Leslie and David's Wanderings: 8 March 2020 Castillo de San Marcos NM

We visited the second of the forts that protected Spanish St. Augustine, Castillo de San Marcos. Castillo is the first masonry fort built in the US and is the oldest. Construction was started in 1672 and mostly completed by 1695 although construction and modifications to the fort were made through 1756. The Fort survived two sieges by the British (1704 and 1740). The fort changed hands by treaty from the Spanish to the British, along with the rest of Florida, in 1763 as a result of the Seven Year War. Florida became the 13^thand 14^thBritish colonies but remained loyal to the crown during the American Revolution. The British occupied and strengthened the fort during the Revolution. Then the British returned Florida and the fort to Spain following the American Revolution. The US purchased Florida for $5 million in 1819 and took possession of the fort in 1821. In the 1840s, the US Army filled in the seaward moat and mounted additional naval cannons. When Florida succeeded from the Union on 10 January 1961, there was only one Union soldier manning the fort. When Florida militia requested his surrender of the fort, he agreed but made them inventory the contents of the fort and sign a receipt for the fort and its contents. It is said that the militia was so impressed by his professionalism that they took up a collections and bought first class tickets for him and his family on a steam ship to Philadelphia. The confederacy only briefly occupied the fort before pulling its troops and cannon and sending them north. The Union reoccupied the fort and maintained a garrison there through he rest of the war. Following the war, the fort, just like much of Florida, was used to imprison Plains Indian prisoners until the late 1890s. The Army abandoned the fort in 1902. The fort became a national monument in 1924. After struggling to find parking for the Behemoth in the narrow streets of St. Augustine, we went to the visitor center and collected our 73rd passport stamp and explored the very small monument. The Fort is set up for self tours. We explored the lower rooms and the bastions of the fort for a couple of hours. We then toured the historic downtown area ending up at the San Sebastian winery for a glass of wine. We poked our head into some of the stores, stopped at the Bull and Crown Pub for a beer and snack, and watched the crowds wander by. Rain showers wandered through off and on sending people scrambling for shelter.