Under the United States
St. Augustine was at last a part of the United States. Most of its
Spanish residents bid the narrow streets farewell. The Minorcans, now
firmly domiciled here, made up the major portion of the town's
population. Many by this time had risen to positions of influence in its
affairs.
Officials of the new regime found St. Augustine a rather dilapidated old
town, devoid of progress and ambition. Due to the poverty that had
marked the closing years of the second Spanish period, public and
private buildings were badly run down, some almost in ruins. Soon after
the change of flags, speculators and promoters flocked to the city, and
were quartered in some of the deserted houses. In the fall of 1821 an
epidemic of dreaded yellow fever carried off many of the newcomers. A
new cemetery was opened up near the City Gates to receive the victims, a
few of whom may have been of Huguenot descent. It became known as the
Huguenot, or Protestant cemetery.
In spite of its unkempt condition, St. Augustine possessed a certain
mellow charm. At times the scent of orange blossoms hung heavy in the
air and could be noticed by passing ships at sea. Along the narrow
streets latticed gates led into cool courtyards and secluded gardens.
There was no industry or commerce to disturb the serenity of the scene.
St. Augustine's shallow inlet, which preserved it from its enemies, also
prevented it from becoming a place of bustling trade.
_Visitors Begin to Arrive_
Although difficult to reach by sea because of its treacherous bar, and
by land over a road that was little more than a trail, a few adventurous
travelers began to visit this quaint old city, which the United States
had recently acquired. They were chiefly invalids and tubercular
victims, for whom the mild winter climate was considered beneficial.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was later to become the noted New England poet
and philosopher, visited St. Augustine in 1827, at the age of 23,
suffering from what he termed a "stricture of the chest." During his ten
weeks' stay he recorded in his journal and letters his impressions of
the city as he then saw it.
"St. Augustine is the oldest town of Europeans in North America," he
observed, "full of ruins, chimneyless houses, lazy people, horse-keeping
intolerably dear, and bad milk from swamp grass, as all their hay comes
from the North."
[Illustration: _Napoleon Achille Murat, one of St. Augustine's early
visitors._]
But it restored his health and later he was inspired to comment: "The
air and sky of this ancient, fortified, dilapidated sandbank of a town
are delicious. It is a queer place. There are eleven or twelve hundred
people and these are invalids, public officials, and Spaniards, or
rather Minorcans."
While here Emerson met another distinguished visitor of the time, Prince
Napoleon Achille Murat, son of the King of Naples, and nephew of the
great Napoleon. Murat came to Florida in 1824, purchased an estate south
of St. Augustine, and was a frequent visitor to the city, living here
for a time during the Seminole War. He later settled on a plantation
near Tallahassee. St. Augustine began to prosper in a small way from its
increasing number of visitors and winter residents.
_The Freeze of 1835_
The growing of oranges was an important industry in St. Augustine and
its vicinity at this time. Many of its residents derived their principal
income from the sale of the golden fruit, which was shipped by sloop to
northern cities. The town was described by visitors as being virtually
bowered in groves, and on each side of the Plaza were two rows of
handsome orange trees, planted by Governor Grant during the English
occupation.
During February of 1835 a biting cold of extended duration swept down
out of the northwest. At nearby Jacksonville the thermometer dropped to
eight degrees, and ice formed on the St. Johns River. St. Augustine's
beautiful orange groves were killed to the ground, sweeping away the
main source of livelihood for many of its people. Only the bare trunks
and branches remained, making the city look bleak and desolate.
Some of the trees sprouted from their damaged roots; others were
planted, and in a few decades St. Augustine's orange groves were again
the subject of admiring comment on the part of visitors. But during the
winter of 1894-95 another freeze destroyed them. The citrus industry
moved farther south and was not again revived on a commercial scale in
St. Augustine or its immediate vicinity.
[Illustration: _Osceola, colorful leader of the Seminoles. From a
portrait by George Catlin, painted during the chief's imprisonment
at Fort Moultrie, S. C._]
_The Seminole War_
The Seminole War followed closely on the heels of the disastrous freeze
of 1835. Shortly after New Year's day of 1836 St. Augustine learned of
the massacre of Major Dade and his command of 110 men. They were
ambushed by Seminoles while enroute from Fort Brooke (Tampa) to Fort
King (Ocala). On the same day, December 28, 1835, General Wiley
Thompson, the Indian agent at Fort King, and another officer were
killed. Soon plantations in the vicinity of St. Augustine were attacked
and burned, and refugees arrived with gory tales of Indian atrocities.
The February 27, 1836, issue of _Niles Register_ carried the following
item:
"The whole country south of St. Augustine has been laid waste during the
past week, and not a building of any value left standing. There is not a
single house remaining between this city and Cape Florida, a distance of
250 miles."
When this occurred the original Indian tribes of Florida encountered by
the early Spaniards had completely disappeared. Some had been wiped out
during the long period of border conflict with the English. Others had
succumbed to epidemics of disease. By the early 1800's the principal
Indians found in Florida were called Seminoles, and were a combination
of several tribal remnants from Georgia and Alabama.
Under United States rule the Seminoles were first restricted to a more
limited area by the Treaty of Moultrie in 1823. But as settlers
continued to pour in, a demand arose for their complete removal from
Florida to reservations in the West, which the younger Seminole leaders
were determined to resist. The effort to force their removal to western
reservations resulted in conflict that dragged on for seven years, from
1835 to 1842.
Officer after officer was sent to Florida to take command of operations
against the Indians, including General Winfield Scott of subsequent
Mexican War fame; and General Zachary Taylor, later to become President
of the United States. But roving bands of Seminoles continued to strike
and vanish into the dense swamps and little known woodlands.
In 1837 two prominent Seminole leaders, Osceola and Coacoochee, with
seventy of their warriors, were seized by General Hernandez under orders
from General Jesup at a point a few miles south of St. Augustine. The
Indians had come in under a white flag for a parley with United States
officers. The captives were brought to St. Augustine and imprisoned in
the Castillo, from which Coacoochee and twenty companions managed to
escape. Osceola died soon after transfer to Fort Moultrie, Charleston.
During May of 1840 a party of actors enroute from Picolata to St.
Augustine were attacked by Indians, and near the same point two St.
Augustine residents were murdered.
"It is useless to complain," stated a news item of the day. "The fact
remains that we have been pent up in this little city for the last four
years and a half by a few worthless outlaws. Our friends and neighbors,
one after another, have been hastened to the mansions of the dead, and
he who is foolhardy enough to venture beyond the gates may be the next
victim."
But St. Augustine as usual managed to be gay. A young lieutenant,
William Tecumseh Sherman of later Civil War fame, was stationed at
Picolata and frequently rode into St. Augustine for diversion. In one of
his letters home he wrote under date of February 15, 1842:
"The inhabitants (of St. Augustine) still preserve the old ceremonies
and festivities of old Spain. Balls, masquerades, etc., are celebrated
during the gay season of the Carnival (just over), and the most
religious observance of Lent in public, whilst in private they can not
refrain from dancing and merry making. Indeed, I never saw anything like
it--dancing, dancing, and nothing but dancing, but not such as you see in
the North. Such ease and grace as I never before beheld."
Dr. Motte, a young military surgeon, made a similar observation in his
journal: "The St. Augustine ladies certainly danced more gracefully, and
kept better time, than any of my fair country women I ever saw in
northern cities. It was really delightful to see the beautiful Minorcan
girls moving through their intricate waltz to the music of violin and
tambourine."
Finally most of the Seminoles were killed or surrendered for transfer to
reservations in the West. A few were allowed to remain deep in the
Everglades. There were probably less than 5,000 Indians in Florida at
the outset, yet the war involved the enlistment of 20,000 men, an
estimated cost of thirty million dollars, and 1,500 United States
casualties.
St. Augustine somewhat reluctantly saw the war come to an end. The
presence of officers and troops had enlivened its social life, and
poured government funds into the city.
_A Peaceful Interlude_
The end of the Seminole War made Florida safe again for travelers.
William Cullen Bryant, the popular poet and author, paid St. Augustine a
visit in 1843 and wrote articles about the city that were widely read.
He noted that gabled roofs were rapidly replacing the flat roofs of the
first Spanish period, and that some "modern" wooden buildings had been
constructed. More than half the inhabitants still spoke the Minorcan, or
Mahonese language.
Another visitor of 1843 was Henry B. Whipple, later a prominent
Episcopal Bishop. He found masquerading still a popular pastime in the
city. Masking began during the Christmas holidays and continued until
Lent. Small groups of people dressed in various disguises spent the
evenings going from house to house, acting out their parts and
furnishing their own music with guitar and violin. Whipple wrote that
St. Augustine was still full of old ruins, and that "he liked to wander
through the narrow streets and gaze upon these monitors of time, which
whispered that the hands that built them were long since mouldering in
the grave."
[Illustration: _St. George Street as it looked in the 1870's._]
In 1845 Florida became the twenty-seventh state admitted to the Union.
Tallahassee had been selected as its territorial capital in 1824, being
a compromise between St. Augustine and Pensacola, both of which were
difficult to reach from most of the state.
[Illustration: _General Edmund Kirby Smith._]
_During the Civil War_
St. Augustine lived on, enlivened during the winter by an influx of
visitors, and drowsing undisturbed through the long summers until
aroused by another conflict--the Civil War.
Slaves played a relatively minor role in its economy, as compared with
the rest of the state. Although a few plantations in the immediate
vicinity employed slave labor, they were chiefly used as domestic
servants and were generally well treated. There was considerable Union
sentiment in the city due to its number of northern-born residents.
Edmund Kirby-Smith, who had played in St. Augustine's streets as a boy,
became one of the leading Confederate Generals. His father came to the
city in 1822 as Judge of the Superior Court and died here in 1846. His
mother continued to occupy their home on what is now Aviles Street.
During January of 1861 she wrote her son: "Our hearts are steeped in
sadness and anxiety. Forebodings of evil yet to come depress us. We are
threatened with the greatest calamity that can befall a nation. Civil
war stares us in the face."
In the same letter she tells of how the news of Florida's secession from
the Union was received at St. Augustine: "Our state has seceded, and it
was announced here by the firing of cannon and musketry, and much
shooting. A large flag made by the ladies is waving on the square. By
order of the Governor of this State, the Fort, Barracks, and Federal
property were taken possession of. Cannon are mounted on the ramparts of
the Fort to defend it if any attempt should be made to retake it."
Soon the shouting ceased and war became a stark reality with its
heartaches, poverty, and privation. Many young men from St. Augustine
went into the Confederate armies. The majority of its northern-born
residents returned to the North to live for the duration of the war. The
flow of visitors to the city ceased.
During March of 1862 a Union blockading squadron appeared off the inlet,
and an officer came ashore with a white flag to demand the city's
surrender. During the night its small Confederate garrison withdrew.
Next morning St. Augustine was occupied by Union forces and held by them
during the remainder of the conflict. Before the Federal troops landed
the women of the city cut down the flag pole in the Plaza so that the
Union standard could not be raised where their Confederate banner had
waved.
[Illustration: _Travelers complained bitterly of the service on the
Picolata stage line, here shown bogged down enroute to St.
Augustine. From a sketch made in 1867._]
_Tourist Industry Resumed_
When the Civil War came to an end in 1865, St. Augustine was three
centuries old. As the effects of the war and the reconstruction period
wore away, the entertainment of winter residents and visitors was
resumed. The city was still exceptionally quaint and foreign in
appearance.
[Illustration: {Mule-drawn streetcar}]
A visitor of 1869 found the Florida House, one of the city's three small
hotels, crowded with guests and wrote: "The number of strangers here
greatly exceeded our expectations, and thronged in every street and
public place. The fashionable belle of Newport and Saratoga, the pale,
thoughtful clergyman of New England, were at all points encountered."
The city badly needed better hotels and travel facilities. Visitors then
had to come up the St. Johns River by steamer to Picolata, and from
there a horse-drawn stage jolted them for eighteen miles over a
miserable road to the San Sebastian River, where a flatboat ferried the
carriage across the river to the city's outskirts.
By 1871 travelers could go up the St. Johns River by steamer to Tocoi
Landing, and there take a mule-drawn car over a crude railroad that ran
fifteen miles east through the wilderness to St. Augustine. It was
called the St. Johns Railway and a few years later installed two
wood-burning locomotives.
[Illustration: _The San Marco, St. Augustine's first great resort
hotel, was opened in 1886, and burned to the ground in 1897._]
_Its Isolation Broken_
The bonds of isolation and inaccessibility, which had retarded St.
Augustine's growth yet preserved its Old World character, were gradually
being removed. Some signs of this awakening were apparent. "Hammers are
ringing on the walls of a new hotel," a visitor noted, "in which
northern tourists are to be lodged, a splendid coquina wall, which might
have stood for another century, having been torn down to make room for
this ephemeral box."
The same observer lamented that because of these changes the city was
losing some of it former charm: "The romance of the place is gradually
departing now. The merry processions of the Carnival, with mask, violin
and guitar, are no longer kept up with the old taste; the rotund Padri,
the delicate form of the Spanish lady, clad in _mantilla_ and _basquina_
are gone."
In 1883 the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railway was
completed, linking the city with South Jacksonville. A mammoth
four-story wooden hotel, the San Marco, arose on a site just west of the
Castillo. The tide of tourists swelled. Souvenir shops, museums, and
showplaces sprang up.
_The Flagler Influence_
Among St. Augustine's many visitors during the winter of 1883-84 was
Henry M. Flagler, one of the co-founders of the Standard Oil Company.
Immensely wealthy, he came to rest but was impressed with St.
Augustine's charm and possibilities. Many well-to-do families were then
wintering on the southern shores of France and Italy, a section known as
the Riviera. Flagler believed they could be induced to come to Florida
if proper facilities were provided for them. He decided to invest in the
construction of luxurious hotels at St. Augustine that would make the
Florida coast an "American Riviera."
His first hotel, the Ponce de Leon was begun in 1885. Two others, the
Alcazar and Casa Monica (later renamed Cordova), were soon underway
nearby. These and other Flagler-financed structures were massively built
of solid concrete in a style of architecture adapted from palaces in
Spain.
The magnificent Ponce de Leon opened on January 10, 1888, the Alcazar
and Cordova soon afterward. Wealth and fashion flocked to St. Augustine,
which became termed the "Southern Newport." Sailboats dotted the bay and
fine carriages dashed about the streets.
When Flagler began the construction of his hotels, he also purchased the
small railroads in the vicinity, improving their service and facilities
as a means of making the area easier to reach. This marked the beginning
of the Florida East Coast Railway, which he later extended down the
coast, creating Palm Beach in 1894, and launching Miami upon its career
of magic growth in 1896.
[Illustration: _The building of the Hotel Ponce de Leon ushered in a
new era._]
[Illustration: _A reconstructed portion of St. George Street near
City Gateway._]
_The Changing Scene_
Progress, like St. Augustine's former invaders, had little respect for
the past. The old and storied inevitably gave way to the new and
so-called modern. Old houses and remaining sections of the defense lines
were torn down to make room for new buildings of the prevailing period,
and the changes were hailed as a great improvement.
Even before this took place many of the old landmarks had disappeared.
When building material was needed, St. Augustine's residents of former
periods used the stone from some old dilapidated structure. It was much
easier than cutting and transporting new blocks of coquina from the
Anastasia Island quarries.
A visitor of 1870 reported: "Although the ruins of its former greatness
are to be seen on every side, yet by one and another means the most
venerable are passing out of sight. The Palace of the British Attorney
General (located opposite the Cathedral), which it is said was of grand
proportions, has been torn down so that the material could be used for
other buildings."
Fires also took their toll. The settlement was completely burned by
Drake in 1586, and again burned by the Carolinians under Moore in 1702.
In 1887 flames swept the Cathedral and portions of the block north of
the Plaza. Again in 1914 a disastrous fire wiped out many of the
buildings in the older section of the city between the City Gates and
the Plaza.
[Illustration: _The St. Augustine Historical Society's Oldest House
is a carefully preserved example of a Spanish colonial home._]
[Illustration: _As in all towns of Spanish colonial origin, a
stately Cathedral looks down upon an ancient Plaza._]
_St. Augustine Today_
In spite of the many changes made in its physical appearance down
through the centuries, many evidences of St. Augustine's historic past
have managed to survive. Massive Castillo de San Marcos still frowns
upon the bay as it did two centuries and a half ago. The City Gateway,
remains as a mute reminder of the capital's former defenses. The narrow
streets of the original town have defied complete alteration, and still
reflect their Old World origin and character.
The ancient Plaza, with its refreshing shade, is possibly more beautiful
now than when worn by the tread of parading garrisons. Here also stood
the residence of a long line of Spanish and English governors. Facing
the Plaza on the north the Cathedral looks down in simple dignity, its
clock and sundial marking the infinite procession of hours, days and
years.
The city's long period under Spain is reflected in some of its
architecture, in many of its street names, and in the general plan of
the older section, which was laid out as specified by the Spanish King.
The name St. George Street, honoring England's patron Saint, is a legacy
from the English period, as is also Charlotte Street, named for the
queen of George III.
The bayfront commands a view of waters where ships of many kinds and
from many ports once rode at anchor. The original inlet through which
they sailed has disappeared, and a man-made channel now cuts through the
barrier islands. Davis Shores, a popular residential district across the
bay, was once a marsh from which the English shelled the fort and town
in 1740.
At the south end of the original settlement the State Arsenal occupies
the site of the Franciscan Monastery, from which the heroic Friars went
forth to Christianize the Florida Indians. Across from it the Oldest
House, owned by the St. Augustine Historical Society, preserves some of
the Spanish atmosphere of former periods. Its connecting museum and
library contain many relics and records of the past.
The Old Spanish Treasury on St. George Street was once the residence of
the Royal Treasurer, from which Treasury Street also derives its name.
North of the City Gateway the Fountain of Youth perpetuates the memory
of Ponce de Leon's discovery of Florida and man's longing for youth
restored. Occupying high ground nearby the Mission of Nombre de Dios
marks the probable landing place of Menendez and the hallowed spot where
the first Parish Mass was celebrated.
Few who visit St. Augustine can fail to feel the romantic spell of its
antiquity. The memory of its eventful past still haunts its sandy shore.
[Illustration: _New Library building of the St. Augustine Historical
Society._]
The voluminous historical records of St. Augustine and early Florida are
preserved in the library of the St. Augustine Historical Society.
Assembled over a period of more than fifty years, and spanning 400 years
of history, these records include copies of literally thousands of
documents from the archives of Spain, Mexico, England, and repositories
in the United States. The collection also comprises hundreds of old
maps, various forms of pictorial material, and some 7,500 books, many of
them rare and out of print. To save space much of the material is in the
form of microfilm.
Founded in 1883, the Society is dedicated to the preservation and
accurate interpretation of St. Augustine's rich historical heritage. It
has been long active in protecting the historic landmarks of the city,
and pioneered in restoring some of its older structures.
PUBLICATIONS
ST. AUGUSTINE'S HISTORICAL HERITAGE, Harris Pictures. An illustrated
guide to the city's principal points of historic and scenic interest,
with fine photographs of streets and buildings. 40 pages, size 81/2 x 11
inches. $1.00
SAINT AUGUSTINE, AN EARLY HISTORY OF THE FAMOUS CITY TOLD IN PICTURES.
24 pages, size 81/2 by 11 inches. 50c
COLOR BOOK OF HISTORIC FORTS, Fort Caroline--Fort Matanzas--Castillo De
San Marcos. 36 pages, 81/2 x 11 inches. 50c
Mail orders filled at prices quoted plus 25c to cover mailing. Florida
residents add 4% state sales tax. Address:
C. F. Hamblen Inc.
P. O. Box 1568
St. Augustine, Florida 32084
[Illustration: Old St. Augustine]
Transcriber's Notes
--Silently corrected a few typos.
--Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.
--Transcribed the text within some illustrations.
--In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.