ST. AUGUSTINE IN ITS OLD AGE.--1565-1868.
Three hundred and three years have now passed over the walls of this
venerable city. Ten generations of men and women have passed away since
this ancient city had an existence and a name. One can look back to 1565
and picture to the mind the galleons of Spain anchored off its harbor;
see the gallant Adelantado Menendez, clad in mail, preceded by the
standards of Spain, and followed by his men at arms, his bowmen and his
cavaliers, taking possession of the country in the name of his
sovereign. The waves roll in upon the same shores now as they did then;
the green, grassy marshes and oyster-clad banks present to our eyes the
same appearance as they did to theirs; the white sandy beach which
received the impress of the iron-clad heel of the cavalier, now yields
to the pressure of your foot; the rustling pines along the shore cast
their pleasant shadows over you as they did over them, and perchance the
same eager thoughts of gain pervade your breast as you pass beneath
them, as filled the hearts and souls of those who long ago came seeking
gold and wealth unmeasured upon those shores.
Three hundred years ago, and St. Augustine stood the solitary settlement
of the white race north of the Gulf of Mexico in all that great expanse
which now boasts of its thirty-four States, its three hundred cities,
and its thirty millions of people.
Then the Province of Florida extended northward to the pole, and
westward to the Pacific. At a later period, after the voyages of the
French and English, its boundaries were limited to the shores of the
Chesapeake and the Mississippi river, and were subsequently gradually
contracted to their present limits, so that Florida once represented
upon the maps all of the United States.
The life of St. Augustine runs parallel with that of Spain. For a long
period Spain was at the head of European monarchies; its rulers held
sway over more vast possessions than had ever belonged to any single
crown since the days of the Caesars; wealth flowed into its coffers from
the New World in boundless profusion, and corruption, venality and
effeminacy followed in its train. The whole continent of America was
claimed as its dominion. Its fleets anchored upon every shore for
conquest or exploration, and its banners were unfurled by its generals,
and the cross was planted by its priests, upon every headland. From all
this grandeur and eminence the Spanish monarchy has been cast down.
Driven from land to land, it has receded from the main land of America,
and has exchanged its dominion over a continent to the islands of the
sea, which it holds with a precarious grasp, and it now remains in a dry
old age a fourth-rate power where once it stood foremost. The first
planted of all the cities of the United States, St. Augustine, now ranks
among the least.
Ten years have been added to the longevity of the ancient city since the
first publication of this work. Ten years do not make their mark upon
the aged man as they do upon the youth launching forth into manhood, or
as they do upon him who in the full measure of his matured strength is
battling with life. On the nation at large, these ten years have left
almost ineffaceable scars and bruises; ten years, the most important,
the weightiest and the gravest of any since the throes of the great
revolution which gave birth to the nation. This long sad period has left
no mark upon its walls--grey and mouldy with the weight of years, and
have scarcely added a tinge the more of age and sorrow--and yet the
inner life of the old city has sustained a great shock. The system of
servitude, which has now been swept away, was the sole dependence of
many aged persons, of many poor widows and orphan children.
Servants in St. Augustine were treated with paternal kindness; they had
grown up in the family of the indulgent master, had been his play-mate
in infancy, and rendered willing service. They had their holidays and
their balls, and were ever found in the background at all festive
gatherings, enjoying, upon a privileged footing, the pleasures of the
hour, looking on and commenting with pride upon the graceful movements
in the dance of their young mistresses, and anon whirling each other
around to the music, in the corridors, with the unrestrained exuberance
of their simple and unalloyed happiness. All this has passed away, their
homes are broken up, the poor widow and the orphan children have been
brought to want, the sound of music and dancing no longer resound in
the old streets, the privileged house-maid and man-servant no longer do
their easy tasks with cheerful song and merry laugh.
The naval forces of the United States took possession of St. Augustine
in 1862. Batteries had been mounted at the fort, and a small garrison of
Confederate troops were in military occupation of the place, but too few
in numbers to offer any resistance, and the city was surrendered by the
civil authorities upon the demand of Captain Dupont. The 4th New
Hampshire regiment first garrisoned the city. The old fort was brushed
up and repaired, the earth-works strengthened, and barracks built on the
platform. Occasionally reconnoitering parties of Confederates approached
the town, and on one occasion a festive party of officers, who had gone
out to Mr. Solanas, near Picolata, to attend a dance, were captured,
with their music and ambulance, by Captain Dickinson, celebrated for
many daring exploits. It was even believed that this daring partisan had
ridden through the city at night in the guise of a Federal cavalry
officer. On another occasion, the commanding officer of the garrison at
St. Augustine was captured on the road from Jacksonville by a
Confederate picket.
The inhabitants, isolated from all means of obtaining supplies from
without the lines, were reduced to great straits. The only condition
upon which they were allowed to purchase, was the acceptance of an oath
of loyalty. Sympathizing strongly with the South, they were placed in an
unfortunate position, and many doubtless suffered greatly. At one
period, those of the citizens who had relatives in the Confederate
service were ordered to leave the city. Then ensued a scene which
beggars description. Men, women and children were huddled on board a
vessel, and, homeless and helpless, were carried along the coast and
disembarked, shelterless, on the banks of the Nassau river, to make
their way to food and shelter as best they could--hardships which hardly
seemed called for by any military necessity. Many of the young men of
the city went into the Confederate service and served through the war
with distinction, but many fell victims on the battlefield, in the
hospitals, or from exposure to the rigorous climate of Virginia and
Tennessee, to which they were unaccustomed.
To these misfortunes succeeded to all, sales and forcible deprivation of
property, under the most rigorous construction of most rigorous
laws--the unsettling of titles and the loss of mean have combined to
lessen the ability of the people to do more than try to live, without
much effort to improve their homes and the appearance of the city.
Some changes have taken place in the suburbs of the city. Macariz, the
site of the old Indian town, belonging to the late Judge Douglas, with
its beautiful groves of forest trees, has been utterly destroyed; and a
once pleasant cottage home, near the stockades, dear to the writer,
cared for and embellished with many things pleasant to the eye, fragrant
with the ever blooming roses and honeysuckles, has, under the rude hand
of war, been utterly destroyed, with its library, its furniture, and all
its pleasant surroundings.
But while man's work has been to destroy, Nature has done much within
these few years to restore one of its former sources of prosperity, the
cultivation of the orange, which, having been at one period almost
utterly destroyed by the cold, and then by the coccus insect, is now
fast regaining its pristine vigor and productiveness, and promises in a
few years to furnish to the city more permanent and abundant sources of
prosperity than it has ever had.
With the infusion of Northern energy and capital, much could be done to
further the prosperity of the old city, by building up first-class
hotels and boarding-houses for visitors during the winter, by rebuilding
the Picolata railway, thus facilitating access to the city, and thus a
means of support could be given to its inhabitants.
I am sure that no one will feel otherwise than that its old age shall be
tranquil and serene, and that its name may ever be associated with
pleasant memories.
[Illustration: decoration]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The fountain of youth is a very ancient fable; and the reader will
be reminded of the amusing story of the accomplishment of this miracle,
told in Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales, and of the marvelous effects
produced by imbibing this celebrated spring water.
[2] Barcia Ensayo, Cron. 66.
[3] The galleon spoken of was Menendez's own flag ship, the El Pelayo,
the largest vessel in his fleet, fitted out at his own expense, and
which had brought four hundred men. He had put on board of her a
lieutenant and some soldiers, besides fifteen Lutherans as prisoners,
whom he was sending home to the Inquisition at Seville. The orders to
his officers were to go as speedily as possible to the island of
Hispaniola, to bring provisions and additional forces. Upon the passage,
the Lutheran prisoners, with some Levantine sailors, rose upon the
Spaniards, killed the commander, and carried the vessel into Denmark.
Menendez was much chagrined when he ascertained the fate of his favorite
galleon, a long period afterwards.
[4] A low palm, bearing an oily berry.
[5] Ternaux Compans.
[6] Hakluyt.
[7] Brevis Narratio.
[8] W. Gilmore Simms, Esq.
[9] Laudonniere says, "_joignant la montagne_."
[10] Canaveral, where Ribault was wrecked, must have been some point
north of Mosquito Inlet, and not the cape now bearing that name, as he
could not have crossed Mosquito Inlet in his march to Matanzas.
[11] Barcia, p. 87.
[12] Barcia, p. 89.
[13] Barcia, p. 89.
[14] Barcia, p. 89.
[15] Such was the understanding of those who then wrote in reference to
the transaction, as Barcia admits.
[16] Ensay. Cron. 110.
[17] Ensayo: Cron. 115.
[18] Pensacola Bay was also so called.
[19] Ensayo: Cron. 133.
[20] Ternaux Compans, p. 357.
[21] This old chest, which remained in one of the western vaults of the
fort, up to the late war, was broken up for relics, and is no longer
there.
[22] I do not find any account of this expedition and capture of St.
Augustine in the Ensayo Cronologica.
[23] Carroll's S. C., Vol. 1, p. 62.
[24] Rivers' S. C. Hist. Coll. p. 143. Do. Appendix, 426. Carroll's
Coll., 2d vol., 350.
[25] There must be an error, of course, in this statement of an 82-gun
ship entering St. Augustine, as the depth of water would never admit a
vessel of over 300 tons: probably 82 should read 12 tons. G. R. F.
[26] Carroll's Hist. Coll., vol. 2, p. 352.
[27] Rivers' Hist. Sketches, S. C., app. 458.
[28] State Papers of Georgia. Ga. Hist. Soc.
[29] This statement is unsupported by either Spanish or English
authority. The writer of the letter, through want of familiarity with
their language, misunderstood his informants, in all probability, as to
the extent of their loss.
[30] MSS, in Geo. Hist. Soc. Library.
[31] Monteano, MSS., Archives St. Augustine.
[32] Monteano, MS. Letter of, 28th July, 1740.
[33] Report upon Expedition to St. Augustine. Carroll's Coll. 2d vol.,
p. 354.
[34] Carroll's Hist. Coll. S. C. p. 359.
[35] De Brahm MS., p. 192.
[36] Stork, p. 11.
[37] Williams' Florida, p. 17.
[38] Among the families remaining were the Fatios, Flemings, and a few
others.
[39] The old parish church was on St. George street, on west side of the
street.
[40] Voyage to Spanish Main. London, 1819. Page 116, _et seq._
[41] Williams' Florida, pp. 18, _et seq._
[42] It is said to have been taken down by the contractor, to form the
foundation of his kitchen.
[43] Bryant.
[44] It is much more ancient.
[45] This song is usually called the _Fromajardis_.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Spaniards in Florida, by George R. Fairbanks