History

History & Culture

Throughout its history, the stories of Fort Matanzas and the Matanzas area have been closely intertwined with that of the city of St. Augustine.

Located fifteen miles north of Fort Matanzas, St. Augustine and the Castillo de San Marcos serve as outstanding reminders of the might of the early Spanish empire and as reflections of European conflicts as countries battled for land and power in the New World.

February 2, March 1, April 5, May 3 -- Living History Day at Fort Matanzas. Cannon firing on all tours except 9:30 and 4:30. Free

Special Program for Florida Archaeology Month, Saturday, March 22 -- Ranger-presented talk, "Archaeology at Fort Matanzas: How Archaeology Helps Answer Questions"; Presented twice-- at 10:00 am and 1:00 pm. Meet at the park amphitheater.

The Massacre

The first conflict goes back to 1565, the year of the founding of St. Augustine and almost 175 years before the construction of Fort Matanzas. This is when another story was played out at the Matanzas Inlet--the massacre of the French Huguenots, the incident that led to the naming of the river, Matanzas, the Spanish word for "slaughters".  Learn more below...

By 1740, it was no longer the French, but rather the British who were a threat to the Spanish Florida colony.  Whoever controlled Florida controlled the rich shipping lanes coming from the Spanish Caribbean. The British had unsuccessfully laid siege to St. Augustine twice (1702 and 1740). Florida Governor Montiano knew the British would be back and would most likely attempt to come through the unguarded inlet at Matanzas. So, he immediately ordered a fort to be built to guard these southern approaches-- Fort Matanzas.  Learn more below...

The Early People

Archaeological research tells us that at least 12,000 years ago, long before Europeans came to Florida, wandering hunter-gatherer people arrived. They lived a simple life, following the great herds of mammoths and other mega-fauna and gathering the wild grains, nuts, and berries they found in their seasonal wanderings. No one knows what these people called themselves, but to archaeologists, they are known as Paleo-Indians, the oldest Indians.

As the large prey died out, these people began to exploit the vast water resources. Fish, shellfish, turtles, and alligators became a major part of their diet. Hollowed out log canoes enabled them to travel the many rivers. About 4000 years ago they invented a soft, porous pottery with an orange color, This pottery was tempered with Spanish moss that burned away as the pottery was fired. Because of the orange color of this pottery, these people are known as a the "Orange Period" culture.

About 2500 years ago, as the various groups of archaic people began to become more settled in one place, each group began to develop a distinct regional culture while maintaining several customs in common. The people who lived along the St. Johns River in east-central and northeast Florida were known as the Timucuan. Today, only the shell middens (trash heaps) of these early people remain.

The First Spanish Period (1565 - 1763)

The flag which flies over Fort Matanzas and the Castillo de San Marcos is described in heraldry as a red saltire raguly on a white field. A saltire is an X figure; raguly refers to the jagged edges of the cross. The X-shaped cross is commonly called "St. Andrew's cross" because tradition says that Andrew the Disciple was crucified on a cross shaped like an X.

Early Watchtowers

As early as 1569 the Spanish recognized the vulnerability of the Matanzas Inlet and built a wooden watchtower and a thatched hut to house six soldiers who took turns scanning the horizon. If a ship was sighted, a runner or small boat set out to warn St. Augustine. Watching and warning were the tower's tasks for it lacked any armament.

At least twice the watchtower kept pirates from coming in this "backdoor". In 1683 English outlaws captured the watchtower, but word made it to St. Augustine, and ships and soldiers came and drove them off. In 1686 French pirates attempted to come into the inlet, but again word was sent to St. Augustine, and these pirates, too, were repulsed.

In Florida's warm, wet climate, these wooden watchtowers often had to be rebuilt or replaced. No sign of any of the towers remain, but archaeological evidence suggests that they may have been on Anastasia Island in the vicinity of the park's visitor center.

The British Threat

After the French, the British became the main threat. Beginning with Sir Francis Drake's raid on St. Augustine in 1586, during which he burned the town, England repeatedly harassed the Spanish colony. Charles Towne (Charleston) in the Carolina Colony was established by the English in 1670. The English colony of Georgia was founded in 1733 by General James Oglethorpe. Both of these colonies were on land claimed by Spain. Hostilities were inevitable, and the British leaders were looking for an excuse for attacking St. Augustine. Wars in Europe gave them the excuse to carry the hostilities to the new world.

The Building of the Castillo

"Today, Sunday, about four in the afternoon, the second of October 1672 . . Manuel de Cendoya, Governor and Captain General of these provinces for Her Majesty. . . with spade in hand. . . began the foundation trenches for the construction of the Castillo." Thus did the government notary attest the official ground breaking for the Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine's most enduring legacy of the First Spanish Period and a tribute to the craftsmanship and skill of the engineers, artisans and labourers who built it.

The Massacre of the French

The European history of Fort Matanzas National Monument begins with an incident almost 200 years before the construction of the fort at Matanzas - the Spanish massacre of French forces in 1565. It took place near or possibly within the area which now makes up the monument. The incident initiated Spanish control of Florida for 235 years and led to the naming of the Matanzas River.

When King Philip II of Spain learned that the Frenchman Rene de Laudonniére had established

Fort Caroline

in Florida

, he was incensed -- the colony sat on land belonging to the Spanish crown. Spanish treasure fleets sailed along the Florida coast on their way to Spain and Fort Caroline provided a perfect base for French attacks. Worst of all to the devoutly Catholic Philip, the settlers were Huguenots (French Protestants). Despite Philip's protests, Jean Ribault sailed from France in May 1565 with more than 600 soldiers and settlers to resupply Fort Caroline.

General Pedro Menéndez de Aviles, charged with removing the French, also sailed in May, arriving at the Saint Johns River in August with some 800 people, shortly after Ribault

. After a brief sea chase, the Spanish retired south to a site they had earlier reconnoitered, a Timucuan village called Seloy. The Spanish came ashore on September 8 and established and named their new village "St. Augustine"

because land had first been sighted on the Feast Day of St. Augustine, August 28.

Jean Ribault sailed on September 10 to attack and wipe out the Spanish at St. Augustine, but a hurricane carried his ships far to the south, wrecking them on the Florida coast between present-day Daytona Beach and Cape Canaveral (4 on map).

At the same time, Menéndez led a force to attack Fort Caroline. Since most of the soldiers were absent, Menéndez was easily able to capture the French settlement, killing most of the men in the battle. Some of the inhabitants, including de Laudonniére and the artist Jacques LeMoyne, were able to escape to ships and return to France. Menéndez spared the women and children and sent them by ship to Havana.

He then learned from Timucuan Indians that a group of white men were on the beach a few miles south of St. Augustine. He marched with 70 soldiers to where an inlet had blocked 127 of the shipwrecked Frenchmen trying to get back to Fort Caroline (5 on map).

With a captured Frenchman as translator, Menéndez described how Fort Caroline had been captured and urged the French to surrender. Rumors to the contrary, he made no promises as to sparing them. Having lost most of their food and weapons in the shipwreck, they did surrender. However, when Menéndez then demanded that they give up their Protestant faith and accept Catholicism, they refused. 111 Frenchmen were killed. Only sixteen were spared - a few who professed being Catholic, some impressed Breton sailors, and four artisans needed at St. Augustine.

Two weeks later the sequence of events was repeated. More French survivors appeared at the inlet, including Jean Ribault. On October 12 Ribault and his men surrendered and met their fate, again refusing to give up their faith. This time 134 were killed. From that time, the inlet was called Matanzas -- meaning "slaughters" in Spanish.

Was this a cruel, cold-hearted act by the Spanish? Was Pedro Menéndez blindly following orders to rid Florida of the interlopers? Was it a religious conflict? What would the French have done to the Spanish if the hurricane had not wrecked their ships? Maybe there is even more involved. With food already low and no chance for resupply until spring, would there have been food and shelter for all if the French had been brought back to the new village of St. Augustine? Perhaps, as leader of his people, Menéndez knew that survival of the French in October might have meant the starvation of everyone by May.

The British Threat

The Siege of 1702

In 1700,Spain's King Charles II died without an heir. Soon, most of Europe was embroiled in a conflict with each country supporting its own Protestant or Catholic candidate for the Throne. This War of Spanish Secession boiled over into the New World where it became known as Queen Anne's War. This was the excuse South Carolina's Governor James Moore needed. In 1702 he led an expedition against St. Augustine and its new fort. After 58 days, the British retreated, but as they left, they burned St. Augustine to the ground.

Oglethorpe's Attack of 1740

Just as the 1702 Siege grew out of a larger European conflict, so would the next attack on St. Augustine-- James Oglethorpe's Siege of 1740, which grew out of the War of Jenkin's Ear, a dispute between Britain and Spain over trade in the Caribbean.

The Building of Fort Matanzas and British Challenges

The British siege convinced Governor Manuel de Montiano that he needed more than just a wooden tower at Matanzas Inlet. Had the British been able to seize that point, they would probably have been able to starve the city into surrender. Montiano, therefore, put his career on the line. He did not even ask the king's permission before he ordered engineer Pedro Ruiz de Olano to build a strong, stone tower at Matanzas.

The British Period (1763 - 1784)

Ironically, after all the fighting in Georgia and Florida, all it took was a signature on a piece of paper in Europe to take Florida away from Spain. During the Seven Years War (French and Indian War), the British had captured Spanish Cuba and the Philippines. In order to get these valuable colonies back, Spain was forced to give up Florida. Signed on February 10, 1763, the First Treaty of Paris, gave all of Florida to the British.

The Spanish of St. Augustine packed up all their possessions, including the forts' cannons, and moved to Cuba. The British supply ship, Industry, on its first run to St. Augustine bearing cannon destined for Fort Matanzas, sank near the St. Augustine Inlet, and all supplies were lost. Archeologists, working from the St. Augustine Lighthouse, have discovered this wreck and have recovered some of the cannon and other artifacts.

The Menorcans
It is intriguing to think that the Spanish Mediterranean culture still evident in St. Augustine today came not so much from the two Spanish periods, but rather from the British Period when a group of Mediterranean peoples, collectively known as Menorcans, were brought to Florida as indentured plantation workers.

The British at Fort Matanzas

The English staffed Fort Matanzas with one sergeant, six or eight privates of infantry and one private from the Royal Artillery. As the political climate changed as the American colonies moved towards revolution, more cannon were added with two 18-pounders placed at the fort in 1863.

Life for the English soldiers at Fort Matanzas probably differed little from their Spanish counterparts. Days were spent in drill, repair to the fort and equipment, and foraging for food as the officer attempted to keep his men occupied with useful tasks.

Britain and Spain During the American Revolution

The British had divided Florida into East and West Florida, so along with Nova Scotia, Great Britain had sixteen American colonies. While the War for American Independence was raging to the north, the Spanish, under General Bernardo de Gálvez , the governor of Louisiana, were attempting to harass the British on their western frontier.

Gálvez captured Baton Rouge, Natchez, and Mobile, all in British West Florida. After losing Pensacola to the Spanish, the British were afraid that the Spanish might make plans to capture St. Augustine by trying the same plan the British had tried-- coming up the Matanzas River and attacking from the rear. However, such plans were never executed.

On September 3, 1783, the Second Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolution and returned Florida to the Spanish. This time, however, most of the population, who owned businesses and plantations, did not leave. With so many British remaining in Florida, and very few Spanish returning, the character of this Spanish colony changed, leading to the eventual takeover by the United States.

The Second Spanish Period (1784 - 1821)

In return for Spain's help during the American Revolution, Florida was transferred back to Spain as part of the Second Treaty of Paris in 1784. Just like when the whole Spanish population moved to Cuba when the British took control, this time most of the British departed for British colonies in the Caribbean in spite of Governor Zespedes' promise of equal treatment. The Menorcans, however, were very glad to have a Spanish, Catholic government return to power.

Governor Zespedes knew Florida needed more people, regardless of nationality, in order to survive. He offered large land grants, a ten year tax free occupancy, and a cash bonus to any family who would come to start a farm. He even offered to pay each pioneer 1.5 cents a day for feed supplies. Despite these generous offers, it was necessary by 1786 to drop the restrictions on non-Catholic settlers. Equally significant, the Spanish Government agreed to allow the migration of slave holders into Florida for the first time.

One of the slave holders who took advantage of the land grant offer was Zephaniah Kingsley, who along with his wife Anna Madgigine Jai, herself an ex-slave from Africa, owned and managed Kingsley Plantation on Fort George Island.

This influx of different people, including Americans, made the Second Spanish period much more cosmopolitan than the First Spanish Period had been. It also brought about the Patriot's Rebellion (1811-1812) in which American "patriots" living in Spanish Florida, clandestinely supported by Georgians and unofficially recognized by the US government, attempted to rise up and seize Florida for the United States. With the promise of 200 acres of Florida land as an incentive, dozens of Georgia farmers marched to attack St. Augustine. They destroyed Spanish plantations and left only after a British fleet intervened. The US government immediately declared no knowledge of the plan.

Still, Spain's days in Florida were numbered. By 1800 Spain's fortune and power were waning. Her once mighty empire was crumbling. There was little money to maintain the Castillo and even less for the outpost fort at Matanzas. Erosion and rainwater took their toll. FortMatanzas was already in poor condition by 1821 when Florida was ceded to the United States through the Adams-Onís Treaty which turned Florida over to the U.S. in exchange for canceling out a $5 million debt, re-imbursement for runaway slaves who had found refuge in Florida.

The Menorcans

Who were the Menorcans?

Menorcans is the name given collectively to a group of people from Menorca and other Mediterranean islands who were brought to Florida by Dr. Andrew Turnbull, an Englishman, as indentured servants to work on his indigo plantation at New Smyrna, south of St. Augustine, Florida. It is intriguing to think that the Spanish, Catholic Mediterranean culture still evident in St. Augustine today came not so much from the two Spanish periods, but rather from the Menorcans who came to Florida during the British Period.

Where is Menorca and how did the British get it?

The Menorcans in Florida

Dr. Andrew Turnbull, a Scottish physician and friend of Florida governor James Grant, had received a land grant of 60,000 acres approximately seventy miles south of St. Augustine on which he planned to establish an indigo plantation.

Since his wife was from Smyrna near Turkey, he had the plan to recruit workers from Smyrna and other impoverished Mediterranean Islands to be indentured workers on his plantation which he would name New Smyrna.

To this end, he recruited 1403 people who sailed from the port of Mahon in what was to be the first mass migration to the New World by people of European stock. These were peoples gathered from all over the Mediterranean area-- Greeks, Italians, Spaniards, Menorcans, Corsicans, English, and even an Irishman. Collectively, they became known as Menorcans, and they all shared a common Mediterranean culture, being primarily fishermen, craftsmen, and farmers and practicing the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox religion.

Their contract with was to work on his indigo plantation for nine years after which they would be free and would be given a small partial of land on which to build a house and raise their crops. During their servitude, they would be housed and fed and would have time to work at their own crafts or garden plots.

Of the 1403 who sailed for Florida, 1255 survived the voyage, the rest dying of sickness and scurvy. Half of that number would be dead in two more years, victims of malnutrition and disease, for after establishing his workers in New Smyrna, Turnbull returned to England leaving the settlement in the hands of a less than trustworthy overseer. Between 1768 and 1777, 704 adults and 260 children died in the New Smyrna Colony.

After nine years of abuse and mistreatment, the remaining Menorcans sent a delegation to Saint Augustine to seek asylum. After walking the 70 miles to Saint Augustine, they met with the new English governor Patrick Tonyn who granted the asylum, giving them a small portion of the town to live in.

About six hundred Menorcans fled to St. Augustine, leaving the ill-fated colony in a shambles from which it would never recover.

Over the next 200 years, the Menorcans and their descendants have become a strong and vital community in Saint Augustine and the surrounding area. The Menorcans were tradesmen-- farmers, fishermen, stonemasons, carpenters, shopkeepers, sailors, and blacksmiths-- skills much appreciated in the British colony.

The story of the Menorcan struggle is found in the recorded Catholic Church documents of the spiritual leader of the Menorcans, Father Pedro Camps. His records, known as The Golden Book of the Menorcans is the basis for much of what is known about the early Menorcan history in Florida. Today it is believed that over 10,000 descendants of the original Menorcans still live in the Saint Augustine/ Saint Johns County area. Some of the Menorcan names still found alive in the area are: Pellicer, Leonardi, Pappy, Mastre or Masters, Fazio, Andreu, Benet, Capalla, Usina, Pomar, Triay, Genovar, Hernandez, Acosta, Pacetti, Rogero, Lopez, Ponce, Oliveros, Cernopoly, Medicis, and Bravo. These are just a few. There are many more. St. Augustine still celebrates annual Menorcan and Greek festivals to this day.

Some of this information was adapted from the web site of the Menorcan Cultural Society of St. Augustine, Florida.

The American Period (1821 - Present)

The Territorial Period (1821-1845)

Only three Spanish soldiers were in residence at Fort Matanzas when the United States took possession in 1821. The interior was in ruins, and the gun platform's east wall and its foundation had cracked. The U.S. Army sent an inspector who reported that the tower was obsolete and had only historical value. Although owned by the War Department, Fort Matanzas was never occupied by the United States army.

These early years as part of the United States were years of conflict for Florida. For years Indian groups who had been pushed off their land in Georgia and Alabama by white settlers had found refuge in Spanish Florida. These Indians, primarily Creeks, along with escaped African slaves, became known as Cimmarones or wild ones, the probable origin of the word Seminole. However, once Florida became a territory of the United States, these Indians were no longer safe. The US Army raided their settlements, and the Seminoles and whites engaged in a series of long, expensive wars ending with 4000 -5000 Seminoles being shipped to reservations in Oklahoma, and the tattered remnants of a proud people finally finding some refuge in the wilds of the Everglades. Read More . . .

The Civil War Years

Florida was granted statehood in 1845 as the 27^th state. At the beginning of the Civil War Florida was the third state to vote for Secession which she did on January 10, 1861. Confederate troops immediately took Fort Marion (Castillo de San Marcos) from the lone Union sergeant caretaker who asked for a receipt and travel money out of town. Believing the war would soon be over and would never come this far south, the Confederates removed most of the cannon from FortMarion and sent them to more strategic forts.

In March 1862, the Union Navy arrived off the coast of St. Augustine. With no guns for defense, Fort Marion was abandoned, and the Union forces took over. The St. Augustine area remained in Federal hands for the remainder of the war. With the St. Johns River heavily patrolled, Confederate blockade runners attempted to use the Matanzas Inlet during the War, but the Union army stationed a barge in the river near the fort ruins, and attempts to pass were unsuccessful.

This activity had little effect on the old tower, however, and soon the area was abandoned once more, and with the passage of time, the tower began to deteriorate even further.  It was a quaint ruin overgrown with vegetation in 1872 when artist Harry Fenn sketched the fort for the book Picturesque America.

 The Flagler Era

During the late 19th century, St. Augustine became the destination of America's rich and famous.  In 1885, railroad tycoon and former Standard Oil partner Henry Morrison Flagler moved Florida's resorts to a new level with his 540-room grand Ponce de León Hotel in St. Augustine. The first of three Flagler hotels in the city, the Ponce de León (now the main building of Flagler College) combined exotic Spanish Renaissance and Moorish architectural features with innovative poured concrete construction.

Whisked south in their private cars on Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad, notables such as the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and Morgans made St. Augustine their winter home, expanding the old colonial city westward on King Street and north on San Marco.  Many of the buildings downtown reflect this golden era. The Villa Zorayda, an exotic Moorish Revival style residence with courtyards and towers built in 1883 on King Street, is from this glittering time-period as is the Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church (1880), and Castle Warden (1879), now Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum.

Preservation

These wealthy visitors came down the river on excursions to the Matanzas ruins, and they also visited Fort Marion in town which, although still an active military fort until 1899, was also falling into disrepair. They believed these historic structures must be saved, and they spoke with their friends and congressmen. In 1916 Congress granted $1025 for the repair of these structures, the first time that the federal government had granted money for historical preservation. 

Restoration of Fort Matanzas

Stabilization

The money received from Congress in 1916 was enough to do little more than stabilize the fort. In 1924, a local man, Eugene Johnson of Summer Haven, was contracted to procure, deliver, and spread oyster shells around the base of Fort Matanzas to further stabilize it. At 12 cents per barrel, by October he had delivered 3825 barrels of shell.

Restoration

On October 15, 1924, using the power granted in the Antiquities Act, President Calvin Coolidge named Fort Marion (The Castillo de San Marcos) and Fort Matanzas as national monuments. During the late 1920s, extensive repair was done on Fort Matanzas. The garita (sentry box), which had fallen off, was rebuilt. Iron rods were placed within the tower, and the gun deck parapet and lower walls were rebuilt. The land on Rattlesnake Island surrounding the fort was set aside as a bird sanctuary.

With the War Department divesting itself of obsolete forts, the forts were transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service on August 10, 1933. In the 1930s Fort Matanzas became a WPA project. A steel bulkhead and two groins were built along the water. The vaulted ceiling in the officer's quarters was rebuilt, and wooden stairways were constructed both into the fort and up to the officer's quarters.

Additional land on Anastasia Island was also acquired at this time, and a dock and visitor center/superintendent's house were constructed of coquina. For the first time, people without boats could get to the shorelne and look across the river at the historic fort.

Preservation

Fort Matanzas National Monument now consists of nearly 300 acres-- the south end of Anastasia Island and most of Rattlesnake Island. Much of the land is preserved as natural habitat, but the National Park Service continues to preserve the historic fort as well. In 1999 the coquina chimney was reconstructed, and Fort Matanzas received two replica, iron 6-pounder cannon used in cannon firing demonstrations. In 2001 a new dock was constructed on the visitor center side, and a larger boat, Matanzas Queen III, was purchased in 2003.