Castillo de San Marcos

Not to be confused with Castle of San Marcos (El Puerto de Santa María).
"Fort Marion" redirects here. For the ship, see USS Fort Marion (LSD-22).

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument
Aerial view of Castillo De San Marcos
Castillo de San Marcos is located in Florida
Castillo de San Marcos
Castillo de San Marcos in Florida
Castillo de San Marcos is located in the United States
Castillo de San Marcos
Castillo de San Marcos (the United States)
Location11 South Castillo Drive
St. Augustine, Florida
Coordinates29°53′52″N 81°18′41″W / 29.89778°N 81.31139°W / 29.89778; -81.31139
Area20.48 acres (82879.62 m2)
Built1672–1695
Visitation624,841 (2022)[1]
WebsiteCastillo de San Marcos National Monument
Part ofSt. Augustine Town Plan Historic District (ID70000847)
NRHP reference No.66000062
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1966[2]
Designated NMONOctober 15, 1924

The Castillo de San Marcos (Spanish for "St. Mark's Castle") is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States; it is located on the western shore of Matanzas Bay in St. Augustine, Florida.

It was designed by the Spanish engineer Ignacio Daza, with construction beginning in 1672, 107 years after the city's founding by Spanish Admiral and conquistador Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, when Florida was part of the Spanish Empire.[2][3][4] The fort's construction was ordered by Governor Francisco de la Guerra y de la Vega after a raid by the English privateer Robert Searles in 1668 that destroyed much of St. Augustine and damaged the existing wooden fort.[5][6] Work proceeded under the administration of Guerra's successor, Manuel de Cendoya in 1671,[7] and the first coquina stones were laid in 1672.[8] The construction of the core of the current fortress was completed in 1695, although it would undergo many alterations and renovations over the centuries.

When Britain gained control of Florida in 1763 pursuant to the Treaty of Paris, St. Augustine became the capital of British East Florida, and the fort was renamed Fort St. Mark[9] until the Peace of Paris (1783) when Florida was transferred back to Spain and the fort's original name restored. In 1819, Spain signed the Adams–Onís Treaty which ceded Florida to the United States in 1821; consequently, the fort was designated a United States Army base and renamed Fort Marion, in honor of American Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion. The fort was declared a National Monument in 1924, and after 251 years of continuous military possession, was deactivated in 1933. The 20.48-acre (8.29 ha) site was subsequently turned over to the United States National Park Service. In 1942 the original name, Castillo de San Marcos, was restored by an Act of Congress.[10]

Castillo de San Marcos was attacked several times and twice besieged: first by English colonial forces led by Carolina Colony Governor James Moore in 1702, and then by English Georgia colonial Governor James Oglethorpe in 1740. However, possession of the fort has changed five times, all peaceful, among four different governments: Spain, 1695–1763 and 1783–1821, Kingdom of Great Britain, 1763–1783, and the United States, 1821–date (during 1861–1865, under control of the Confederate States of America). Owing to its strategic cannon placement and star-shaped design, the fort was never breached or taken by force throughout its various stages of sovereign ownership.[11][12]

Under United States control the fort was used as a military prison to incarcerate members of Native American tribes starting with the Seminole—including the famous war chief, Osceola, in the Second Seminole War—and members of western tribes, including Geronimo's band of Chiricahua Apache. The Native American art form known as Ledger Art had its origins at the fort during the imprisonment of members of the Plains tribes such as Howling Wolf of the southern Cheyenne.[citation needed]

Although built in part by African slaves owned by the Spanish, the fort later served as one of the first entry points of fugitive slaves from British North America into Spanish Florida, where they were freed by the Spanish colonial authorities. This quickly led to the first free Black settlement in the future United States (Fort Mose, formed just north of St Augustine).[13][14]

Ownership of the Castillo was transferred to the National Park Service in 1933, and, along with the nearby St. Augustine Historic District, has been a popular tourist destination ever since.[15]

  1. ^ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  2. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  3. ^ Marcus Whiffen; Frederick Koeper (January 1983). American Architecture: 1607–1860. MIT Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-262-73069-3.
  4. ^ Spanish Colonial Fortifications in North America 1565–1822. Osprey Publishing. 2010. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-84603-507-4.
  5. ^ Lawrence Sanders Rowland; Alexander Moore; George C. Rogers (1996). The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina: 1514–1861. Univ of South Carolina Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-57003-090-1.
  6. ^ The Archaeology of Mission Santa Catalina de Guale. University of Georgia Press. 1994. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-8203-1712-0.
  7. ^ James D. Kornwolf (2002). Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 1569. ISBN 978-0-8018-5986-1.
  8. ^ Albert C. Manucy. The Building of Castello de San Marcos: National Park Service Interpretive Series, History No. 1. United States Government Printing Office Washington. p. 18. GGKEY:R1D08K7CWUJ.
  9. ^ Frances H. Kennedy (2014). The American Revolution: A Historical Guidebook. Oxford University Press. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-19-932423-1.
  10. ^ "The Building Of CASTILLO DE SAN MARCOS". National Park Service. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  11. ^ "Who Built the Castillo?". National Park Service. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  12. ^ "Architecture & Construction". National Park Service. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  13. ^ "African Americans in St. Augustine 1565-1821". National Park Service. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  14. ^ Ellis, Nicquel Terry (December 16, 2019). "Forget what you know about 1619, historians say. Slavery began a half-century before Jamestown". USA Today. Archived from the original on December 17, 2019. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  15. ^ "History of the National Park Service". National Park Service. Retrieved May 26, 2023.