Castillo De San Marcos

 Castillo De San Marcos

St. Augustine, Florida

March 31, 2022

Constructed from 1672 to 1695, the Castillo De San Marcos has been used to learn about the history of St. Augustine and Florida for nearly 450 years. The original build of 9 wooden forts, Castillo was finally funded by Spain for the protection of Spaniards living here. With 18 years of renovation, the fort in 1756 is what the Spanish would finally call a finished product. With multiple attacks, the fort was home too many innocent people trying to protect themselves along with their city. The attacks and new conquerors also brought a numerous amount of renovations to the fort which makes it a bit different than it was when the Spanish were here. Meticulously and carefully constructed, every aspect of the fort has a purpose that protected the people and the City of St. Augustine.

https://www.nps.gov/casa/index.htm

Exterior Picture 1

A photo from the northwestern corner of the fort, highlighting three of the four bastions.

Exterior Picture 2

This photo displays the fort wall that was put up as part of the moat. When Spain had control over the fort, the moat was never filled with water. It wasn't until 1937 that the National Park Service dug out the moat deeper than it once was, and opened the flood gates letting high tides flood in. Years later, damage to the fort walls resulted from the filled moat leading the National Park Service to drain out all of the water and fill back in the moat to its original depth.

Artifact Picture 1

The Castillo De San Marcos is entirely created from coquina rock. Coquina is composed of shells and sediments that have been compressed together into layers of rock. It is the only source of rock found native to Florida and St. Augustine specifically which made the unique rock the only source for a stone fort. The exceptional rock is porous which was important in the use  of constructing the fort. The top of the fort is about 9 feet thick, while the base stands at a thickness of 18 feet. The porous composition of coquina can absorb the hits of cannons and other attacks, rather than shattering under the impact. National Park Service Ranger Jill explained coquina with the apology of a bb bullet hitting styrofoam. The impact is absorbed rather than deteriorating. It was time consuming to work with the coquina as you had to dry it out to then cut and construct, however the strength and durability of the fort was a successful outcome. 

Artifact Picture 2

The Castillo De San Marcos is a square structure with four bastions at each of the four corners. Inside of the cavity of each bastion is filled with dirt, shells, rock, and construction debris to keep the base solid and durable. The bastions were used to eliminate the blind spots of interlocking fields of fire. The bastions are diamond in shape, and with someone on each corner of the diamond, it ensured that whoever was protecting the fort could see all sides of the structure. Since they are pointed bastions and not curved, there were no blind spots, an enemy or visitor could be spotted from standing at one of the posts on the corners. 

Image 1 In Conversation

https://www.nps.gov/foma/index.htm

Fort Matanzas is another beautiful fort here in St. Augustine. Fort Matanzas was constructed nearly 50 years after Fort Castillo was finished. It stands on A1A heading south towards Daytona, about 30 minutes from Flagler College. Like Fort Castillo, Fort Matanzas is also made of coquina rock to hold its strong structure for almost 300 years. In addition, Fort Matanzas is also on the water on the intercostal. It is much smaller than Fort Castillo in size and in height. Fort Matanzas shares many similarities with Fort Castillo as both have defended the Spanish Military.

Image 2 In Conversation

https://www.historyextra.com/period/second-world-war/holocaust-world-war-two-facts-deaths-survivors-jews-concentration-camps-died-final-solution/

On a much larger scale, the containment of Jews in the German concentration camps from the Holocaust, is similar to the containment of the prisoners in Fort Castillo. The Jews under the rule of Hitler, were not able to leave or even live in Germany. They were kept in rooms and inside walls of barbed wire. The prisoners from The Fort were kept behind the walls of the fort in a dark room. The escape from a concentration camp was nearly impossible but few did escape. There are multiple novels on people who had escaped a concentration camp and Germany. Like the few Jews that did escape, the prisoners of Fort Castillo did end up escaping out of a window that was smaller than most of their bodies.

Literature In Conversation

Panel from Parable Of The Sower

"That was before Dad's parents were robbed and murdered. Before there was a neighborhood wall. Crazy to live without a wall to protect you."

These few lines from Parable Of The Sower resonate closely with the purpose of the fort. In these lines, the speaker, Lauren, is describing life before the wall that she currently lives in. The life her father lived without the wall surrounding their community was dangerous and unpleasant to live in such an uneasy fashion. The Castillo De San Marcos was this source of protection for the Spaniards that were being attacked by the British in 1702. They were forced to live inside the fort for 51 days on quartered rations. About to surrender, they were finally able to get a ship to Havana, Cuba. The fort walls saved them from the dangers that the Englishmen from Charleston instilled upon them, much like the walls of Lauren's community were in place to protect her from "maggots" that lived on the outside of the wall.

Creative Component

The wet and saturated ground,

I sink with any sudden movement.

In the dark we all walk around,

One guard to keep our amusement.

He talked of outside and escape,

Us inside, wept and tried to think.

A place of freedom, not stuck in a diamond shape,

The sky would be blue, yellow, orange, and pink.

The guard offered us to leave,

We all followed with a plan.

"Out the window," he said, like thieves,

Twenty of us, squeezing out of the shelter, we ran.