Spanish Rule Returns
When they reoccupied Florida in 1784, the Spaniards had changed but
little during their twenty-year absence from the scene. With their
return St. Augustine reverted to its former status as an isolated
military post, heavily dependent upon outside sources for its supplies
and financial support.
Agriculture was neglected and brush soon covered the plantation fields,
which the English and their slaves had cleared. Indians again roamed at
will through the countryside. On the heels of the departing English they
burned Bella Vista, the beautiful country estate of Lieutenant-Governor
Moultrie, located a few miles south of St. Augustine in the community
now bearing his name.
The population of the capital, which had overflowed into new districts
just before the English left, shrank to a fraction of its former size.
Only a few score English remained to take the required oath of
allegiance to the Spanish Crown. A relatively small number of St.
Augustine's former Spanish residents, or _Floridanos_, uprooted in 1763,
returned from Cuba to claim their former homes. The Minorcan group,
including a few Greeks and Italians, made up the major portion of St.
Augustine's civilian inhabitants.
Vacant houses stared blankly along the narrow streets. Some with flat
roofs and outside kitchens were relics of the first Spanish period.
Others had been remodelled after the English taste with glass window
panes, gabled roofs, and chimneys. St. Peter's Church, in which the
English had worshipped, remained unoccupied and soon became a ruin.
Although a Spanish possession, St. Augustine acquired from time to time
interesting residents of other nationalities. Juan McQueen, a close
friend of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Lafayette, came to
the city in 1791 to escape embarrassing debts, and held official
positions under the Spanish regime until death closed his colorful
career in 1807. John Leslie, the famous English trader, also lived here
after the Revolutionary War. The firm of Panton, Leslie and Company
enjoyed a monopoly in trading with the Indians of Florida, and supplied
St. Augustine with many of its needs on liberal credit.
[Illustration: _Ruins of the Fish mansion on Anastasia, or Fish's
Island, from a pencil sketch made by the Rev. Henry J. Morton in
1867._]
Philip Fatio, a Swiss, owned a large plantation on the St. Johns River
in a section now known as Switzerland. He maintained a store and
residence at St. Augustine, and had other extensive land holdings. Among
the Minorcan group was an Estevan Benet, one of whose descendants was
Stephen Vincent Benet, the noted writer.
Jesse Fish lived across the bay on what is now called Fish's Island with
his many slaves and famous orange grove, from which he shipped fruit and
juice to England. He was sent to St. Augustine as a youth by a trading
firm during the first Spanish period, won the confidence of the
Spaniards, and remained as custodian of some of their property through
the English regime. The old patriarch still occupied his coquina mansion
across the bay when the Spaniards returned.
Father Pedro Camps, Padre of the Minorcan group, followed them to St.
Augustine from New Smyrna in 1777, and continued as their beloved
spiritual leader until his death in 1790. Also prominent in the city's
religious life was Father Michael O'Reilly, an Irish priest, who came
with Governor Zespedes in 1784 and remained active until removed by
death in 1812.
Life in St. Augustine followed a distinctive pattern, due to its
isolation and lack of frequent communication with other cities. It was
Spanish in language, dress, customs, and for the most part in
architecture and population. Some of its officials and planters owned
slaves, fine horses, and lived comfortably if not elaborately. They
enjoyed leisure time for gambling, cock fighting, and to lounge through
the long summers in a cool patio or at a congenial tavern. The populace
was characteristically lazy and did little more than necessary to keep
body and soul together. As in other Spanish colonies, the _siesta_, or
after-dinner nap, was routine. During the mid-day heat streets were
deserted and nothing stirred as if under the spell of an enchanter's
wand.
[Illustration: _Old print of Plaza showing Cathedral and
Constitution monument._]
One of the chief additions made to the city during its second Spanish
period was the construction of a graceful new Parish Church. The
building was begun in 1791, dedicated in 1797, and later consecrated as
a Cathedral. Damaged by fire in 1887, it was restored the following year
with the addition of the present clock tower. The Spaniards also
commenced a new Treasury building, which was never completed due to lack
of funds. Its mute walls remained standing until after the Civil War.
For a time the Spanish government offered grants of land in East Florida
on liberal terms to attract settlers. Hardy pioneers from the adjacent
South poured in, who secretly wanted to overthrow Spanish rule. Fearing
this influence, Spain closed the territory to further settlement by
Americans in 1804.
The story of East Florida and its capital from 1800 on is one of
increasing difficulties, caused by the course of events in Europe and
friction with neighboring southern states. Spain's wealth and power were
rapidly declining. One after another her American colonies sought and
won their independence. In the southeastern United States sentiment for
the possession of Florida was fanned by Indian raids and the loss of
slaves across the border, which Spanish officials seemed to do little to
control.
In 1812, to assuage popular clamor, the Spanish Cortes adopted a more
liberal constitution, and decreed that monuments be erected to
commemorate it. At St. Augustine a coquina shaft was raised that still
graces its Plaza, but scarcely had it been dedicated when the
constitution was revoked, and the monuments were ordered dismantled.
Here only the tablets were removed and later replaced.
_The North Florida Republic_
When the war of 1812 broke out between England and the United States, it
was feared that England, then allied with Spain, might seize the
Floridas as a base for military operations. The Congress authorized
President Madison to appoint two agents, who were to endeavor to secure
the temporary cession of East and West Florida to the United States. In
the event this failed, steps were to be taken to forcibly occupy the
provinces, should England threaten to seize them.
President Madison appointed old General Matthews as his agent to East
Florida. He was a Revolutionary War veteran and a former governor of
Georgia. With promises of liberal grants of land, Matthews encouraged
the planters along the northern borders of East Florida to set up an
independent republic. The plan was to then turn over the territory it
occupied to the United States. After seizing Fernandina these Patriots,
as they were termed, advanced on St. Augustine with a small detachment
of regular troops, occupied Fort Mosa on its northern outskirts, and
called upon the Spanish governor to surrender. He sent a gunboat up the
river to dislodge them, but they continued to camp in the vicinity for
several months. St. Augustine was cut off from supplies and the
surrounding country plundered by Indians and outlaws.
[Illustration: _The unfinished Spanish Treasury on St. George
Street, from a sketch made in 1867. Present Old Spanish Treasury,
shown in the background, still stands._]
Loud Spanish and English protests caused President Madison to recall his
agents and repudiate their actions.
[Illustration: _Streets such as this once were gay with costumed
revelers._]
_A Bit of Spain_
In a _Narrative of a Voyage to the Spanish Main_, published in 1819, an
Englishman gives the following description of St. Augustine's residents
during this period:
"The women are deservedly celebrated for their charm, their lovely
black eyes have a vast deal of expression, their complexions a clear
brunette; much attention is paid to the arrangement of their hair; at
Mass they are always well dressed in black silk _basquinas_ with the
little _mantilla_ over their heads; the men in their military
costumes."
The same traveler later returned to St. Augustine by land, and found the
city in a gay mood despite its difficulties.
"I had arrived at the season of general relaxation, on the eve of the
Carnival, which is celebrated with much gaiety in all Catholic
countries. Masks, dominoes, harlequins, punchinelloes, and a variety
of grotesque disguises, on horseback, in carts, gigs, and on foot
paraded the streets with guitars, violins, and other instruments; and
in the evening the houses were opened to receive masks, and balls were
given in every direction."
_Ceded to the United States_
After the War of 1812 there was still friction between Spanish Florida
and the United States. Bands of Indians and escaped slaves occupied
choice lands of the Florida interior, fortified the navigable rivers,
and made occasional raids across the border. The Spanish garrison was
not large enough to control lawless elements. In 1817 Fernandina and
Amelia Island were taken over by MacGregor, an English soldier of
fortune, later occupied by the pirate Autry, and became a den of outlaws
and smugglers. United States troops were sent to dislodge them and
restore law and order. General Andrew Jackson led an expedition into
north central and west Florida in 1818 to punish the Indians, and after
destroying their strongholds occupied Pensacola.
England and Spain vehemently protested these violations of Spanish
territory. Negotiations for the purchase of Florida were reopened.
During February of 1819 a treaty was concluded whereby Spain finally
ceded Florida to the United States, which appropriated up to five
million dollars to pay the claims of Americans arising from the recent
depredations. Spain ratified the treaty in 1820.
On July 10, 1821, Colonel Robert Butler and a small detachment of United
States troops received possession of East Florida and Castillo de San
Marcos from Jose Coppinger, the last of the Spanish governors. After the
Spanish flag was lowered, leaving the stars and stripes flying over the
fortress, Spanish troops marched out between lines of American soldiers
and they mutually saluted. The Spaniards then boarded American
transports waiting to convey them to Cuba, one of the few remaining
possessions of Spain's great colonial empire in America.
[Illustration: _The Llambias House, a picturesque St. Augustine home
dating back to the first Spanish period._]