
respects.
[Illustration: _Title page from one of the many editions of
Dickinson's book._]
GOD'_s_
Protecting Providence,
MAN'_s_
_Surest_ Help _and_ Defence,
IN
Times of Greatest Difficulty
and most Eminent Danger:
EVIDENCED
In the Remarkable Deliverance of Robert Barrow, with divers other
Persons, from the Devouring Waves of the Sea; amongst which they
Suffered
SHIPWRACK:
And also,
From the cruel Devouring Jaws of the Inhuman
_Canibals of Florida_.
Faithfully Related by one of the Persons concern'd therein,
Jonathan Dickenson.
After two months of harrowing captivity the Quakers were rescued by a
Captain Lopez and detail of soldiers from St. Augustine. They were
brought to the settlement and later escorted safely to the English
border. One of their number, Jonathan Dickinson, wrote and published a
book of their adventures, which contains an interesting description of
St. Augustine and Florida as these Quakers saw them so many years ago.
As the Quakers were brought up the coast they noted the chain of Spanish
sentinel posts south of St. Augustine, which were located on high dunes
overlooking the sea, beach and river. By means of smoke signals, or
Indian runners, they could quickly warn the capital of danger.
The little Quaker band was hospitably received at the settlement and
quartered among its inhabitants. "This place is a Garrison," wrote
Dickinson, "maintained one-half by the King of Spain and one-half by the
Church of Rome. The male inhabitants are all soldiers, everyone
receiving his pay according to his post. All of their supply of Bread,
Clothing and Money comes from Havana and Porta Vella, and it was going
on three years since they had a Vessel from any place whatsoever, which
made their needs very great.
"The Towne we saw from one end to the other. It is about three-quarters
of a mile in Length, not regularly built, nor the Houses very thick
(close together), they having large orchards, in which grow plenty of
oranges, lemons, pome citrons, limes, figs, and peaches. The Houses are
most of them old buildings, and not half of them inhabited, the number
of men being around three hundred."
On their way north to Charleston the Quakers stopped overnight at
several Spanish Indian towns, where Dickinson noted that "the Indians go
as consistently to their devotion, at all times and at all seasons, as
do the Spaniards." He also observed that the Indian women modestly
clothed themselves with the moss of trees (Spanish moss), "making Gownes
and Petticoats thereof, which at a distance or at night looks very
neat."
_The Castle's First Test_
Castillo de San Marcos, completed in 1696, had not yet undergone an
attack. It was soon to come. In Europe the War of Spanish Succession
(1700-1713) involved England in a conflict with Spain and France that
soon spread to their colonies, where it was known as Queen Anne's War.
Governor Moore of Carolina obtained the backing of its colonial assembly
for an expedition against Spain's citadel in Florida. He recruited a
force of some 600 Carolina militia and a number of Indian allies. They
advanced south in two detachments during the fall of 1702. Florida's
Governor Zuniga learned of the impending attack in time to lay in
adequate provisions and put his garrison on a 24-hour alert.
Colonel Daniel with one Carolina detachment came up the St. Johns River
and thence overland. Moore with the other came down the coast in eight
small vessels. Daniel arrived first and advanced upon St. Augustine by
land. Governor Zuniga had few experienced soldiers, and did not try to
save the town. All of its inhabitants were ordered into the fort, which
soon sheltered some 1,500 people.
Moore soon arrived by sea with a quantity of trench-digging tools and
fifteen long ladders for scaling the fort's walls. But the English had
greatly underestimated the Castillo's strength and found there was
little hope of taking it with their few small calibre guns. Colonel
Daniel was sent to Jamaica to secure siege guns and bombs.
During the siege the Spaniards made two sallies from the fort to destroy
their own houses in its vicinity to prevent them being used as cover by
the English. A total of 31 houses were thus destroyed as shown by claims
later filed by their Spanish owners.
Almost two months of siege passed. Within the overcrowded Castillo
inhabitants and garrison prayed for relief. The day after Christmas two
heavily armed Spanish ships appeared off the inlet bringing aid. Fearing
their retreat would be cut off, the Carolinians burned their transports,
abandoned their heavy stores, set fire to the town, and withdrew
overland to vessels awaiting them at the mouth of the St. Johns River.
The Castillo had triumphed in its first test, but the town of St.
Augustine was virtually reduced to ashes. Spanish eyewitnesses testified
that not a building was left standing except the _Hermitage of Nuestra
Senora de la Soledad_, and some twenty houses of the meaner sort. These
were probably scattered dwellings south of the Plaza.
Although disgraced by the failure of his expedition, Moore returned to
Florida in 1704 with a large number of Indian allies. They overran the
weakly garrisoned Indian towns of Apalache and the interior, taking
1,300 Indian prisoners back to Carolina. During this and subsequent
invasions practically all of the outlying Franciscan Missions were
destroyed. Only those in the immediate vicinity of St. Augustine
remained.
[Illustration: _Two stout defense lines protected the capital on the
north._]
_The Capital's Defenses_
Moore's siege of St. Augustine in 1702 showed a serious weakness in the
capital's defenses. The enemy were able to occupy and burn the town
despite its impregnable Castillo. This led to the gradual construction
of a system of outer defenses to protect the town itself from future
invasion.
First an inner defense line was built extending westward from the
Castillo to the San Sebastian River along what is now Orange Street. It
eventually consisted of a moat, some fifty or more feet wide and six
feet deep. Material from the ditch was used to build a sturdy wall of
earth and palm logs. St. Augustine's City Gate is all that remains of
this defense work.
Later a fortified line was constructed extending across the peninsula
between the bay and the San Sebastian River, "about a cannon shot north
of the fort." It was called the _Hornwork_ because a portion of it
resembled in shape the horn of a steer. It consisted of a wide ditch and
embankment of earth and sod, at one time further strengthened by a
stockade of logs, and a fort at its eastern extremity.
Another defense line extended north and south along Maria Sanchez Creek
in the vicinity of present Cordova Street, marking the western boundary
of the original settlement. Other defense works protected it on the
south. The lines were strengthened at intervals by redoubts and angular
projections, in some of which cannon were mounted. Sentinels manned the
defense lines day and night, once each hour passing the _Alerto_.
When escaped Negro slaves began to find refuge in St. Augustine, a small
fort was built for their protection two miles north of the town. It was
called Fort Mosa, or the Negro Fort, and served as an anchor for another
defense line running east and west. Practically no evidence of this fort
and defense work has survived.
_Palmer's Raid_
The Yamassee Indians of Carolina, once allied with the English, turned
against them and in 1715 were decisively defeated. The Spaniards in
Florida were accused of fomenting this revolt. A remnant of the tribe
took refuge in the St. Augustine area where, according to English
reports, they were welcomed by the ringing of bells. For some reason the
Yamassees were banished for a time south of the city. They were later
recalled, given weapons, and encouraged to make raids on the Carolina
border plantations, bringing back bloody scalps and an occasional
prisoner.
[Illustration: _A gun emplacement in the defense lines. The platform
sloped forward to absorb the gun's recoil._]
To put an end to these raids a Colonel Palmer swept south from Carolina
in 1728 with a small force of militia and Indians. They surprised and
butchered some of the Yamassees in their villages north of St.
Augustine, but could not penetrate its now strong outer defense line.
After destroying everything of value outside the city, and seizing many
Spanish-owned cattle, Palmer returned to Carolina. Following his
departure the Spanish governor ordered the destruction of the mission
chapel of _Nombre de Dios_, which had afforded the English cover in
their attack.
The settlement of Georgia in 1733 by General James Oglethorpe brought
the English still closer. Spanish authorities sensed an impending crisis
and sent Antonio Arredondo, a competent military engineer and diplomat,
to St. Augustine to negotiate with Oglethorpe and survey Florida's
defenses. While Arredondo failed to persuade the English to withdraw
from Georgia, under his able supervision St. Augustine's fortifications
were carefully strengthened. Rooms inside the Castillo were rebuilt with
arched ceilings of thick masonry to make them bombproof. Backed by
Arredondo's recommendations, Florida's Governor Montiano secured
substantial reinforcements from Cuba, increasing the garrison to around
750 men.
_Oglethorpe's Siege_
Spanish regulations allowed her colonies only limited trading privileges
with rival England, which had become a great mercantile nation. To
prevent the prevalent smuggling of illicit English goods into their
ports, Spanish ships were ordered to stop and search English vessels off
their coasts.
One of the English merchantmen overhauled off the coast of Florida or
Cuba was commanded by a Robert Jenkins. He reported that the Spanish
captain, Juan de Leon Fandino, cut off his ear and handed it back to him
saying, "Carry this to your king and tell him I would treat him in like
manner." Incidents such as this caused rising indignation in both
countries. The severed ear, or a substitute, was later displayed by
Jenkins before the English Parliament, and gave its name to the war that
England declared against Spain in 1739, the War of Jenkins' Ear.
General Oglethorpe of Georgia was ordered to harass the Spaniards in
Florida, and proceeded to organize an expedition designed to capture St.
Augustine. During the winter be probed Spanish defenses, seizing Fort
Picolata on the St. Johns River west of the capital, and a companion
fort across the river from it. In early May of 1740 he moved south with
400 of his Georgia regiment and took Fort Diego, a Spanish plantation
post fifteen miles north of St. Augustine, in the vicinity of present
Palm Valley. Leaving troops to hold it, he then retired back to the
mouth of the St. Johns River to await the arrival of his other military
contingents.
During early April six half galleys from Cuba slipped into St.
Augustine's Matanzas Bay in response to Governor Montiano's frantic
pleas for assistance. They were commanded by the same Juan de Leon
Fandino, who is reputed to have cut off Jenkins' ear, and proved an
important factor in saving the city.
[Illustration: _Map showing disposition of Oglethorpe's forces, and
batteries shelling the town from what is now Davis Shores._]
_A_ _View_ of the _Town_ and _Castle_ of S^t. Augustine, and the
_English Camp_ before it June 20.1740. by _Tho^s Silver_.
Oglethorpe's other military units finally arrived and he moved south
over the land route from the St. Johns River, and occupied Fort Mosa,
two miles north of the capital. In addition to his Georgia regiment, he
now had a detachment of Carolina militia, a company of Highlanders, some
Indian allies, and the assistance of an English naval unit of four
twenty-gun ships and two sloops, a total force of about 900.
His original plan of making a concerted attack on the city from its land
approaches and waterfront was thwarted. The inlet proved too shallow for
the English ships to enter and provide a covering fire for the landing
of marines. The Spanish half galleys received from Cuba effectively
controlled the bay. They were a small maneuverable type of boat,
propelled by oars and sail, and mounted long brass nine-pounders.
To attack from the north, the English would be exposed to a murderous
fire from the Castillo and Cubo Line. The only alternative was a siege
that might starve St. Augustine into submission. Colonel Palmer, who had
raided the city in 1728, was assigned to hold Fort Mosa with a hundred
Highlanders and a few Indians, and prevent supplies from reaching St.
Augustine from the north. Colonel Vanderdusen, with the Carolina
detachment, was stationed on Point Quartel, north of the inlet. Guns
were landed on Anastasia Island and dragged into position as near the
fort and town as the swampy terrain would permit. The English naval unit
tightly blockaded the coast and inlets to prevent aid from reaching St.
Augustine by sea. General Oglethorpe then boldly called upon Governor
Montiano to surrender. The latter replied that he would be glad to shake
hands with his Excellency within the castle's walls.
From their batteries across the bay, the English began an intermittent
bombardment of the fort and town that continued for some twenty-seven
days. The terrified inhabitants withdrew out of range, greeting each
enemy shot with a chorus of _Ave Marias_.
On the night of June 26th, during a lull in the bombardment, Spanish and
Negro troops crept out of the defense lines, and at dawn fell upon the
English at Fort Mosa. Palmer and fifty of his men were killed, and some
taken prisoner.
Within the city supplies were fast diminishing. Governor Montiano sent
messengers to Cuba, stating that if aid was not sent all at St.
Augustine would soon perish. On July 7th he received encouraging word
that two vessels from Cuba had eluded the English blockade and slipped
into Mosquito Inlet, eighty miles to the south. Pursued by the English
patrol, they managed to reach Matanzas Inlet, and from that point
supplies were brought up the inland waterway to relieve the beleaguered
city.
The hot summer sun beat down on the English camps across the bay. Swarms
of sandflies and mosquitoes tortured the besiegers. Due to brackish
water from shallow wells and improper food, many were ill. Groups of the
Carolina militia were daily deserting. The commander of the English
naval unit informed Oglethorpe that he would soon be forced to withdraw
his support, because of limited supplies and the danger of storms. Faced
by these unfavorable circumstances, General Oglethorpe raised the siege,
crossed over to the mainland, and began the long trek back to Georgia.
The people of St. Augustine returned jubilantly to their homes, which
had suffered little or no damage in the bombardment. Chapels and
churches rang with _Te Deums_ of thanksgiving.
_Further Hostilities_
St. Augustine had successfully stemmed the English advance. Spain
further strengthened its garrison and defenses. Spanish privateers, some
of them based at St. Augustine, preyed upon English commerce and
plantations along the coast to the north. During 1741 no less than
thirty English prizes were brought into Matanzas Bay.
Oglethorpe momentarily expected the Spanish to launch a return attack
upon Georgia. During June of 1742 a Georgia scout boat discovered
fifteen sail in St. Augustine's harbor. Soon more arrived, and a strong
expedition composed of units from St. Augustine and Cuba set out for
Georgia, with Florida's Governor Montiano in command. The attack was
directed toward Fort Frederica, which guarded the approaches to
Savannah. Landing on St. Simon's Island, this superior Spanish force was
ambushed and defeated in the Battle of Bloody Marsh, and withdrew to its
camp. Soon afterward a Frenchman deserted the English and went over to
the Spaniards. Oglethorpe contrived to send the Frenchman a letter, in
which he directed him to lead the Spaniards to believe that the English
were weak, and to persuade them to attack. As expected, the letter fell
into the hands of the Spanish commanders, who were at a loss as to how
to interpret it. Much to Oglethorpe's relief they decided to withdraw.
Encouraged by his success, Oglethorpe returned to Florida next year.
Marching ninety-six miles in four days, he appeared before St. Augustine
with a small detachment, keeping his main force hidden in ambush. His
ruse might have succeeded, had he not captured in his advance a small
company of Spaniards guarding some workmen. Their failure to return
alerted the garrison. After a few days he withdrew, remarking that "the
Spaniards are so meek there is no provoking them."
Frederica, which Oglethorpe had established as a Georgia military
stronghold against the Spaniards, gradually became a ghost town after
peace was restored in 1748. In the meantime Oglethorpe returned to
England and never threatened St. Augustine or Florida again. In England
he became an intimate of the great literary figures of the day, and
lived to the ripe old age of 96.
The next twenty years might be called St. Augustine's Golden Age under
Spain. Substantial coquina houses and tastefully decorated chapels lined
its narrow streets. The inhabitants lived in relative ease and comfort.
Social life was gay with colorful carnivals and religious celebrations
rivaling those of Havana, Cuba. The capital was now a city of three
thousand souls, and would soon be two centuries old. Florida seemed held
firmly in the grip of Spain.
But English colonists to the north now numbered almost one million and
one hundred thousand Frenchmen had settled in Canada. The struggle for
power among European nations was to decide St. Augustine's fate.
[Illustration: _St. Augustine's Spanish colonial origin is reflected
in its architecture and narrow streets._]
[Illustration: _Photo courtesy National Galleries of Scotland; from
portrait by Allan Ramsay, circa 1750, reproduced with permission of
its owner, the Duke of Sutherland._
_Colonel James Grant, St. Augustine's first British governor, served
from 1764 to 1771._]