BGuthrie Photos: FL -- St. Augustine -- Castillo de San Marcos Natl Monument

FL -- St. Augustine -- Castillo de San Marcos Natl Monument:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. CAST_030827_022.JPG: The crest above the gate is a replica of one that's inside the museum. The sign on that says: Royal Coat of Arms. The castles and lions of this simplified royal coat of arms of Spain are symbols of the kingdoms of Castillo and Leon, which joined to form modern Spain. Brought from Havana and installed in 1762, this stone graced the ravelin (the detached entrance fortification) until 1958, when it was removed and placed indoors. A replica of this stone can be seen in place in the ravelin.
2. CAST_030827_087.JPG: Bronze 15-inch mortar, constructed in Barcelona, Spain 1724. This weapon, captured by the United States during the Spanish American War in 1898, is part of the Yale University art collection. It was placed on indefinite loan to the Castillo de San Marcos in 1971. Maximum Range: 2100 yards, 1.2 miles.
3. CAST_030827_134.JPG: Sentry Box. It enabled the sentry to watch outside the fort to the front and sides, and sheltered him from weather and enemy fire. These turrets were red against the white walls of the fort.
4. CAST_030827_147.JPG: The museum was pretty good! Among other things, it had a timeline, snippets of which are below: 1492-93 Christopher Columbus (under Spanish contract) discovers the New World by reaching the Bahamas, Cuba and Hispaniola. 1513 Ponce de Leon, of Spain, explores the coast near St Augustine and names the land "La Florida". 1565 Pedro Menendez de Aviles, of Spain, founds St Augustine and defeats the French at Fort Carolina and Matanzas Inlet. On Sept 8 1565, with banners flying, trumpets sounding, artillery booming, and 600 soldiers and settlers cheering, Menendez set foot on the shore. In honor of the Saint whose feast day it was when he first sighted land, he named the town St Augustine. 1586 Sir Francis Drake, of England, spots the lookout tower and attacks St Augustine, burning the town. The populace fled into the woods because they were greatly outnumbered by the English. 1600-ish Diminishing supplies and increasing hostility of the Indians made life very hard for early settlers. Menendez has established other military outposts, but only St Augustine survived. 1668 English pirates sack St Augustine, but fail to capture the wooden fort. 1669 Queen Regent Mariana of Spain orders the construction of a stone fort in St Augustine. 1672-95 The Castillo de San Marcos is built, designed by Engineer Ignacio Daza, features a height of 26 feet, a beam-supported gundeck, and courtyard 155 feet square. 1682 A new engineer found that one of the bastions had been built 3 feet too low. By 1686, such mistakes were corrected. Labor for the fort included 100 Indians and Spaniards, plus a few convicts and slaves. Indian laborers got 20 cents per day; masons, $2.40; master workmen, $4,00. 1702 The English destroy the Indian missions enroute to attack St Augustine. They occupy the city and besiege the Castillo unsuccessfully. They burn the city and leave. 1740 James Oglethorpe with 2000 British troops attacks and besieges St Augustine unsuccessfully. 1763 British acquire Florida and Pensacola from Spain in exchange for Cuba. France compensates Spain with Louisiana. British reorganizes [sic] Florida into two colonies, East Florida and West Florida. St Augustine is the capital of East Florida. 1784-1821 St Augustine reverts to its former status as a military outpost dependent on the Spanish Government. When the War of 1812 breaks out between England and the US, it is feared that Spain might let England use Florida as a base of operations. Failure of Spain to control lawless Indians and escaped slaves leeds [sic] to American intervention and eventually a treaty with Spain. The territory is later annexed by the United States. 1837 Osceola, a leader of the Seminole Indians, is captured near St Augustine and imprisoned in the fort. 1845 Florida becomes a State. 1861 Florida secedes from the Union, and Confederates seize Fort Marion. 1862 Unionists reoccupy St Augustine. 1883 Henry M Flagler visits St Augustine. With the opening of his hotels, the wealthy and fashionable flock to St Augustine, turning the town into a "Southern Newport." He connected St Augustine to the North with the Florida East Coast Railway. 1888 The Ponce de Leon Hotel was built by Henry Flagler in 1888. Flagler was one of the original partners with John D Rockefeller in Standard Oil Corp, and was a multimillionaire when he arrived in St Augustine in the winter of 1883. He was so impressed with the charm and possibilities of the area, he had two huge hotels built, and Ponce de Leon and the Alcazar.
5. CAST_030827_151.JPG: This is the original coat of arms that hung outside for fort for almost 200 years.
6. CAST_030827_178.JPG: This is tabby. Tabby is a type of Spanish concrete that was used by both the Spanish and English in Georgia, Florida and other places where practical. Oyster shells were burned in a lime powder and mixed with sand, water, and whole shells to form this semi-concrete. Once mixed, these materials were poured into wooden forms in courses 12 to 18 inches deep. After hardening, the process was repeated.
7. CAST_030827_185.JPG: This is the Chapel of St Mark
8. CAST_030827_194.JPG: The guard quarters. One of the people they had guard was Osceola and his men. As one of the signs says: Florida's best known Indian group, the Seminoles, are relatively newcomers to the pages of Florida history. The first bands of Creek Indians to move from British Georgia into Spanish Florida in the early 1700's were arriving 200 years after the first Spanish explorations and settlements. Throughout the 18th century, fragments of several Indian tribes from today's Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina moved south and were joined by runaway black slaves from British plantations, who often lived as vassals of the Indian towns in north and central Florida The name Seminole comes from a Muskogee word "semano-li" which comes in turn from the Spanish term "cimarron," meaning wild or runaway. In 1832, Federal policy aimed to removed [sic] Indians from all lands east of the Mississippi to make way for expanding white settlements. Most Seminoles refused to be moved to the "Indian Territory". In 1835, guerilla fighting broke out; the next seven years proved to be the most costly Indian war ever fought by the United States Army. Osceola, a war leader, was arrested under a flag of truce just south of St Augustine in October 1837. He and 203 Seminoles were imprisoned here at Fort Marion for two months. In late November 1837, twenty Indians led by Wildcat and John Cavallo escaped from the fort and fled south the Everglades. In December, Osceola and the other prisoners were transferred to Fort Moultrie at Charleston, South Carolina. Osceola died there from an infection in January 1838. Only about 200 Seminoles remained hidden in south Florida at the end of the Seminole wars.
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Wikipedia Description: Castillo de San Marcos
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Castillo de San Marcos is a Spanish built fort located in the city of St. Augustine, Florida, United States. It was known as Fort Marion from 1821 until 1942, and Fort St. Mark from 1763 until 1784 while under British control.

Early history:

The city of St. Augustine was founded by the Spanish in 1565. Over the next one hundred years, the city was defended by nine wooden forts. Following the 1668 attack of the English pirate Robert Searle, it was decided by the Queen Regent of Spain, Mariana, that a masonry fortification be constructed to protect the city. In October 1672 construction began on the fort that would become the Castillo de San Marcos.

Construction:

The Castillo is a masonry star fort made of a stone called "coquina", literally "little shells". This is what the stone is made of, ancient shells that have bonded together to form a type of stone, similar to limestone. Workers were brought in from Havana, Cuba, to construct the fort. The coquina was quarried from Anastasia Island across the bay from the Castillo, and ferried across to the construction site. Construction lasted twenty-three years, being completed in 1695.

First test:

In 1670, Charles Town (modern-day Charleston, South Carolina) was founded by the British. Being just two days sail from St. Augustine, this was one of the events that spurred the fort's construction. In November 1702, forces under orders from Governor James Moore of Charles Town, set sail from Carolina in an attempt to capture the city.

Upon their arrival at St. Augustine, the British laid siege to the city. All of the city's residents, some 1,200 people, along with all of the fort's soldiers, some 300, remained protected inside the wall of the fort for the next two months during the siege.

The British cannon had little effect on the walls of the fort. The coquina was very effective at absorbing the impact of the shells, allowing very lit ...More...
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2003 photos: Trips this year: Three-week trip this year out west, mostly in Utah. Equipment this year: I decided my Epson digital camera wasn't quite enough for what I wanted. Since I already had Compact Flash chips for it, I had to find another camera which used CF chips. That brought me to buy the Fujifilm S602 Zoom in March 2003. A great digital camera, I used it exclusively for an entire year. Number of photos taken this year: 68,000.
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