Why Build the Castillo?

Although St. Augustine was founded in 1565, nearly a hundred years previous to the building of the Castillo de San Marcos, the location was guarded with wooden forts that could be easily burned or damaged by the rapacious Florida weather. Nine such fortifications were built over the years, and all were destroyed in hurricanes, burned by attackers, or simply rotted out of neglect. However, in the middle of the seventeenth century, there were two events that alarmed the Spanish court and instigated their investment in the location: the attack of Robert Searles, and the founding of Charleston.

Though Sir Francis Drake had attacked and burnt a preceding fort, when the pirate Robert Searles attacked in 1668 he did not destroy the standing fort. This led to suspicions that he might intend to return to the subdued town and convert it, and the fort, into a stronghold of piracy. Such an encampment would be used as a base for attacking Spanish treasure ships sailing from the Caribbean. The crown needed another, stronger, method of protecting against his suspected future attack.

Compounding matters, in 1670 the British founded Charleston, on the coast of the future South Carolina. Jamestown and Plymouth had been founded in the somewhat distant past but as each was reasonably far away they did not pose significant threats; New York and Maryland did not create a significant problem either. However, Charleston was only two days' sail from St. Augustine and thus posed an imminent threat from England, the constant rival of Spain. Stronger fortifications had to be built in preparation for any aggression from the British, as a wooden fort did little to protect the town.

Thus in 1672, construction began.

History of the Castillo

First Spanish Period: 1565-1763
This period is discussed in the "St. Augustine" and "Why Build the Castillo?" articles.

British Period: 1763-1784
At the end of the Seven Years' War, Spain ceded Florida to Britain in exchange for the return of Havana and the Philippines. Florida was split into East and West divisions, and the fort was renamed to Fort St. Mark. St. Augustine was at this point the capital of the British loyalist forces and thus enjoyed repairs and renovations, including the conversion of several antique buildings to military barracks. In addition to its traditional military purposes, the frt was used to house war prisoners, a duty that would be continued in future occupations.

In 1779, Spain came to the aid of America in that Spanish Louisiana engaged the British forces along the Gulf of Mexico, preventing them from fueling their efforts to defeat the colonies. Bernardo de Galvez was the primary general on the Spanish side, capturing Pensacola and all of the British forts along the southern Missisippi. Florida was returned to Spain under the Second Treaty of Paris.

Second Spanish Period: 1784-1821
At this point, Spain was the official holder of Florida; upon their return to the area, they retitled the fort to its original moniker, Castillo de San Marcos. However, though they expected to return and find things not significantly changed, the demographic of Florida was dramatically altered. The area was now home to more British than Spanish, and the Native American tribes were actively welcoming runaway slaves. This was, of course, distressing, but Spain still maintained the Castillo until they were pressured into ceding it to America in 1821.

First American Period: 1821-1861
When the American forces arrived at the fort, they declared the name to be changed to Fort Marion in order to eradicate the Spanish feeling. At this point in time, the fort was mostly used to house war prisoners, and another level of renovations was commenced to convert the storerooms to jailing cells.

Confederate Period: 1861-1862
In 1845, Florida joined as a state, but seceeded with the rest of the South in 1860. The Northern government withdrew their meager troops when the Confederacy marched on the fort, handing it over peacefully; at this point, the Confederate forces removed most of the artillery on the base as it was not an essential fort.

Second American Period: 1862-1900
In an attempt to protect the town from the ravages of war, the depleted Confederate forces inside the Castillo surrendered the fort to the USS Wabash. This continued the theme of the fort having never been taken by force, only treaty. Under the name of Fort Marion, it operated as a military prison for Native Americans and for deserters in the Spanish American War. In 1900, it was decommissioned as an active base and in 1942 it was retitled as the Castillo de San Marcos.

St. Augustine

The town of St. Augustine was founded by Pedro Menendez de Aviles in 1565 in response to the French settlement of Fort Caroline, on Spanish soil at the mouth of the St. Johns River. The goal of this expedition was to eliminate the potential threat to shipping along the Gulf Stream, and to establish a northern barrier colony, barring invasion of Florida. It was the sixth attempt to permanently colonize Florida, and was the only successful one, now touting itself as the oldest consistently inhabited settlement in America.

As the English established more colonies in the Carolinas and in Georgia, they began to pose more of a threat, a motive for the Spanish to construct the Castillo de San Marcos. In 1702, shortly after the fort was built, British forces from Charleston attacked the town and participated in a two month siege on the fort. They eventually gave up, burning the town as they left. Echoing this occurrence, in 1740 British General Oglethorpe, the Governor of Georgia, attempted to take the fort but also failed, and he burned the town again.

Despite being burned several times throughout its lifetime, St. Augustine managed to hold itself together until the present day. There are, however, only nine houses left in the town dating to the colonial era, and much of the regional architecture is Spanish-influenced but built in the eighteenth century.

In the late nineteenth century, railroad mogul and industrialist Henry Flagler brought the Florida East Coast Railway to St. Augustine and developed the town as a winter resort for wealthy northerners. Many of the massive hotels and homes built in this era now function as museums or were added to the college campus named for him. He would later continue to move down the coast of the state, revitalizing small towns as the rail line passed through.

Today, St. Augustine is a tourist destination and a National Historic Landmark. It is the home of Flagler College and

Star Forts

The star plan was one originating in Italy, which spread to France and, in following, to the rest of Europe upon the invasion of the Italian peninsula by the French in the mid-sixteenth century. The plan was devised as a response to the beginning of the age of blackpowder, introduced by Charles V's mercenary troops and their portable cannons and bombards. These new weapons could strike the solid stone walls of castles and cause cracking and, in the case of particularly forceful projectiles, shatter holes in the wall or disrupt the overall structure. The European response to this was initially the replacement of stone with bricks, because the glued-particulate nature of the clay absorbed the cannonball without breaking, because the particles making up the bricks were able to be compressed under high force and did not facilitate cracks.

A notable change that accompanied the new building style was the use of low walls as opposed to the highest walls possible. These lower, far thicker walls presented less of a target and retained greater depth to absorb cannon, without having to add a significant amount of building material. This was also more practical because it did not require as drastic scaffolding, and thus the fortresses could be constructed more quickly.

Most visually striking about the star forts were the bastions added on all sides that would come to form the typically five-pointed star shape stereotypically associated with the style. These bastions were pointed and triangular in nature, and served to allow adjacent bastions to protect each other with cover fire in the event of an attack. The form also allowed for defense within multiple ranges as opposed to the previous floorplans, which were limited within several ranges. San Marcos was one of the earlier structures of this sort, and was thus only a four pointed star, with wide horizontal stretches between the corners, which were not as conveniently defended. At this point in time, castles tended to have rounded walls and to be based on the concentric-circles floorplan. The curved walls allowed for significantly less defense fire to be applied to any given point, although there was some modicum of fire available from any direction. The lack of focus, because arrows and guns could not be shot around a circular wall, led to the castle's inability to heavily attack a pointed assault. While these circular castles were an improvement upon the square model, with its massive blind spots on the corners, the star fort was an exceptional update.

Why Coquina?

[image source]

Since it was founded in the age of heavy cannon usage, and because brick-clay is harder to come by in the sandy soils of Florida, a substitute was needed. Because it is native to Florida, the sedimentary Coquina rock was the obvious choice for the construction of San Marcos. Although, when first mined, it is far too soft to be used for building purposes, Coquina may be left to dry in the hot Florida sun for periods up to two years, hardening it sufficiently. The final product is resistant to cannonfire because when the iron balls strike the hunks of Coquina that compose the fortification's walls, the shell fragments compress instead of propagating cracks like the stone walls of old castles native to Europe. At the time, across the pond, castles were being built primarily out of brick, because it was softer than solid rock and thus could absorb the force of cannonfire without shattering.

Photographs of San Marcos

San Augustin bastion.


San Pedro bastion.


Interface with the sea.


A garita, or sentry box. The Castillo had three.

Bibliography

Brown, Jennifer. Castillo De San Marcos National Monument. Southeast Region, 1997.

Castillo De San Marcos: a Guide to Castillo De San Marcos National Monument, Florida. Department of the Interior, 1994.

"Castillo De San Marcos." National Park Service Department of the Interior. July 2006. Department of the Interior. 12 Nov. 2007 .

Fairbanks, George. History and Antiquities of St Augustine Florida. Jacksonville: Drew, 1881.

"Gallery: Castillo De San Marcos, Exterior." Exploring Florida. University of South Florida. 12 Nov. 2007 .

Messina, James. "St. Augustine." Travelogue. 2007. 11 Nov. 2007 .