Existing comment:
THE WRATH OF THE PRIVATEERS
36" X 60" Oil Painting
Sir Francis Drake's Raid on St. Augustine, 1586.
1586 was a bad year for the modest Spanish colony of St. Augustine. The twenty-one year old garrison post survived poor agricultural production, epidemic, and missing or delayed supply ships from Spain and Cuba. However, the nearly-starving citizens persevered through these afflictions, as well as violent reprisals from nearby Indians retaliating against cruelties and mistreatment at the hands of the Spaniards.
At this low point, the sails of English privateer Sir Francis Drake's fleet appeared on the horizon. Drake and his men rampaged against the Spanish in the New World, plundering and setting ablaze Spanish towns throughout the Caribbean. At St. Augustine, girded for battle, the English and their foreign sailors and mercenaries came ashore to find the colony deserted, the inhabitants fled into the countryside. Finding little to plunder, the raiders set the fields and dwellings aflame, including the abandoned wooden fort.
The inhabitants returned to begin rebuilding from the ashes. St. Augustine would be attacked many times throughout its history, but remained the oldest inhabited community in what would eventually be known as America. |