Castillo de San Marcos

Castillo de San Marcos is a historic seventeenth-century fort and national monument located in St. Augustine, Florida. The oldest and largest stone block fort in the continental United States, Castillo de San Marcos is a former military installation that protected the Spanish settlement at St. Augustine and the Florida coast for hundreds of years. Completed in 1695, Castillo de San Marcos served as an active military installation until 1900. During that time, it was used variously as a fort, a military barracks, a storage facility, and even a military prison. It has also been referred to by several different names over the course of its existence, including Fort St. Marks and Fort Marion. Ultimately, Castillo de San Marcos was declared a national monument in 1924. Today, Castillo de San Marcos remains one of the United States' greatest historic landmarks and is the only seventeenth-century military structure still in existence on American soil.

Background

St. Augustine, the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in what would later become the continental United States, was founded by Spanish explorers in 1565. In large part, the St. Augustine settlement was established out of necessity because of its location on the Florida peninsula. At the time, Spain was operating a lucrative commercial trade route between its Latin American colonies and the European mainland. Because this trade route passed close by Florida's southernmost tip, it was essential for Spain to ensure that Florida did not fall into the hands of its enemies. Otherwise, the trade route would surely be threatened and the Spanish treasure fleet would likely come under attack. To prevent this from happening, Spain sought to strengthen its hold on Florida through the installation of military defenses. One such defensive installation was to be built in St. Augustine.

St. Augustine was a valuable colonial asset that was crucial to Spain's control of Florida, but it was prone to attack. Twice in its relatively short history up to that point, the settlement was sacked and plundered by English pirates. The latter of these attacks came in 1668 when the pirate Robert Searle led a vicious assault that left many of St. Augustine's Spanish residents dead or enslaved. To improve the settlement's defenses, Spanish officials provided the necessary funds to finance the erection of a permanent stone fort at St. Augustine in 1672.

The construction of what would become Castillo de San Marcos started on October 2, 1672, at a site on the banks of the Matanzas River where earlier wooden forts previously stood. The fort's design featured a square center structure with four-sided bastions extending out from each corner. This design, which followed the specifications of the so-called bastion system, helped improve the structure's resistance to cannon projectiles. Castillo de San Marcos' resistance to cannon fire was further strengthened by the fact that its walls were made from coquina limestone. The only type of stone available on the Florida coast, coquina's natural porousness meant that it was compressible. As a result, cannonballs would get stuck in the fort's walls instead of shattering them. The construction of Castillo de San Marcos was completed in 1695.

Overview

Castillo de San Marcos endured its first real test when English colonial troops invaded St. Augustine at the behest of Carolina governor James Moore in 1702. When the attack began, many of St. Augustine's residents sought refuge inside the fort. In the end, the English could not breach the fort's walls and were forced into retreat. A similar attack occurred again in 1740 with similar results.

Thanks in part to Castillo de San Marcos, Florida remained in Spanish hands until Britain assumed control of the region in 1763 as a consequence of the French and Indian War. British forces made little use of Castillo de San Marcos until it became clear that the American colonies were going to revolt. The fort was renovated in 1775 and was used as a prison for captured American rebels during the Revolutionary War. When the war ended in 1783, the Spanish resumed control of Florida.

Spain maintained possession of Florida and Castillo de San Marcos until 1821. During that period, Spanish forces carried out some repairs on the fort, but made little use of it otherwise. When the United States subsequently reassumed control of Florida, American military forces occupied Castillo de San Marcos and renamed it Fort Marion in commemoration of Revolutionary War general Francis Marion. During the Civil War (1861–1865), Confederate officials planned to make use of the fort for defensive purposes, but Union forces won control of Florida's coastal ports before they could do so. In the 1870s and 1880s, the US Army used Fort Marion as a prison for rebellious Native Americans. It was also later used by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a processing center for Native American children who were awaiting transport to the United States Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Fort Marion subsequently served as a military prison for the last time when court-martialed deserters were held there during the Spanish American War in 1898.

Fort Marion was decommissioned as an active military installation in 1900 and became a tourist attraction under the auspices of the War Department. It was officially declared a national monument along with nearby Fort Matanzas in 1924. Nine years later, control of the fort was turned over to the National Park Service. In 1942, Congress passed a resolution that restored the fort's original name. Since that time, it has officially been known as Castillo de San Marcos.

Visitors to Castillo de San Marcos can partake in a number of different activities while at the fort. In addition to touring the large interior courtyard and gun deck at their convenience, visitors can tour most of the fort's unique rooms, including those that now house the fort's museum collection. In addition, there are several daily educational programs and ranger-led tours for guests to enjoy. On certain days, fort personnel also offer special presentations like cannon firings and weapons demonstrations. Visitors may also choose to visit other nearby historic sites, including Fort Matanzas, which once guarded St. Augustine's southern river approach, and Fort Caroline National Memorial, which commemorates Florida's short-lived sixteenth-century French settlement.

Bibliography

"Castillo de San Marcos." American Society of Civil Engineers, www.asce.org/project/castillo-de-san-marcos. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.

"Castillo de San Marcos." St. Augustine Record, staugustine.com/history/castillo-de-san-marcos. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.

"Castillo de San Marcos." Visit St. Augustine, www.visitstaugustine.com/thing-to-do/castillo-de-san-marcos. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.

"Castillo de San Marcos National Monument." National Park Foundation, www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks/castillo-de-san-marcos-national-monument. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.

"Castillo de San Marcos National Monument." National Park Planner, npplan.com/parks-by-state/florida-national-parks/at-a-glance-castillo-de-san-marcos-national-monument/history-castillo-de-san-marcos-national-monument. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.

Draper, Robin. "Authentic St. Augustine." Sarasota Magazine, 16 Feb. 2014, www.sarasotamagazine.com/articles/2014/2/16/authentic-st-augustine. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.

"History & Culture." National Park Service, www.nps.gov/casa/learn/historyculture/index.htm. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.

Neale, Rick. "Castillo de San Marcos: Time Travel at a Spanish Fort." USA Today, 9 July 2013, www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/2013/07/09/castillo-de-san-marcos-time-travel-at-a-spanish-fort/2504115/. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.