Castillo de San Marcos National Monument ⓘ

55 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, the founders of St. Augustine celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving and a meal with the local native tribes.

It took a long time to get the Castillo off the ground. Meet the governor who started construction and learn about the massive project that was St. Augustine's stone fort.

The Castillo is constructed from a unique stone called coquina. The Spanish built with it because it was the only local stone, but it turned out to be the best thing they could have used!

Coquina stone is not the Castillo's only unique feature. Learn more about its design and purpose throught the years.

The Castillo's relied on three main factors for its successful defenses: its structure and design, the soldiers who drilled repeatedly, and the devastating weapons of that era.

Only seven years after the Spanish finished the Castillo de San Marcos, it would see the first test of its strength: a siege by English forces from Charles Town, Carolina.

As the British expanded their North American empire, more clashes with the Spanish who had long claimed the region were inevitable. The Castillo saw action once again when Georgia founder James Oglethorpe laid siege in 1740.

Although the Castillo never fell to enemy forces in battle, it did finally change hands from Spanish to British through the treaty that ended the French & Indian War. Big changes were coming to St. Augustine.

Although the Castillo was originally built to be a protector, several times it was also used as a prison. During the Second Seminole War (1835-1842), the U.S. Army housed Seminole prisoners of war at the fort.

While the Castillo, now known as Fort Marion, did not see any "action" during the American Civil War, it was used by both sides for a variety of purposed.

The U.S. Army once again used Fort Marion as a prison for Native Americans in the late 1870s, this time for 74 members of five different tribes from the Great Plains. These people left a lasting legacy in the form of a special kind of artwork.

After years of hardship and resisting U.S. Army attempts to push them onto reservations, the Apache people and their chiefs surrendered one by one. In an effort to prevent them from returning to the fight, the U.S. government imprisoned over 500 of them at Fort Marion in the late 1800s.

World War II had a major impact on Florida, from submarines off the coast, to the construction of over 100 military bases, to the post-war population boom when GI's returned to the balmy climate they had enjoyed during training.

Women have been essential in history through their family, community, and business roles. Explore stories that honor their presence and contributions in St. Augustine, Florida, and the Nation.

Though they tried to take the Castillo by force numerous times, it was an international peace treaty that finally gained them possession of the fortress and the colony of Florida. Their presence would have many lasting effects on the city of St. Augustine.

Colonial St. Augustine had a very cosmopolitan population. Soldiers and settlers from all over the world had all different types of influence on the city's cultural landscape.

What was life like during the American Civil War at Fort Marion in St. Augustine? Private Elias Sherwood Peck, of Greenwich, CT, can help us answer that question. Pvt. Peck wrote letters home during his stay with the 10 th Connecticut Infantry Regiment, and his great grandson, Christopher Peck, shared those letters with us.

Explore St. Augustine after the United States takes over Florida and the civil rights movement that would change everything.

Since 1933, the National Park Service has been the proud steward of Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. Learn a little more about the birth of the service and about the people who make it what it is.

Inside Castillo de San Marcos National Monument's museum storage facility is a diverse range of objects and specimens. There are thousands of items related to Castillo's cultural history within the park collection, including historical artifacts, photographic prints and negatives, furnishings, documents, maps, and architectural drawings. Every park site has a collection, making the National Park Service a huge repository of items important to the cultural and natural history of the country. You can virtually explore the NPS Museum Collections .

Researchers are encouraged to complete their preliminary research at libraries with a broader topical focus before approaching the archives at Castillo de San Marcos.

Researchers should submit a request by mail, phone, fax or email to the museum office ahead of time, detailing their research project to the curatorial staff. Requests for materials should be submitted with enough lead time to allow for the evaluation of the request and the scheduling of curatorial staff to oversee the research.

National Park Service 13165 Mt. Pleasant Rd. Jacksonville, FL 32225 Phone: 904-221-7567 x121 Fax: 904-221-5248

On September 8, 1565, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and 800 Spanish settlers founded the city of St. Augustine in Spanish La Florida. As soon as they were ashore, the landing party celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving. Afterward, Menéndez laid out a meal to which he invited as guests the native Seloy tribe who occupied the site. The celebrant of the Mass was St. Augustine’s first pastor, Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, and the feast day in the church calendar was that of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. What exactly the Seloy natives thought of those strange liturgical proceedings we do not know, except that, in his personal chronicle, Father Lopez wrote that “the Indians imitated all they saw done.” What was the meal that followed? From our knowledge of what the Spaniards had on board their five ships, we can surmise that it was cocido, a stew made from salted pork and garbanzo beans, laced with garlic seasoning, and accompanied by hard sea biscuits and red wine. If the Seloy contributed to the meal from their own food stores, then the menu could have included turkey, venison, gopher tortoise, mullet, drum, sea catfish, maize (corn), beans, and squash. This was the first community act of religion and thanksgiving in the first permanent European settlement in North America. It took place just 300 yards north of the Castillo de San Marcos, at what is now the Mission of Nombre de Dios. This event is commemorated today by a 250 foot cross which stands on the original landing site.

The thanksgiving at St. Augustine was celebrated 56 years before the Puritan Pilgrim thanksgiving at Plymouth Plantation (Massachusetts), but it did not become the origin of a national annual tradition. During the 18th century, British forces won out over those of Spain and France for mastery over the continent. Thus, British observances, such as the annual reenactment of the Pilgrims’ harvest festival in 1621, became a national practice. After the United States became an independent country, Congress recommended one yearly day of thanksgiving for the whole nation to celebrate. George Washington suggested the date November 26. In 1863, during the bitter struggle of America’s Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln established the last Thursday in November as a National Day of Thanksgiving, making it truly a national holiday. The President urged prayers in churches and in homes calling on the "whole American people" wherever they lived to unite "with one heart and one voice" in observing a special day of thanksgiving, and to "implore the interposition of the almighty to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it...to full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and union."

Who would think that a fort made of seashells would last 300 years? Who would think that a fort made out of seashells would last three days under cannon fire? But the Castillo de San Marcos, made of local coquina stone, did just that. What exactly is this strange rock? How was it formed, and where did it come from? And how did this rock shape the history of St. Augustine?

Thousands of years ago, the tiny coquina clam donax variabilis lived in the shallow waters of coastal Florida, as they still do today. These are the small pink, lavender, yellow, or white shells one sees along the beach at the waterline. As the resident clam died, the shells accumulated in layers, year after year, century after century, for thousands of years, forming submerged deposits several feet thick. During the last ice age, sea levels dropped, exposing these shell layers to air and rain. Eventually, the shell became covered with soil, then trees and other vegetation. Rain water percolating through the dead vegetation and soil picked up carbon dioxide and became carbonic acid, the same ingredient that makes soda fizz. As this weak acid soaked downward, it dissolved some of the calcium in the shells, producing calcium carbonate, which solidified in lower layers, much like how flowstone and stalactites are formed in caves. This material "glued" the shell fragments together into a porous type of limestone we now call coquina, which is Spanish for "tiny shell".

Although found in very few places in the world, conditions were just right for coquina formation along the east coast of Florida. The Spanish knew about this rock, and while they might have picked up loose chunks, the people of St. Augustine were primarily soldiers, not stonemasons, and so this rock sat mostly unused and unappreciated for years. Wood was more plentiful, at first, and easier to work with. But then the British, settling to the north, edged into the Carolinas. Spanish Florida was only a short sail away. Something more than a wooden fort was needed to protect St. Augustine and to keep the British from taking over Florida and using it as a base of operations to attack the Spanish treasure fleets and the more wealthy colonies of the Spanish Caribbean. As a result, the Spanish began construction on the Castillo de San Marcos in 1672. The coquina stone was quarried in the area of present-day Anastasia State Park on Anastasia Island. Military engineers and stonemasons were brought from Spain. Convicts and additional soldiers were brought from Cuba. Oyster shells were burned into lime and mixed with sand and water to make mortar.

Slowly, the walls rose. Since no one had ever built a fort or any large building out of coquina, they had no idea how strong it would be. At least it would not burn, and the termites wouldn’t eat it. But how well would seashells last under cannon fire? No one knew, so they built the walls an average of 12 feet (3.7m) thick. The walls on the ocean side are as thick as 19 feet (5.8 m)! The first phase of construction was completed in 1695. At the time, the Castillo looked very different than it did now. The walls were roughly five feet shorter than they are today, and the rooms were half their current size. The larger courtyard allowed for the townspeople to take refuge inside when under attack.

They did not have long to wait before the coquina walls were tested. In 1702, Governor James Moore of Charleston led his English forces against St. Augustine and the Castillo. He captured the town and set his cannon up amongst the houses to bombard the fortress. But a strange thing happened. Instead of shattering, the coquina stone merely compressed and absorbed the shock of the hit. The cannon balls just bounced off or sunk in a few inches. The shell rock worked!

Even when General Oglethorpe tried his hand against St. Augustine in 1740 and bombarded the Castillo for 27 days, the walls held firm. The rock made of seashells turned out to be an excellent building material. When the Spanish decided to fortify the southern approaches to St. Augustine by building Fort Matanzas later that year, they again used coquina stone, and, like the Castillo, this smaller fort was never captured. What if the Spanish did not have this stone? If not for coquina, perhaps the British would have captured St. Augustine much earlier than 1763, when they finally gained Florida by treaty. If the British gained Florida earlier, it might have changed the course of the American Revolution. Maybe our country would still be a part of Great Britain as a commonwealth like Canada! Our history might have been very different but for this little clam known as donax, and for coquina, the rock that saved St. Augustine.

The Castillo de San Marcos is unique in North American architecture. As the only extant 17th century military construction in the country and the oldest masonry fortress in the United States it is a prime example of the Vauban style of fortifications, and the culmination of hundreds of years of military defense engineering. It is also unique for the material used in its construction. The Castillo is one of only two fortifications in the world built out of a semi-rare form of limestone called coquina. The other is Fort Matanzas National Monument, 14 miles south of St. Augustine. The fortress itself is both a product of and evidence to the multitude of forces both political and technological that created the competition for empire during the colonial era. But above all the Castillo is an enduring legacy of the craftsmanship and skill of the engineers, artisans and labourers who built it.

Originating in Italy in the 15th century the particular star shaped design of the Castillo is a result of architecture adapting to technology. The change in warfare brought about by black powder weapons created new types of defensive structures adapted both to withstand or avoid the impact of cannon projectiles and to effectively mount cannons to repel any attackers. Of the major architectural variations the " bastion system ," named for the projecting diamond or angle shaped formations added onto the fort walls, was the most commonly and effectively used.

Given its light and porous nature, coquina would seem to be a poor choice of building material for a fort. However the Spanish had few other options; it was the only stone available on the northeast coast of La Florida . However, coquina's porosity turned out to have an unexpected benefit. Because of its conglomerate mixture coquina contains millions of microscopic air pockets making it compressible. A cannon ball fired at more solid material, such as granite or brick would shatter the wall into flying shards, but cannon balls fired at the walls of the Castillo burrowed their way into the rock and stuck there, much like a BB would if fired into Styrofoam. So the thick coquina walls absorbed or deflected projectiles rather than yielding to them, providing a surprisingly long-lived fortress.

A very interesting question. The short answer is: Both. Both is good. It really depends on who used it and what purpose the structure served. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a castle as "a large fortified building or set of buildings; a retreat safe against intrusion or invasion." Oxford English Dictionary says it is "a large building, typically of the medieval period, fortified against attack with thick walls, battlements, towers, and in many cases a moat." The Real Academia Española states it is "a strong place, surrounded by walls, bastions, moats, and other fortifications." The Castillo de San Marcos fits all of those definitions in one way, or at one time, or another. It is most definitely a large, fortified building that provided a retreat safe against invasion for the people of St. Augustine; at one time, it housed over 1,500 people for 51 days while the English laid siege! It also has thick walls, battlements, towers, and a moat. Many of the fortifications the Spanish built in the New World were called castillos . It is interesting to note that at least two of the wooden forts that preceded the current stone one in St. Augustine were also called "Castillo de San Marcos." The building does not need to be made of stone to be classified as a castillo . Later in the park's story, our Castillo does become referred to as a fort. While the Real Academia Española states a fortress is a "fortified enclosure, such as a castle, citadel," Merriam-Webster defines a fort as "a fortified place occupied only by troops and surrounded with such works as a ditch, rampart, and parapet." When the British gained Florida through the 1763 Treaty of Paris, they renamed the building Fort Saint Mark, and the United States Army decided in 1825 to call it Fort Marion. Under those occupations, it was indeed used for purely military function. The British and the Americans did not plan to use it as a place of refuge for the citizens of St. Augustine; they both used as barracks, for military storage, and a few times as a military prison. The National Park Service and United States Congress decided to restore its original name in 1942, in honor of its unique Spanish history, so it went back to Castillo de San Marcos. Why did each group choose to change what this imposing structure should be called? Was it due to form and function? Or did it just roll off the tongue more easily for the new owners? What do you think?

Its actual origins are obscure, but the earliest records of it date from 9th century China. These records tell of Chinese alchemists searching for an elixir of life who first stumbled across what we know today as sodium and potassium nitrate. Nitrates react rapidly and violently when burned and are the key ingredient in what would come to be known as gunpowder. The Chinese didn't quite know what to make of this new and volatile substance. One early account reported this experiment: "some have heated together the saltpeter, sulfur and carbon of charcoal with honey; smoke and flames result, so that their hands and faces have been burnt, and even the whole house burnt down." For over a hundred years this early form of gunpowder remained primarily a source of amusement used in the creation of early fireworks and magicians tricks. Regardless of its humble origins, gunpowder was the first explosive chemical propellant recorded in history.

Though the Chinese eventually started using gunpowder weapons in the 10th century, it is the Turks who generally get the credit of formulating gunpowder into a high enough quality to be used effectively in combat. Cannon appeared in Europe about the beginning of the 12th century. Early cannon or "gonnes" (hence the name gonne or gunne powder) tended to be gigantic, unwieldy monsters rather as dangerous to the user as to the intended enemy, but they were impressively frightening, thus ensuring their place on the field of war. As chemistry and metal casting technology improved during the Middle Ages, better and stronger cannon with more effective charges and projectiles came into being, eventually creating what we know today as artillery. Both bronze and iron were used to make cannons throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Each metal has advantages and disadvantages, depending on where and how the gun is intended to be used. Cast iron was more commonly used because it was lighter and less expensive (a 24-pounder iron cannon cost $21,614 in 2015 U.S. dollars; a bronze cannon would cost $46,374). Most fortifications preferred the iron. On the other hand, iron was more vulnerable to the elements and rusted easily. Iron guns would become brittle and dangerous over a short period of time and were subject to exploding. When expended, an iron cannon was scrapped. Bronze, although heavier, withstood the stress of firing much better, and less metal was needed to construct the weapon. The non-rusting bronze was preferred for the damp environments of ships and seacoast forts. A bronze cannon had nearly twice the life expectancy of an iron gun, and once expended, the bronze could be melted down and recast into a new weapon. Early Spanish bronze artillery could also be described as beautiful works of art. Some are basic in design while others are very ornately detailed. Today, all the bronze guns at the Castillo are covered in a green patina. When first made, they were bright and shiny, like a new penny. Most of the bronze guns have several key features in common. At the back, you can find the name of the maker, the city where it was made, and the date when the gun was manufactured. Moving towards the muzzle, you will find the royal coat of arms of the Spanish King & Queen who reigned during the making of the weapon. Next are a couple of raised handles called dolphins. Moving closer to the front of the gun, a banner bears the cannon’s name. Four of the Castillo's cannons also have a second, larger banner that reads “Violati Fulmina Regis” (thunderbolts of an offended/angry king). Each trunnion (the pivot bars on the sides of the gun) lists where the metal was acquired, the gun’s maintenance record, and how much the weapon weighs. Other features found on some of the cannons include capture dates stamped by the US Army. The Castillo has an impressive artillery collection of both iron and bronze guns. Click here for a tour!

It was in the 17th and 18th century with the global expansion of European colonization and commerce that gunpowder came into its own in the form of small arms, i.e., portable gunpowder weapons small enough to be used by the individual soldier, most notably the smoothbore musket. Their introduction at such a critical period of history literally changes the world.

Charles II, the last Spanish Habsburg king, died on November 1, 1700, without a biological heir. His will designated Phillip of Anjou, the grandson of Louis XIV of France, as his chosen heir to the throne of Spain and its entire empire, uniting the royal families of Spain and France. William III of England had foreseen this alliance as a major threat to England’s hopes in the New World, as well as to peace in Europe, and so had reached out to Austria, Brandenburg-Prussia, the Netherlands, most of the German states, and Portugal to form his own alliance. When William III died, his sister-in-law became Queen Anne of England. In May of 1702, Queen Anne and her Grand Alliance declared war on France and Spain. The War of Spanish Succession, also known as Queen Anne’s War, had begun. Their opening movement was an attack on the Spanish Netherlands. At first look, the Grand Alliance would seem quite the match for Spain and France, but this was only the case in appearance. The majority of the alliance’s members were small nations with no true power unless they banded together with larger nations. Spain had been a global empire for two hundred years by the start of the war, while France, under Louis XIV, had been moving toward becoming the dominant power on the European continent. With Spain, France, and England all having colonial holdings overseas, it would only be a matter of time before war broke out among the people in those colonies in the name of their home countries and kings.

To any intelligent Englishman in North America, it must have seemed obvious where the primary threat to Charles Towne, Carolina, was. Only a week’s sail to the south, the strong Spanish fortress of Castillo de San Marcos and the garrison at St. Augustine were like a loaded gun aimed at the heart of the Carolina Colony. Something had to be done. In late August of 1702, on hearing of the outbreak of Queen Anne’s War, the Carolina Commons started entertaining the idea of an attack against the Spanish in La Florida. By September, the Commons approved the plan for an attack, proclaiming “the Encouragement to free Plunder and a share of all Slaves,” and “all persons that go on this expedition shall have an equal share of all the plunder.” At the head of the expedition, the Commons placed James Moore, the governor of the colony and the man who first proposed the attack on Spanish outpost. Moore was not a military man. He was a colonial planter of some success who was described as an “ambitious, active, aggressive high-churchman, an outspoken colonist, and a ruthless slave dealer.” He was known to hate and think lightly of the Spanish, while at the same time holding the French in respect and fear. While he was seen as a powerful man, the Commons still thought it best to place at his side Colonel Robert Daniel, who had been considered for leadership of the expedition. It was thought that Daniel’s military experience would improve the chances of success.

The siege lifted, the Spanish began to refortify and strengthen the city and the Castillo. The English retreated, but continued to strengthen their American colonies. Conflicting interests in Europe would continue to create warfare across the globe. St. Augustine would be attacked again; it was only a question of time. The Spanish were determined to be ready.

The Spanish Empire was the first truly global enterprise and, by sheer landmass, the largest empire in world history. During the 16th century, Spanish and Portuguese explorers circled the globe and initiated an era of extensive colonial expansion. With the discovery of the “new worlds” of Africa, Asia, and the Americas came the rapid exploitation of the natural resources of these areas to Spain’s advantage. Trade flourished across the Atlantic between Spain and the Americas, across the Pacific between East Asia and Mexico via the Philippines, and around the horn of Africa across the Indian ocean to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. For a time, Spain dominated the oceans with its experienced navy and ruled the European battlefield with its fearsome and well-trained infantry. Massive amounts of gold and silver from the Americas financed the military capability of Habsburg Spain. Spain sought to protect its commercial monopoly in the New World by prohibiting foreign ships from entering Spanish colonial ports. No foreigner could send goods to the colonies or take gold out of Spain in payment for goods sold to Spanish merchants without having a special license. Thus, the Spaniards gained the middleman's profit on all European goods going to their colonies. Manufacturing was also forbidden in the colonies to keep the market open for imports. Under such a restrictive system, smuggling was uncontrollable and often a necessity for the colonists’ survival. As Spanish America grew, it became increasingly dependent on illegal trade with other European nations, especially England.

In March 1738, Captain Robert Jenkins was summoned before a committee of the House of Commons, where he exhibited a severed ear, pickled in a jar, and claimed it was "cut off in April 1731 in the West Indies by Spanish coast guards who had boarded his ship, pillaged it and then set it adrift." According to Jenkins, the Spanish coast guard sloop San Antonio intercepted him near Havana and claimed he was violating the trade laws. Jenkins supposedly insulted the Spanish captain, Juan de Leon Fandino, for which Fandino used his sword to cut off one of Jenkins’ ears, declaring, "Were the King of England here and also in violation of the laws, I would do the same for him!" Robert Jenkins, by most accounts, was a scoundrel, a smuggler, a pirate, and apparently a perjurer as well. His story was seven years old by the time he got around to telling it, and the details were undoubtedly embellished, if true at all. Never mind that some careful observers on the occasion noticed under his long wig, it appeared that both of Captain Jenkins’ ears were still attached. It made good press. Regardless of the truth of the story, or whose ear it might have actually been, Britain seized the opportunity to pick a fight with Spain. At stake were the spoils and wealth of the Spanish Main and the Great South Sea. What started as a colonial adventure involving Spain and Britain soon grew into a major global conflict with battles in the Americas, India, Europe, and on virtually every ocean of the world.

The English colony of Georgia was established in 1732 as a military buffer between Florida and the vaguely defined colonies of the Carolinas. The new colony infringed significantly on Spanish territorial claims. In 1735, the Spanish launched an unsuccessful surprise attack on Savannah to eliminate the threat. Governor James Oglethorpe decided, as a precaution against further Spanish attacks, to build a series of defensive forts along the Altamaha river border and raise his own regiment of soldiers. After securing his western flank from the French by treaties with friendly Native American tribes, Georgia was in a position to threaten Spanish Florida by 1738. With the impending war, Oglethorpe incited the Creek Indians to start harassing the Spaniards by promising rewards for Spanish scalps. Border raiding and ambushes continued through 1739 up to the outskirts of St. Augustine. By then, the British had put together a plan of attack. A combined land force of Highlanders, militia, and Native allies, supported by a Royal navy squadron, moved to attack St. Augustine and wrest Florida from the Spanish. St. Augustine’s original garrison was of three locally-raised infantry companies and an artillery detachment, numbering only about 350 men. Anticipating trouble from the English colonies, this was reinforced by three regiments from Spain, Havana, and Vera Cruz. Along with armed Natives and militiamen, military manpower levels in St. Augustine reached almost a thousand. There were also several Spanish privateers working out of St. Augustine’s harbor during the time, bringing in numerous British merchant ships as prizes and selling their cargos at auction on the town plaza. Their success provided a rare booming economy for the city and supplemented its defense. But during the winter of 1739-1740, food supplies in St. Augustine began running low, just as the British began their invasion of Florida.

Oglethorpe began moving south, his Chickasaw, Uchise, and Creek scouts searching ahead, his soldiers following, and the navy covering the coastal islands, inlets, and rivers. One by one, the English began capturing the Spanish outposts, forcing the Spanish and their allies back into St. Augustine and slowly surrounding the city. The need to feed over 2500 mouths put increased pressure on the short food supplies. There was not enough food to last for long, and the Spanish governor Don Manuel de Montiano desperately sent word to Havana for supplies and assistance. Several of the messengers were killed or captured, but finally, after evading the British Navy’s patrols, the much needed help arrived in April through the Matanzas inlet. By May, Oglethorpe had successfully encircled and besieged St. Augustine, forcing the inhabitants inside the sheltering walls of the city while he bombarded the Castillo for nearly a month. But, as one Englishman observed, the native rock "will not splinter but will give way to cannon ball as though you would stick a knife into cheese..." Coquina, the stone from which the fort was built, actually absorbed the cannon balls fired at it. Also, each night, the Spanish secretly had been repairing and covering up the damage from the day’s bombardment. While the walls of the city defended the townspeople, the heavy guns of the Castillo de San Marcos and the long-range 9-pounders of the maneuverable Spanish galleys in the harbor held the enemy at bay. Eventually, the siege was lifted. Running low on supplies, having troubles coordinating his land and naval forces, losing a large percentage of his Highlander regiment in a battle at Fort Mosé, and threatened by a relief force coming up from Cuba, Oglethorpe retreated to Georgia, but only temporarily. There were constant border raids and several more attempts against Fort Matanzas and St. Augustine before the war drew to a close. In 1742, The Spanish attempted an invasion of Georgia but were repulsed in the Battle of Bloody Marsh, near Oglethorpe’s base at Fort Frederica. The end of the war did not bring peace, only a truce of sorts. Both colonies remained in a stalemate. It was only a matter of time before war resumed. That next conflict would not be long in coming. Only six years from the end of the War of Jenkins’ Ear, the starting events of what would be called the French and Indian War were seen in North America. While this war is known as a predominately Anglo – French war, Spain too would enter the conflict in support of her monarch’s cousin, the King of France. The end result of this conflict was what Spain had long feared and St. Augustine had worked so hard to prevent: Florida’s loss to the British. The loss of Florida was not due to battle, but to the stroke of a pen. The Treaty of Paris that ended the war made Florida part of the new British Empire. As the Spanish Flag left La Florida, a new colonial era began.

For 200 years, the Spanish Empire ruled over half of the world, but the wealth of the newly ‘discovered’ lands of Africa, Asia, and the Americas spawned rivals to Spanish power in Europe and overseas. A series of conflicts erupted throughout the colonial era. On July 21, 1763, Spanish officials in St. Augustine transferred the territory to British forces under the command of Captain John Hedges of the British Army.

In 1763, the Seven Years’ War (or the French and Indian War, as it was called in America) came to an end. Great Britain and her American colonies had won against the combined forces of France and Spain. It had been the first truly world war. The armies of Great Britain had conquered Canada and several French-held islands in the Caribbean. They had also stormed and occupied Havana, Cuba, Spain’s principal seaport and administrative headquarters for much of Spanish America, and Manila in the Spanish Philippines, transshipment point of the wealth of the orient. Without these cities, Spain’s overseas empire would soon crumble. Part of the Treaty of Paris ending the war returned them to Spanish control in exchange for the territory of Florida, which became the British Crown colonies of East and West Florida, giving Great Britain control over all of North America east of the Mississippi River.

For the Spanish floridanos, it was a bitter defeat. Though they had successfully defended Florida, they were now forced to abandon the only home they had ever known, one that many of their great-grandfathers had molded from the wilderness. For the English, it meant a new colony to settle and untold opportunities in land and trade. They flocked to St. Augustine, changing the face of the city forever.

England had a strong desire to develop Florida for commercial trade. The London Board of Trade advertised 20,000 acre lots to any group willing to enter Florida. The land, however, had to be settled within ten years, with one resident per 100 acres. While the Privy Council in London granted land titles, pioneer families could gain land grants at the two colonial capitals: St. Augustine in East Florida and Pensacola in West Florida. Former British soldiers were eligible for special grants. Each pioneer settler was given 100 acres of land and 50 acres per family member. To recruit Southerners, slavery was allowed. Under the able administration of Governor James Grant, 2,856,000 acres were so granted in East Florida. There was much to celebrate in English Florida. Indian hostilities had ended, for the most part, and there had been peace in Florida for over ten years. The population of St. Augustine nearly doubled from its Spanish period, new houses were going up, and old Spanish houses were being renovated and expanded, most notably with second stories being added. Almost all construction during the Spanish occupation was single story. Commerce and trade were growing, including cattle ranching, shipping, and plantation agriculture. Despite its youth, the colony was showing promise of becoming a flourishing and productive area. But storm clouds were brewing to the north.

The French & Indian War changed the relationship between the northern colonies and their mother country. A decade of conflict over economic policy and control, beginning with the Stamp Act crisis in 1765, led to alienation among a rapidly growing population (over 2.5 million by 1776) which was increasingly of non-British origin. Attempts by the Crown to tighten governmental and fiscal control erupted into open rebellion with the outbreak of war in 1775 and the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Florida remained a loyalist stronghold throughout the war. Its population was newly arrived in America and had no history or experience of the growing commercial unrest and separatist democratic culture in the other colonies. Likewise, the colony was dependent on English trade with little internal economic growth of its own. Enraged residents of St. Augustine burned effigies in the plaza of revolutionary leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock.

St. Augustine, as the capital of East Florida, rapidly became a military stronghold and the central command post for operations in the southern colonies. England decided to utilize Florida as a staging area for British troops assigned to the South. Florida's warm climate would accustom British forces to the American heat, and Florida could develop supplies for the British military. The town quickly overflowed with British troops and a growing stream of loyalist refugees fleeing the fighting in the Carolinas and Georgia. Fort St. Marks (the renamed Castillo de San Marcos) was used as a supply base and a prisoner of war camp for captured rebels. Three of the signers of the Declaration of Independence—Thomas Heyward, Jr., Arthur Middleton, and Edward Rutledge—were held under house arrest in the city, while Christopher Gadsden, Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, was imprisoned in the fort’s jail cell for 42 weeks.

Most of the war took place far north of Florida, but cross-border raids increased. In 1779, Spain took advantage of Britain's preoccupation with the colonies and invaded. By 1781, Britain had lost West Florida to Spain. The war’s unpopularity and massive expense continued until by 1784, Britain was forced to concede American independence. Having lost control of the majority of its colonies, Britain had little interest in keeping Florida. Now an isolated outpost it had little prospect of staying productive. On September 3, 1783 the Treaty of Paris was signed ending the American Revolution. In it Britain recognized the independence of the United States. Under separate treaty England ceded Florida back to Spanish control in exchange for the Bahaman Islands ending British Florida Although Spain regained Florida, its rule was to be short lived. The newly formed United States now turned its attention to gaining control of and expanding its southern borders.

The origins of the American Civil War are many and complex. In the early years of the 19th century, states’ rights versus central government, differing cultures between Northern and Southern states, misunderstanding and distrust, an unequal system of American tariffs & taxes, slavery and its expansion into the new territories, opposing views of the U.S. Constitution, and the struggle to maintain a balance of political power between Northern and Southern states all were issues that tragically drove the Nation toward separation and ultimately war.

Despite years of conciliation and compromise, the political situation continued to polarize. The election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency in 1860 by a majority made up of only Northern electoral votes created an unavoidable split between the states. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina, claiming the right to dissolve its association with the rest of the nation, formally seceded from the Union. Several Southern states soon followed her lead. On January 10, 1861, the state legislature of Florida voted unanimously for secession, making it the third Southern state to dissolve from the Union, joining Mississippi and South Carolina. Fort Marion (as Castillo de San Marcos was renamed by the U.S. Army, after Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion) was being used simply as a warehouse for old and outdated cannons and arms. Three days before Florida officially seceded from the Union, Florida militia dispatched from Fernandina arrived in St. Augustine with the intention of taking over the fort and securing the cannons and munitions stored there. At this time, Ordinance Sergeant Henry Douglas, living in a caretaker’s house on the fort green, comprised the entire Federal garrison of St. Augustine. Confronted with the overwhelming militia force, Sgt. Douglas demanded they sign a receipt for the fort and all its contents. Only then did he give up the keys. The Floridians, impressed with the sergeant’s spirit, took up a collection amongst themselves to pay his passage back to Philadelphia. Thus the first conflict between North and South in St. Augustine was resolved peacefully.

Like most places throughout the state of Florida, the news of secession was received with celebration and excitement in St. Augustine. Very quickly, however, the reality of war sank in. The United States Navy North Atlantic Blockading Fleet began patrolling Southern coasts, trying to cut off the Confederacy’s commerce with Europe, the only source for most of its needs. Soon, even basic necessities became scarce, and life changed dramatically. The glow of the old Spanish lighthouse and several others farther down the coast were extinguished to prevent navigational aid to the Union Naval blockade that slowly tightened its noose around the Southern coastline and economy. Learn more about the blockade here. St. Augustine, with its protected harbor, soon became an essential base of operations during the war for blockade runners bringing in vital materials and equipment for the South. Fort Marion served as a transit point for supplies being shipped to the fighting in Virginia and Tennessee, and all but 5 of its 63 cannons were transferred north. With more and more of Florida’s fathers and sons leaving to fight far from their home state, General Robert E. Lee, serving at that time as coordinator for Southern coastal defense, decided that the coastline of Florida had to be sacrificed in order to protect the cattle grazing areas and vital railways of the interior. Small detachments of men were placed at strategic positions along the coastline. Only two companies (totaling roughly 70 men) detached from the 3rd Florida Infantry Regiment made up the garrison stationed in St. Augustine. In spite of its decision to weaken the defense of coastal regions, the South was able to successfully hold and defend most of the populated interior areas. Southern economic targets in Florida were attacked in small Union military operations, such as cavalry raids in south Florida to seize cattle and navy raids against valuable salt works and harbors along the coast to prevent the import and export of goods. These were countered by fierce guerilla attacks from Southern forces based in the interior. Most famous and effective of these units was Captain J.J. Dickinson and the 2nd Florida Cavalry, who controlled almost all of the central portion of the state. Dickinson’s exploits were legendary, raiding and capturing Federal working parties from Gainesville to the outskirts of St. Augustine. His most daring feat was the destruction of the Union gunboat Columbine in a pitched battle along the St. Johns River near Palatka, the only known instance in U.S. history of a cavalry unit winning a naval battle. Confederate daring, however, could not hold off indefinitely the immense power of the Federal forces.

By early 1862, Federal forces began to seize a series of poorly defended Southern coastal towns, including St. Augustine. On February 28th, 26 U.S Navy ships sailed from Hilton Head, South Carolina’s Department of the South headquarters to occupy Fernandina, Jacksonville, and St. Augustine. On March 12th, in a small boat flying the white flag of truce, Commander. C. R. P. Rodgers left DuPont’s flagship USS Wabash, anchored off St. Augustine Inlet, to receive the surrender of St. Augustine. Three days prior, the remaining Confederate forces had withdrawn farther south, leaving St. Augustine undefended and open to a peaceful occupation. Rodgers was met by Mayor Christobal Bravo and other town council members. They were informed that he “had a single purpose- to restore the state of affairs which existed before the rebellion.” The city officials were assured they could continue to administer the town as long as Federal authority was recognized. Immediately, the Stars and Stripes were hoisted from Fort Marion. Du Pont wrote to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells: “The American flag is flying once more over the old city, raised by the hands of its own people…” Despite the lack of military resistance, the reception of Federal forces in St. Augustine was a cool one. While a number of Unionists did exist in the city, the majority of the population still supported the Southern cause. Most prominent among the secessionists were the ladies of the town, who used every occasion to taunt the Federal troops until an ordinance was passed threatening their arrest for any further demonstrations. Continuous patrols of the St. John’s River by Union gun boats reduced any Confederate activity on the east side of the river to small raiding parties. For this reason, St. Augustine and the surrounding areas experienced little hostilities for the remainder of the war. This made the ancient city an ideal destination for Union regiments who were in dire need of rest and refitting after heavy fighting in Virginia and the Carolinas. In the fall of 1863, St. Augustine became a convalescent camp. Rather than evacuating troops to the North, the army chose to send them to Florida. Florida had already gained the reputation as a winter health resort. Activity in town increased with the construction of a hospital. Many men found work in carpentry. Henhouse and garden owners found a market for their produce. Before the war, St. Augustine had made a living off of sick “Yankees,” and now it was back in the old business.

Throughout the war, nearly 6,000 Federal troops came through St. Augustine. Most were housed at the St. Francis Barracks while small detachments were also housed on the gun deck of Fort Marion in temporary hutments and tents. A typical day for a soldier would have consisted of guard duty at various locations throughout town, military drill on the fields south of the Barracks, working parties, and foraging the local area for food and supplies to add to their issued rations.

After the war, President Andrew Johnson initially continued with Lincoln’s gradual reconstruction plan. But under this policy, former Confederate statesman were reelected to seats in Congress and began passing laws negating the gains of the war, such as a series of “Black Codes” limiting the rights of African Americans in the Southern states. Changes had to be made. Republicans gained control of the U.S. Congress in the elections of 1866 and in short time began passing radical legislation. The Southern states were treated as conquered territories and divided into military districts under Army control. The rights of freedmen were broadened, while those of former Confederates were greatly limited. As in all Southern states, the economy was in ruins, but the agricultural areas of Florida were largely spared by the war. Florida was able to assist other states in the rebuilding process by providing lumber and other vital resources. In order to transport these supplies, the number of rail lines in the state increased. This not only allowed materials to make their way out of the state but also opened the door for relocating families and tourists to discover the warmth and beauty of the Sunshine State. Only ten years after the war, the Florida economy had surpassed its pre-war levels.

The National Park Service is dedicated to telling all Americans' stories. Some history hurts and some heals, but all of it can surprise and inspire us. Castillo de San Marcos National Monument is working closely with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma , the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma , the Comanche Nation , and the Caddo Nation to bring Tribal members to Fort Marion for annual gatherings. In November of 2022, we worked in partnership with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma to remember and honor warriors imprisoned at Fort Marion from 1875-1878. These memorial events and educational sessions provided opportunities for healing as well as for gaining a better understanding of the legacy, truth and impact of these imprisonments that are still felt today. To watch the educational sessions and keynote speeches from the 2022 gathering, visit this playlist on our YouTube channel. To watch the educational sessions and keynote speeches from the 2023 gathering, visit this playlist on our YouTube channel. To hear the stories of Cheyenne and Arapaho individuals whose ancestors were once incarcerated at Fort Marion, visit this playlist our YouTube channel or watch the documentary Lost Warriors: The Cheyenne and Arapaho Prisoners at Fort Marion.

Conditions at the fort were bleak. Many of the prisoners were uncertain whether their lives were in danger or just how long the imprisonment would last. They wore chains and shackles, were kept under lock and key, and were confined to the casemates (rooms) and courtyard. The gundeck was blockaded and access was only allowed when accompanied by a guard. The prisoners slept on the room floors, most of which were dirt; albeit some wooden floors were added later to make the conditions more sanitary. Still, disease was a constant concern, and the continuous presence of guards from the St. Francis Barracks made the Native Americans incredibly anxious.The commanding officer at St. Francis Barracks was initially responsible for the care of the Native Americans in St. Augustine, but after six months of incarceration, Lieutenant Richard Henry Pratt was given command of the prisoners at Fort Marion. Under his direction conditions at the fort would drastically change.

Richard Henry Pratt was a Lieutenant in the 10th Cavalry. He was assigned to duty in the District of the Indian Territory, comprising most of present-day Oklahoma, as early as 1867. In 1875, Pratt went east to Fort Marion and served as the jailer at the fort until the prisoners were released to the Indian Bureau in 1878. Pratt was the driving force behind the 1879 founding of the Carlisle Industrial School in Carlisle Pennsylvania, and served as the school's superintendent until his dismissal in 1904.

When Pratt was given charge of the prisoners, he initiated many changes. First, all the chains and shackles were removed, the blockade to the gundeck was taken down, the guards from St. Francis Barracks were relieved, and the rooms ceased to be used as living facilities. The prisoners were given wood to build housing accommodations on the north gundeck, a structure described as being 100 feet long and the width of the gundeck, with rough board bunks on each side. Pratt also organized a guard unit composed of the prisoners themselves and he furnished these guards with army uniforms and weapons. For the duration of their confinement, the prisoners carried out daily drills, performed all guard duties, were subject to daily inspections, engaged in morning exercise routines, went camping on Anastasia Island, learned how to sail and fish, learned agricultural skills, and made periodic trips to Fort Matanzas. Pratt also organized or approved many special events at the fort or in St. Augustine, such as a dance at the fort, the production of stage performances for profit, a buffalo chase in downtown St. Augustine, and a circus inside the old fort.

Although Pratt bettered the Plains prisoners’ living conditions; they were still prisoners. This life was very different from their ones back home. During the imprisonment, the young men received a western education. They learned how to speak and write in English along with other elementary level western skills. Many of the casemates were converted into classrooms, and lessons were conducted during the morning hours. The teachers were mostly local women who volunteered their time. These women included Sarah Mather, Anna Pratt, Rebecca Perrit, Nannie Burt, Julia and Laura Gibbs, and Amy Carruthers. In addition to receiving an education, the prisoners were encouraged to earn money by producing items to sell and engaging in jobs in town. Bows and arrows, polished alligator teeth, canes, and paper toys were all sold for profit. Popular souvenir items at the time were sea beans.Sea beans could be collected on Anastasia island, and those found here are called MacKay beans, which are seeds found in the tropics and deposited on the coastlines of Florida. These beans were collected, polished, and sold to tourists. In addition, the prisoners periodically had odd jobs such as clearing land, and one prisoner worked at a local rail depot.

Many of the young men confined at Fort Marion created artwork known as ledger drawings. This term refers to the artists' use of paper, usually from an accountant's ledger book, as opposed to the more traditional buffalo hide. As buffalo were systematically hunted to near-extinction by the U.S. Army and European settlers on the Great Plains, paper became a more common medium for Native artwork. Ledger drawings were created with lead pencils, ink, colored pencils, oil pastels, and watercolors. Today, modern Native American artists continue this tradition through modern ledger art.

Many examples of ledger drawings from this period of imprisonment still exist today. The surviving sketches from Fort Marion indicate the prisoners had access to blank or partly used ledgers, army rosters, day books, memorandums books, and various pieces of paper. These works illustrate a close connection between ledger drawings and traditional Native American hide painting. Common characteristics of ledger drawings include faces usually in profile and near and far objects generally placed on top of one another to show distance. The focus of this artwork is typically not on shading, backgrounds, or color variations, but rather on documenting situations and stories. Common themes included scenes of life on the plains, the journey to Florida, and the prisoners' experiences at the fort.

In 1878, the prisoners at Fort Marion were released to the care of the Indian Bureau.Twenty-two formerly incarcerated expressed a desire to stay in the east and continue their education. Pratt then made arrangements for these men to have their education funded by white citizens. Pratt convinced the superintendent of the Hampton School, a school in Virginia started for freed slaves after the Civil War, to accept seventeen of these men as students. The remaining five went to live with families in the northeast. However, most prisoners made their way back west.

Pratt worked at the fort to assimilate the prisoners. He instructed them to give up their cultural identity and accept a new way of life. As evidenced by the small number of the original seventy-two incarcerated that chose to stay in the east and assimilate into the white ways Pratt preached, most prisoners were less than eager to change their identity. One such Plains prisoner, in an act of resistance, chose to etch a traditional Kiowa Sundance Camp scene on the walls of the prison. Despite their best efforts, the U.S. government could never fully erase the culture and traditions of these Native peoples.

On April 16, 1886, a train arrived in St. Augustine. People from all around St. Augustine gathered together to gawk at the train’s arrival and see if they could catch a glimpse of those that it had carried from such a great distance away. The new arrivals were a group of Apaches taken as prisoners in Arizona and transported for confinement in old Fort Marion, today the Castillo de San Marcos. When they walked off the train that early morning these people did not resemble the proud, fearless men and women who had evaded, fought, and struggled against the American Army. Onlookers undoubtedly had expected to see a spectacle of mighty warriors disembarking on that April day. What they saw instead, was a group of tired, weary, poorly clad people completely exhausted by their long years of fighting and hardship. Upon their arrival, a Florida Times-Union reporter described the scene as the Apache prisoners emerged from the train. “First came the men, each with shoulders and head wrapped in a blanket and all marching with expressionless faces and stately gait; then came the young bucks with less dignity and fewer blankets, as well as fewer clothes of any kind; then straggling along one by one, came the young women, girls, and children…” Their identities and reputations as Apache Indians, the last western tribe to ultimately surrender, had preceded them. But when they arrived in St. Augustine, they were forced to succumb to their new identity as prisoners of the US Army.

The prisoners that were brought to Fort Marion had fought with the great war chiefs Chihuahua, Naiche, and Geronimo. For years they had struggled against the efforts of the American Army, resisting plans to push them onto reservations. But after years of hardship and struggle, these people and their chiefs began to surrender one by one. The Unites States Government decided to imprison them in an eastern, remote location. General Sherman and President Grover Cleveland decided on the old Castillo in St. Augustine, Florida. Over 500 Apache would eventually see the inside of these walls.

Placed in charge of the fort and its prisoners was Colonel Langdon. He was responsible for their physical well-being.The size and layout of the fort gave room to house approximately 150 people, but the military placed all 502 Apaches within its walls as prisoners. This forced them to live in extremely crowded conditions in the rooms, but most lived in 130 cone-shaped Sibley tents on top of the fort.

Each day they received rations consisting of one pound of beef daily for adults and half that for children; fresh bread daily; rice, turnips, hominy, sugar, coffee, and beans. Once each week, they received small quantities of potatoes and onions. They would eat no fish or pork, and the rations they were given took a toll on their health. The Apache women cooked everything they ate except the bread, which was baked at St. Francis Barracks.

The conditions at Fort Marion were crowded, and there was a constant concern about illness. Dr. DeWitt Webb, an Army physician, was tasked with overseeing the prison. He would visit the fort every morning, tend to the sick, assess the living conditions, and make recommendations to promote a healthy living environment. He did all he could do to cure them of any illness, and to prevent additional sicknesses, but he could not do enough. He reported the following deaths: 1 man, 7 women, and 16 children; 4 from dysentery (1 man & 3 children); 6 children from acute bronchitis; 3 women from marasmus (wasting disease); 2 women of old age; 1 child of epilepsy; 2 children from tetanus neonatorum; 2 women and 4 children from tuberculosis. All were buried somewhere on North Beach (modern Vilano). There were also twelve children born at Fort Marion, including the daughter of Ih-Tedda and Geronimo. The Army called her Marion, but she later changed her name to Lenna.

To alleviate some of the concerns about crowded conditions, the prisoners were able to leave the Castillo, move around the grounds of the fort, and go into town. But stuck in place, there was little for the prisoners to do besides tending to basic needs such as food preparation and caring for their children. To pass the time, they played card games such as monte, konkan, & alte; practiced archery; and rolled hoops. The men would play a game called masca in the moat. The women earned money by weaving willow baskets, making moccasins, and constructing toy models of their unique crafts. All were for sale to the tourists visiting St. Augustine. Colonel Langdon noted that there was much idleness amongst the prisoners at the fort. Therefore, he implemented a program aimed at assimilating the prisoners.

Colonel Langdon recruited the assistance of some local women to teach some of the young men and teenagers: Miss Mather, Mrs. Horace Caruthers, and Miss Clark . They came to the fort every weekday and conducted classes inside the old coquina rooms. The classes focused on how to read, write, and speak the English language. They also offered instruction on arithmetic, science, and social studies. The younger children, those 12 and under, attended classes in the town at a local nunnery and were taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph, including Mother Alypius, Sister Jane Francis, and Sister Mary Albert . They gave instruction to the children in math, English, and the social aspects of American lifestyles. Inspired by the quick progress of the students, and desirous of decreasing the crowded conditions at Fort Marion, Colonel Langdon invited the Superintendent of the Carlisle School to visit St. Augustine, assess the students, and determine if they would make good pupils for his off-reservation boarding school.

The Superintendent of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School was Captain Richard Henry Pratt. Pratt had been the jailor of the Plains Indians at Fort Marion ten years prior, and during his tenure, he too had attempted to assimilate the prisoners. After leaving Florida, he opened the Carlisle School to educate Native American youth in western ways. Pratt visited St. Augustine in 1886 to assess the Apache students at the fort, and he selected 103 children to attend his institution. Those children boarded trains and were taken to Pennsylvania, where they were outfitted in uniforms, given Christian names, and forced to integrate into mainstream, white society.

The Apache prisoners were confined at the fort for just over one year. After a year, the group was moved to Alabama and then later to Fort Sill in Oklahoma. During their incarceration in Florida, one of the prisoners left a carving on the walls of the fort. Carefully etched into the coquina stone is a proud Apache Fire Dancer. That carving is still visible to the modern viewer, and today it remains as a physical reminder of twenty-seven years of confinement.

With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, the United States entered into World War II. As the massive effort of converting the country to a wartime footing began, Florida became a vital resource to the nation. The results of Florida’s involvement would change the state forever. Over the course of four years, Florida grew from a small, mostly rural and agricultural state into a massive industrial and training area preparing men and material for the war. Instead of tourists, Florida was soon filled with recruits. Many of these servicemen and women returned to the Sunshine State when the war was over, contributing to the State’s growth.

Florida's weather conditions, flat land, and miles of accessible coastline made it ideal for the building of military training bases, especially for aviation and amphibious landing operations. By 1942, Florida had over 172 military installations, ranging from relatively small specialty camps to extremely large bases. Camp Blanding near Starke became Florida's fourth largest city, growing to 180,000 acres and housing 55,000 soldiers at a time. There were forty airfields actively training military personnel throughout the state. Likewise, Naval Stations and Airfields lined the coast from Pensacola in the panhandle to the newly built Mayport Naval Station near Jacksonville. Many of these sites are still active military installations today. Others have been transformed and are now the core of Florida’s State Park system.

The war effort sent large amounts of money into Florida, which led to rebuilding and growth after the devastation of the Great Depression. War contracts helped to rebuild Florida's manufacturing, agricultural, and tourism businesses. Defense contracts boosted industry and revitalized Florida cities. Florida's nickname almost changed from the Sunshine State to the Steel State. Florida's citrus industry also thrived. In 1942, Florida became the top citrus producing state in the country, surpassing California for the first time. Florida citrus growers patented a new process to create frozen concentrated orange juice. The cotton industry increased its profits. In 1945, researchers in Orlando discovered an insecticide, DDT, which became available for commercial use. The drawback was that the chemical's long-term effects had not yet been tested, and it would later have a negative impact on Florida's wildlife and agricultural industries. The war also changed the appearance of Florida cities with a surge in urban population. The boom had begun. With the rebuilding of industry, jobs were plentiful, but most men were off fighting in the war. Because of this, World War II provided the opportunity for American women to show they could handle a man's job. In Florida, women worked in shipyards, welding shops, and military bases. Women also helped run the agriculture industry, where they made up one fourth of all farm workers. In addition to providing the necessary work force needed during the war, women bought war bonds and volunteered as nurses, fire fighters, and even police officers.

Local youth were being shipped off to the dangerous corners of the world, but until August of 1942, when The U. S. Coast Guard took over several local hotels, the direct impact of war on St. Augustine had been limited. The Ponce de Leon Hotel (now Flagler College) was converted into a Coast Guard barracks and boot camp, where young men learned the art of war. At any given time, as many 2,500 guardsmen were stationed in St. Augustine. Matanzas Bay was filled with zigzagging boats on maneuver. Even the famous protector of early St. Augustine, the Castillo de San Marcos, played an important part in the Coast Guard's war time role. “The vast grounds of the Fort area were in daily use by boot training companies and here thousands learned close order drill with as many as eight companies deployed there on most days," reported a local newspaperman. The Coast Guard also received permission from the National Park Service to turn four of the Castillo’s casemates into classrooms and use the courtyard for graduation ceremonies.

The state's vulnerability became evident shortly after Pearl Harbor. In early 1942, German submarines opened an offensive, code-named Operation Drumbeat, against the virtually undefended Allied shipping lanes along the east coast. Before the carnage was over, nearly 400 ships had been sunk and thousands of lives lost. Dozens of ships were torpedoed just off Florida's Atlantic coast, as were others in the Gulf of Mexico. German submarine captains used the light of coastal cities to silhouette their targets. Oil, debris, and dead bodies washed up on the beaches mixing, with the driftwood and seashells along Florida's once-pristine coasts. On the night of June 16, 1942, four saboteurs from a German submarine came ashore at Ponte Vedra Beach, just a few miles north of St. Augustine, carrying explosives and American money. Five days earlier, another submarine had put ashore four others on Long Island, NY. The German spies were captured before they could do any damage, but the entire Atlantic seaboard was alarmed. Coast Guard units in St. Augustine patrolled the beaches on horseback, in jeeps, and even using specially trained patrol dogs.

Unknown to many residents of the state, even at the time, over ten thousand German and Italian prisoners of war were kept in Florida during the war. Housed in a system of camps throughout the state, the POWs picked vegetables, harvested sugar cane, cut pulpwood, processed Florida’s massive fruit crop, and even served as custodial workers at undermanned military installations and Miami resort hotels. American military officials adhered to the provisions of the 1929 Geneva Convention, which stipulated that captives must receive the same food, clothing, and housing as the troops of the home nation. One of the reasons why the POWs were kept secret was the fear that Americans might think they were being “coddled,” especially when compared to Allied prisoners held in Germany.

Because of the need to supply millions of men in the service, almost everything was in short supply in the civilian sector. Strict rationing was put in place. Ration books were required to purchase basic necessities such as milk, eggs, gasoline, and clothing. Scrap drives were held in cities all over the state in an attempt to increase supply through recycling and build civilian morale. Rubber drives inundated collection points with tons of old tires. Metal drives brought tin cans, pots, car parts, and even some of St. Augustine’s old iron cannons to be melted down to make steel for the war machines. Housewives were encouraged to save their used lard to be made into explosives. Florida cities also held money drives to build airplanes and ships. Families were encouraged to grow and process their own vegetables and meats. "Victory Gardens” sprouted everywhere. Officials estimated that there were over 10,000 victory gardens in Tampa alone.

On May 5, 1945, the fighting ended in Europe. VE (Victory in Europe) Day was celebrated throughout the nation and around the world. On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered and hostilities ceased in the Pacific. America and its allies had been victorious, but at a tragic cost to the country. Over 400,000 Americans, (3,000 of whom were Floridians) were killed during the war. When the soldiers came home, America began to recover and reconvert to a peacetime economy. It was a great time to celebrate. The economy was booming, jobs were plentiful, and families were reunited. The 1940s ended with America, particularly Florida, moving into prosperous times. Thousands of people came to Florida because of the war and decided to live there afterwards. While the nation’s overall population grew 15% after the war, Florida's population rose a startling 46%. By 1950, the state's population was almost 2.75 million.

The original Americans were not joined by a collective identity. They identified themselves by their cultural, tribal, or individual names. However, when Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas, he believed he had reached the islands of Asia, and called the inhabitants he met los indios , or "Indians." This has become the collective name for all native peoples of North and South America, despite their diverse and unique cultures. There were multiple cultures existing in the Florida peninsula at the time of European contact, among them the Calusa, Tequesta, Apalachee, Aix, and Timucua.

Culture did not arrive in La Florida with the Spaniards. In fact when the Spaniards first arrived on the peninsula that they stationed La Florida upon, they would have found multiple cultures thriving throughout it and the Southeast. These cultures were those of the people indigenous to the land. Archaeological evidence points to people inhabiting Florida as far back as fourteen thousand years . Though the Pre-Columbian population of Florida is hard to estimate, it may have, at one time, numbered as many as three million. The native people of Florida did not belong to one great group. Individuals would have practiced an allegiance to smaller, local chiefdoms. While alliances and confederacies arose between chiefdoms from time to time, chiefdoms were seldom organized into a single political unit. However, what did often connect these people was language. A variety of languages were spoken by different chiefdoms in the Southeast. Today, the native Southeastern people of the past are categorized by the languages they had in common with one another. Cultural traditions would have varied from chiefdom to chiefdom, with some common denominators. The indigenous cultures in the Southeast were semi-nomadic and semi-agricultural. Contact with European peoples began in the early 1500s. Initial contacts would have been violent and tragic. The Portuguese were looking for slaves to work in the sugar plantations of the Caribbean and Brazil, while the Spanish wanted to conquer the Americas for themselves. Additionally, when the Europeans arrived they brought diseases that the Native Americans were not immune from. Microbes carried from Europe effectively depopulated huge areas of the Americas. Measles, mumps, smallpox, typhoid, typhus, diphtheria, and a host of other organisms took many lives. The spread of disease would have begun in Florida with these first contacts. Within a few decades of European settlement in Florida, as much as 80% of Florida’s indigenous population was gone. Most of what we know about them is from the few notes and drawings the early explorers made and from the archeological evidence left behind. The Pre-Columbian artifacts (tools and cultural relics) that archaeologists have found in Florida are almost exclusively of organic materials such as stone, wood, bone and clay. Some small ornamental pieces of copper and gold have been found, but there is no great evidence of metalworking. Pieces of metalworks excavated in Florida suggest that Southeastern tribes may have acquired these artifacts through trade or salvage of European shipwrecks as metalworking was not a part of Southeastern tribes’ way of life like other tribes further south in the Americas.

Several different and widely-varying Indian cultures have left their mark on our park's history: some indigenous, some displaced, and some forcibly moved to the area. Each has a unique and fascinating story to tell.

There was little contact between the people of the Americas and the people of Europe before the 1400s; but, after more and more European explorers ventured out to the Americas, a mass migration began. However, this land was already populated with many different indigenous tribes who had been living on this land for centuries. When the native tribes of the Americas and the explorers and settlers of Europe came into contact with one another, a cataclysmic exchange between the Americas and Europe began. This historical swap of culture, ideas, diseases, plants, animals, people, metals, and technology is known as the Columbian Exchange.

Religious and political conflict consumed medieval Spain. Unification came at the end of the 15th century which was the start of the modern Spanish Empire that controlled, influenced, or claimed nearly half of the world through the 16th-18th centuries. Regionally, Spanish influence began with the exploration of La Florida by Ponce de Leon in 1513 and continued with the settlement of St. Augustine, established by Pedro Menendez in 1565. The construction of Castillo de San Marcos began in 1672.

The flag which flies over Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas is described in heraldry as a red saltire raguly on a white field. A saltire is an X figure; raguly refers to the jagged edges of the cross. The X-shaped cross is commonly called "St. Andrew's cross," because tradition says that Andrew the Disciple was crucified on a cross of that shape. The story is that the branches were roughly hacked off two small trees, and the trees were tied together to make the cross. The jagged edges of the cross on the Spanish flag represent these trees with the branched lopped off. Since the flags of Ireland and Scotland (and the flag of Great Britain incorporating the cross of Scotland) are also St. Andrew's crosses, when speaking of the Spanish flag, this design is best called the Burgundian Cross, or the Cross of Burgundy.

Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, who sponsored Columbus' voyages to the New World, used the medieval flag with the red and gold quartered lions and castles, which represented the united Spain of Leon and Castile. However, since they did not have a son to succeed them, the Spanish Crown went to the son of their oldest daughter, Juana, who was married to Philip, Duke of Burgundy. The red saltire was his family symbol, since Andrew was the patron saint of Burgundy. White was the distinctive color of French Royalty, and Burgundy was a French state. In 1506, Philip came to rule Spain as Philip I, regent to his young son Charles. Charles also adopted this flag when he became Charles I of Spain (1516-1556). He was also Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, probably the most powerful man in Europe at that time. The Spanish naval ships began to fly this flag in the early 1500s in honor of their king. In those days, the flag of a country was actually the flag of the ruling house. Eventually, the army also began to fly this flag, and it came to represent Spain. As Spain's power spread to the New World and across the Pacific to the Philippines, this was the flag carried by her ships and flown over the fortresses which guarded her possessions. Thus, it is sometimes referred to as the Spanish Colonial Flag.

The culture that emerged in the colony of La Florida was a blend of Spanish, local Native, and African customs. “Latinized” America was a diverse, often complex society. While Spanish colonies continuously sought to duplicate the traditional Spanish way of life of Europe, through actions like instituting the Roman Catholic Church in their settlements; the colonies ended up carving out their own unique traditions, identities, and cuisines in the Americas. Click here to learn more about American Latino Heritage in National Parks .

When we look at the soldiers (soldados) of Spanish St. Augustine, we see a multicultural, gallant group of men. They may have traveled from Europe or were from the Americas. The often mixed – European, Native American, and African – ancestry of these Spanish soldiers is the beginning of the diverse American society we know today. These highly-skilled, trained troops served in many different capacities and ultimately protected St. Augustine from foreign encroachment through the course of two major sieges and many other conflicts. What would life be like in Spanish St. Augustine, a fairly bustling town of approximately 1,700 people in the middle of the eighteenth century? What would be the experience of its residents?

The institution of slavery in Spain was different from that of other European nations. Spanish slave laws, granting enslaved people certain rights and protections, were derived from ancient Roman traditions and had been incorporated into the Castilian code of law known as the Siete Partidas in the thirteenth century. These laws were not based on race, and Africans joined slaves of other races and ethnicities who had been captured in "just wars," been condemned, or had sold themselves into slavery. The Siete Partidas held that slavery was an unnatural condition, for God had created man free, and it established ways in which enslaved people could become free. This philosophy was held in the context of a country steeped in the Catholic religion. All men, both free and enslaved, were brothers in Christ, and it was the responsibility of masters and the Church to teach them the rudiments of the faith so that they might be admitted into the Church and enjoy all its sacraments. Since these sacraments include marriage, the sanctity of the family was protected by requirements that family members not be separated. Brotherhood in the Church sometimes served to tie enslaved people to those who owned them in intricate kinship arrangements, such as owner serving as godparents and marriage sponsors. As Spaniards conquered and colonized in the Americas, they were charged with a dual purpose: to bring wealth to the Spanish Crown, and to bring souls to the Catholic Church. They established mission systems across all the lands they claimed, Christianizing the Native Americans and creating an extensive network of farms and information-gathering sources in the process. Africans both free and enslaved were part of Spanish armed forces both in Europe and in their first expeditions across the Atlantic.

When Pedro Menéndez de Avilés established St. Augustine in 1565, he was accompanied by free and enslaved Africans. They worked on early fortifications, sawed timber, and built several structures, including a church, a blacksmith shop, and an artillery platform. They also cleared land for planting and harvested the crops. In October 1687, the first recorded fugitive slaves from Carolina arrived in St. Augustine. Governor Diego de Quiroga dutifully reported to Spain that eight men, two women, and a three-year-old nursing child had made good their escape in a boat. Six of the men were put to work on the new Castillo de San Marcos, but two others were assigned to work with the blacksmith, a possible indication that they already had skills in that area. The women became domestics in the house of the governor. All were reportedly paid for their labor. When an English official arrived the next fall to claim them, Governor Quiroga refused to release them on the grounds that they had been converted to Catholicism, had married in the town, and were usefully employed. Thus a fugitive slave policy began to evolve in the Florida colony. In 1693, King Charles II issued the first official position on the runaways, “giving liberty to all…the men as well as the women…so that by their example and by my liberality others will do the same.”

In the decades following the king's decree, many more enslaved Africans escaped from the Carolinas and found refuge in Spanish Florida, prompting additional royal decrees in 1733 reinforcing the offer of freedom, prohibiting the reimbursement of the English for escaped slaves, and requiring four years of service to the Crown in order to become free. So many freedom seekers came to Florida that in 1738, Governor Manuel de Montiano granted them a plot of land about two miles north of St. Augustine where they could build their own settlement and fort. The people became Catholics and adopted Spanish names and Spanish culture with an African flavor. This settlement, Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, or Fort Mose, ( mo-say ) became the first legally-established free African settlement in North America. The original fort was described as an earthen-walled fort with Indian-type thatched huts. The community housed thirty-eight men and their families with an estimated population of about one hundred people. The men were required to serve in the militia, and the would be called on to defend St. Augustine in times of attack. A Spanish officer was nominally in charge of the settlement, but the militia captain, an African veteran of the 1715 Yamasee Wars named Francisco Menéndez, was truly the community's leader. When British forces from Georgia attacked St. Augustine in 1740, Montiano ordered the people of Mose to abandon their settlement and fall back to St. Augustine for safety. Fort Mose was captured by the British and used as a base of operations; Spanish soldiers and the Mose militia regained it in a suprise attack that devastated the British forces, but the fort was destroyed. Over the next decade, the people of Mose lived within the community of St. Augustine, until Governor García de Solís insisted they return and rebuild the settlement in 1752. When Florida was transferred to British hands by treaty in 1763, these African settlers evacuated to Cuba with the rest of the Spanish from St. Augustine. Although there are no remains of Fort Mose's earth and wooden structures, visitors today can view the land where the settlement once stood at Fort Mose Historic State Park . There is an interactive museum at the site and special events throughout the year hosted by the Fort Mose Historical Society . Fort Mose is also part of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

While slavery in the Spanish colonies was considered an accident of fate rather than a perpetual or preordained condition, and Spanish slave code and social practice made it possible for a significant free Black class to exist in both Spain and the New World, Blacks were not free from racial prejudice. When the Moors, who had ruled Spain for seven centuries, were driven out in 1492, those who remained were relegated to the bottom of the social status. This was to remain the norm for centuries, although a person could climb the social ladder through marriage, the accumulation of wealth, military service, or the sponsorship of a person of higher status. Although the majority of Africans married others of African descent, a number of them married white Europeans, Native Americans, and mixed-blood spouses, and a multi-racial and multi-ethnic society developed throughout the Americas and the Caribbean. The Spanish developed a highly organized system for identifying the precise genetic heritage of an individual. Full-blood Africans were known as morenos . People of mixed African-European-Indian ancestry were known as castas, with other nomenclature depending on their heritage. For example, if a Spaniard married a morena woman, their children would be mulattos . If a mulatto married a Spaniard, their children would be known as moriscos . The children of Spaniards and Native Americans were called mestizos.

One place where a person of lesser status could succeed, regardless of color, was in the military. Africans served in their own units under their own officers. There were black militia units almost everywhere the Spanish had colonies, and their European military units were multicultural as well. In Florida, Black inhabitants formed themselves into a militia at least as early as 1683. Black troops from Vera Cruz and Havana served in Florida during the War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739-1742). During the American Revolution, Black Havana troops under Spanish Louisiana governor Bernardo de Gálvez successfully attacked the British at Baton Rouge, Manchac, Mobile, and Pensacola. According to St. Augustine historian Dr. Susan Parker, the Fort Mose militia was routinely stationed at the Francisco Redoubt, the southeastern-most cannon platform along the earthen city walls. It is possible that they were also rotated as a group to Fort Matanzas on occasion. One of the soldiers present at the last muster held at Fort Matanzas, five days before the formal transfer to the US in 1821, was Sergeant 2nd Class Lorenzo Brito of the Colored Company of Havana. Free Blacks had a vested interest in serving in the Florida military. After all, if Florida fell to the British, they would be enslaved. But even enslaved men were willing to serve, because military service was one possible route to obtain freedom.

In 1821, the Adams-Onís Treaty ceded Florida to the United States. Although this treaty recognized the rights of free persons of color, most of the Black militia and their families moved to Cuba, as their predecessors had done in 1763 when the colony had transferred to British hands. Only those who felt themselves protected by owning substantial property stayed in the new U.S. territory. However, laws were soon passed infringing on the rights of freedmen. Laws limited the right of free African Americans to assemble, carry firearms, serve on juries, or testify against whites. They were taxed unfairly and subject to curfews. They could be whipped for misdemeanors, impressed for manual labor, and even forced back into slavery to satisfy debts or fines. Interracial marriage was prohibited, and the children of such previous marriages could not inherit their parents’ estates. Under such restrictions, more mixed-race families, such as the Kingsleys of Fort George Island , evacuated Florida. Some free African Americans who ran afoul of these restrictive laws ran away to live with the Seminoles . Those who could afford it immigrated to other Caribbean countries. Although by 1850, it is estimated that about 1000 free blacks remained in Florida (compared to 39,000 enslaved). Learn more about African American history from 1821 to present-day.

The institution of slavery in Spain was different from that of other European nations. Spanish slave laws, granting enslaved people certain rights and protections, were derived from ancient Roman traditions and had been incorporated into the Castilian code of law known as the Siete Partidas in the thirteenth century. These laws were not based on race, and Africans joined slaves of other races and ethnicities who had been captured in "just wars," been condemned, or had sold themselves into slavery. The Siete Partidas held that slavery was an unnatural condition, for God had created man free, and it established ways in which enslaved people could become free. This philosophy was held in the context of a country steeped in the Catholic religion. All men, both free and enslaved, were brothers in Christ, and it was the responsibility of masters and the Church to teach them the rudiments of the faith so that they might be admitted into the Church and enjoy all its sacraments. Since these sacraments include marriage, the sanctity of the family was protected by requirements that family members not be separated. Brotherhood in the Church sometimes served to tie enslaved people to those who owned them in intricate kinship arrangements, such as owner serving as godparents and marriage sponsors. As Spaniards conquered and colonized in the Americas, they were charged with a dual purpose: to bring weath to the Spanish Crown, and to bring souls to the Catholic Church. They established mission systems across all the lands they claimed, Christianizing the Native Americans and creating an extensive network of farms and information-gathering sources in the process. Africans both free and enslaved were part of Spanish armed forces both in Europe and in their first expeditions across the Atlantic.

Many women, whose names are lost to history, are responsible for the survival and success of St. Augustine. They served their families, cooked, cleaned, raised children, nursed the sick, grew crops, mended and washed clothes, took care of entire households, served their community, and kept taking on responsibilities. They became business women, leaders, voters, artists, activists, and more. If noted in early history books, they were often recorded in the important roles as someone's wife, mother, daughter, or sister, but rarely did their names and contributions shine as they should, for they helped St. Augustine survive and grow into what it has become today. This page is dedicated to a few stories that were recorded in hopes that we continue to explore more untold stories in Women's History.

The Timucua raised crops like corn, squash, beans, pumpkins and melons. The women cooked the meals, cleaned, and prepared the animal hides for clothing. The women also made pottery for use in cooking. In 1539, Hernando de Soto led an army of more than 500 men in a devastating expedition through central and north Florida. His army seized food, took women for consorts, and forced men to serve as guides and bearers. After the arrival of the French and Spanish, the number of Timucua became smaller with each passing year. The Europeans brought diseases with them that the Timucua easily caught and died from. At the acquisition of Florida by Britain in 1763 there were perhaps 125 remaining. This last remnant either migrated with the Spanish colonists to Cuba or were absorbed into the Seminole population, who represent them to this day.

When Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded the city of St. Augustine , the Calusa tribe on the southwest coast of Florida was governed by a chief, who became known as King Carlos. Menendez was introduced to King Carlos and his sister. Her Indian name is not known, but when she was presented to Menéndez as a wife, she was baptized Antonia. Initially, Menéndez protested, since he already had a wife in Spain, but in the interest of diplomacy, Menéndez had no choice but to accept her as his “wife.” Antonia was sent to Havana , Cuba , to be instructed in the Catholic religion. Antonia was upset that Menéndez would not truly treat her as his wife and evenually Menéndez returned her to her brother in Florida. King Carlos planned to re-marry Antonia to a Christianized Indian named Don Pedro, who had been named heir to Carlos’s throne. Menéndez sent Antonia back to Havana, but Carlos threatened to kill many Spaniards unless his sister was returned. Antonia had clearly become a pawn in the dealings of Carlos and the Spanish governor, but she was not a silent pawn. When Menéndez orchestrated an unfavorable peace treaty between the Tocobaga and the Calusa, Antonia let her outrage be known. Menéndez returned to St. Augustine and probably never saw her again. In 1568, the tensions between the Calusa and the Spanish reached a high point , and King Carlos was killed by Spanish soldiers. Menéndez died in Spain in 1574. Antonia remained with her people for a time, teaching them the Catholic religion, but she eventually returned to Havana , Cuba , where she died.

Francisco Camacho came to Florida in the 1560’s from San Lucar de Barrameda, near Cadiz. He was a soldier in the regiment, and also a fisherman. He married an native woman named Teresa, and in 1580 the couple’s household in St. Augustine included Francisco, Teresa, Teresa‘s sister Catalina, and Catalina’s son, Juan. Fewer than half of the Spanish men in St. Augustine were married, and fewer than half of those had a Spanish wife.

Señora de Vera’s soldier husband died in St. Augustine sometime before 1580. She supported herself by opening her home as a boardinghouse, renting space to five soldiers. Three of the soldiers also worked on the side as carpenters, and one worked as a barber. Men vastly out-numbered women and they generally continued to live in the comrade groups mandated by Pedro Menéndez at the first settlement, in order to pool rations and share household needs. Most soldiers also practiced trades or crafts on the side to supplement their meager salaries, usually through barter.

The generation of Timucuans born during the 1560’s reached adulthood in the 1580’s, which was when missionary efforts in St. Augustine realized their first successes. Success was aided by the cooperation of the Timucuan caciques (chiefs), who appear to have quickly recognized the advantages of Spanish alliance. Doña Maria Melendez, a member of the Timucuan noble class, is an example. She was the Chieftainess (cacica) of the Timucuan town of Nombre de Dios during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Doña Maria was a Christian, and her mother (who had been the ruling Chief of Nombre de Dios before her) was one of the very early Timucua converts to Christianity. Doña Maria married a Spanish soldier named Clemente de Vernal, and he lived with her and their children at Nombre de Dios. By 1606 she had become the ruler of the Timucuan tribes extending along the coast between St. Augustine and approximately Cumberland Island, Georgia, possibly through Spanish intervention.

Isavel was a free citizen of mixed white and black ancestry who baked rosquetes, spiral-shaped cakes. She sold these cakes, as well as honey, door to door throughout the town, and from her home. She was an independent entrepreneur in an age when such a status was difficult for women.

Estefanía was the daughter of regimental Major Salvador de Cigarroa. She was in St. Augustine the night of the 1668 Searles raid, and ran into the street carrying her younger sister. One of the pirates shot at them, killing the smaller child and wounding Estefanía in the breast. It is not known if Estefanía was one of the well-to-do young ladies taken for ransom, but as an officer’s daughter she would have been both an eligible ransom candidate and an eligible bride in St. Augustine.

Juana was a native woman married to a Spanish soldier named Toma Hernando, and they had a house in St. Augustine. Juana died in 1689, and her death sparked a controversy between St. Augustine’s Franciscan (regular) clergy and their rivals, the secular clergy. The Franciscans claimed that they should see to her burial because she was a native, while the Parish priest asserted jurisdiction because she was a resident of the town and his parish, and lived like the Spanish. The case was appealed to the Bishop of Cuba, Diego de Compostela, who decreed in favor of the Parish priests, but not before the Franciscans secretly removed Juana’s body to the Convento de San Francisco for burial.

Sergeant Major Manuel de Cendoya was appointed Governor of La Florida with responsibility of overseeing the building of Castillo de San Marcos, the stone masonry fort. He was not paid for his service. When Cendoya passed in 1673, Doña Sebastiana, his widow, was left with the Crown claiming her deceased husband owed them money and taking inventory of her property. For about ten years, she wrote and petitioned the Crown for funds to assist her in raising her three children. Eventually, Governor Juan Marquez assisted her in settling her debts and collecting what she was owed. She returned to Spain. Her hardships eventually contributed to the welfare of all women. In 1685, Spain decreed that wives of deceased governors could return to Spain despite unsettled estates, ensuring that women, like Doña Sebastiana, would not be placed in such destitute situations.

María Magdalena’s mother, María Luisa Balthazar, was a Mocama Timucua native from the village of Palica, and her father, Juan Chrisístomo, was an enslaved Caribali African living in St. Augustine. María Magdalena and her sister Josepha Candelaria were born in their mother’s village, and were free. María Magdalena was married three times, first to Juan Margarita, who was thought to have been a native. In 1743 she married Pablo Prezilla, a free person of mixed white and black ancestry from Venezuela, and in 1745 she wed her third husband, Phelipe Gutiéres, a Spaniard. Her heritage and marriages illustrate the multiracial families that were common in St. Augustine.

Antonia Avero was a wife and mother, but what distinguishes her from many other women of the 1700s is that she was able to inherit and own property. She was the great-grand-daughter to Francesca Maria Garcia de Acevedo Penaloza, whose home was burned by the English during the Siege of 1702. The Avero Family lived near the fort, on today's St. George Street, not too far from the City Gate. Antonia married Captain Don Joseph Guillen and mothered five children. When her husband died in 1743, she inherited several houses, enslaved men, and one sloop. She remarried Joaquin Blanco, an administrative elite of St. Augustine. During the 1763 evacuation of the town, when Florida was traded from the Spanish to the British, she was forced to sell her property when she fled to Cuba. Much of what is known about her is because she filed a legal suit in 1791 for the return of her ancestral lands after the Spanish regained Florida. One of the Avero homes can be visited today, as it became St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine, dedicated to America’s first Greek immigrants that landed on our shores in 1768.

Fort Mose was the first free African settlement legally sanctioned in what would become the United States. It became a haven for enslaved refugees from the British Colonies to the north, who would run away and escape to Spanish St. Augustine. The women and men of Mose won their liberty through great daring and effort and made important contributions to Florida’s multi-ethnic heritage. The village had a wall around it, with dwellings inside, as well as a church and an earthen fort. Fort Mose is on the Florida Black Heritage Trail and the NPS highlights it as a precursor site of the Underground Railroad.

In 1715, Ana Maria, an enslaved Mandinga African, fled Carolina with her husband in hopes of freedom only to be taken by Perro Bravo, a Yamasee cacique (native chief). Perro Bravo was angry because he never received payment for the enslaved people he had brought into Florida years earlier, and threatened to kill Ana Maria, along with the others in the group. In 1718, acting St. Augustine Governor Juan de Ayala y Escovar paid Perro 600 pesos worth of corn and liquor for the enslaved people. It is thought that Ana Maria and her husband, Francisco Menéndez, lived with the acting governor for some time, because that is when she took the name Ana Maria de Escovar. By 1720, Ana Maria’s husband had been appointed to command a slave militia. After successfully defending St. Augustine, Francisco and Ana Maria petitioned for freedom, as King Charles II had declared Florida an official slave sanctuary, but they were denied. Manuel de Montiano was appointed the new governor in 1737, and they petitioned once again. On March 15th, 1738, all petitioners were granted freedom, and Fort Mose was established. A 1759 census showed there to be 23 females living at Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose (Fort Mose), the first free African settlement in North America. Ana Maria de Escovar was one of these 23. Ana Maria and Francisco had four children, and continued to live at Fort Mose for some time, all the while making great contributions to St. Augustine.

The " Oldest House ," known today as the Gonzalez-Alvarez House, is the oldest surviving Spanish colonial dwelling in St. Augustine built in 1723. It's most famous resident was Mary Evans Fenwick. When the British took control of St. Augustine, Major Joseph Peavett, paymaster for the English military, purchased this house. He married Mary Evans Fenwick (1730-1792), a widow and midwife. Upon his death, she remarried twice and became Mary Evans Fenwick Peavett Hudson. In addition to her business as a midwife, she operated an inn and tavern in what is today thought to be the oldest house in Florida. Two hundred years later, a fictional account of her life and times was recorded in Eugenie Price's book, Maria .

Benedita was born in 1772 in the New Smyrna colony. Her parents, Bartolomé and María Usina, were original members of Turnbull’s expedition, and joined the Menorcan refugee group that fled to St. Augustine in 1777, when Benedita was just five. Her younger sister was born seven years later in 1784. The family occupied (as squatters) a Crown-owned lot on today’s Spanish Street and built a wood and thatch house there. Bartolomé farmed land to the north of St. Augustine, and by 1803 was able to buy the property legally. When Benedita was fourteen, although unmarried, she was listed as living with a neighboring family perhaps to help out in the house, or perhaps because of other family problems. She married Antonio Pons when she was fifteen, which was about a year older than the average age of marriage for Menorcan girls at that time. Pons had a farm in New Smyrna, and he took Benedita back to live with him there.

The story of Nansi Wiggins and her family spans the British, Second Spanish, and American periods of Florida, and illustrates diversity, fluidity and unpredictability of life during those times. Nansi, also known as Ana Gallum, came to America from Senegal as an enslaved person. She was purchased by an English planter, Job Wiggins, who had a plantation near Rollestown, Florida. Sometime around 1778, Job freed Nansi and married her in a Protestant ceremony. They had six children before Job died in 1797, and he left the plantation and the charge of the children to Nansi. She managed 1,400 acres of land, a hundred head of cattle and fourteen enslaved people, and was frequently in St. Augustine selling horses and enslaved people. Nansi and Job’s children married into diverse families. Ten years later, Florida became a territory of the United States. Although many black and mixed race families left Florida for Cuba, others, including some of Nansi’s descendants, remained to experience the institutionalization of the two-caste racial system that was ushered in.

Gerónimo Alvarez came to St. Augustine from Havana in 1784 and married a local Menorcan, Antonia Venz. In 1790, the family purchased the “Oldest House,” known today as the Gonzalez-Alvarez House . In 1791, they acquired another property, the Tovar house. Menorcans maintained a close-knit community and favors between community members allowed for mutual prosperity and social advancement. It seems that through Antonia, his Menorcan wife, Alvarez reaped the benefits of entering a large kinship network, which permitted him to prosper beyond his means as a baker and storekeeper. By marrying into the Menorcan segment of the population, Alvarez adapted to the frontier conditions of St. Augustine to his advantage.

The Ximenez-Fatio House was a fashionable rooming house for most of the 1800s operated by a succession of women owners. It was built between 1783-1820 by Andres Ximenez out of coquina. Ximenez married Juana Pellicer, daughter to the Minorcan community leader, Francisco Pellicer, and she ran the household. In 1821, when Florida became a U.S. territory, Margaret Cook began to buy property in St. Augustine. By 1830, she owned the building and decided to use it as a boarding house. Eliza Whitehurst managed it from 1830-1838. In 1838, Sarah Anderson purchased the house and property. In 1855, Louisa Fatio bought the house. After her death in 1875, the house became a gift shop and club. In 1939, the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Florida purchased the property. Today, visitors can tour the "boarding house" restored as it might have been when Eliza Whitehurst managed it.

In 1859, upon the death of her husband, Maria Mestre de los Dolores Andreu became one of the nation's first female lighthouse keepers, the first female Hispanic-American lighthouse keeper, and the first to command a federal shore installation. Maria was born to parents, Bartholomew Mestre and Marianna Lorenzo Mestre. She married Joseph Juan Andreu and had eight children. Joseph fell to his death when scaffolding collapsed. Maria took over as lighthouse keeper in St. Augustine in 1859 until the then Confederate States Navy darkened the tower during the Civil War in 1861 in an effort to hinder the Union Navy off Florida's coast. The Mestres and the Andreus, both Menorcan families, still have descendants living in St. Augustine today. The St. Augustine Lighthouse is one of Florida's first official lighthouses authorized by Congress. The present 165- foot tower dates from 1874 and is the state's only spiral-banded lighthouse. It also contains its original first-order Fresnel lens.

Caspar Garcia built the St. Francis Inn in 1791. Anna and Sarah Dummett operated it as a boarding house beginning in 1845. During the Civil War, sentiments in St. Augustine were intense. When Union forces took over St. Augustine, Anna heard that the Union flag had been raised at the St. Francis Barracks. Upset that St. Augustine had surrendered to the Union, she led a group of women who chopped down the wooden flagpole, thus preventing the Stars and Stripes from flying in place of the Stars and Bars.

Bernardo Segui, a prominent Menorcan businessman, constructed an imposing house about 1800, during the Second Spanish Period. Edmund Kirby Smith, the highest ranking Confederate officer from Florida and the last Confederate general to surrender in the Civil War, was born there in 1824. His mother, Frances Kirby Smith, was rumored to be a Confederate spy and was banished from St. Augustine during the Union occupation. Today, the building serves as the research library of the St. Augustine Historical Society .

This historic home was built in 1750 for Royal Spanish Treasurer Juan Estevan de Peña. The house would change hands many times and end up being run by The Woman’s Exchange of St. Augustine , founded in 1892. It is a non-profit organization and part of the Federation of Woman’s Exchanges. Members follow in the footsteps of women in the 19th century who began Woman’s Exchanges to help other women who had fallen on hard times. During the Civil War, while husbands and sons were off fighting for the Confederacy, their wives and daughters were left at home with little to no income. They could make hand crafted items and anonymously sell them through the woman’s exchange for a profit. Peck’s granddaughter, Anna Gardner Burt, the last owner, died in 1931 and left her house, furnishings, priceless antiques, and artwork in a trust to the city. She was explicit in her will that it be “maintained as an example of the old antebellum homes of the South.” The city almost declined her gift because of the loss of future property taxes. The Woman’s Exchange stepped in, paid annual rent, and agreed to show the home. It opened the house for tours May 1, 1932, that same day, the Woman’s Exchange gift shop also began operating in its new home.

From 1875-1878, Plains Indians were incarcerated in Castillo de San Marcos, known then as Fort Marion. The group consisted of 74 Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, and Caddo prisoners who were brought to St. Augustine from Fort Sill. All were male, except three. Two of them were not technically prisoners but had refused to leave Black Horse; Peonte, also known as Mother, was wife to Black Horse, and Ah-kes, her daughter, was nine years old. Initially, conditions were bleak at the fort. When Lieutenant Pratt took over, he would remove their shackles and bring in teachers to provide a western education. While incarcerated at the Fort, Ah-kes was taught English and wrote a letter to the President asking for the freedom of her people. After three years they were released to the care of the Indian Bureau. The pressure to give up their cultural identity for a new way of life had significant impact for generations to come.

Mochi (Buffalo Calf Woman) was born in 1841, a Southern Cheyenne woman of the Tse Tse Stus band. At 24, she was a member of the Black Kettle’s camp and witnessed the Sand Creek Massacre . This event lead her to become a warrior, and she fought with her husband in battles and raids for the next 11 years. For her actions, she was incarcerated and sent to Fort Marion. She was the only woman to be held as an official prisoner at the Fort during the Plains Indians incarceration (1875-1878). During her time at Fort Marion, she refused to learn western culture and mourned the loss of her family and former way of life. Upon her release, she returned to Oklahoma, where she stayed until her passing in 1881.

Sarah Ann Mather and Rebecca Lathrop Perit started a school for the children of formerly enslaved people in St. Augustine. They later became teachers for the Plains Indians who were incarcerated at the fort from 1875-1878. Mather and Perit, along with Anna Pratt, Nannie Burt, Julia and Laura Gibbs, Amy Carruthers, and Harriet Beecher Stowe assisted Lieutenant Pratt in his efforts to educate the prisoners. For the prisoners who were released and wanted to continue their education, Mather worked to secure opportunities. In addition to learning how to read and write English, the prisoners also created Ledger Art, narrative drawings and paintings on old accounting books that depicted their experiences. During her time, Mather was considered a champion for education. However, past efforts to remove American Indians from their culture and "westernize" them are widely criticized today.

Harriet Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist, author, and educator. She is most remembered for authoring Uncle Tom's Cabin, a novel advocating for the end of slavery. In the late 1800s, Mrs. Stowe and her friend Miss Mather are depicted in some of the art created by the incarcerated Plains Indians who were their pupils at Fort Marion. She wrote extensively about the Plains Indian incarceration period, 1875-1878. In a memoir titled The Plains Indians at St. Augustine , she detailed her impression of the prisoners as eager students. Much of her writing reflects her cultural lens, viewing the white American way of life as preferred and superior over the American Indian way of life.

The 1890 Memorial Presbyterian Church is a spectacular example of the Venetian Renaissance Revival style. It was built by hotel magnate Henry Flagler in memory of his daughter, Jennie Louise Flagler Benedict. She died of complications from childbirth, on her way to visit her father. The church was designed by internationally renowned architects John M. Carrere and Thomas Hastings, who had also designed Flagler's Ponce de Leon Hotel (now Flagler College). The remains of Henry Flagler, Mary Harkness Flagler (his first wife), Jennie Louise, and Margery (his infant grandaughter) are in a mausoleum within the church. The building's copper dome is modeled after the Basilica de San Marco in Venice. The women in Flagler's life had great influence on him. The guilt he felt over Jennie's death led him to change his work habits and lifestyle. In 1959, Jean Flagler Matthews, Henry Flagler's granddaughter, established the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum as a nonprofit corporation that houses an extenstive collection from America's Gilded Age.

Luella Day was a practicing physician who struck out in search of gold in the Klondike in 1897. In 1900, Luella and her husband, Edward McConnell, arrived in St. Augustine . She made quite an impression on high society with her ermine coats, bejeweled rings, and diamond-studded front tooth, which earned her the nickname Diamond Lil. The McConnells bought a large tract of land just north of town, on which stood a small, square coquina fountain. Luella began selling cups of “youth water” from her small fountain, turned her property into a park, and started charging charging admission. She claimed to “uncover” a stone cross in the ground that was 15 stones in length and 13 in width, supposedly signifying Ponce de Leon’s landing date, along with a metal casket that she claimed contained papers about the stone cross. Diamond Lil soon became very popular, but not everyone bought her “fountain of youth” story. Emily L. Watson, a contributor to the fledgling St. Augustine Historical Society, spent countless hours researching Luella’s claims, poring over Library of Congress documents, and looking for information disproving Diamond Lil. Wilson tried to dissuade Walter B. Fraser, a local businessman, from buying the property and continuing the myth, but she was unsuccessful; Fraser avidly developed the land. Today, the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park is one of St. Augustine ’s most popular tourist attractions. Despite the false fountain and wild claims, however, the site does have significant historical value. Archaeological excavations have revealed that the property once housed the village of Seloy , the Timucuan Indian settlement that Pedro Menéndez and his men encountered in 1565 when they first established the city of St. Augustine .

Lucy Abbott was St. Augustine's first female land developer. She visited as a child before the Civil War and was saddened by the "small and wretched-looking houses" that were common in town. She moved here in the 1860s and purchased land next to the Castillo until she owned a large tract, and then she began selling and building. Today, the 33-acre Abbott Tract is a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places that contains the highest percentage of pre-1930 buildings in St. Augustine, eighty of them having been built before the turn of the century. Nine of Lucy's buildings are still standing, and her house on Water Street is still one of the Castillo's most beautiful neighbors! Her legacy is a complicated one, however; she was a leader in the Ladies Memorial Association, which raised money for building monuments to the Confederacy.

The 1887 Grace United Methodist Church is yet another Carrere & Hastings design, this one in the Spanish Renaissance Revival style. When Wilma E. Davis was baptized there in 1893, it marked the beginning of life lifelong association with the Methodist Church. At a time in which women ministers were rare, she was ordained a deacon in the Florida Conference of Methodism in 1924. Five years later she was ordained an elder, becoming the first woman to receive this certificate. As she traveled around the world, she maintained her association with Grace Church serving as a church pastor, working with youth and studying in Boston and the Middle East.

Inspired by her parents' determination to rise from former enslavement, she first attended Howard University and then earned a scholarship to attend Barnard College. Joining the cultural movement now known as the Harlem Renaissance, she traveled to the Caribbean and American South to study African culture. She lived in St. Augustine on several occasions throughout the 1920s, '30s, and '40s. She authored multiple essays, articles, and novels; the most popular being, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937). She is regarded as a world-renowned writer and anthropologist of African Folklore. Her works were not appreciated in her lifetime due to segregation and racism. A rediscovery of her works in the 1980s and '90s led to a new appreciation of her works, many which are now standard reading in the curriculum of high school and college literature classes. The St. Augustine City Commission chose Zora Neale Hurston to be memorialized with the naming of a local park, located at the corner of King Street and US-1.

The United States Coast Guard Women’s Reserve was chartered in November 1942 as a way for women to join the war effort during the Second World War. SPAR stands for Semper Paratus, Always Ready , the Coast Guard motto. Although the SPARs could not go to sea and had no authority over any male Coast Guardsman, they could serve as yeoman, clerks, parachute riggers, chaplains’ assistants, air control tower operators, boatswains’ mates, coxswains, radiomen, ship's cooks, vehicle drivers, and many more shore jobs, freeing the men to fight overseas. The SPARs were under direct military discipline, and they marched and drilled and drew the same pay as their male counterparts. The Coast Guard Women’s Reserve trained in many places throughout the country, including St. Augustine . Most of the SPARs were housed in the Ponce de Leon Hotel, whose contract with the military helped pull them out of the slump in tourism caused by the first years of the war. The female “Coasties” lived on one floor of the hotel while the men lived on the others. After the end of World War II, SPARs were gradually discharged up until June 30, 1946, Demobilization Day. About 10,000 women departed the Coast Guard Reserve with the same spirit of patriotism and dedication with which they had entered, confident that they had done their part to win the war.

Mrs. Katherine Twine, came to be known as the "Rosa Parks of St. Augustine" for her leadership in the civil rights movement. She demonstrated by marching and going to local segregated businesses in St Augustine. She was arrested so many times that she began to carry a large-brimmed hat which she called her "Freedom Hat" with her whenever she thought she would be arrested in order to have some shade from the sun in the outdoor stockade at the crowded jail. She also participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. She and her husband, who was the president of the NAACP division in St. Augustine, were among those who contacted and facilitated Dr. Martin Luther King coming to St. Augustine in 1964. The Twines continued to work for equality after the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. For their efforts, Katherine Twine was honored with the City of St. Augustine's prestigious "de Aviles Award" and they are both memorialized with the naming of Twine Street and Twine Park.

Fannie Louise Fulwood was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) during the 1960s Civil Rights movement in St. Augustine. In March of 1963, Mrs. Fannie Fulwood and Mrs. Eliza Hawthorne, representing the St. Augustine NAACP, wrote to President John F. Kennedy, asking that he oppose a federal grant for the city’s 400th birthday celebration because they excluded blacks citizens and would not meet with them to discuss the city’s racial problems. Fulwood, who earned her living as a housekeeper and maid, was the recipient of numerous awards, including the St. Augustine de Aviles Award and a fellowship award from the Unitarian Universalist Church.

Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has generally been a male-dominated organization, as it was originally formed from the United States Cavalry. The first official female employees of the Park Service appeared in 1918. They were Clare Marie Hodges and Helene Wilson, hired as temporary rangers while their male counterparts went to war. The Park Service was a hard field to break into for women, and most early female Rangers were Park Service wives, and they were usually temporary or confined to the job of naturalist. During World War II, many more women, especially wives of Rangers, joined the National Park Service as the men joined the military. The Park Service’s opinion of what was suitable duty for women was still a bit old-fashioned, and they were not placed positions where they would be called to fight fires, take part in rescue operations, or do other hazardous work. They were mostly confined to lecture programs, guided tours, museum and library work, and research programs. Today, female Park Rangers now have access to all the same positions as their male counterparts, and comprise just over 38% of the National Park Service staff. Martha Aikens became the first female Superintendent of Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in 1980.

The University of Florida has maintained a program of research and field school training in St. Augustine since 1972, under the direction of Dr. Kathleen Deagan. This program has been designed to learn about Spanish adaptations and the development of a criollo culture in America, while at the same time providing field training for archaeology students. The field school program works closely with the City Archaeologist and the City of St. Augustine to provide input for their Living History Museum depicting life in Spanish St. Augustine. As a museum curator, Kathleen also directs the Florida Museum of Natural History’s program in Historical Archaeology, which is based on building and maintaining archaeological collections from historic sites, and developing research and exhibits projects related to the collections.

Martha B. Aikens became the first female Superintendent of Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (1980-1983). In an interview in 1985, Aikens recalled that as the first double minority superintendent there was a community reaction of "wait and see," or a kind of guarded acceptance. With park experience as unit manager at Gateway/Breezy Point and in Everglades National Park she addressed a number of issues in need of resolution at St. Augustine. Aikens was with the NPS for over 30 years and received the Distinguished Service Award, the highest Departmental honor award, for her contributions as a manager, trainer, enterprising leader, and administrator for the National Park Service.

Anna Kingsley: A Free Woman Mary McLeod Bethune Ella C. Chamberlain and the early Suffrage Movement in Florida May Mann Jennings Women's Equality Day: The First Ladies of Florida Politics Zora Neale Hurston and Women's Contributions to Documenting Florida Folklife Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zarharias, Athletic Contributions Florida and the 19th Amendment Louise Jones Gopher and the Seminole Tribe

Ironically, after all the fighting in Georgia and Florida, all it took was a signature on a piece of paper in Europe to take Florida away from Spain. In 1763, the Seven Years’ War (or the French and Indian War, as it was called in America) came to an end. Great Britain and her American colonies had won against the combined forces of France and Spain. The armies of Great Britain had conquered Canada and several French-held islands in the Caribbean. They had also stormed and occupied Havana, Cuba. This was Spain’s principal seaport and administrative headquarters for much of Spanish America. Spain also lost Manila in the Spanish Philippines, a transshipment point of the wealth of Asia. The Treaty of Paris ending the war left Canada to the English, returned several Caribbean islands to the French, and traded Havana and Manila back to Spain in exchange for the province of Florida. Great Britain now controlled all of North America east of the Mississippi River. At that time, St. Augustine was still a garrison community with fewer than five hundred houses. When Florida was officially transferred to the English, most of the Spanish residents chose to depart for Cuba. This exodus temporarily depopulated the peninsula, but Florida was on the eve of the greatest population explosion since its initial colonization 200 years earlier. To calm Indian unrest on the frontiers, the English Crown Proclamation of 1763 outlawed settlement west of the Appalachians. This promoted Florida as a new area of British colonization. Colonial pressure for land found a new outlet. Expansion, blocked to the west, moved south.

England had a strong desire to develop Florida trade. The London Board of Trade advertised 20,000 acre lots to any group willing to enter Florida. The land, however, had to be settled within ten years with one resident per 100 acres. While the Privy Council in London granted land titles, pioneer families could gain land grants at the two colonial capitals, St. Augustine in East Florida and Pensacola in West Florida. Former British soldiers were eligible for special grants. Each pioneer settler was given 100 acres of land and 50 acres per family member. To recruit Southerners, slavery was allowed. Under the able administration of Governor James Grant, 2,856,000 acres were granted in East Florida. There was much to celebrate in English Florida. Indian hostilities had, for the most part, ended, and there had been peace in Florida for over ten years. The population of St. Augustine nearly doubled from what it was in the Spanish period. New houses were built and old Spanish houses were renovated and expanded, most notably with second stories being added (almost all construction during the Spanish occupation was single story). Commerce and trade were growing, including cattle ranching, shipping, and plantation agriculture, like Andrew Turnbull's indigo operations in New Smyrna. Despite its youth, the colony was showing promise of becoming a flourishing and productive area. But storm clouds were brewing to the north.

The French & Indian War changed the relationship between the northern colonies and their mother country. A decade of conflict over economic policy and control, beginning with the Stamp Act crisis in 1765, led to alienation among a rapidly growing population (over 2.5 million by 1776) which was increasingly of non-British origin. Florida remained a loyalist stronghold throughout the American Revolution. Its population was newly arrived in America and had no history or experience of the growing democratic culture in the other colonies. Likewise, the colony was dependent on English trade with little internal economic growth of its own. Enraged residents of St. Augustine burned effigies in the plaza of revolutionary leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock.

St. Augustine, as the capital of East Florida, rapidly became a military stronghold and the central command post for operations in the southern colonies. England decided to utilize Florida as a staging area for British troops assigned to the South. Florida's warm climate would acclimate British forces to the American heat, and Florida could develop supplies for the British military. The town quickly overflowed with British troops and a growing stream of loyalist refugees fleeing the fighting in the Carolinas and Georgia. St. Augustine and Fort St. Mark (the renamed Castillo de San Marcos) were used as a supply base and a prisoner of war camp for captured rebels. Among these were three of the signers of the Declaration of Independence: Thomas Heyward, Jr., Arthur Middleton, and Edward Rutledge. South Carolina’s Lieutenant Governor, Christopher Gadsden, was held in solitary confinement inside the fort’s jail for 42 weeks.

In addition to the British regular army, Florida locals also took up arms against the rebelling colonists. Of all the provincial troops, the East Florida Rangers were the most active. They were organized in 1776 and ultimately consisted of some 130 men, organized in four companies and engaged to serve for three years. The rangers were inhabitants of East Florida and refugees from Georgia and the Carolinas. They received their clothing, provisions, and one Shilling a day, but provided their own horses. When the war broke out, the regular garrison troops of St. Augustine were unacquainted with the wooded terrain of Florida. Rangers were absolutely necessary for cooperating with the regular troops, supplying the town and garrison with provisions, bringing intelligence from the north, making plundering incursions into Georgia, keeping that province in constant alarm, and securing Florida settlements from attacks. The regular troops were neither sufficient nor fit for ranger work. Parties of rangers and Native Americans were continually employed to patrol the frontiers and drive off cattle from Georgia. Stationed on the frontiers rather than in town, the rangers detached constant and successive scouting parties of observation, penetrated within five miles of Savannah, and even passed through the town of Augusta, Georgia. Since they were under the control of the governor and loosely organized, the existence of the rangers aroused a constant dispute of command between military and civil authorities. In 1779, the East Florida Rangers were reorganized and reconstituted into a provincial infantry regiment by the name of King’s Rangers. They were no longer considered to be attached to East Florida and might be taken into the King’s service.

Most of the war took place far north of Florida, but cross-border raids increased. In 1779, Spain took advantage of Britain's preoccupation with the colonies and joined the fray. General Bernardo de Gálvez , the governor of Louisiana, captured Baton Rouge, Natchez, and Mobile, all in British West Florida. After losing Pensacola to the Spanish in 1781, the British were afraid they might make plans to capture St. Augustine by trying the same plan the British had tried years before: coming up the Matanzas River and attacking from the rear. However, such plans were never executed. The war’s unpopularity and massive expense continued until Britain was forced to concede American independence. Having lost control of the majority of its colonies, Britain had little interest in keeping Florida. Now an isolated outpost, it had little prospect of staying productive. On September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed ending the American Revolution. In it Britain recognized the independence of the United States. Under separate treaty, England ceded Florida back to Spanish control in exchange for the Bahaman Islands. This time, however, most of the population, who owned businesses and plantations in Florida, did not leave. With so many British remaining, and very few Spanish returning, the character of this Spanish colony changed, and the newly-formed United States now turned its attention to gaining control of and expanding its southern borders.

Enrique Primo de Rivera started his career in the Spanish military on November 18, 1639. Assuming he was 18 years old then, he would have been born in 1621. Although his age is uncertain, we do know his place of birth: Brussels, which is located in a region called Walloon and is now the capital city of Belgium. This region was part of the Spanish Netherlands from 1556 until 1714. During this time frame, the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) – which was also part of the Spanish 80 Years’ War – was being fought all over Europe. Enrique joined the army as a private in a Walloon company that served in Flanders under the regiment of Captain Guillaume Montertault. After six years of service, Enrique was promoted to sergeant in 1645. The next several years he spent fighting against the French, which brought him promotions to an officer of the rank of an ensign in 1649 and captain in 1659, commanding a company of Walloon infantry. Unfortunately for his military career, the peace of the Pyrenees ended the Franco-Spanish War in 1660, and Enrique had to give up his command. Now, he was a reformado captain, meaning he technically kept the rank of a captain, but only with the pay roughly equal to when he was a private at the beginning of his career. Seeking military employment further on, Enrique decided to set sail for Havana, Cuba, in 1662. The journey across the Atlantic would have taken him two to three months on a sailing ship, depending on wind and weather. The travelling routes went along the Gulf Stream, the “superhighway” of the Atlantic, that approximately doubled the speed of a sailing ship. From Cuba, Enrique moved on to St. Augustine, where he resigned from the military and lived as a private resident. In March of 1668 he married Manuela Benedit Horruytiner, daughter of Sergeant Major Pedro Benedit Horruytiner, former acting governor of Florida in St. Augustine; Enrique would have been around 47 years old by then. The couple had five children. Living in a military town, Enrique could not escape fighting even if he technically was a civilian. When English pirates attacked the city in 1668, Enrique helped to defend the wooden predecessor of the present-day fort.

On October 2, 1672, Enrique witnessed the groundbreaking for the masonry Castillo de San Marcos. After having applied for military positions unsuccessfully for a while, he was finally able to enlist as a reformado captain again, this time in the Florida garrison, after having been out of service for six years. By May 8, 1676 – at the estimated age of 55 – Enrique had been promoted by the governor to captain of the garrison’s artillery detachment. As he had in Europe, Enrique traveled around America in the military service; he was tasked in 1678 to build the first fort San Marcos de Apalache, near modern day Tallahassee. But also like before, his career suffered some setbacks, and he was again demoted from artillery captain to reformado captain, which meant a great decrease in wage. He returned to St. Augustine after the completion of San Marcos de Apalache, and in 1683, he was second in command of the forces which fought off pirates that had captured the watchtower at Matanzas inlet and were marching on the town. Enrique was then given command of 30 men and ordered north to the present-day Jacksonville area to fight against the defeated pirates if they headed that direction. Upon his arrival, he discovered the pirates had already sacked two indigenous villages, one of them being Santa María on Amelia Island. Six years later, he was sent to present-day Alabama to build another fort in the Apalachicola province. On May 23, 1692, at the presumed age of 71, Enrique reached the top of his career ladder when he was appointed Sergeant major by the governor of St. Augustine. Ten years later, due to his advanced age and declining health, the Spanish crown ordered him to retire. He was given full pay as his pension, his well-earned reward for 62 years of service. As orders took months to get from the king in Spain to St. Augustine, Enrique was still in service during the 1702 English siege on the city and took an active role in the defense of his home. Feeling restless in retirement, he petitioned the crown in October of 1706 asking to be put in charge of the fort in Matanzas, Cuba. Enrique Primo de Rivera did not live to receive an answer, as he passed away on February 5, 1707.

Another family’s story that begins right around the time the masonry Castillo was finished is that of the Averos, a family with many daughters who married military personnel to gain social status. The Avero family case study shows that it was desirable for a woman in Spanish colonial St. Augustine to marry a military man who was also a peninsular (born in Spain to Spanish parents), like Enrique. Peninsulares had the best opportunities and the most power, and military men had high social rank in St. Augustine. They didn’t come to the colonies regularly, but there was a group arriving in 1762 when 36 Spanish families from the province of Catalonia came to St. Augustine to increase the population. The women of the Avero family married men from Spain, the Canary Islands, St. Augustine, other Spanish colonies like Cuba and Colombia, and even other areas of Europe like Sicily, which was under Spanish rule for a time. This one family alone shows how international the population was in the 18th century. When the Spanish left St. Augustine after Florida was transferred to the British in 1763, there were even six German families listed on the roster of evacuees to Cuba. As long as you were Catholic, you had the opportunity to find acceptance in Spanish territories and society.

In addition to Spaniards, Canary Islanders, and Germans, Irishmen could also be found in St. Augustine, as Catholic priests in the early days and later also as soldiers. During Florida’s first Spanish period (1565 – 1763), only Spanish men served in the garrison, although not all of them were born in Spain. Peninsulares came to St. Augustine from time to time, but they did not form 100% of the military force stationed in the city. Between 1680 and 1702, St. Augustine received only small supplements of soldiers from the Canary Islands, Havana, the city of Cádiz in Spain, and the Spanish province of Galicia. Those making the transatlantic journey usually departed from the port of Cádiz. When the St. Augustine garrison was short on peninsulares , criollos (men born in the New World to Spanish parents) were enlisted in the military, even if that was technically against the law; the rules were bent to satisfy the need for soldiers. By 1676, there were 131 criollos enlisted in the military service, which was almost half of the total number of soldiers stationed in St. Augustine. This practice continued as long as Florida was held by Spain, as there were never enough soldiers coming from the peninsula to keep the garrison even close to full force. Another source of soldiers for 17th century St. Augustine was Nueva España, modern-day Mexico. These men were conscripted or levied troops primarily of mixed Native American and African heritage. These soldiers would travel from the port city of Veracruz to Havana and on to St. Augustine. Both the Spanish peninsulares and their American-born criollo descendants looked down upon these levied troops, describing them as belligerent and totally unfit for military service.

The Spanish were not the only ones to employ an international military force. During Florida’s British period, there were multiple nationalities working with and under the British military. Several German princes were selling their armies to European powers to get money and gain importance on the political map. It was politically valuable to demonstrate military strength, to “be seen” and respected by larger states rather than overrun when trying to stay neutral. To achieve this goal, sometimes they spent more money on the military than was actually available. Renting troops to more powerful states was beneficial not only for the income; the German state Hesse-Cassel rented troops to Great Britain and in return received diplomatic support in acquiring territories they were trying to get in an inheritance dispute. The German public opinion was not against the principle of subsidy soldiers, but some people were against sending them overseas, which made a safe return to their home and families less likely. Moreover, many soldiers were conscripted and did not have a choice in where and when they were going to fight. The wages for Hessian soldiers serving for the British in America were up to five times higher than what they would earn back home, so they were able to save some money and support their families – if they stayed alive. During the American War of Independence, Great Britain did not have enough of their own men in the military, so they bought troops from German princes like the Duke of Brunswick, the landgrave (similar to a Duke) of Hesse-Cassel, and others. A small detachment from a regiment of Hessians, as the troops from Hesse-Cassel were commonly called, was stationed in St. Augustine for two months in 1781, leaving the main part of the regiment in Savannah. There was the fear of a Spanish attack on British St. Augustine in April 1781 that led British and German soldiers to reinforce the troops. The Hessian Colonel Friedrich von Porbeck was the commander of the Knoblauch Regiment at the time; whether or not he liked the garlic his regiment was named after is not known. He wrote to landgrave Friedrich II of Hesse-Cassel about the troop movement and also noted that it “is the third year that the battalion has been in this very hot climate, bad foul water and evil-smelling camp fog” and that there were frequent fever attacks in the group. He did not want to go 180 miles further south from Savannah to St. Augustine in a climate that “is 2 degrees warmer.” According to his letters, the Hessians brought 85 men, including a surgeon, to St. Augustine.

Today, we have telephones, internet, and airplanes to connect us to the rest of the world. Without such technology, you might think that people of the colonial era were very isolated. While that may have been true for many people, military service offered an opportunity to see the world, as it often does today. For example, let’s look at a British regiment that was stationed in St. Augustine in the British period (1763-1784). Imagine you were the son of a blacksmith in Norfolk, England, and enlisted in 1754 at the age of 18. You were part of the 9 th Regiment of Foot from Norfolk, which took part in a battle in France in 1761 and sailed to the New World one year later to take part in the siege of Havana, Cuba. After the end of the Seven Years’ War in 1763, your regiment was posted to St. Augustine. By that time, around 1/3 of the number of soldiers who left Britain the year before had died, mostly of malaria and yellow fever. Only a few were killed in battle. You were housed in the Castillo de San Marcos, or Fort St. Mark, as you would have called it, for 6 years until 1769. Then, your regiment went to Ireland, and returned to the New World again. By the time you were 35 years old, you would have seen France and Cuba and crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice!

While the military offered the best opportunity for seeing the world, soldiers and sailors were not the only ones who traveled far from their homes. During Florida’s British period, Dr. Andrew Turnbull recruited fishermen & -women from the Spanish island of Menorca as well as Corsica, Sicily, and a number of Greek and other Mediterranean islands. Turnbull gathered these indentured servants on Menorca point before their voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to Florida, and so the entire group became known as Menorcans (also spelled Minorcans).

Turnbull’s goal was to use these people as indigo farmers in New Smyrna, a settlement south of St. Augustine named for the home of Turnbull’s wife, who was from the Greek city of Smyrna, (now Izmir in present- day Turkey). He assumed that people from the Mediterranean region would adapt well to the climate in Florida, since he thought they were located along the same latitude; they are not. Furthermore, the people were not familiar with farming since they were primarily getting their food from fishing. The Menorcans were lured to Florida by the promise of a better life and the gift of land when they finished their time working for Turnbull. None of it came true; they were forced to work longer than intended, and their living and working conditions were very poor. Indigo production is very labor intensive, and the process creates foul-smelling and toxic vapors that can damage the lungs. After 10 years of enduring these dangerous conditions, the surviving Menorcans (roughly half of the original group) fled for St. Augustine, petitioning the governor for sanctuary. Governor Tonyn granted their request, and they settled in a place where they were once again able to make their living by fishing. When the British left and St. Augustine briefly became Spanish again, the Menorcans stayed and were said to be a “large part of the population and garrison” in town. Many of today's old St. Augustine families trace their heritage back to the Menorcans.

The impact of St. Augustine's international population can still be seen today in the city's cultural landscape. The Castillo de San Marcos stands as one of only two Spanish colonial fortifications in the continental United States. Many of the the city streets -- Charlotte, St. George, Orange -- retain the names given to them by the British inhabitants. Most seafood restaurants in St. Augustine have Minorcan clam chowder on their menus. And people from all over the world come to visit and sometimes even to stay after being charmed by the Ancient City. No matter the era, St. Augustine has been a melting pot where people of many nationalities and cultures have combined to create a truly unique place.

What was life like during the American Civil War at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida?

Private Elias Sherwood Peck, of Greenwich Connecticut can help us answer that question. Pvt. Peck wrote letters home during his stay with the 10 th Connecticut Infantry Regiment, and his great grandson, Christopher Peck, shared those letters with us. For the next several months we will be sharing these letters as they were written over 150 years ago.

It is new years day and I am on convalessance camp guard. It is a windy chilly day. Today the colored people hear had quite a time they had a platform fixed up In the park and had our chaplain and the 24th and the minester that Is teaching them to deliver speaches and had two brass bands our and the 24th after the speaking was over they went up stairs in the court house where they had a big dinner. Last night our band played the old year out and the new year in although it rained hard. Perhaps you would like to know what I had for new years dinner It was rice & molasses. A boat came out opposite the harbor but it was so rough that she could not come in. She sent the mall on shore and then put back to Fernandine. I got one letter it was from Lib and father dated Dec 19th I suppose father got that $10.00 check. I sent home & that picture of St Augustine I got my red shirt. Last night we saw a large light off In the woods. It was rebel camp fires. There was 21 of our men take prisoner in stead of 15 and one man killed. The rebel officer appeared to be a gentleman. He hollered to his men not to shoot our but run them down and take them prisoners. He told our officer that he was sorry he was wounded but he would not help it. He would not let his men take the Lieut or Burns watch and he put a pillow under the Lieut head when he left and told him that he was agoing to come down hear some night and surprise the town. There was 100 men out today as woodchopper guard. Wm Burns Is put up the same as Salter and will be sent home with him. If coal is so high this winter what in the world dose father burn It for when he has got lots of wood.

It Is Sunday and raining very hard. A boat came in yesterday but did not have any mail on. The boat that came hear the other day with the mail on and went away again because she could not get in had Lieut Colonel Legget on that had his leg shot off at Morris Island SC. He is coming back to the reg't.

Oscar do you get any rabbits this winter I should think you might catch a good many of them with Frank. They must be very thick now there Is so few home to shoot them If I was home now I should have a good double barrel gun. My rifle will shoot a mile. Paul is well I have not heard how Elbert Mills was in two of three days but i gess he is about the same. I am well.

That Lieut that was wounded In 24th Mass Reg't is dead. There is considerable excitement in our reg't now about reinlisting. The Quarter Master General of the state of Connecticut came hear yesterday to reinlist them. The men reinllst 3 years from tomorrow they get a very big bounty and a furlough of 30 days in their state within 60 days from now. There is 250 men enlisted out of our regt now and may be more will yet Some company nearly evry man that could enlist has. There is 19 men in our company enlisted. Silas Loudan, Norvel Green, Charles Mccan are amoung them They would not let us recruits enlist they dont take only men that has benn In the service 2 years, so I cant enlist now They have to stay in this regt The boat has not gone out yet so I suppose you will get this letter with the one I wrote last We was payed off 2 months wages today. They get 4.75 down as soon as they enlist and the rest in regular instalments the whole bounty amounts to over $800.00 then they get their board cloths and wages besides. They would have to stay 9 monts more if they did not reenlist. R Miller has reenlisted the man you see home on a furlough.

A boat has just came in with a mail on & I got one letter from Lib the last date of it was Dec 21st. Cononel Legget come on this boat. Although it was dark and raining he came up to camp in a wagon and each as he passed it gave him three rouseing cheers and then the regt formed in a circle and he came in and we gave him cheer after cheer he uses crutches yet. We was very glad to see him back again & he was glad to get back. The men that have enlisted over again wher swore in today. So they are fast for three years more. Then Oscar is going to school up on North Greenwich it apprears to me he has started late did he go at the commencment of the school. Oscar must be as old now as I was when I went to learn my trade. I suppose you have seen Sergeant Knapp of our company by this time. And the men that have enlisted will soon be home on a furlough. Jan 7 th The soldiers aid society have sent our reg't a lot of potatoes onions, apples for Christmas We have just got them. I am well write soon In closed you will find a $20.00 bill

Comp 10th Reg’t CV St Augustine Fla Jan 13th 1864 Dear Sister A mail came in yesterday and I got one letter it was from Uncle John. They wher all well. General Gilmore came hear last sunday and Monday he reviewed the two reg’ts hear and told the men that had reinlisted that they could all go home together as soon as their furloughs wher made out. He said that he would let the whole reg’t go home but if he did they would have to take their flag with them and if we did that the reg’t would not be under his orders any more and when they came back they might be sent to any other department. We got new tents and altered our camp yesterday. I think we will stay hear two months longer. I hope so until the cold weather is over. It is raining hard today. Yesterday morning I went on guard. it rained a little about 11 oclock I was taken with the fever ague and had a shake I was relieved from guard. I had the dumb ague while we was on James Island SC last summer & had had 3 or four shakes the first month we was on Morris Island but have not had any sinc untill yesterday. I have not been sick a moment before yesterday since we have been at St Augustine and for some time before we left Morris Island. People before the war used to come hear from the country around to cure the fever ague. I dont think that I will have it again. I can tell tomorrow. There is 3 men in a tent now except our tent. Joshua Lyon has gone in another tent so Paul and me have a tent by ourselves. We have built us a bunk & we have got a carpenters chest to put our cloths in it is one Paul got when Newbern was takes it is a very handy consurn (?). Our whole mess put their extra clothing what they cant carry in their knapsacks in to it when we move around from place to place. We can lock it up so things are safe. The express box you sent me we use for a closet to put our dishes & bread in. Salter & Wm Burns have not been sent home yet. I suppose they will be sent with the furlough men. I went to meeting last sunday our chaplain has the Presbyterian church to preach in. He is going to have communion there next sunday. Did father get the letter with the $20.00 bill in that I sent Where is bille Husted & Emily agoing to live. You must write soon again. I feel pretty well today. Paul wants to know if you singhed your name to that poetry you sent him he said that he got some a good while ago with no name to it he thought it came from somebody els. I have just wrote a letter to Wille Peck, Uncle Johns boy From Elias S Peck Co I 10th Reg’t CV

Under Spanish colonial rule, there were free and enslaved people of African descent living in St. Augustine. Both groups were protected to some degree under the law. The Adams-Onis Treaty, which ceded Florida from Spain to the United States in 1821, recognized the rights of free African Americans, some of whom felt protected by owning substantial property and decided to stay in the new U.S. territory. Read the fascinating history of the Kingsley Plantation . However, new laws under U.S. rule limited the rights of free African Americans to assemble, carry firearms, serve on juries, or testify against whites. They were taxed unfairly and subject to curfews. They could be whipped for misdemeanors, impressed for manual labor, and even forced back into slavery to satisfy debts or fines. Interracial marriage was prohibited, and the children of such marriages could not inherit their parents’ estates, even if they had been born before these laws were enacted. Under such restrictions, those who could afford to leave evacuated Florida. Some free African Americans left the cities to live with the Seminole Tribe. In 1850, it’s estimated that about 1,000 free African Americans remained in Florida, compared to 39,000 enslaved. Some of their stories can be read at the Florida Slave Narratives . The nation was divided over the issue of slavery, and war ensued. At the start of the Civil War, Fort Marion (as the US Army had renamed Castillo de San Marcos) was occupied by Confederate forces. By 1862, the Union gained control and operated a recruiting office for U.S. Colored Troops (mainly the 33rd Regiment and 21st Regiment ) from within the fort. Learn more about the Civil War in Florida.

On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect and freed all enslaved peoples living in the Confederate states, which included Florida. According to Mary Anne Murray, an eye-witness who was interviewed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) some seventy years after emancipation: “All the slaveholders were ordered to release their slaves and allow them to gather in a large vacant lot west of St. Joseph’s Academy, where they were officially freed.” These liberated men and women would become the founders of Lincolnville, originally called "Little Africa. In the decades that followed, their descendants celebrated the anniversary of emancipation. After the Civil War, amendments to the U.S. Constitution banned slavery in all states, not just the ones that had seceded, and gave African Americans the right to vote and to hold public office.

In 1866, emancipated African Americans created the community of Lincolnville in the southwestern part of town, a place where they successfully owned property, ran businesses, educated their children, and led their community. A tour through modern-day Lincolnville shows a quiet community of restored architectural treasures spanning 45 blocks, some constructed before African Americans founded the community, others built by Henry Flagler's railroad employees, and many by African American carpenters and builders. Learn more about Lincolnville .

A decade later, when Federal troops were removed from the South and Reconstruction ended, strict segregation became a way of life enforced by both laws and social customs. In Lincolnville, businesses did well, in part thanks to segregation. African Americans' only option was to spend their money in their community, which helped some businesses grow. Outside of Lincolnville, African Americans worked as wait staff at the Ponce De Leon Hotel and other Flagler properties; played on the first professional black baseball team, known as the Ponce de Leon Giants, or Cuban Giants; and labored on projects in town. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, three schools opened for African Americans in St. Augustine: St. Benedict Catholic School, Florida Normal College (later known as Florida Memorial College), and Excelsior High School. Although segregated, these schools were building a foundation for the students to improve their lives and their community.

The Great Depression was the worst economic crisis in U.S. history, and African Americans were said to be the "last hired, first fired." To address this and other concerns, President Franklin Roosevelt created a Federal Council on Negro Affairs, also known as the Black Cabinet. Mary McLeod Bethune , well known for starting a school for African Americans in Daytona Beach, served as an organizer for the Black Cabinet and founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935. Many diverse African American organizations fought for anti-lynching legislation. Through the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration (WPA), laborers were employed on preservation projects at Castillo de San Marcos. Through the Federal Writers Project (FWP), Zora Neale Hurston captured folk stories, songs, traditions, and histories of African Americans in small communities across Florida. However, despite these gains, segregation remained in camps like the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Federal Housing Administration refused to insure mortgages in African American neighborhoods, and it wasn’t possible for sharecroppers or tenant farmers, many of whom were African American, to collect social security.

World War II affected nearly every aspect of life in the United States. Learn more about WWII in Florida. More than one million African Americans fought in the war, most serving in segregated units. On the homefront, African Americans became riveters and welders, rationed food and gasoline, and bought victory bonds. A "Double V" campaign called for a victory abroad and a victory at home against racial segregation and discrimination. Near the end of WWII, the Army and Navy began integrating, and in 1948, the U.S. Government ordered full integration of its Armed Forces. Learn more about how African Americans have shaped, and been shaped by, American military history.

Most of St. Augustine remained segregated throughout the 1940s and '50s. However, as part of the Department of the Interior, Castillo de San Marcos National Monument was open to citizens of all races after the Secretary of the Interior prohibited racial discrimination in all National Park facilities in 1945. President Truman's 1948 Executive Order 9980 desegregated the federal workforce. African Americans labored on preservation work and served on the park's maintenance team. Then came the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that ended legal segregation in schools. The unanimous decision that deemed racial segration of children in public schools unconstitutional helped establish the precedent that "separate, but equal" was not equal at all.

Though Brown v. Board didn't achieve school desegregation on its own, the ruling fueled the civil rights movement in the United States. Local African Americans, like Dr. Robert Hayling, and integrationists brought an organized civil rights movement to St. Augustine. Learn more about the local leaders and events. After months of no progress and violent backlash from white segregationists, the local NAACP chapter and leaders in the Ancient City reached out to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The SCLC brought Andrew Young, Hosea Williams, Rev. C.T. Vivian, and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. to lead nonviolent campaign efforts in St. Augustine, bring national attention to the struggle, and pressure Congress into passing a civil rights bill. Watch historic footage of the sit-ins, marches, wade-ins, and demonstrations held in St. Augustine in 1964, as well as counter demonstrations.

As federal property, the Castillo's grounds could not legally be segregated, and they were an assembly point outside of local control. The local city and county police departments were widely criticized by activists for failing to protect them during marches and demonstrations and for appointing numerous local racists as special deputies. Activists applied for permits from the National Park Service to hold meetings outside the fort, and FBI reports indicate that several gatherings consisting of songs and speeches took place in the spring of 1964. Read the FBI Reports .

Leaflets for the May 17 meeting were distributed through town encouraging residents to “Come, See, Hear the one & only Mr. Hosea Williams…at the 'Freedom Tree' on the lawn of the Old Fort.” Ms. Maude Burroughs Jackson was one young participant in the Freedom Tree gathering. In March of 2021, she shared her experiences during the 1960s civil rights movement in St. Augustine with Ranger Ted Johnson. Listen to the Oral History Interview with Maude Burroughs Jackson . Protests to integrate more public areas, including segregated beaches and pools, drew the attention of supporters and opponents of integration. Extensive media coverage of these protests, and the violence used against integrationists, led to more public support of the civil rights movement. The events of the summer of 1964 in St. Augustine are widely credited for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in July of that year.

The struggle did not end in 1964. The SCLC pulled out of St. Augustine after the Civil Rights Act passed, leaving the local movement without most of its leadership and facing backlash from angry residents who wanted to keep segregation. Businesses, public facilities, and schools legally integrated, but in some cases, it took years. But African Americans were now able to pursue opportunities formerly unavailable to them. At Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, most African American employees were historically employed in the Maintenance division, but in 1980, Martha B. Aikens became the park's first African American Superintendent. Dedicated individuals and organizations in St. Augustine pursued, and continue to pursue, telling all American stories. By working together, the modern civil rights movement can address the less visible, but very important inequities in society. Today, the fort remains remarkably unchanged from the time when civil rights activists gathered on its lawn. Castillo de San Marcos National Monument continues to partner with local institutions to tell these important stories. Visit Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center , ACCORD Freedom Trail , Fort Mose Historical Society , and Fort Mose Historic State Park to learn more. There is more history to discover and more work to be done to end discrimination and injustice.

1821: The United States aquires Florida from Spain through the Adams-Onís Treaty. Basic civil and human rights that were recognized by the Spanish government were eliminated, causing a major setback for Africans and their descendants. 1821-1860s: Both public and private slave sales are conducted in St. Augustine and in the Plaza de Constitución. 1861-1862: Confederate occupation of Fort Marion (Castillo de San Marcos) and St. Augustine. 1862: Federal troops retake the fort and St. Augustine.

1862-1865: A recruiting office for U.S. Colored Troops (mainly the 33rd and 21st USCT) operates from within the fort. 1862: A draft of the Emancipation Proclamation is read to enslaved African Americans in a vacant lot in St. Augustine. President Abraham Lincoln issues the proclamation on January 1, 1863. 1865: The Civil War ends. Congress passes the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States. The military occupation of Florida is headquartered in St. Augustine during the Reconstruction Period.

1866: Formerly enslaved, newly freed people in St. Augustine establish the community of Lincolnville, also known as “Little Africa.” 1867: The Roman Catholic Sisters of St. Joseph from France open a school for freedmen and teach their first class of African American students. 1869: The Freedmen’s Bureau, established by Congress in 1865 to assist African Americans in the transition from slavery to freedom in the South, authorizes a construction project for a new African American school in St. Augustine. 1870: Congress passes the 15th Amendment, granting African Americans the right to vote. The first African American men are elected to Congress.

1875 : The Civil Rights Act of 1875 is enacted, prohibiting racial discrimination and guaranteeing equal access to public accommodations regardless of race or color. 1877: Reconstruction ends with the withdrawal of occupying Federal troops and the Democrat George Drew as governor. 1883: The Supreme Court overturns and declares the Civil Rights Act of 1875 “unconstitutional.” 1889: Frederick Douglass speaks to a racially diverse audience at the Genovar Opera House on St. George Street. 1898: The St. Benedict Catholic School for African American children opens in Lincolnville.

1913: The Florida Legislature passes a law titled “An Act of Prohibiting White Persons from Teaching Negroes in Negro Schools.” 1916: Three nuns from the Sisters of St. Joseph are arrested for teaching African American students. 1918: Florida Normal College for African Americans, later known as Florida Memorial College, is established on a 110-parcel of land known as “Old Homes Plantation” in St. Augustine.

1925: Excelsior High School is established as the first African American public school constructed in Lincolnville. The historic Excelsior building is now the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center. 1924: Frank B. Butler , a local African American entrepreneur, opens a real estate office in Lincolnville. Starting in 1927, he begins purchasing land on Anastasia Island. After WWII, he develops this property into a resort area where African Americans could enjoy the beach. 1927: Famed author, anthropologist, and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston publishes an account of Fort Mose in the Journal of Negro History. In the 1930s, she works for the Federal Writers Project (FWP) and documents folk culture in Florida.

1937-1945: Ray Charles studies at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine. 1942: Zora Neale Hurston relocates to St. Augustine. During her time St. Augustine, Hurston publishes an autobiography titled Dust Tracks on a Road . 1943: Jacob Lawrence, a prominent African American artist, paints at the Hotel Ponce de Leon in St. Augustine. His works are later displayed in the New York Museum of Modern Art. 1950s: Lincolnville became a center for the local civil rights movement.

The Ku Klux Klan, and other white segregationists, commit a number of violent acts, including assault, shootings, and arson, against local civil rights leaders in St. Augustine.

Dr. Hayling, Henry and Katherine Twine, and other local civil rights leaders, ask Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Reverend Hosea Williams, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to come to St. Augustine to help.

1968: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, during a trip to support the sanitation workers' strike for better wages and safer working conditions. Shortly after his death, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act, is signed into law prohibiting the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, or national origin. 1970-1971: All schools in St. Johns County, including St. Augustine, are desegregated. 1980: Martha B. Aikens becomes the first African American Superintendent of Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. 1984: Otis Mason is elected St. Johns County School Superintendent, the first African American school superintendent in the county. 1991: Lincolnville is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic neighborhood district.

1994: Fort Mose Historic State Park is added to the National Register of Historic Places. 2009: Fort Mose Historic State Park is added to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom .

2017: The African American Civil Rights Network Act of 2017, signed into law by President Trump in January 2018, authorizes the NPS to facilitate activities to commemorate, honor and interpret the history and significance of the civil rights movement. Learn more about the African American Civil Rights Network. 2019: Fort Mose Historic State Park is added to the UNESCO Slave Route Project . 2020: Castillo de San Marcos National Monument is added to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

Your experience at the fort is designed to be a self-directed one. Understanding that everyone has different interests, schedules, and abilities, we have created the following menu of opportunities to help you experience the park in a variety of ways.

Rangers and volunteers are eager to answer your questions and provide interpretive opportunities throughout the day on the history and culture of the park. There are formal presentations where you can listen to a thematic program, usually 15-20 minutes long. There are ongoing informal stations where you can engage firsthand with cultural objects, ask your burning questions, and spend as little or as much time as you would like. Program topics, locations, and times vary on the season, weather, and visitation. Please ask the staff upon arrival or look for a sign in the courtyard area for the upcoming opportunities.

There are rangers and volunteers in period dress around the fort. They will pose for pictures, answer your questions, and share stories on the life and experiences of the colonists who dwelt here.

Musket or Cannon Demonstrations take place on select days. Follow this link for more information and a schedule.

Walk through the fort's casements and take in the exhibits you'll find there. Available brochures and maps will guide you around the site. To access the self-guided tour on your device, download Castillo's park app on Android and iOS .

Earn a badge by completing the Junior Ranger program. Download the materials in advance, ask staff for a book upon arrival, or become a Virtual Ranger .

Relax and reflect. Take in the best view of the city from the gun deck. The fort's green offers a large recreation area perfect for a picnic or a shady nap.

Get a new perspective using the virtual tour . Using the virtual tour on your visit allows you to read the exhibits without standing in line, watch the ranger videos in the rooms they were filmed, and view the 3D models of the well, Hot Shot Furnace, and artillery. It will also provide you with virtual access to closed areas (e.g., the gun deck closes during lightning storms) or to an inaccessible area (e.g., there is no elevator to the gun deck).

Watch videos on your device. There are several short videos on the fort's long and fascinating history.

Connect with us online! Chat with rangers and followers, get the latest updates, and find digital resources on Facebook . Capture and share moments on Instagram . Discover educational videos on our YouTube channel.

The interior well of Castillo de San Marcos in 1875-1878. And a room with windows in the South West corner.

Use NASA's Spot the Station app to receive notifications when the International Space Station is visible.