Castillo de San Marcos: Map of Historic St. Augustine
Park Service volunteer Frank Suddeth, a retired history teacher, drew this map over a three-day period.
The Castillo de San Marcos, begun in 1672 and completed in 1695, has never been taken in battle. It is the oldest masonry fort and the best-preserved example of a Spanish colonial fortification in the continental United States.
The fort is built of coquina, a type of a limestone rock formed from shells (mostly the tiny coquina clam) cemented together by their own calcium over about 500,000 years. This coquina construction replaced nine successive wooden fortifications.
In 1702, during the War of the Spanish Succession, English troops occupied St. Augustine and unsuccessfully beseiged the fort for 50 days. Says the National Park Service brochure, "The English burned the town before they left, but the Castillo emerged unscathed, thereby making it a symbolic link between the old St. Augustine of 1565 and the new city that rose from the ashes."
The British again attacked the Castillo in 1740, this time for 27 days, without success. "In 1763, as an outcome of the Seven Years' (French and Indian) War, Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain in return for La Habana, Cuba. The British garrisoned Matanzas and strengthened the Castillo, holding the two forts through the American Revolution. The Treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the war, returned Florida to Spain."
The brochure continues, "Spain held Florida until 1821, when serious Spanish-American tensions led to its cession to the United States. The Americans renamed the Castillo Fort Marion and used it to house Indian prisoners during the Seminole War of 1835-42. Confederate troops occupied it briefly during the Civil War and Indians captured in Western military campaigns were held there later on. It was last used during the Spanish-American War as a military prison."
Castillo de San Marcos: Map of Historic St. Augustine
Park Service volunteer Frank Suddeth, a retired history teacher, drew this map over a three-day period.
The Castillo de San Marcos, begun in 1672 and completed in 1695, has never been taken in battle. It is the oldest masonry fort and the best-preserved example of a Spanish colonial fortification in the continental United States.
The fort is built of coquina, a type of a limestone rock formed from shells (mostly the tiny coquina clam) cemented together by their own calcium over about 500,000 years. This coquina construction replaced nine successive wooden fortifications.
In 1702, during the War of the Spanish Succession, English troops occupied St. Augustine and unsuccessfully beseiged the fort for 50 days. Says the National Park Service brochure, "The English burned the town before they left, but the Castillo emerged unscathed, thereby making it a symbolic link between the old St. Augustine of 1565 and the new city that rose from the ashes."
The British again attacked the Castillo in 1740, this time for 27 days, without success. "In 1763, as an outcome of the Seven Years' (French and Indian) War, Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain in return for La Habana, Cuba. The British garrisoned Matanzas and strengthened the Castillo, holding the two forts through the American Revolution. The Treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the war, returned Florida to Spain."
The brochure continues, "Spain held Florida until 1821, when serious Spanish-American tensions led to its cession to the United States. The Americans renamed the Castillo Fort Marion and used it to house Indian prisoners during the Seminole War of 1835-42. Confederate troops occupied it briefly during the Civil War and Indians captured in Western military campaigns were held there later on. It was last used during the Spanish-American War as a military prison."