Castillo De Marcos Research Paper

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This fort still stands today, built to protect the city of St. Augustine. Standing as America’s oldest masonry fort, the Castillo de San Marcos has weathered the elements for more than three hundred years. It is the tenth in a series of forts built to protect the city. The previous nine had been constructed of wood before Queen Regent Mariana of Spain finally approved the construction of a powerful masonry the Castillo de San Marcos. Work on the fort began in October of 1672 after a pirate attack did some damage to the wood fort in 1668. The new fort was constructed using coquina rock, which is a type of rock composed almost entirely of the shells of mollusks, trilobites, brachiopods, or other invertebrates. Today, the fort still stands as …show more content…

James Moore tried to capture St. Augustine. Fifteen hundred soldiers and citizens took refuge within the forts great ways and managed to hold off the English Army for fifty-two days. Moore burned the city outside of the fort before a Spanish fleet relieved those trapped and still fighting in the fort. This effort pinned Moore as the first name on the list of the many commanders who tried to overtake the Castillo de San Marcos but failed. In 1738, a second construction project began to strengthen the fort. City walls and additional forts were added in order to better protect the walls of St. Augustine. The new additions to the fort were finished in time to defend themselves when the War of Jenkins’ ear erupted. The lost ear of an English sea captain provoked General James Oglethorpe to lead an army from Fort Frederica in Georgia to attack St. Augustine. The English attack the city for 27 days with the fort walls absorbing the battery hits and cannon balls without much damage. Once again, a Spanish fleet jumps in and storms the English camp just outside of the city. Realizing that they aren’t able to overtake the Castillo and it’s mighty walls, the English general withdraws his army from the

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