Siege of St. Augustine (1702)
Encyclopedia
The Siege of St. Augustine was an action in Queen Anne's War
during November and December 1702. It was conducted by English
provincial forces from the Province of Carolina
and their native allies, under the command of Carolina's governor James Moore
, against the Spanish
colonial fortress of Castillo de San Marcos
at St. Augustine, in Spanish Florida
.
After destroying coastal Spanish communities north of St. Augustine, Moore's forces arrived at St. Augustine on 10 November, and immediately began siege operations. The Spanish governor, Joseph de Zúñiga y Zérda, had had enough advance warning of their arrival to withdraw civilians and food supplies into the fortress, and to send messengers to nearby Spanish and French communities for relief. The English guns did little damage to the fortress walls, prompting Governor Moore to send an appeal to Jamaica
for larger guns. The Spanish calls for relief were successful; a fleet sent from Havana, Cuba landed troops nearby on 29 December. Moore lifted the siege the next day, and was forced to burn many of his boats before retreating back to Charles Town
in disgrace.
) in the recently-established (1663) Province of Carolina
heightened tensions. Traders, raiders, and slavers from the new province penetrated into Spanish Florida
, leading to raiding and reprisal expeditions on both sides. In 1700, Carolina's governor, Joseph Blake
, threatened the Spanish that English claims to Pensacola
, established by the Spanish in 1698, would be enforced. Blake's death later that year interrupted these plans, and he was replaced in 1702 by James Moore
.
Even before news of the war declarations opening the War of the Spanish Succession
arrived in the colonies, Moore proposed an expedition against Spanish Florida's capital, St. Augustine
. News of the war's formal opening arrived in 1702, and Moore convinced the provincial assembly in September 1702 to fund an expedition against St. Augustine. Moore raised a force of colonists and Indians, the latter a combination of Yamasee
, Tallapoosa
, and Alabama warriors, principally led by a Yamasee chief named Arratommakaw. The exact size of these forces varies by source; accounts provide numbers ranging from 800 to 1,200 in strength; most sources say that about 500 colonists and 300–400 Indians took part. Some of this force, primarily the Indians, went overland to Port Royal
under the command of Deputy Governor Robert Daniell
, while Moore embarked the rest of the force on 14 boats. These forces joined at Port Royal, and Daniell's force was landed on what is now known as Amelia Island
(it was called Isla Santa Maria by the Spanish, and was part of Florida's Guale Province), while Moore sailed on to Matanzas Bay
.
The Castillo de San Marcos
at St. Augustine was built in the later years of the 17th century, in part because previous English raids demonstrated the inadequacy of wooden fortifications, and to address the threat posed by the founding of Charles Town. The fortress, a fairly conventional star fort
, was constructed from soft coquina
limestone. Governor Joseph de Zúñiga y Zérda assumed command of the post in 1700. Natives friendly to the Spanish heard of the recruitment, and word of the expedition reached Zúñiga on October 27. He ordered the town's inhabitants into the fort, commandeered all food stores in anticipation of an extended siege, and dispatched messengers to Pensacola, Havana, and the French at Mobile
with calls for assistance. Refugees swelled the civilian population to about 1,500, of which only a small number were deemed capable of military action. Zúñiga estimated the food provisions brought in to be sufficient for a siege of three months' duration.
Some of Zúñiga's men wanted to do battle with the English; the governor identified, in addition to 174 regulars and 14 artillerymen, 44 Europeans from the population that were fit for action, 123 Indians (most armed with poor-quality or useless weapons), and 57 Negroes (freemen, mulatto
es, and slaves) of which only 20 had any experience with weapons. Zúñiga did not consider either the Indians or the Negroes to be trustworthy, and estimated that only about 70 men of this entire force were actually prepared for a battle. He consequently prepared for a siege. His principal concern was the training of the artillerymen, of whom he wrote that they "had no service record, lacked discipline, and have only a slight knowledge of the [...] guns which are mounted."
s from St. Augustine, which Zúñiga saw as the "key to the province of Guale". The news also prompted Zúñiga to mobilize all able-bodied men over 14, and order all available food into the fort.
Horruytiner never made it beyond the St. Johns River
; he did capture three enemy soldiers (two Englishmen and a Chiluque Indian) on 6 November, and returned with them to St. Augustine two days later. Zúñiga learned from these captives that the English had brought three months' provisions, and that they had only brought smaller cannons (6 to 10 pounders).
In the meantime, Moore sailed south with the fleet. Three ships were sent ahead of the main fleet to blockade the entrance to Matanzas Bay
, south of St. Augustine. These were spotted from the fort on 7 November. The next day the main body of the fleet began arriving at the bar outside the St. Augustine inlet. This prompted Zúñiga to order his two frigates, La Gloria and Nuestra Señora de la Piedad y el Niño Jesús, to anchor under the fort's guns. The Nuestra, which was outside the bar, was unable to cross, and was eventually burned. Sixteen of her men joined the fort's garrison, providing valuable gunnery skills.
Daniell's force, after being landed, made good progress. The small Spanish force on Amelia Island was unable to check the English advance at San Juan del Puerto, and was dispersed; some of them took days to reach St. Augustine. Daniels continued to advance, and entered the town of St. Augustine without resistance on 10 November. Eight of the English ships crossed the bar and began landing men that day. As the English began to close the circle around the fortress, a Spanish foraging expedition successfully drove 163 head of cattle through the English lines and into the fort's (dry) moat.
worth of property.
Moore had brought four small cannon, but these made little impression on the coquina walls of the fortress, and the Spanish guns had longer range, keeping most of his forces at bay. Around November 22, Moore dispatched Deputy Governor Daniell to Jamaica
for larger cannons and ammunition. The English continued digging siege trenches, and began firing on the fortress from musket range on November 24. This cannonfire continued to have little effect, and Moore ordered more of the town torched the next day, including the Franciscan monastery.
Since his cannons were not effective against the fort's walls, Moore attempted a deception to gain entry to the fort. On December 14, a Yamasee couple managed to gain entry to the fort posing as refugees, apparently with the goal of detonating the fort's powder magazine. However, Zúñiga was suspicious of their behavior and, according to his account of the siege, they were tortured into admitting the plot.
By December 19 the English trenches had closed on the fort to the point that they threatened nearby fields from which the Spanish had been collecting forage. As a result, Zúñiga ordered a sally. There was a skirmish, and the Spanish lost one killed and several wounded.
(present-day Tallahassee, Florida
) began mobilizing when they received the news of the siege. Short on supplies, they appealed to the French at Mobile, who provided critical guns and gunpowder; the Pensacola garrison also spared ten men. The relief force left San Luis de Apalachee on December 24, but turned back when news was received that the siege had been lifted.
Also on December 24, sails from a pair of ships were spotted approaching St. Augustine. English records do not indicate what these ships were; Spanish records show that they were English in origin, but probably not from Jamaica, since the nature of the siege did not change with their arrival. The expedition to Jamaica, having failed in its mission, returned directly to Charles Town.
Spanish messengers from Pensacola eventually reported St. Augustine's plight to Havana. Governor Pedro Nicolás Benítez held a war council on December 2, in which a relief expedition was organized. A detachment of over 200 infantry under the command of Captain López de Solloso was embarked on a small fleet headed by General Estevan de Berroa in the Black Eagle. Berroa's fleet arrived outside St. Augustine's harbor on December 28. Apparently believing the siege to already be over, Berroa did not land any troops. The next day, Governor Zúñiga sneaked some men out of the fort and made contact with the fleet. Berroa then landed Solloso and about 70 raw recruits on Anastasia Island, about 3 miles (4.8 km) below the fort. This action prompted Moore to lift the siege and prepare a retreat. Berroa also dispatched smaller ships to block the southern inlet to Matanzas Bay, trapping some of Moore's ships in the bay.
Moore ordered the remaining buildings in the town, including the church, put to the torch. Some of his men departed north via the mainland, while the rest crossed Matanzas Bay to their boats. Moore burned the eight ships trapped in the bay, and retreated to the north, eventually returning to Charles Town in disgrace. Zúñiga sent men out after the English departure; they were able to recover three of the English boats that failed to burn completely.
Casualty reports made by both sides varied; historian Charles Arnade notes that all of the numbers reported are probably unreliable. Moore's report listed only two men killed, while Zúñiga in his report claimed that more than 60 of the English force were killed. Zúñiga claimed only three or four killed and 20 wounded for the Spanish contingent, none of which were caused by English cannonfire.
in Florida in 1704. By 1705 the English and their Indian allies had destroyed 32 Spanish mission communities, and by 1711 there were reported to be only about 400 Indians left in Florida.
Governor Zúñiga was rewarded for his successful defense with a special commendation from the king and promotion to the more prestigious and desirable governorship of Cartagena
. He made a series of highly critical complaints of General Berroa: the general failed to destroy the English fleet; he failed to share the plunder taken from the ships burned by the English; he refused to leave any of his fleet to assist in protection of the town; and he landed only the weakest and least effective troops in a bid to avoid combat. The general also sailed for Havana on January 8, barely one week after the siege was lifted.
In 1704 Governor Zúñiga convinced some Spanish privateers to raid the Carolina coast in revenge for Moore's activities. Spanish and French forces, motivated and organized by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
(who died shortly before its departure), attempted the capture
of Charles Town in August 1706; their attempts to land forces were successfully repulsed.
The Castillo de San Marcos was not subjected to further attacks in the war. The expedition destroyed all but two communities in the provinces of Guale and Timucua; Spanish Florida never really recovered from the decimation of its population in the following years. St. Augustine was again unsuccessfully besieged
in 1740 by forces from the Province of Georgia
, and the castillo underwent numerous renovations and uses in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is now a National Monument
managed by the National Park Service
, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
The Siege of St. Augustine was an action in Queen Anne's War
during November and December 1702. It was conducted by English
provincial forces from the Province of Carolina
and their native allies, under the command of Carolina's governor James Moore
, against the Spanish
colonial fortress of Castillo de San Marcos
at St. Augustine, in Spanish Florida
.
After destroying coastal Spanish communities north of St. Augustine, Moore's forces arrived at St. Augustine on 10 November, and immediately began siege operations. The Spanish governor, Joseph de Zúñiga y Zérda, had had enough advance warning of their arrival to withdraw civilians and food supplies into the fortress, and to send messengers to nearby Spanish and French communities for relief. The English guns did little damage to the fortress walls, prompting Governor Moore to send an appeal to Jamaica
for larger guns. The Spanish calls for relief were successful; a fleet sent from Havana, Cuba landed troops nearby on 29 December. Moore lifted the siege the next day, and was forced to burn many of his boats before retreating back to Charles Town
in disgrace.
) in the recently-established (1663) Province of Carolina
heightened tensions. Traders, raiders, and slavers from the new province penetrated into Spanish Florida
, leading to raiding and reprisal expeditions on both sides. In 1700, Carolina's governor, Joseph Blake
, threatened the Spanish that English claims to Pensacola
, established by the Spanish in 1698, would be enforced. Blake's death later that year interrupted these plans, and he was replaced in 1702 by James Moore
.
Even before news of the war declarations opening the War of the Spanish Succession
arrived in the colonies, Moore proposed an expedition against Spanish Florida's capital, St. Augustine
. News of the war's formal opening arrived in 1702, and Moore convinced the provincial assembly in September 1702 to fund an expedition against St. Augustine. Moore raised a force of colonists and Indians, the latter a combination of Yamasee
, Tallapoosa
, and Alabama warriors, principally led by a Yamasee chief named Arratommakaw. The exact size of these forces varies by source; accounts provide numbers ranging from 800 to 1,200 in strength; most sources say that about 500 colonists and 300–400 Indians took part. Some of this force, primarily the Indians, went overland to Port Royal
under the command of Deputy Governor Robert Daniell
, while Moore embarked the rest of the force on 14 boats. These forces joined at Port Royal, and Daniell's force was landed on what is now known as Amelia Island
(it was called Isla Santa Maria by the Spanish, and was part of Florida's Guale Province), while Moore sailed on to Matanzas Bay
.
The Castillo de San Marcos
at St. Augustine was built in the later years of the 17th century, in part because previous English raids demonstrated the inadequacy of wooden fortifications, and to address the threat posed by the founding of Charles Town. The fortress, a fairly conventional star fort
, was constructed from soft coquina
limestone. Governor Joseph de Zúñiga y Zérda assumed command of the post in 1700. Natives friendly to the Spanish heard of the recruitment, and word of the expedition reached Zúñiga on October 27. He ordered the town's inhabitants into the fort, commandeered all food stores in anticipation of an extended siege, and dispatched messengers to Pensacola, Havana, and the French at Mobile
with calls for assistance. Refugees swelled the civilian population to about 1,500, of which only a small number were deemed capable of military action. Zúñiga estimated the food provisions brought in to be sufficient for a siege of three months' duration.
Some of Zúñiga's men wanted to do battle with the English; the governor identified, in addition to 174 regulars and 14 artillerymen, 44 Europeans from the population that were fit for action, 123 Indians (most armed with poor-quality or useless weapons), and 57 Negroes (freemen, mulatto
es, and slaves) of which only 20 had any experience with weapons. Zúñiga did not consider either the Indians or the Negroes to be trustworthy, and estimated that only about 70 men of this entire force were actually prepared for a battle. He consequently prepared for a siege. His principal concern was the training of the artillerymen, of whom he wrote that they "had no service record, lacked discipline, and have only a slight knowledge of the [...] guns which are mounted."
s from St. Augustine, which Zúñiga saw as the "key to the province of Guale". The news also prompted Zúñiga to mobilize all able-bodied men over 14, and order all available food into the fort.
Horruytiner never made it beyond the St. Johns River
; he did capture three enemy soldiers (two Englishmen and a Chiluque Indian) on 6 November, and returned with them to St. Augustine two days later. Zúñiga learned from these captives that the English had brought three months' provisions, and that they had only brought smaller cannons (6 to 10 pounders).
In the meantime, Moore sailed south with the fleet. Three ships were sent ahead of the main fleet to blockade the entrance to Matanzas Bay
, south of St. Augustine. These were spotted from the fort on 7 November. The next day the main body of the fleet began arriving at the bar outside the St. Augustine inlet. This prompted Zúñiga to order his two frigates, La Gloria and Nuestra Señora de la Piedad y el Niño Jesús, to anchor under the fort's guns. The Nuestra, which was outside the bar, was unable to cross, and was eventually burned. Sixteen of her men joined the fort's garrison, providing valuable gunnery skills.
Daniell's force, after being landed, made good progress. The small Spanish force on Amelia Island was unable to check the English advance at San Juan del Puerto, and was dispersed; some of them took days to reach St. Augustine. Daniels continued to advance, and entered the town of St. Augustine without resistance on 10 November. Eight of the English ships crossed the bar and began landing men that day. As the English began to close the circle around the fortress, a Spanish foraging expedition successfully drove 163 head of cattle through the English lines and into the fort's (dry) moat.
worth of property.
Moore had brought four small cannon, but these made little impression on the coquina walls of the fortress, and the Spanish guns had longer range, keeping most of his forces at bay. Around November 22, Moore dispatched Deputy Governor Daniell to Jamaica
for larger cannons and ammunition. The English continued digging siege trenches, and began firing on the fortress from musket range on November 24. This cannonfire continued to have little effect, and Moore ordered more of the town torched the next day, including the Franciscan monastery.
Since his cannons were not effective against the fort's walls, Moore attempted a deception to gain entry to the fort. On December 14, a Yamasee couple managed to gain entry to the fort posing as refugees, apparently with the goal of detonating the fort's powder magazine. However, Zúñiga was suspicious of their behavior and, according to his account of the siege, they were tortured into admitting the plot.
By December 19 the English trenches had closed on the fort to the point that they threatened nearby fields from which the Spanish had been collecting forage. As a result, Zúñiga ordered a sally. There was a skirmish, and the Spanish lost one killed and several wounded.
(present-day Tallahassee, Florida
) began mobilizing when they received the news of the siege. Short on supplies, they appealed to the French at Mobile, who provided critical guns and gunpowder; the Pensacola garrison also spared ten men. The relief force left San Luis de Apalachee on December 24, but turned back when news was received that the siege had been lifted.
Also on December 24, sails from a pair of ships were spotted approaching St. Augustine. English records do not indicate what these ships were; Spanish records show that they were English in origin, but probably not from Jamaica, since the nature of the siege did not change with their arrival. The expedition to Jamaica, having failed in its mission, returned directly to Charles Town.
Spanish messengers from Pensacola eventually reported St. Augustine's plight to Havana. Governor Pedro Nicolás Benítez held a war council on December 2, in which a relief expedition was organized. A detachment of over 200 infantry under the command of Captain López de Solloso was embarked on a small fleet headed by General Estevan de Berroa in the Black Eagle. Berroa's fleet arrived outside St. Augustine's harbor on December 28. Apparently believing the siege to already be over, Berroa did not land any troops. The next day, Governor Zúñiga sneaked some men out of the fort and made contact with the fleet. Berroa then landed Solloso and about 70 raw recruits on Anastasia Island, about 3 miles (4.8 km) below the fort. This action prompted Moore to lift the siege and prepare a retreat. Berroa also dispatched smaller ships to block the southern inlet to Matanzas Bay, trapping some of Moore's ships in the bay.
Moore ordered the remaining buildings in the town, including the church, put to the torch. Some of his men departed north via the mainland, while the rest crossed Matanzas Bay to their boats. Moore burned the eight ships trapped in the bay, and retreated to the north, eventually returning to Charles Town in disgrace. Zúñiga sent men out after the English departure; they were able to recover three of the English boats that failed to burn completely.
Casualty reports made by both sides varied; historian Charles Arnade notes that all of the numbers reported are probably unreliable. Moore's report listed only two men killed, while Zúñiga in his report claimed that more than 60 of the English force were killed. Zúñiga claimed only three or four killed and 20 wounded for the Spanish contingent, none of which were caused by English cannonfire.
in Florida in 1704. By 1705 the English and their Indian allies had destroyed 32 Spanish mission communities, and by 1711 there were reported to be only about 400 Indians left in Florida.
Governor Zúñiga was rewarded for his successful defense with a special commendation from the king and promotion to the more prestigious and desirable governorship of Cartagena
. He made a series of highly critical complaints of General Berroa: the general failed to destroy the English fleet; he failed to share the plunder taken from the ships burned by the English; he refused to leave any of his fleet to assist in protection of the town; and he landed only the weakest and least effective troops in a bid to avoid combat. The general also sailed for Havana on January 8, barely one week after the siege was lifted.
In 1704 Governor Zúñiga convinced some Spanish privateers to raid the Carolina coast in revenge for Moore's activities. Spanish and French forces, motivated and organized by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
(who died shortly before its departure), attempted the capture
of Charles Town in August 1706; their attempts to land forces were successfully repulsed.
The Castillo de San Marcos was not subjected to further attacks in the war. The expedition destroyed all but two communities in the provinces of Guale and Timucua; Spanish Florida never really recovered from the decimation of its population in the following years. St. Augustine was again unsuccessfully besieged
in 1740 by forces from the Province of Georgia
, and the castillo underwent numerous renovations and uses in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is now a National Monument
managed by the National Park Service
, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
The Siege of St. Augustine was an action in Queen Anne's War
during November and December 1702. It was conducted by English
provincial forces from the Province of Carolina
and their native allies, under the command of Carolina's governor James Moore
, against the Spanish
colonial fortress of Castillo de San Marcos
at St. Augustine, in Spanish Florida
.
After destroying coastal Spanish communities north of St. Augustine, Moore's forces arrived at St. Augustine on 10 November, and immediately began siege operations. The Spanish governor, Joseph de Zúñiga y Zérda, had had enough advance warning of their arrival to withdraw civilians and food supplies into the fortress, and to send messengers to nearby Spanish and French communities for relief. The English guns did little damage to the fortress walls, prompting Governor Moore to send an appeal to Jamaica
for larger guns. The Spanish calls for relief were successful; a fleet sent from Havana, Cuba landed troops nearby on 29 December. Moore lifted the siege the next day, and was forced to burn many of his boats before retreating back to Charles Town
in disgrace.
) in the recently-established (1663) Province of Carolina
heightened tensions. Traders, raiders, and slavers from the new province penetrated into Spanish Florida
, leading to raiding and reprisal expeditions on both sides. In 1700, Carolina's governor, Joseph Blake
, threatened the Spanish that English claims to Pensacola
, established by the Spanish in 1698, would be enforced. Blake's death later that year interrupted these plans, and he was replaced in 1702 by James Moore
.
Even before news of the war declarations opening the War of the Spanish Succession
arrived in the colonies, Moore proposed an expedition against Spanish Florida's capital, St. Augustine
. News of the war's formal opening arrived in 1702, and Moore convinced the provincial assembly in September 1702 to fund an expedition against St. Augustine. Moore raised a force of colonists and Indians, the latter a combination of Yamasee
, Tallapoosa
, and Alabama warriors, principally led by a Yamasee chief named Arratommakaw. The exact size of these forces varies by source; accounts provide numbers ranging from 800 to 1,200 in strength; most sources say that about 500 colonists and 300–400 Indians took part. Some of this force, primarily the Indians, went overland to Port Royal
under the command of Deputy Governor Robert Daniell
, while Moore embarked the rest of the force on 14 boats. These forces joined at Port Royal, and Daniell's force was landed on what is now known as Amelia Island
(it was called Isla Santa Maria by the Spanish, and was part of Florida's Guale Province), while Moore sailed on to Matanzas Bay
.
The Castillo de San Marcos
at St. Augustine was built in the later years of the 17th century, in part because previous English raids demonstrated the inadequacy of wooden fortifications, and to address the threat posed by the founding of Charles Town. The fortress, a fairly conventional star fort
, was constructed from soft coquina
limestone. Governor Joseph de Zúñiga y Zérda assumed command of the post in 1700. Natives friendly to the Spanish heard of the recruitment, and word of the expedition reached Zúñiga on October 27. He ordered the town's inhabitants into the fort, commandeered all food stores in anticipation of an extended siege, and dispatched messengers to Pensacola, Havana, and the French at Mobile
with calls for assistance. Refugees swelled the civilian population to about 1,500, of which only a small number were deemed capable of military action. Zúñiga estimated the food provisions brought in to be sufficient for a siege of three months' duration.
Some of Zúñiga's men wanted to do battle with the English; the governor identified, in addition to 174 regulars and 14 artillerymen, 44 Europeans from the population that were fit for action, 123 Indians (most armed with poor-quality or useless weapons), and 57 Negroes (freemen, mulatto
es, and slaves) of which only 20 had any experience with weapons. Zúñiga did not consider either the Indians or the Negroes to be trustworthy, and estimated that only about 70 men of this entire force were actually prepared for a battle. He consequently prepared for a siege. His principal concern was the training of the artillerymen, of whom he wrote that they "had no service record, lacked discipline, and have only a slight knowledge of the [...] guns which are mounted."
s from St. Augustine, which Zúñiga saw as the "key to the province of Guale". The news also prompted Zúñiga to mobilize all able-bodied men over 14, and order all available food into the fort.
Horruytiner never made it beyond the St. Johns River
; he did capture three enemy soldiers (two Englishmen and a Chiluque Indian) on 6 November, and returned with them to St. Augustine two days later. Zúñiga learned from these captives that the English had brought three months' provisions, and that they had only brought smaller cannons (6 to 10 pounders).
In the meantime, Moore sailed south with the fleet. Three ships were sent ahead of the main fleet to blockade the entrance to Matanzas Bay
, south of St. Augustine. These were spotted from the fort on 7 November. The next day the main body of the fleet began arriving at the bar outside the St. Augustine inlet. This prompted Zúñiga to order his two frigates, La Gloria and Nuestra Señora de la Piedad y el Niño Jesús, to anchor under the fort's guns. The Nuestra, which was outside the bar, was unable to cross, and was eventually burned. Sixteen of her men joined the fort's garrison, providing valuable gunnery skills.
Daniell's force, after being landed, made good progress. The small Spanish force on Amelia Island was unable to check the English advance at San Juan del Puerto, and was dispersed; some of them took days to reach St. Augustine. Daniels continued to advance, and entered the town of St. Augustine without resistance on 10 November. Eight of the English ships crossed the bar and began landing men that day. As the English began to close the circle around the fortress, a Spanish foraging expedition successfully drove 163 head of cattle through the English lines and into the fort's (dry) moat.
worth of property.
Moore had brought four small cannon, but these made little impression on the coquina walls of the fortress, and the Spanish guns had longer range, keeping most of his forces at bay. Around November 22, Moore dispatched Deputy Governor Daniell to Jamaica
for larger cannons and ammunition. The English continued digging siege trenches, and began firing on the fortress from musket range on November 24. This cannonfire continued to have little effect, and Moore ordered more of the town torched the next day, including the Franciscan monastery.
Since his cannons were not effective against the fort's walls, Moore attempted a deception to gain entry to the fort. On December 14, a Yamasee couple managed to gain entry to the fort posing as refugees, apparently with the goal of detonating the fort's powder magazine. However, Zúñiga was suspicious of their behavior and, according to his account of the siege, they were tortured into admitting the plot.
By December 19 the English trenches had closed on the fort to the point that they threatened nearby fields from which the Spanish had been collecting forage. As a result, Zúñiga ordered a sally. There was a skirmish, and the Spanish lost one killed and several wounded.
(present-day Tallahassee, Florida
) began mobilizing when they received the news of the siege. Short on supplies, they appealed to the French at Mobile, who provided critical guns and gunpowder; the Pensacola garrison also spared ten men. The relief force left San Luis de Apalachee on December 24, but turned back when news was received that the siege had been lifted.
Also on December 24, sails from a pair of ships were spotted approaching St. Augustine. English records do not indicate what these ships were; Spanish records show that they were English in origin, but probably not from Jamaica, since the nature of the siege did not change with their arrival. The expedition to Jamaica, having failed in its mission, returned directly to Charles Town.
Spanish messengers from Pensacola eventually reported St. Augustine's plight to Havana. Governor Pedro Nicolás Benítez held a war council on December 2, in which a relief expedition was organized. A detachment of over 200 infantry under the command of Captain López de Solloso was embarked on a small fleet headed by General Estevan de Berroa in the Black Eagle. Berroa's fleet arrived outside St. Augustine's harbor on December 28. Apparently believing the siege to already be over, Berroa did not land any troops. The next day, Governor Zúñiga sneaked some men out of the fort and made contact with the fleet. Berroa then landed Solloso and about 70 raw recruits on Anastasia Island, about 3 miles (4.8 km) below the fort. This action prompted Moore to lift the siege and prepare a retreat. Berroa also dispatched smaller ships to block the southern inlet to Matanzas Bay, trapping some of Moore's ships in the bay.
Moore ordered the remaining buildings in the town, including the church, put to the torch. Some of his men departed north via the mainland, while the rest crossed Matanzas Bay to their boats. Moore burned the eight ships trapped in the bay, and retreated to the north, eventually returning to Charles Town in disgrace. Zúñiga sent men out after the English departure; they were able to recover three of the English boats that failed to burn completely.
Casualty reports made by both sides varied; historian Charles Arnade notes that all of the numbers reported are probably unreliable. Moore's report listed only two men killed, while Zúñiga in his report claimed that more than 60 of the English force were killed. Zúñiga claimed only three or four killed and 20 wounded for the Spanish contingent, none of which were caused by English cannonfire.
in Florida in 1704. By 1705 the English and their Indian allies had destroyed 32 Spanish mission communities, and by 1711 there were reported to be only about 400 Indians left in Florida.
Governor Zúñiga was rewarded for his successful defense with a special commendation from the king and promotion to the more prestigious and desirable governorship of Cartagena
. He made a series of highly critical complaints of General Berroa: the general failed to destroy the English fleet; he failed to share the plunder taken from the ships burned by the English; he refused to leave any of his fleet to assist in protection of the town; and he landed only the weakest and least effective troops in a bid to avoid combat. The general also sailed for Havana on January 8, barely one week after the siege was lifted.
In 1704 Governor Zúñiga convinced some Spanish privateers to raid the Carolina coast in revenge for Moore's activities. Spanish and French forces, motivated and organized by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
(who died shortly before its departure), attempted the capture
of Charles Town in August 1706; their attempts to land forces were successfully repulsed.
The Castillo de San Marcos was not subjected to further attacks in the war. The expedition destroyed all but two communities in the provinces of Guale and Timucua; Spanish Florida never really recovered from the decimation of its population in the following years. St. Augustine was again unsuccessfully besieged
in 1740 by forces from the Province of Georgia
, and the castillo underwent numerous renovations and uses in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is now a National Monument
managed by the National Park Service
, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War , as the North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession was known in the British colonies, was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England, later Great Britain, in North America for control of the continent. The War of the...
during November and December 1702. It was conducted by English
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
provincial forces from the Province of Carolina
Province of Carolina
The Province of Carolina, originally chartered in 1629, was an English and later British colony of North America. Because the original Heath charter was unrealized and was ruled invalid, a new charter was issued to a group of eight English noblemen, the Lords Proprietors, in 1663...
and their native allies, under the command of Carolina's governor James Moore
James Moore (South Carolina politician)
James Moore was the British governor of colonial South Carolina between 1700 and 1703. He is remembered for leading several invasions of Spanish Florida, including attacks in 1704 and 1706 which wiped out most of the Spanish missions in Florida....
, against the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
colonial fortress of Castillo de San Marcos
Castillo de San Marcos
The Castillo de San Marcos site is the oldest masonry fort in the United States. It is located in the city of St. Augustine, Florida. Construction was begun in 1672 by the Spanish when Florida was a Spanish territory. During the twenty year period of British possession from 1763 until 1784, the...
at St. Augustine, in Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida refers to the Spanish territory of Florida, which formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the Spanish Empire. Originally extending over what is now the southeastern United States, but with no defined boundaries, la Florida was a component of...
.
After destroying coastal Spanish communities north of St. Augustine, Moore's forces arrived at St. Augustine on 10 November, and immediately began siege operations. The Spanish governor, Joseph de Zúñiga y Zérda, had had enough advance warning of their arrival to withdraw civilians and food supplies into the fortress, and to send messengers to nearby Spanish and French communities for relief. The English guns did little damage to the fortress walls, prompting Governor Moore to send an appeal to Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
for larger guns. The Spanish calls for relief were successful; a fleet sent from Havana, Cuba landed troops nearby on 29 December. Moore lifted the siege the next day, and was forced to burn many of his boats before retreating back to Charles Town
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
in disgrace.
Background
English and Spanish colonization efforts in southeastern North America began coming into conflict as early as the middle of the 17th century. The founding in 1670 by the English of Charles Town (present-day Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
) in the recently-established (1663) Province of Carolina
Province of Carolina
The Province of Carolina, originally chartered in 1629, was an English and later British colony of North America. Because the original Heath charter was unrealized and was ruled invalid, a new charter was issued to a group of eight English noblemen, the Lords Proprietors, in 1663...
heightened tensions. Traders, raiders, and slavers from the new province penetrated into Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida refers to the Spanish territory of Florida, which formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the Spanish Empire. Originally extending over what is now the southeastern United States, but with no defined boundaries, la Florida was a component of...
, leading to raiding and reprisal expeditions on both sides. In 1700, Carolina's governor, Joseph Blake
Joseph Blake (governor)
Joseph Blake , the nephew of British Admiral Robert Blake, was governor of colonial South Carolina in 1694 , and from 1696 to his death 1700.-References:*-See also:*List of colonial governors of South Carolina...
, threatened the Spanish that English claims to Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
, established by the Spanish in 1698, would be enforced. Blake's death later that year interrupted these plans, and he was replaced in 1702 by James Moore
James Moore (South Carolina politician)
James Moore was the British governor of colonial South Carolina between 1700 and 1703. He is remembered for leading several invasions of Spanish Florida, including attacks in 1704 and 1706 which wiped out most of the Spanish missions in Florida....
.
Even before news of the war declarations opening the War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
arrived in the colonies, Moore proposed an expedition against Spanish Florida's capital, St. Augustine
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
. News of the war's formal opening arrived in 1702, and Moore convinced the provincial assembly in September 1702 to fund an expedition against St. Augustine. Moore raised a force of colonists and Indians, the latter a combination of Yamasee
Yamasee
The Yamasee were a multiethnic confederation of Native Americans that lived in the coastal region of present-day northern coastal Georgia near the Savannah River and later in northeastern Florida.-History:...
, Tallapoosa
Tallapoosa
-Places:United States*Tallapoosa, Georgia*Tallapoosa, Missouri*Tallapoosa County, Alabama*Tallapoosa River, Alabama-Ships:*USS Tallapoosa *USCGC Tallapoosa...
, and Alabama warriors, principally led by a Yamasee chief named Arratommakaw. The exact size of these forces varies by source; accounts provide numbers ranging from 800 to 1,200 in strength; most sources say that about 500 colonists and 300–400 Indians took part. Some of this force, primarily the Indians, went overland to Port Royal
Port Royal, South Carolina
Port Royal is a town in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Largely because of annexation of surrounding areas , the population of Port Royal rose from 3,950 in 2000 to 10,678 in 2010, a 170% increase. As defined by the U.S...
under the command of Deputy Governor Robert Daniell
Robert Daniell
Robert Daniell of Cardigan, Wales arrived in Charleston, South Carolina in 1669 as captain of the ship The Daniell. In 1682, he was commissioned as Major of the Goose Creek Men. By 1691, he was commissioned as a colonel for King William. In 1702 Daniell led forces in James Moore's expedition to St...
, while Moore embarked the rest of the force on 14 boats. These forces joined at Port Royal, and Daniell's force was landed on what is now known as Amelia Island
Amelia Island
Amelia Island is one of the southernmost of the Sea Islands, a chain of barrier islands that stretches along the east coast of the United States from South Carolina to Florida. It is long and approximately 4 miles wide at its widest point. Amelia Island is situated off the coast in Nassau County,...
(it was called Isla Santa Maria by the Spanish, and was part of Florida's Guale Province), while Moore sailed on to Matanzas Bay
Matanzas Bay
Matanzas Bay is a saltwater bay in St. Johns County, Florida, the entrance to the bay from the South Atlantic is via St. Augustine inlet. Bodies of water that connect to the bay in addition to the South Atlantic are clockwise from the inlet;...
.
The Castillo de San Marcos
Castillo de San Marcos
The Castillo de San Marcos site is the oldest masonry fort in the United States. It is located in the city of St. Augustine, Florida. Construction was begun in 1672 by the Spanish when Florida was a Spanish territory. During the twenty year period of British possession from 1763 until 1784, the...
at St. Augustine was built in the later years of the 17th century, in part because previous English raids demonstrated the inadequacy of wooden fortifications, and to address the threat posed by the founding of Charles Town. The fortress, a fairly conventional star fort
Star fort
A star fort, or trace italienne, is a fortification in the style that evolved during the age of gunpowder, when cannon came to dominate the battlefield, and was first seen in the mid-15th century in Italy....
, was constructed from soft coquina
Coquina
Coquina is a sedimentary rock that is composed either wholly or almost entirely of the transported, abraded, and mechanically sorted fragments of the shells of either molluscs, trilobites, brachiopods, or other invertebrates. For a sediment to be considered to be a coquina, the average size of the...
limestone. Governor Joseph de Zúñiga y Zérda assumed command of the post in 1700. Natives friendly to the Spanish heard of the recruitment, and word of the expedition reached Zúñiga on October 27. He ordered the town's inhabitants into the fort, commandeered all food stores in anticipation of an extended siege, and dispatched messengers to Pensacola, Havana, and the French at Mobile
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
with calls for assistance. Refugees swelled the civilian population to about 1,500, of which only a small number were deemed capable of military action. Zúñiga estimated the food provisions brought in to be sufficient for a siege of three months' duration.
Some of Zúñiga's men wanted to do battle with the English; the governor identified, in addition to 174 regulars and 14 artillerymen, 44 Europeans from the population that were fit for action, 123 Indians (most armed with poor-quality or useless weapons), and 57 Negroes (freemen, mulatto
Mulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
es, and slaves) of which only 20 had any experience with weapons. Zúñiga did not consider either the Indians or the Negroes to be trustworthy, and estimated that only about 70 men of this entire force were actually prepared for a battle. He consequently prepared for a siege. His principal concern was the training of the artillerymen, of whom he wrote that they "had no service record, lacked discipline, and have only a slight knowledge of the [...] guns which are mounted."
English approach
Daniell's forces landed on Amelia Island, and began attacks on the northern end of the island at midnight on 3 November, killing two Spanish soldiers and overrunning the village of San Pedro de Tupiqui. They advanced south, driving southward a flood of refugees and the few Spanish troops on the island. The main settlements at San Felipe and San Marcos were overrun the next day, as the Spanish were in the process of evacuating them. Zúñiga learned of the advance on 5 November, and sent 20 men under Captain Joseph de Horruytiner north, with instructions to make a stand at San Juan del Puerto, seven leagueLeague (unit)
A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...
s from St. Augustine, which Zúñiga saw as the "key to the province of Guale". The news also prompted Zúñiga to mobilize all able-bodied men over 14, and order all available food into the fort.
Horruytiner never made it beyond the St. Johns River
St. Johns River
The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant for commercial and recreational use. At long, it winds through or borders twelve counties, three of which are the state's largest. The drop in elevation from the headwaters to the mouth is less than ;...
; he did capture three enemy soldiers (two Englishmen and a Chiluque Indian) on 6 November, and returned with them to St. Augustine two days later. Zúñiga learned from these captives that the English had brought three months' provisions, and that they had only brought smaller cannons (6 to 10 pounders).
In the meantime, Moore sailed south with the fleet. Three ships were sent ahead of the main fleet to blockade the entrance to Matanzas Bay
Matanzas Bay
Matanzas Bay is a saltwater bay in St. Johns County, Florida, the entrance to the bay from the South Atlantic is via St. Augustine inlet. Bodies of water that connect to the bay in addition to the South Atlantic are clockwise from the inlet;...
, south of St. Augustine. These were spotted from the fort on 7 November. The next day the main body of the fleet began arriving at the bar outside the St. Augustine inlet. This prompted Zúñiga to order his two frigates, La Gloria and Nuestra Señora de la Piedad y el Niño Jesús, to anchor under the fort's guns. The Nuestra, which was outside the bar, was unable to cross, and was eventually burned. Sixteen of her men joined the fort's garrison, providing valuable gunnery skills.
Daniell's force, after being landed, made good progress. The small Spanish force on Amelia Island was unable to check the English advance at San Juan del Puerto, and was dispersed; some of them took days to reach St. Augustine. Daniels continued to advance, and entered the town of St. Augustine without resistance on 10 November. Eight of the English ships crossed the bar and began landing men that day. As the English began to close the circle around the fortress, a Spanish foraging expedition successfully drove 163 head of cattle through the English lines and into the fort's (dry) moat.
Siege
The Spanish guns opened fire on the English as they began siege preparations on November 10. One of the older Spanish cannons exploded that day, killing three and wounding five. A few days later, Zúñiga ordered a sally to destroy portions of the town within firing range of the fort; according to later accounting, this action destroyed more than 15,000 pesosSpanish dollar
The Spanish dollar is a silver coin, of approximately 38 mm diameter, worth eight reales, that was minted in the Spanish Empire after a Spanish currency reform in 1497. Its purpose was to correspond to the German thaler...
worth of property.
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
for larger cannons and ammunition. The English continued digging siege trenches, and began firing on the fortress from musket range on November 24. This cannonfire continued to have little effect, and Moore ordered more of the town torched the next day, including the Franciscan monastery.
Since his cannons were not effective against the fort's walls, Moore attempted a deception to gain entry to the fort. On December 14, a Yamasee couple managed to gain entry to the fort posing as refugees, apparently with the goal of detonating the fort's powder magazine. However, Zúñiga was suspicious of their behavior and, according to his account of the siege, they were tortured into admitting the plot.
By December 19 the English trenches had closed on the fort to the point that they threatened nearby fields from which the Spanish had been collecting forage. As a result, Zúñiga ordered a sally. There was a skirmish, and the Spanish lost one killed and several wounded.
Relief attempts
Spanish leaders at San Luis de ApalacheeMission San Luis de Apalachee
Mission San Luis de Apalachee was a Spanish Franciscan mission built in 1633 in the Florida Panhandle, two miles west of the present-day Florida Capitol Building in Tallahassee, Florida. It was located in the descendent settlement of Anhaica capital of Apalachee Province...
(present-day Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
) began mobilizing when they received the news of the siege. Short on supplies, they appealed to the French at Mobile, who provided critical guns and gunpowder; the Pensacola garrison also spared ten men. The relief force left San Luis de Apalachee on December 24, but turned back when news was received that the siege had been lifted.
Also on December 24, sails from a pair of ships were spotted approaching St. Augustine. English records do not indicate what these ships were; Spanish records show that they were English in origin, but probably not from Jamaica, since the nature of the siege did not change with their arrival. The expedition to Jamaica, having failed in its mission, returned directly to Charles Town.
Spanish messengers from Pensacola eventually reported St. Augustine's plight to Havana. Governor Pedro Nicolás Benítez held a war council on December 2, in which a relief expedition was organized. A detachment of over 200 infantry under the command of Captain López de Solloso was embarked on a small fleet headed by General Estevan de Berroa in the Black Eagle. Berroa's fleet arrived outside St. Augustine's harbor on December 28. Apparently believing the siege to already be over, Berroa did not land any troops. The next day, Governor Zúñiga sneaked some men out of the fort and made contact with the fleet. Berroa then landed Solloso and about 70 raw recruits on Anastasia Island, about 3 miles (4.8 km) below the fort. This action prompted Moore to lift the siege and prepare a retreat. Berroa also dispatched smaller ships to block the southern inlet to Matanzas Bay, trapping some of Moore's ships in the bay.
Moore ordered the remaining buildings in the town, including the church, put to the torch. Some of his men departed north via the mainland, while the rest crossed Matanzas Bay to their boats. Moore burned the eight ships trapped in the bay, and retreated to the north, eventually returning to Charles Town in disgrace. Zúñiga sent men out after the English departure; they were able to recover three of the English boats that failed to burn completely.
Casualty reports made by both sides varied; historian Charles Arnade notes that all of the numbers reported are probably unreliable. Moore's report listed only two men killed, while Zúñiga in his report claimed that more than 60 of the English force were killed. Zúñiga claimed only three or four killed and 20 wounded for the Spanish contingent, none of which were caused by English cannonfire.
Aftermath
Moore was forced to resign his post as governor because of the failed raid, and its cost to the province (which included compensating owners for the loss of their ships) caused riots in Charles Town. Some of Moore's contemporary critics accused him of executing the raid for the purpose of seizing slaves or booty; the Spanish characterized it in religious terms, citing the "English provincial hatred against the Church of God." Moore continued to be active in the war, leading a small number of Carolinians and a large band of Indians on the destruction of Spanish missionsApalachee Massacre
The Apalachee massacre was a series of brutal raids by English colonists from the Province of Carolina and their Indian allies against a largely pacific population of Apalachee Indians in northern Spanish Florida that took place during Queen Anne's War in 1704...
in Florida in 1704. By 1705 the English and their Indian allies had destroyed 32 Spanish mission communities, and by 1711 there were reported to be only about 400 Indians left in Florida.
Governor Zúñiga was rewarded for his successful defense with a special commendation from the king and promotion to the more prestigious and desirable governorship of Cartagena
Cartagena, Colombia
Cartagena de Indias , is a large Caribbean beach resort city on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region and capital of Bolívar Department...
. He made a series of highly critical complaints of General Berroa: the general failed to destroy the English fleet; he failed to share the plunder taken from the ships burned by the English; he refused to leave any of his fleet to assist in protection of the town; and he landed only the weakest and least effective troops in a bid to avoid combat. The general also sailed for Havana on January 8, barely one week after the siege was lifted.
In 1704 Governor Zúñiga convinced some Spanish privateers to raid the Carolina coast in revenge for Moore's activities. Spanish and French forces, motivated and organized by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] (16 July 1661 – 9 July 1702 (probable)was a soldier, ship captain, explorer, colonial administrator, knight of...
(who died shortly before its departure), attempted the capture
Charles Town expedition
The Charles Town expedition was a combined French and Spanish attempt under Captain Jacques Fefebvre to capture the capital of the English Province of Carolina, Charles Town during Queen Anne's War .Organized and funded primarily by the French and launched from Havana, Cuba, the...
of Charles Town in August 1706; their attempts to land forces were successfully repulsed.
The Castillo de San Marcos was not subjected to further attacks in the war. The expedition destroyed all but two communities in the provinces of Guale and Timucua; Spanish Florida never really recovered from the decimation of its population in the following years. St. Augustine was again unsuccessfully besieged
Siege of St. Augustine
The Siege of St. Augustine took place in July 1740 during the War of Jenkins' Ear, in which Britain and her colonies attacked Spanish colonies in the Americas.-Background:...
in 1740 by forces from the Province of Georgia
Province of Georgia
The Province of Georgia was one of the Southern colonies in British America. It was the last of the thirteen original colonies established by Great Britain in what later became the United States...
, and the castillo underwent numerous renovations and uses in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is now a National Monument
U.S. National Monument
A National Monument in the United States is a protected area that is similar to a National Park except that the President of the United States can quickly declare an area of the United States to be a National Monument without the approval of Congress. National monuments receive less funding and...
managed by the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Further reading
Translation of Governor Zúñiga's official account of the siege.The Siege of St. Augustine was an action in Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War , as the North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession was known in the British colonies, was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England, later Great Britain, in North America for control of the continent. The War of the...
during November and December 1702. It was conducted by English
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
provincial forces from the Province of Carolina
Province of Carolina
The Province of Carolina, originally chartered in 1629, was an English and later British colony of North America. Because the original Heath charter was unrealized and was ruled invalid, a new charter was issued to a group of eight English noblemen, the Lords Proprietors, in 1663...
and their native allies, under the command of Carolina's governor James Moore
James Moore (South Carolina politician)
James Moore was the British governor of colonial South Carolina between 1700 and 1703. He is remembered for leading several invasions of Spanish Florida, including attacks in 1704 and 1706 which wiped out most of the Spanish missions in Florida....
, against the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
colonial fortress of Castillo de San Marcos
Castillo de San Marcos
The Castillo de San Marcos site is the oldest masonry fort in the United States. It is located in the city of St. Augustine, Florida. Construction was begun in 1672 by the Spanish when Florida was a Spanish territory. During the twenty year period of British possession from 1763 until 1784, the...
at St. Augustine, in Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida refers to the Spanish territory of Florida, which formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the Spanish Empire. Originally extending over what is now the southeastern United States, but with no defined boundaries, la Florida was a component of...
.
After destroying coastal Spanish communities north of St. Augustine, Moore's forces arrived at St. Augustine on 10 November, and immediately began siege operations. The Spanish governor, Joseph de Zúñiga y Zérda, had had enough advance warning of their arrival to withdraw civilians and food supplies into the fortress, and to send messengers to nearby Spanish and French communities for relief. The English guns did little damage to the fortress walls, prompting Governor Moore to send an appeal to Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
for larger guns. The Spanish calls for relief were successful; a fleet sent from Havana, Cuba landed troops nearby on 29 December. Moore lifted the siege the next day, and was forced to burn many of his boats before retreating back to Charles Town
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
in disgrace.
Background
English and Spanish colonization efforts in southeastern North America began coming into conflict as early as the middle of the 17th century. The founding in 1670 by the English of Charles Town (present-day Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
) in the recently-established (1663) Province of Carolina
Province of Carolina
The Province of Carolina, originally chartered in 1629, was an English and later British colony of North America. Because the original Heath charter was unrealized and was ruled invalid, a new charter was issued to a group of eight English noblemen, the Lords Proprietors, in 1663...
heightened tensions. Traders, raiders, and slavers from the new province penetrated into Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida refers to the Spanish territory of Florida, which formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the Spanish Empire. Originally extending over what is now the southeastern United States, but with no defined boundaries, la Florida was a component of...
, leading to raiding and reprisal expeditions on both sides. In 1700, Carolina's governor, Joseph Blake
Joseph Blake (governor)
Joseph Blake , the nephew of British Admiral Robert Blake, was governor of colonial South Carolina in 1694 , and from 1696 to his death 1700.-References:*-See also:*List of colonial governors of South Carolina...
, threatened the Spanish that English claims to Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
, established by the Spanish in 1698, would be enforced. Blake's death later that year interrupted these plans, and he was replaced in 1702 by James Moore
James Moore (South Carolina politician)
James Moore was the British governor of colonial South Carolina between 1700 and 1703. He is remembered for leading several invasions of Spanish Florida, including attacks in 1704 and 1706 which wiped out most of the Spanish missions in Florida....
.
Even before news of the war declarations opening the War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
arrived in the colonies, Moore proposed an expedition against Spanish Florida's capital, St. Augustine
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
. News of the war's formal opening arrived in 1702, and Moore convinced the provincial assembly in September 1702 to fund an expedition against St. Augustine. Moore raised a force of colonists and Indians, the latter a combination of Yamasee
Yamasee
The Yamasee were a multiethnic confederation of Native Americans that lived in the coastal region of present-day northern coastal Georgia near the Savannah River and later in northeastern Florida.-History:...
, Tallapoosa
Tallapoosa
-Places:United States*Tallapoosa, Georgia*Tallapoosa, Missouri*Tallapoosa County, Alabama*Tallapoosa River, Alabama-Ships:*USS Tallapoosa *USCGC Tallapoosa...
, and Alabama warriors, principally led by a Yamasee chief named Arratommakaw. The exact size of these forces varies by source; accounts provide numbers ranging from 800 to 1,200 in strength; most sources say that about 500 colonists and 300–400 Indians took part. Some of this force, primarily the Indians, went overland to Port Royal
Port Royal, South Carolina
Port Royal is a town in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Largely because of annexation of surrounding areas , the population of Port Royal rose from 3,950 in 2000 to 10,678 in 2010, a 170% increase. As defined by the U.S...
under the command of Deputy Governor Robert Daniell
Robert Daniell
Robert Daniell of Cardigan, Wales arrived in Charleston, South Carolina in 1669 as captain of the ship The Daniell. In 1682, he was commissioned as Major of the Goose Creek Men. By 1691, he was commissioned as a colonel for King William. In 1702 Daniell led forces in James Moore's expedition to St...
, while Moore embarked the rest of the force on 14 boats. These forces joined at Port Royal, and Daniell's force was landed on what is now known as Amelia Island
Amelia Island
Amelia Island is one of the southernmost of the Sea Islands, a chain of barrier islands that stretches along the east coast of the United States from South Carolina to Florida. It is long and approximately 4 miles wide at its widest point. Amelia Island is situated off the coast in Nassau County,...
(it was called Isla Santa Maria by the Spanish, and was part of Florida's Guale Province), while Moore sailed on to Matanzas Bay
Matanzas Bay
Matanzas Bay is a saltwater bay in St. Johns County, Florida, the entrance to the bay from the South Atlantic is via St. Augustine inlet. Bodies of water that connect to the bay in addition to the South Atlantic are clockwise from the inlet;...
.
The Castillo de San Marcos
Castillo de San Marcos
The Castillo de San Marcos site is the oldest masonry fort in the United States. It is located in the city of St. Augustine, Florida. Construction was begun in 1672 by the Spanish when Florida was a Spanish territory. During the twenty year period of British possession from 1763 until 1784, the...
at St. Augustine was built in the later years of the 17th century, in part because previous English raids demonstrated the inadequacy of wooden fortifications, and to address the threat posed by the founding of Charles Town. The fortress, a fairly conventional star fort
Star fort
A star fort, or trace italienne, is a fortification in the style that evolved during the age of gunpowder, when cannon came to dominate the battlefield, and was first seen in the mid-15th century in Italy....
, was constructed from soft coquina
Coquina
Coquina is a sedimentary rock that is composed either wholly or almost entirely of the transported, abraded, and mechanically sorted fragments of the shells of either molluscs, trilobites, brachiopods, or other invertebrates. For a sediment to be considered to be a coquina, the average size of the...
limestone. Governor Joseph de Zúñiga y Zérda assumed command of the post in 1700. Natives friendly to the Spanish heard of the recruitment, and word of the expedition reached Zúñiga on October 27. He ordered the town's inhabitants into the fort, commandeered all food stores in anticipation of an extended siege, and dispatched messengers to Pensacola, Havana, and the French at Mobile
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
with calls for assistance. Refugees swelled the civilian population to about 1,500, of which only a small number were deemed capable of military action. Zúñiga estimated the food provisions brought in to be sufficient for a siege of three months' duration.
Some of Zúñiga's men wanted to do battle with the English; the governor identified, in addition to 174 regulars and 14 artillerymen, 44 Europeans from the population that were fit for action, 123 Indians (most armed with poor-quality or useless weapons), and 57 Negroes (freemen, mulatto
Mulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
es, and slaves) of which only 20 had any experience with weapons. Zúñiga did not consider either the Indians or the Negroes to be trustworthy, and estimated that only about 70 men of this entire force were actually prepared for a battle. He consequently prepared for a siege. His principal concern was the training of the artillerymen, of whom he wrote that they "had no service record, lacked discipline, and have only a slight knowledge of the [...] guns which are mounted."
English approach
Daniell's forces landed on Amelia Island, and began attacks on the northern end of the island at midnight on 3 November, killing two Spanish soldiers and overrunning the village of San Pedro de Tupiqui. They advanced south, driving southward a flood of refugees and the few Spanish troops on the island. The main settlements at San Felipe and San Marcos were overrun the next day, as the Spanish were in the process of evacuating them. Zúñiga learned of the advance on 5 November, and sent 20 men under Captain Joseph de Horruytiner north, with instructions to make a stand at San Juan del Puerto, seven leagueLeague (unit)
A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...
s from St. Augustine, which Zúñiga saw as the "key to the province of Guale". The news also prompted Zúñiga to mobilize all able-bodied men over 14, and order all available food into the fort.
Horruytiner never made it beyond the St. Johns River
St. Johns River
The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant for commercial and recreational use. At long, it winds through or borders twelve counties, three of which are the state's largest. The drop in elevation from the headwaters to the mouth is less than ;...
; he did capture three enemy soldiers (two Englishmen and a Chiluque Indian) on 6 November, and returned with them to St. Augustine two days later. Zúñiga learned from these captives that the English had brought three months' provisions, and that they had only brought smaller cannons (6 to 10 pounders).
In the meantime, Moore sailed south with the fleet. Three ships were sent ahead of the main fleet to blockade the entrance to Matanzas Bay
Matanzas Bay
Matanzas Bay is a saltwater bay in St. Johns County, Florida, the entrance to the bay from the South Atlantic is via St. Augustine inlet. Bodies of water that connect to the bay in addition to the South Atlantic are clockwise from the inlet;...
, south of St. Augustine. These were spotted from the fort on 7 November. The next day the main body of the fleet began arriving at the bar outside the St. Augustine inlet. This prompted Zúñiga to order his two frigates, La Gloria and Nuestra Señora de la Piedad y el Niño Jesús, to anchor under the fort's guns. The Nuestra, which was outside the bar, was unable to cross, and was eventually burned. Sixteen of her men joined the fort's garrison, providing valuable gunnery skills.
Daniell's force, after being landed, made good progress. The small Spanish force on Amelia Island was unable to check the English advance at San Juan del Puerto, and was dispersed; some of them took days to reach St. Augustine. Daniels continued to advance, and entered the town of St. Augustine without resistance on 10 November. Eight of the English ships crossed the bar and began landing men that day. As the English began to close the circle around the fortress, a Spanish foraging expedition successfully drove 163 head of cattle through the English lines and into the fort's (dry) moat.
Siege
The Spanish guns opened fire on the English as they began siege preparations on November 10. One of the older Spanish cannons exploded that day, killing three and wounding five. A few days later, Zúñiga ordered a sally to destroy portions of the town within firing range of the fort; according to later accounting, this action destroyed more than 15,000 pesosSpanish dollar
The Spanish dollar is a silver coin, of approximately 38 mm diameter, worth eight reales, that was minted in the Spanish Empire after a Spanish currency reform in 1497. Its purpose was to correspond to the German thaler...
worth of property.
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
for larger cannons and ammunition. The English continued digging siege trenches, and began firing on the fortress from musket range on November 24. This cannonfire continued to have little effect, and Moore ordered more of the town torched the next day, including the Franciscan monastery.
Since his cannons were not effective against the fort's walls, Moore attempted a deception to gain entry to the fort. On December 14, a Yamasee couple managed to gain entry to the fort posing as refugees, apparently with the goal of detonating the fort's powder magazine. However, Zúñiga was suspicious of their behavior and, according to his account of the siege, they were tortured into admitting the plot.
By December 19 the English trenches had closed on the fort to the point that they threatened nearby fields from which the Spanish had been collecting forage. As a result, Zúñiga ordered a sally. There was a skirmish, and the Spanish lost one killed and several wounded.
Relief attempts
Spanish leaders at San Luis de ApalacheeMission San Luis de Apalachee
Mission San Luis de Apalachee was a Spanish Franciscan mission built in 1633 in the Florida Panhandle, two miles west of the present-day Florida Capitol Building in Tallahassee, Florida. It was located in the descendent settlement of Anhaica capital of Apalachee Province...
(present-day Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
) began mobilizing when they received the news of the siege. Short on supplies, they appealed to the French at Mobile, who provided critical guns and gunpowder; the Pensacola garrison also spared ten men. The relief force left San Luis de Apalachee on December 24, but turned back when news was received that the siege had been lifted.
Also on December 24, sails from a pair of ships were spotted approaching St. Augustine. English records do not indicate what these ships were; Spanish records show that they were English in origin, but probably not from Jamaica, since the nature of the siege did not change with their arrival. The expedition to Jamaica, having failed in its mission, returned directly to Charles Town.
Spanish messengers from Pensacola eventually reported St. Augustine's plight to Havana. Governor Pedro Nicolás Benítez held a war council on December 2, in which a relief expedition was organized. A detachment of over 200 infantry under the command of Captain López de Solloso was embarked on a small fleet headed by General Estevan de Berroa in the Black Eagle. Berroa's fleet arrived outside St. Augustine's harbor on December 28. Apparently believing the siege to already be over, Berroa did not land any troops. The next day, Governor Zúñiga sneaked some men out of the fort and made contact with the fleet. Berroa then landed Solloso and about 70 raw recruits on Anastasia Island, about 3 miles (4.8 km) below the fort. This action prompted Moore to lift the siege and prepare a retreat. Berroa also dispatched smaller ships to block the southern inlet to Matanzas Bay, trapping some of Moore's ships in the bay.
Moore ordered the remaining buildings in the town, including the church, put to the torch. Some of his men departed north via the mainland, while the rest crossed Matanzas Bay to their boats. Moore burned the eight ships trapped in the bay, and retreated to the north, eventually returning to Charles Town in disgrace. Zúñiga sent men out after the English departure; they were able to recover three of the English boats that failed to burn completely.
Casualty reports made by both sides varied; historian Charles Arnade notes that all of the numbers reported are probably unreliable. Moore's report listed only two men killed, while Zúñiga in his report claimed that more than 60 of the English force were killed. Zúñiga claimed only three or four killed and 20 wounded for the Spanish contingent, none of which were caused by English cannonfire.
Aftermath
Moore was forced to resign his post as governor because of the failed raid, and its cost to the province (which included compensating owners for the loss of their ships) caused riots in Charles Town. Some of Moore's contemporary critics accused him of executing the raid for the purpose of seizing slaves or booty; the Spanish characterized it in religious terms, citing the "English provincial hatred against the Church of God." Moore continued to be active in the war, leading a small number of Carolinians and a large band of Indians on the destruction of Spanish missionsApalachee Massacre
The Apalachee massacre was a series of brutal raids by English colonists from the Province of Carolina and their Indian allies against a largely pacific population of Apalachee Indians in northern Spanish Florida that took place during Queen Anne's War in 1704...
in Florida in 1704. By 1705 the English and their Indian allies had destroyed 32 Spanish mission communities, and by 1711 there were reported to be only about 400 Indians left in Florida.
Governor Zúñiga was rewarded for his successful defense with a special commendation from the king and promotion to the more prestigious and desirable governorship of Cartagena
Cartagena, Colombia
Cartagena de Indias , is a large Caribbean beach resort city on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region and capital of Bolívar Department...
. He made a series of highly critical complaints of General Berroa: the general failed to destroy the English fleet; he failed to share the plunder taken from the ships burned by the English; he refused to leave any of his fleet to assist in protection of the town; and he landed only the weakest and least effective troops in a bid to avoid combat. The general also sailed for Havana on January 8, barely one week after the siege was lifted.
In 1704 Governor Zúñiga convinced some Spanish privateers to raid the Carolina coast in revenge for Moore's activities. Spanish and French forces, motivated and organized by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] (16 July 1661 – 9 July 1702 (probable)was a soldier, ship captain, explorer, colonial administrator, knight of...
(who died shortly before its departure), attempted the capture
Charles Town expedition
The Charles Town expedition was a combined French and Spanish attempt under Captain Jacques Fefebvre to capture the capital of the English Province of Carolina, Charles Town during Queen Anne's War .Organized and funded primarily by the French and launched from Havana, Cuba, the...
of Charles Town in August 1706; their attempts to land forces were successfully repulsed.
The Castillo de San Marcos was not subjected to further attacks in the war. The expedition destroyed all but two communities in the provinces of Guale and Timucua; Spanish Florida never really recovered from the decimation of its population in the following years. St. Augustine was again unsuccessfully besieged
Siege of St. Augustine
The Siege of St. Augustine took place in July 1740 during the War of Jenkins' Ear, in which Britain and her colonies attacked Spanish colonies in the Americas.-Background:...
in 1740 by forces from the Province of Georgia
Province of Georgia
The Province of Georgia was one of the Southern colonies in British America. It was the last of the thirteen original colonies established by Great Britain in what later became the United States...
, and the castillo underwent numerous renovations and uses in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is now a National Monument
U.S. National Monument
A National Monument in the United States is a protected area that is similar to a National Park except that the President of the United States can quickly declare an area of the United States to be a National Monument without the approval of Congress. National monuments receive less funding and...
managed by the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Further reading
Translation of Governor Zúñiga's official account of the siege.The Siege of St. Augustine was an action in Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War , as the North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession was known in the British colonies, was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England, later Great Britain, in North America for control of the continent. The War of the...
during November and December 1702. It was conducted by English
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
provincial forces from the Province of Carolina
Province of Carolina
The Province of Carolina, originally chartered in 1629, was an English and later British colony of North America. Because the original Heath charter was unrealized and was ruled invalid, a new charter was issued to a group of eight English noblemen, the Lords Proprietors, in 1663...
and their native allies, under the command of Carolina's governor James Moore
James Moore (South Carolina politician)
James Moore was the British governor of colonial South Carolina between 1700 and 1703. He is remembered for leading several invasions of Spanish Florida, including attacks in 1704 and 1706 which wiped out most of the Spanish missions in Florida....
, against the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
colonial fortress of Castillo de San Marcos
Castillo de San Marcos
The Castillo de San Marcos site is the oldest masonry fort in the United States. It is located in the city of St. Augustine, Florida. Construction was begun in 1672 by the Spanish when Florida was a Spanish territory. During the twenty year period of British possession from 1763 until 1784, the...
at St. Augustine, in Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida refers to the Spanish territory of Florida, which formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the Spanish Empire. Originally extending over what is now the southeastern United States, but with no defined boundaries, la Florida was a component of...
.
After destroying coastal Spanish communities north of St. Augustine, Moore's forces arrived at St. Augustine on 10 November, and immediately began siege operations. The Spanish governor, Joseph de Zúñiga y Zérda, had had enough advance warning of their arrival to withdraw civilians and food supplies into the fortress, and to send messengers to nearby Spanish and French communities for relief. The English guns did little damage to the fortress walls, prompting Governor Moore to send an appeal to Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
for larger guns. The Spanish calls for relief were successful; a fleet sent from Havana, Cuba landed troops nearby on 29 December. Moore lifted the siege the next day, and was forced to burn many of his boats before retreating back to Charles Town
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
in disgrace.
Background
English and Spanish colonization efforts in southeastern North America began coming into conflict as early as the middle of the 17th century. The founding in 1670 by the English of Charles Town (present-day Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
) in the recently-established (1663) Province of Carolina
Province of Carolina
The Province of Carolina, originally chartered in 1629, was an English and later British colony of North America. Because the original Heath charter was unrealized and was ruled invalid, a new charter was issued to a group of eight English noblemen, the Lords Proprietors, in 1663...
heightened tensions. Traders, raiders, and slavers from the new province penetrated into Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida refers to the Spanish territory of Florida, which formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the Spanish Empire. Originally extending over what is now the southeastern United States, but with no defined boundaries, la Florida was a component of...
, leading to raiding and reprisal expeditions on both sides. In 1700, Carolina's governor, Joseph Blake
Joseph Blake (governor)
Joseph Blake , the nephew of British Admiral Robert Blake, was governor of colonial South Carolina in 1694 , and from 1696 to his death 1700.-References:*-See also:*List of colonial governors of South Carolina...
, threatened the Spanish that English claims to Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
, established by the Spanish in 1698, would be enforced. Blake's death later that year interrupted these plans, and he was replaced in 1702 by James Moore
James Moore (South Carolina politician)
James Moore was the British governor of colonial South Carolina between 1700 and 1703. He is remembered for leading several invasions of Spanish Florida, including attacks in 1704 and 1706 which wiped out most of the Spanish missions in Florida....
.
Even before news of the war declarations opening the War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
arrived in the colonies, Moore proposed an expedition against Spanish Florida's capital, St. Augustine
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
. News of the war's formal opening arrived in 1702, and Moore convinced the provincial assembly in September 1702 to fund an expedition against St. Augustine. Moore raised a force of colonists and Indians, the latter a combination of Yamasee
Yamasee
The Yamasee were a multiethnic confederation of Native Americans that lived in the coastal region of present-day northern coastal Georgia near the Savannah River and later in northeastern Florida.-History:...
, Tallapoosa
Tallapoosa
-Places:United States*Tallapoosa, Georgia*Tallapoosa, Missouri*Tallapoosa County, Alabama*Tallapoosa River, Alabama-Ships:*USS Tallapoosa *USCGC Tallapoosa...
, and Alabama warriors, principally led by a Yamasee chief named Arratommakaw. The exact size of these forces varies by source; accounts provide numbers ranging from 800 to 1,200 in strength; most sources say that about 500 colonists and 300–400 Indians took part. Some of this force, primarily the Indians, went overland to Port Royal
Port Royal, South Carolina
Port Royal is a town in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Largely because of annexation of surrounding areas , the population of Port Royal rose from 3,950 in 2000 to 10,678 in 2010, a 170% increase. As defined by the U.S...
under the command of Deputy Governor Robert Daniell
Robert Daniell
Robert Daniell of Cardigan, Wales arrived in Charleston, South Carolina in 1669 as captain of the ship The Daniell. In 1682, he was commissioned as Major of the Goose Creek Men. By 1691, he was commissioned as a colonel for King William. In 1702 Daniell led forces in James Moore's expedition to St...
, while Moore embarked the rest of the force on 14 boats. These forces joined at Port Royal, and Daniell's force was landed on what is now known as Amelia Island
Amelia Island
Amelia Island is one of the southernmost of the Sea Islands, a chain of barrier islands that stretches along the east coast of the United States from South Carolina to Florida. It is long and approximately 4 miles wide at its widest point. Amelia Island is situated off the coast in Nassau County,...
(it was called Isla Santa Maria by the Spanish, and was part of Florida's Guale Province), while Moore sailed on to Matanzas Bay
Matanzas Bay
Matanzas Bay is a saltwater bay in St. Johns County, Florida, the entrance to the bay from the South Atlantic is via St. Augustine inlet. Bodies of water that connect to the bay in addition to the South Atlantic are clockwise from the inlet;...
.
The Castillo de San Marcos
Castillo de San Marcos
The Castillo de San Marcos site is the oldest masonry fort in the United States. It is located in the city of St. Augustine, Florida. Construction was begun in 1672 by the Spanish when Florida was a Spanish territory. During the twenty year period of British possession from 1763 until 1784, the...
at St. Augustine was built in the later years of the 17th century, in part because previous English raids demonstrated the inadequacy of wooden fortifications, and to address the threat posed by the founding of Charles Town. The fortress, a fairly conventional star fort
Star fort
A star fort, or trace italienne, is a fortification in the style that evolved during the age of gunpowder, when cannon came to dominate the battlefield, and was first seen in the mid-15th century in Italy....
, was constructed from soft coquina
Coquina
Coquina is a sedimentary rock that is composed either wholly or almost entirely of the transported, abraded, and mechanically sorted fragments of the shells of either molluscs, trilobites, brachiopods, or other invertebrates. For a sediment to be considered to be a coquina, the average size of the...
limestone. Governor Joseph de Zúñiga y Zérda assumed command of the post in 1700. Natives friendly to the Spanish heard of the recruitment, and word of the expedition reached Zúñiga on October 27. He ordered the town's inhabitants into the fort, commandeered all food stores in anticipation of an extended siege, and dispatched messengers to Pensacola, Havana, and the French at Mobile
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
with calls for assistance. Refugees swelled the civilian population to about 1,500, of which only a small number were deemed capable of military action. Zúñiga estimated the food provisions brought in to be sufficient for a siege of three months' duration.
Some of Zúñiga's men wanted to do battle with the English; the governor identified, in addition to 174 regulars and 14 artillerymen, 44 Europeans from the population that were fit for action, 123 Indians (most armed with poor-quality or useless weapons), and 57 Negroes (freemen, mulatto
Mulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
es, and slaves) of which only 20 had any experience with weapons. Zúñiga did not consider either the Indians or the Negroes to be trustworthy, and estimated that only about 70 men of this entire force were actually prepared for a battle. He consequently prepared for a siege. His principal concern was the training of the artillerymen, of whom he wrote that they "had no service record, lacked discipline, and have only a slight knowledge of the [...] guns which are mounted."
English approach
Daniell's forces landed on Amelia Island, and began attacks on the northern end of the island at midnight on 3 November, killing two Spanish soldiers and overrunning the village of San Pedro de Tupiqui. They advanced south, driving southward a flood of refugees and the few Spanish troops on the island. The main settlements at San Felipe and San Marcos were overrun the next day, as the Spanish were in the process of evacuating them. Zúñiga learned of the advance on 5 November, and sent 20 men under Captain Joseph de Horruytiner north, with instructions to make a stand at San Juan del Puerto, seven leagueLeague (unit)
A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...
s from St. Augustine, which Zúñiga saw as the "key to the province of Guale". The news also prompted Zúñiga to mobilize all able-bodied men over 14, and order all available food into the fort.
Horruytiner never made it beyond the St. Johns River
St. Johns River
The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant for commercial and recreational use. At long, it winds through or borders twelve counties, three of which are the state's largest. The drop in elevation from the headwaters to the mouth is less than ;...
; he did capture three enemy soldiers (two Englishmen and a Chiluque Indian) on 6 November, and returned with them to St. Augustine two days later. Zúñiga learned from these captives that the English had brought three months' provisions, and that they had only brought smaller cannons (6 to 10 pounders).
In the meantime, Moore sailed south with the fleet. Three ships were sent ahead of the main fleet to blockade the entrance to Matanzas Bay
Matanzas Bay
Matanzas Bay is a saltwater bay in St. Johns County, Florida, the entrance to the bay from the South Atlantic is via St. Augustine inlet. Bodies of water that connect to the bay in addition to the South Atlantic are clockwise from the inlet;...
, south of St. Augustine. These were spotted from the fort on 7 November. The next day the main body of the fleet began arriving at the bar outside the St. Augustine inlet. This prompted Zúñiga to order his two frigates, La Gloria and Nuestra Señora de la Piedad y el Niño Jesús, to anchor under the fort's guns. The Nuestra, which was outside the bar, was unable to cross, and was eventually burned. Sixteen of her men joined the fort's garrison, providing valuable gunnery skills.
Daniell's force, after being landed, made good progress. The small Spanish force on Amelia Island was unable to check the English advance at San Juan del Puerto, and was dispersed; some of them took days to reach St. Augustine. Daniels continued to advance, and entered the town of St. Augustine without resistance on 10 November. Eight of the English ships crossed the bar and began landing men that day. As the English began to close the circle around the fortress, a Spanish foraging expedition successfully drove 163 head of cattle through the English lines and into the fort's (dry) moat.
Siege
The Spanish guns opened fire on the English as they began siege preparations on November 10. One of the older Spanish cannons exploded that day, killing three and wounding five. A few days later, Zúñiga ordered a sally to destroy portions of the town within firing range of the fort; according to later accounting, this action destroyed more than 15,000 pesosSpanish dollar
The Spanish dollar is a silver coin, of approximately 38 mm diameter, worth eight reales, that was minted in the Spanish Empire after a Spanish currency reform in 1497. Its purpose was to correspond to the German thaler...
worth of property.
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
for larger cannons and ammunition. The English continued digging siege trenches, and began firing on the fortress from musket range on November 24. This cannonfire continued to have little effect, and Moore ordered more of the town torched the next day, including the Franciscan monastery.
Since his cannons were not effective against the fort's walls, Moore attempted a deception to gain entry to the fort. On December 14, a Yamasee couple managed to gain entry to the fort posing as refugees, apparently with the goal of detonating the fort's powder magazine. However, Zúñiga was suspicious of their behavior and, according to his account of the siege, they were tortured into admitting the plot.
By December 19 the English trenches had closed on the fort to the point that they threatened nearby fields from which the Spanish had been collecting forage. As a result, Zúñiga ordered a sally. There was a skirmish, and the Spanish lost one killed and several wounded.
Relief attempts
Spanish leaders at San Luis de ApalacheeMission San Luis de Apalachee
Mission San Luis de Apalachee was a Spanish Franciscan mission built in 1633 in the Florida Panhandle, two miles west of the present-day Florida Capitol Building in Tallahassee, Florida. It was located in the descendent settlement of Anhaica capital of Apalachee Province...
(present-day Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
) began mobilizing when they received the news of the siege. Short on supplies, they appealed to the French at Mobile, who provided critical guns and gunpowder; the Pensacola garrison also spared ten men. The relief force left San Luis de Apalachee on December 24, but turned back when news was received that the siege had been lifted.
Also on December 24, sails from a pair of ships were spotted approaching St. Augustine. English records do not indicate what these ships were; Spanish records show that they were English in origin, but probably not from Jamaica, since the nature of the siege did not change with their arrival. The expedition to Jamaica, having failed in its mission, returned directly to Charles Town.
Spanish messengers from Pensacola eventually reported St. Augustine's plight to Havana. Governor Pedro Nicolás Benítez held a war council on December 2, in which a relief expedition was organized. A detachment of over 200 infantry under the command of Captain López de Solloso was embarked on a small fleet headed by General Estevan de Berroa in the Black Eagle. Berroa's fleet arrived outside St. Augustine's harbor on December 28. Apparently believing the siege to already be over, Berroa did not land any troops. The next day, Governor Zúñiga sneaked some men out of the fort and made contact with the fleet. Berroa then landed Solloso and about 70 raw recruits on Anastasia Island, about 3 miles (4.8 km) below the fort. This action prompted Moore to lift the siege and prepare a retreat. Berroa also dispatched smaller ships to block the southern inlet to Matanzas Bay, trapping some of Moore's ships in the bay.
Moore ordered the remaining buildings in the town, including the church, put to the torch. Some of his men departed north via the mainland, while the rest crossed Matanzas Bay to their boats. Moore burned the eight ships trapped in the bay, and retreated to the north, eventually returning to Charles Town in disgrace. Zúñiga sent men out after the English departure; they were able to recover three of the English boats that failed to burn completely.
Casualty reports made by both sides varied; historian Charles Arnade notes that all of the numbers reported are probably unreliable. Moore's report listed only two men killed, while Zúñiga in his report claimed that more than 60 of the English force were killed. Zúñiga claimed only three or four killed and 20 wounded for the Spanish contingent, none of which were caused by English cannonfire.
Aftermath
Moore was forced to resign his post as governor because of the failed raid, and its cost to the province (which included compensating owners for the loss of their ships) caused riots in Charles Town. Some of Moore's contemporary critics accused him of executing the raid for the purpose of seizing slaves or booty; the Spanish characterized it in religious terms, citing the "English provincial hatred against the Church of God." Moore continued to be active in the war, leading a small number of Carolinians and a large band of Indians on the destruction of Spanish missionsApalachee Massacre
The Apalachee massacre was a series of brutal raids by English colonists from the Province of Carolina and their Indian allies against a largely pacific population of Apalachee Indians in northern Spanish Florida that took place during Queen Anne's War in 1704...
in Florida in 1704. By 1705 the English and their Indian allies had destroyed 32 Spanish mission communities, and by 1711 there were reported to be only about 400 Indians left in Florida.
Governor Zúñiga was rewarded for his successful defense with a special commendation from the king and promotion to the more prestigious and desirable governorship of Cartagena
Cartagena, Colombia
Cartagena de Indias , is a large Caribbean beach resort city on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region and capital of Bolívar Department...
. He made a series of highly critical complaints of General Berroa: the general failed to destroy the English fleet; he failed to share the plunder taken from the ships burned by the English; he refused to leave any of his fleet to assist in protection of the town; and he landed only the weakest and least effective troops in a bid to avoid combat. The general also sailed for Havana on January 8, barely one week after the siege was lifted.
In 1704 Governor Zúñiga convinced some Spanish privateers to raid the Carolina coast in revenge for Moore's activities. Spanish and French forces, motivated and organized by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] (16 July 1661 – 9 July 1702 (probable)was a soldier, ship captain, explorer, colonial administrator, knight of...
(who died shortly before its departure), attempted the capture
Charles Town expedition
The Charles Town expedition was a combined French and Spanish attempt under Captain Jacques Fefebvre to capture the capital of the English Province of Carolina, Charles Town during Queen Anne's War .Organized and funded primarily by the French and launched from Havana, Cuba, the...
of Charles Town in August 1706; their attempts to land forces were successfully repulsed.
The Castillo de San Marcos was not subjected to further attacks in the war. The expedition destroyed all but two communities in the provinces of Guale and Timucua; Spanish Florida never really recovered from the decimation of its population in the following years. St. Augustine was again unsuccessfully besieged
Siege of St. Augustine
The Siege of St. Augustine took place in July 1740 during the War of Jenkins' Ear, in which Britain and her colonies attacked Spanish colonies in the Americas.-Background:...
in 1740 by forces from the Province of Georgia
Province of Georgia
The Province of Georgia was one of the Southern colonies in British America. It was the last of the thirteen original colonies established by Great Britain in what later became the United States...
, and the castillo underwent numerous renovations and uses in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is now a National Monument
U.S. National Monument
A National Monument in the United States is a protected area that is similar to a National Park except that the President of the United States can quickly declare an area of the United States to be a National Monument without the approval of Congress. National monuments receive less funding and...
managed by the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.