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St. Augustine, Florida

Over the years, the Chief Engineer has featured stories about modern buildings and vintage buildings. The one topic that has never appeared in the magazine, however, is a story about the oldest buildings in the United States. This month, we set about to correct that omission by taking a trip to the place that has the oldest western structures in the United States - St. Augustine, Florida.

Most Americans believe that the Spanish founded St. Augustine. And technically speaking, it is true that the Spanish founded Florida in 1513. But it was the French who first established a western settlement at the place that would become St. Augustine. At the mouth of the St. John’s River (then called The River of May), in northern Florida, the French established a colony in 1564 and fortified it with the construction of Fort Caroline. It was actually the second attempt by the French to colonize the area. In 1562, twenty French sailors were put ashore on what is now Parris Island with orders to establish a colony called Charlesfort. With little provisions and hostile natives, that attempt ended in catastrophe. But just two years later, France made a second attempt with the arrival of about three hundred French settlers. Members from some of the leading families in France accompanied artisans and laborers to the new settlement. Most of the settlers were Huguenots, some were Catholic and still others professed no religious leaning. Both men and women made the journey and clearly, their intention was to stay.

The Spanish had long been active in the world, establishing colonies and cities in what would become Mexico, Latin, and South America. The Spanish sought to enrich their homeland through the mining of precious metals and the conquest of native inhabitants whose gold and gems they would plunder and transport by ship to Spain. But while the Spanish and their weaponry proved little match to the weapons of the natives, other European nations, pirates and privateers preyed upon the Spanish ships with as much vengeance as the Spanish had preyed upon Indians.

Sailing from Spanish ports at Veracruz, Portobello, Panama and Cartagena, large galleons, laden with gold and jewels would converge at La Habana in Cuba and form into convoys for the treacherous run up Florida’s coast to meet with the current of the Gulf Stream that would take them back to Spain. It was there, along the Atlantic Coast of Florida, that ships would wait to attack and plunder these ships, stealing their treasure and sending both crew and ship to a watery grave.

Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that the Spanish would consider the establishment of a French colony on the Florida coast at the St. John’s River as a direct threat against their galleons. The Spanish were convinced that the French had established nothing more than a safe haven for pirates and freebooters.

While it is clear that the original intentions of the French colonists was to settle the land, it is also true that the colony did provide safe haven for privateers. Sailing under Letters of Marque issued by a nation, a privateer was empowered to seize and destroy the assets of a belligerent foe. Letters of Marque were used in European nations until 1856 when the Treaty of Paris banned their use. As a side note, following the U.S. attack on the World Trade Center, in 2001, the U.S. Congress considered issuing Letters of Marque to target terrorists for air piracy. As recently as 2007, U.S. Congressman Ron Paul has sought to revive the practice to empower private forces to attack and destroy terror groups.

By 1564, three things confronted the Spanish and their possessions in the New world. First, there was the need to protect their treasure ships from the piracy that was occurring off the Florida coast. Secondly, was the realization that should France declare war on Spain, or ally itself with an enemy of Spain, the issuance of Letters of Marque would surely come from France. With a fortified French colony on Florida’s coast, the taking of Spanish gold shipments could be more easily facilitated. Finally, there was the Spanish claim to all of Florida made by the Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon. For all of these reasons, the Spanish decided to invade and destroy the French Colony and Fort Caroline.

In 1565, just three years after the French established their colony, the Spanish launched an attack aimed at destroying Fort Caroline and the French colony. At the same time, France had dispatched a fleet of ships and hundreds of soldiers and settlers to reinforce the colony. The Spanish and French fleets engaged each other and the Spanish retreated to the south several miles where they landed and made plans to attack the Fort overland. The French fleet, after discharging its passengers, gave chase but was engulfed in storms and its ships were wrecked upon the Florida coast. The Spanish attacked Fort Caroline with a vengeance, slaughtering all but about fifty women and children. The Spanish immediately executed all those who did surrender.

The Spanish then marched south to meet with the remainder of what was the French fleet and soldiers. They asked the French, who were by then starving, to surrender. When they did surrender, the Spanish executed all of them at what is today known as Matanzas (Massacre) Point.

The Spanish immediately set about constructing Castillo De San Marcos, a fort in what they named, St. Augustine. Nearly 100 years before the Pilgrims would arrive at North America’s shores, the Spanish created a thriving city on the continent, of which many structures remain today to welcome visitors and educate them in a history little known and understood by most Americans.

Fort Castillo De San Marcos still stands today and is a national historic landmark, protected by the U.S. National Park Service. The fort has served the flags of six different nations and survived hurricanes, bombardments and prolonged sieges. Fortified and altered by its many inhabitants, the fort reached final completion in 1756 and today, remains nearly exactly as it did then.

Built of walls that are between 14 and 19 feet thick at their base, the walls taper as they rise to a final thickness of about 9 feet. Over 400,000 blocks of coquina - a sedentary rock comprised of seashells - were cut and set by hand to construct the fort’s walls. Thirty-five feet in height, the walls were protected by a 40-foot-wide moat surrounding the fort.

Visitors to the fort today will be thrilled as they walk into the past, seeing much of what life was like hundreds of year ago. Ornate cannons still stand ready to protect the harbor entrance. The main courtyard of the fort is still as it appeared in 1704 when more than fifteen hundred Spanish citizens took shelter there for 51 days as the English lay siege to the town and fort.

The expansiveness of the fort allows for visitors to find many quiet places to reflect on what times and lives may have been like for the original occupants of this special place. And if the conditions are right, one can sense the presence of past souls, still attached to one of the oldest structures on the continent.

When visitors leave Castillo De San Marcos, a few blocks to the south and west they encounter the Basilica Cathedral of St. Augustine, which incorporates the 1797 parish church and is one of the oldest Catholic religious buildings in the United States. The oldest European house can be found in St. Augustine which, when you consider you are in the oldest European established city on the North American continent, may come as no surprise.

In most American schools, children are taught that our history begins at Jamestown and Plymouth Rock. But in truth, our history began centuries earlier with Native Americans and the first Europens who settled in a relatively little known city called St. Augustine. If you haven't been there, you are missing not just a great vacation treat, but a great learning experience as well.

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