PLUNDER OF THE TOWN BY CAPTAIN DAVIS.--REMOVAL Of THE YEMASSEE
INDIANS.--CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORT.--BUILDING OF THE FIRST
SEA-WALL.--ATTACKS OF GOVERNOR MOORE AND COLONEL PALMER.
The town of St. Augustine had continued to grow, and ninety years after
its foundation was said to contain three hundred householders. This
statement may be correct, as the town was afterward partly burned
(1702), though Romans, more than a hundred years later, says there were
not three hundred houses in his time.
The parish church at this period (1655) was said to have been built of
wood, as the bishop of the diocese (Cuba and Florida) was unable to
provide a better structure, his income being less than five hundred
dollars per annum. In 1771 De Brahm says the churches were all built of
stone. The city was allowed during the latter part of the seventeenth
century a vicar, a parochial curate, and a superior sacristan, and a
chaplain was attached to the fort. The convent of St. Francis was in a
prosperous condition, having under its charge fifty brethren, greatly
respected and very zealous for the conversion of the Indians.
In 1665 Captain Davis, an English buccaneer, sailed from the West Indies
along the Florida coast for the purpose of intercepting the Spanish
treasure fleet returning from Mexico. While waiting their coming he
plundered St. Augustine as a diversion, no opposition being made by the
inhabitants, who retired into the fort to assist the garrison of two
hundred men in defending this structure. The castle was at that time an
octagon flanked by two round towers.
In 1584 Captains Barlow and Armada, by the authority of Sir Walter
Raleigh, had taken possession of the rivers and lands of the northern
coast of Florida (South Carolina). As late as 1663 England claimed
Florida as a part of the Carolinas, and in the right acquired by Henry
VII. from its discovery by Cabot. In 1670 an English colony was
established near Beaufort, South Carolina. The Spaniards resented this
encroachment upon their territory, and in 1675 projected an attack upon
the South Carolina colony, which was unsuccessful. These attacks and
counter-attacks between the Spanish and English continued until the
Spanish evacuation in 1763.
In 1680 Don Juan Marquez de Cabrera, having been appointed governor,
entered vigorously upon the work of strengthening the defenses of the
town and extending the work of the missions.
Soon after entering upon his duties the governor became annoyed at the
hostile conduct, either real or fancied, of Chief Nichosatly of the
Yemassees. This tribe of Indians was very powerful, and possessed many
flourishing towns in Florida, lying adjacent to the English settlements
on the north.
Cabrera accused him of rendering aid to the British settlers, contrary
to his duties as a subject of the King of Spain.
Nichosatly denied having assisted the English, and professed loyalty to
the Spaniards and the Catholic religion.
Cabrera was unwilling to trust his assurances, and condemned him to be
publicly executed as a traitor. This conduct was as extraordinary as was
that of the Indian; for it is said that he exhibited a remarkable
Christian temper, forgiving his enemies, and exhorting his friends not
to avenge his death. This advice was not followed, unfortunately for the
Spanish interests. The English used this injury to excite the Yemassees
to a fierce war, and the Spaniards were soon driven from all their
settlements north of the St. Johns River. Cabrera was soon after
recalled in disgrace by the King of Spain, but the evil he had done was
irreparable, and from this time the Spanish influence among the Indians
began to decline.
Governor Cabrera had accumulated a large quantity of material,
consisting of stone, oyster-shell lime, cement, timber, and iron for the
prosecution of the work on the fort. His successors continued to collect
supplies as fast as their means would allow. From 1693 to 1701 the
governor, Laureano de Torrez-y-Ayala, kept constantly in operation two
lime-kilns. He also had thirty stone-cutters employed in getting out the
stone from the quarries on Anastatia Island, and eight yokes of oxen
hauling the coquina to the landing on Quarry Creek.
In 1687 Don Juan de Aila volunteered to go to Spain and procure for the
colony the assistance of men and supplies, of which it stood in great
need. This he did, providing his own vessel, and, as a reward for his
efforts, the Spanish crown granted him a permit to import merchandise
free of duty, and also to carry with him twelve negro slaves. “By a
mischance, he was only able to carry one negro there, with the troops
and other cargo, and was received in the city with universal joy. This
was the first occasion of the reception of African slaves.”[12]
The Count de Galvez, Viceroy of New Spain (Mexico including Florida)
seems to have felt great interest in the Spanish settlement of St.
Augustine. Upon his recommendation the council of the Indies
appropriated in 1691 ten thousand dollars for building a sea-wall from
the castle to the city, and two years after a further sum of six
thousand dollars for building a look-out.
The work upon the sea-wall had already been begun by the governor, Don
Diego de Quiroga-y-Lozada, with what means the local authorities and
citizens could supply.
In 1690, finding the sea was making great encroachments, and threatened
to undermine the houses, having washed with great force and effect upon
the light sands of the water-front, and even up to the very dwellings,
the governor called a meeting of the chief citizens of the town to take
the subject under consideration. It was decided by the chief men that,
in order to prevent the total loss of the great sums that had already
been invested in the fort and other defenses of the town, and to protect
the place from gradual destruction, and being unfitted for habitation,
it was necessary to build a wall from the glacis of the fort to the
public square on the north of the city, which should be a defense
against the force of the sea. Two thousand dollars were contributed, of
which the soldiers are said to have donated seventeen hundred, although
their wages were six years in arrears.
The wall, which was begun at this time, was a slight structure, and
extended only to the present basin in front of the plaza. To one who has
seen the water, in severe north-easters, dashing over the present
sea-wall, it seems strange that the Spaniards had not built a more
extensive and efficacious protection against the sea for their
metropolitan town in North America. One of the old citizens informs me
that the tide rose so high during a severe storm in the fall of 1811,
that boats passed freely over the streets, and the inhabitants were all
obliged to withdraw from the lower story of the houses.
In 1693, Governor Don Laureano de Torrez received another thousand
dollars contributed out of their wages by the soldiers, and also further
assistance from the home government, with which he continued the
building of the sea-wall, and the work on the fort. It is probably about
this time that the Mexican convicts were employed in the construction of
the castle. At one time there was said to have been one hundred and
forty of these convicts in service at St. Augustine.
For several years the Spaniards had greatly harassed the English
settlers in the Carolinas, having made incursions in 1675, and again in
1681, and, as a fixed policy, incited the Indians to make inroads to
ravage the unprotected settlements, and carry off plunder, especially
negroes. Many demands were made on the Spanish authorities for the
negroes thus carried away, and also those who escaped; but the Spaniards
invariably refused to surrender the slaves, alleging that the King of
Spain felt it his duty to keep the negroes under the influence of the
Catholic religion.
In 1702 Governor Moore of South Carolina determined to retaliate upon
the Spaniards for their conduct toward the English, by the capture of
the town of St. Augustine. He induced the legislature to vote him aid to
the extent of two thousand pounds sterling, and to authorize the
enlistment of six hundred volunteers, and an equal number of Creek and
Yemassee Indians. Impressing a number of merchant ships into service as
transports, the troops were taken to Port Royal as a rendezvous, where
Governor Moore joined them in September of the same year. Colonel
Daniel, who is described as the life of the expedition, was made second
in command, and ordered to proceed through the inland passages of the
St. Johns River, and thence to attack St. Augustine by land, while the
governor should enter the harbor and attack the city from his ships. The
Spaniards, having notice of the advance, retired into the castle with
their valuables, and a store of provisions to maintain them for four
months. Colonel Daniel arrived behind the town before Governor Moore’s
fleet came to the harbor, and meeting with no resistance, entered at
once and secured a considerable plunder which the inhabitants had been
unable to remove. The next day Governor Moore arrived and entered upon a
regular siege, so that the Spaniards were obliged to lie quietly within
the walls of the castle. Moore, finding that his cannon were too light
to effect a breach in the walls of the fort, sent a vessel to Jamaica
for guns of a larger caliber. This vessel not returning, he sent Colonel
Daniel in a second on the same errand. While his lieutenant was thus
absent there appeared in sight two Spanish vessels, one of twenty-two
and the other of sixteen guns. At sight of these Moore was stricken with
such a panic that he abandoned his ships and fled across the country to
Charleston. He is said, however, to have first burned the town (in part
only, it is most likely), and to have previously sent to Jamaica the
church plate and other costly church ornaments and utensils. This is
quite likely, as the English troops occupied the parish church
immediately on their entrance into the town.
Colonel Daniel secured the munitions for which he was sent, and promptly
returned to St. Augustine, rejoicing in the thought that the place was
now in their power. Entering the harbor he first learned of Moore’s
retreat upon being chased by the Spanish ships, from which he narrowly
escaped.
This expedition cost the English colony six thousand pounds, for which
they received only disgrace, having accomplished nothing but the
imprisonment of the Spaniards for a period of three months. At the
termination of the siege, the inhabitants at once applied themselves to
repairing and rebuilding their houses, and the governor, Don Joseph de
Zuñiga, received liberal aid from Spain in rebuilding and strengthening
the town.
In 1706 the French and Spaniards under Mons. La Febour entered the
harbor of St. Augustine on their way to attack Charleston. Taking a part
of the garrison of the fort they proceeded on their voyage, but were
obliged to retreat without accomplishing anything.
In 1717 the Spanish governor, Don Juan de Ayola y Escobar, procured a
general combination of the Yemassee, Creek, Apalache, Congaree, Catauba,
and Cherokee Indians, against the English settlements in Carolina.
A year after Don Antonio de Benavuedi y Malina, having been appointed
governor, put a stop to the Indian hostilities against the English.
He seems to have entertained a very unfavorable opinion of the Indians,
which he exhibited in an unreasonable decree against the Yemassees,
exiling this tribe to a distance six leagues south of St. Augustine. The
Yemassees remonstrated with the new governor against this order; stating
to him that although at one time they had joined the English, after the
execution of their Chief Nichosatly, yet they had since repented of that
fault, and fought against them in behalf of the Spaniards; that it would
be a grievous act to drive them from their fields of corn, and their
houses, while the English were their enemies; that they revered the
Catholic king and the holy Church, and desired to have its rites
administered to them, and wished to live in peace.
The governor was obdurate, and ordered Captain Ortagas to execute his
order with the troops. Thus this powerful nation, abandoning their
fields almost ripe for harvest, and many cattle and hogs, were compelled
to make new homes in the wilderness. It is said that many women,
children, and infirm persons were left on Amelia Island; that the
English killed four hundred when they found that the Indians were
abandoning the country; and that of the three thousand who had resided
between St. Augustine and the St. Mary’s River, at the end of a year
from their removal, not one-third had survived the vengeance of their
enemies and hunger and disease. The removal of this tribe of Indians was
impolitic on the part of the Spaniards, as the English soon after took
possession of their lands, which lay between the English and Spanish
settlements.
In 1725 the disputes between the English and Spaniards culminated in
hostilities. The Spaniards charged the English with intruding on their
lands, and the English retorted that the Spaniards had enticed away
their negroes and incited the Indians against their settlements. The
Spanish governor recalled the Yemassees, and having armed and equipped a
body of warriors under their chief Mocano, sent them into Georgia, where
they committed a general massacre.
Colonel Palmer of that colony raised a body of three hundred militia,
and entered Florida, burning and destroying every Spanish and Indian
settlement to the very gates of St. Augustine. The Spanish inhabitants
of the country and town fled into the fort for safety; but, with
execrable meanness, excluded the poor Indians, who were nearly all
killed or made prisoners. The Spaniards saved only what could be
protected by the guns of the fort, which was then quite a formidable
work.
The chapel of Nostra Senora de la Leche, the location of which has been
described, was plundered by some of the soldiers. They stripped it of
the gold and silver vessels, and taking the infant image from the arms
of the figure of the Virgin Mary, brought it to Colonel Palmer, who was
encamped two miles north of the city gates. This piece of sacrilege,
however, was displeasing to the commander, who told the soldiers that
the Spaniards would one day be revenged upon them. Having accomplished
all he could hope from his small force, Colonel Palmer retired with a
great booty of cattle and other plunder.
In 1737 Governor Don Manuel de Monteano, soon after taking command of
the province, made the following report to the Governor-general of Cuba:
“The fort of this place is its only defense; it has no casemates for the
shelter of the men, nor the necessary elevation of the counter-scarp,
nor covert ways, nor ravelins to the curtains, nor other exterior works,
that could give time for a long defense; but it is thus naked outside,
as it is without soul within, for there are no cannon that could be
fired twenty-four hours.” The representations of the governor received
prompt attention at the Spanish Court, where it had now become
recognized that the Spanish possessions in America were endangered, and
unless St. Augustine was maintained, they would be irrecoverably lost.
Large appropriations of money were sent, and a garrison of seven hundred
regular troops, and a number of new cannon assigned to the castle. With
the means thus provided, the governor applied himself with great energy
and skill in putting the fort in an excellent state of defense. The
superintendence of the work was assigned to Don Antonio de Arredondo,
an officer who ranked well among engineers. Bomb-proofs were
constructed, a covered way made, the ramparts heightened and casemated,
and redoubts extended across either end of the town, in which there were
ten salient angles.[13]
Romans states that two of these salient angles or bastions, built of
stone, stood in the southern line of redoubts, but were broken down by
the English, and the material used for the foundation of the new
barracks. From the statements of old residents, I am satisfied that one
or more stood near the present saw-mills, and commanded the approach by
the old road across the marshes of the St. Sebastian.
It is probable that the credit is due Don Arredondo for the symmetry and
beauty of outline in the general design of the fort, and also for the
perfection of the lines, curves, and angles in the masonry. The noble
conception and perfection of detail throughout the work demonstrates the
engineer to have been a man of excellent abilities, and proficient in
the higher mathematics, “one of the sublimest realms of human thought.”
Some of the curves in the masonry within the casemates are beautiful
pieces of design. The compound circular and elliptic arch, or
three-centered circular arch, which supports the incline leading from
the terre-plein to the court, is said to have presented a problem too
difficult for the United States engineer in charge of the repairs after
the change of flags. It will be seen that the north side of the arch
having fallen has been patched with a rectilinear wall, and the symmetry
of the elegant lines destroyed.