The Castillo de San Marcos—Part 8

by Jennifer Uhlarik

Hello, readers! Is anyone up for one more post about the Castillo de San Marcos? If so, here it is. By now, you’ve followed my posts about the fort being built by Spain in the 1600s, ceded to Britain in the 1700s, returning to Spain’s control again for a few years, eventually becoming an acquisition of the United States, and its fall into the Confederate Army’s hands during the American Civil War. We’ve also looked into the three years during the 1870s when the fort became home to seventy-three Plains Indians, as well as the internment of the Apache Indians a decade after that . So what happened next at the United States’ largest masonry fort? 

 

Life grew relatively quiet at Fort Marion after the Apaches departed. This once busy and crowded structure returned to the mundane service as a storage facility in the days after its last use as a military prison. However, that was only on the inside of the fort. While the ownership of the property belonged to the United States War Department, Fort Marion underwent the “Gilded Age” treatment. Due to its prominent location in the heart of St. Augustine’s historic district—and with it being easily viewed from the waters of Matanzas Bay, as well as standards of that era being on beauty and recreation, the War Department spent much money landscaping the grounds with trees, grass, and benches to turn this 20-acre facility into a park rather than a sterile military facility. Many flocked to the beautiful setting to walk on the extensive web if sidewalks and paths or even tour the ancient building. Fort Marion also became home to Florida’s first golf course. And various special events were held on the grounds—including the likes of early baseball games played by professional African-American players. 

Golfing on the grounds of Fort Marion, circa 1902. This golf course was the
first in Florida!

 

However, eventually, talks turned to whether the War Department should retain control of the facility or hand it off to another department who might make better use of it. On October 15, 1924, Fort Marion and another nearby installation, Fort Matanzas, were both decommissioned as military sites and were transferred into the control of the National Park Service. While the War Department’s main goal was to keep the fort in good repair for use as a jail or storage of military armaments, the NPS’s goal was to preserve the history of the site for ages to come. One significant change they made came in the early 1940s, when the old fort retook the name “Castillo de San Marcos” as it was originally called by Spain.

 

Another thing that occurred during the early 1940s was the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which, as we all know, drew the United States into World War II. With that development, Florida became a busy place for military training and military bases—and once again, St. Augustine and the  Castillo de San Marcos had a role to play. The United States Coast Guard came to town in 1942, taking over several hotels in historic St. Augustine. They placed their recruits in those hotels, then worked a deal with the Castillo de San Marcos to do PT exercises on the fort’s grounds. In addition, several of the casemates inside the fort were turned into classroom space again—just as they’d been used during the incarceration of the Plains and Apache Indians in times past. And the beautiful courtyard became the site of many graduation ceremonies for those who’d completed their training.

Graduation ceremony for the Coast Guard during the 1940s,
held in the courtyard of Castillo de San Marcos.

 

It was a good thing the U.S. Coast Guard had come to St. Augustine during this time. The Germans had long-range plans to do more than just wreak havoc in Europe. They’d also set their sights on the United States, and Florida was one area they were targeting. With an offensive code-named Operation Drumbeat, German submarines infiltrated the waters around Florida. In a matter of months, they sank roughly 400 ships and took thousands of sailors’ lives. This state, usually known for tranquil waters and pristine white-sand beaches became a nightmare where, many mornings, people would awaken to find bodies and carnage littering the shorelines. Even more frightening was the night in June 1942, when four German spies made it ashore from one of these German subs, carrying American money and explosives. Thankfully, those men were captured before they could carry out their nefarious plans. Once this was discovered, special patrols of Coast Guard members patrolled the beaches on horseback, in Jeeps, or even on foot with specially trained dogs.

Coast Guard and trained dogs patrolling
Florida beaches during WWII

 

As I’m sure everyone knows, World War II lasted until 1945. As troops returned to American soil, many who had come to Florida for training or service at one of the 172 military installations in the state decided to return here once they’d made it home. What had been a relatively quiet, agriculture-based state with only small pockets of tourist areas prior to the war suddenly flooded with newcomers. Across the nation, the population boomed following the soldiers’ return—at an average rate of about fifteen percent. In Florida, the boom was three times that amount, or 46%! The state officially became one of the tourist capitals of the country, and St. Augustine and the Castillo de San Marcos remain one of the most captivating vacation spots to this day!

 

It's Your Turn: If you have been following along on these posts about St. Augustine’s Castillo de San Marcos, what time period did you find to be the most interesting? If you have not read the entire series of posts, what piece of today’s post was most intriguing?

 

 

 

Award-winning, best-selling novelist Jennifer Uhlarik has loved the western genre since she read her first Louis L’Amour novel. She penned her first western while earning a writing degree from University of Tampa. Jennifer lives near Tampa with her husband, son, and furbabies. www.jenniferuhlarik.com

 

 

 

AVAILABLE NOW!

 

Love's Fortress by Jennifer Uhlarik

 

A Friendship From the Past Brings Closure to Dani’s Fractured Family

 

When Dani Sango’s art forger father passes away, Dani inherits his home. There, she finds a book of Native American drawings, which leads her to seek museum curator Brad Osgood’s help to decipher the ledger art. Why would her father have this book? Is it another forgery?

 

Brad Osgood longs to provide his four-year-old niece, Brynn, the safe home she desperately deserves. The last thing he needs is more drama, especially from a forger’s daughter. But when the two meet “accidentally” at St. Augustine’s 350-year-old Spanish fort, he can’t refuse the intriguing woman.

 

Broken Bow is among seventy-three Plains Indians transported to Florida in 1875 for incarceration at ancient Fort Marion. Sally Jo Harris and Luke Worthing dream of serving on a foreign mission field, but when the Indians reach St. Augustine, God changes their plans. However, when Sally Jo’s friendship with Broken Bow leads to false accusations, it could cost them their lives.

 

Can Dani discover how Broken Bow and Sally Jo’s story ends and how it impacted her father’s life?

 

 

 

The Castillo de San Marcos--Part 7

by Jennifer Uhlarik

 

Hello, readers! Are you ready for more interesting history about the oldest masonry fort on U.S. soil? If you’ve been following along, you’ve learned all about the fort’s founding and how it was passed between Spain, Britain, Spain again, the United States, and even fell to the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Last month, I told you how, for a period of three years during the 1870s, the fort became home to seventy-three Plains Indians. And this month, I’ll share another interesting chapter of the Castillo’s history—the internment of the Apache Indians.

 

Just as we learned in last month’s post about the Plains Indians, the Native Americans of all tribes were struggling to acclimate to the idea of so many white men flooding into what had been their traditional territories. The Apaches were no different, and conflicts sparked between these groups all across Arizona for decades. Fierce warriors that they were, the Apaches fought hard against the incoming settlers, making homesteading in the Southwest a difficult endeavor. The Frontier Army came in and attempted to subdue the Apaches, placing them on reservation lands, but as so often happened, those promised lands ended up being found to have hidden value in the form of gold, silver, or other resources. Or the government didn’t deliver the promised supplies—cattle and other food supplies, blankets and clothing, etc. So new treaties were negotiated, and new boundaries drawn up, shrinking the sizes of reservations or moving them to new locations all together, all so that white men could capitalize on the resources they’d found on reservation lands—or with more promises of better supplies in the new locales. As anyone would, the Apaches grew tired of this shuffling and broken promises. Bands began breaking out of the reservations to go again on raids and make war on the Army and settlements for these unfair practices, as well as to provide for their families. Ultimately, this war went on for years, but slowly ended as Apache leader after Apache leader finally surrendered when they couldn’t keep going.

Apache Men sitting among cannons housed
at Fort Marion, circa 1886

Similar to the Plains Indians, various Apache men were chosen to be sent to Florida for incarceration at Fort Marion. What was different from the Plains Indians incarceration was that women and children were also sent to the fort. They arrived by train on April 16, 1886. Of course, all of St. Augustine came out to gawk at the new arrivals. The oldest men came first, wrapped in their blankets. Following them came the younger warriors. And lastly, the women and children. While large, the fort could comfortably sleep 150 or so, not the 502 who ended up being sent to Florida for imprisonment. Some of the Apaches were made to sleep in the casemate rooms surrounding the inner courtyard, and many others were sent to the gundeck above to sleep in Sibley tents.

 

As you might imagine, life was difficult in a strange new place, particularly in such tight quarters. The Apaches were given a pound of beef per adult per day, with children receiving half that; fresh bread each day; vegetables and grains like rice, turnips, hominy and beans, as well as a small weekly portion of potatoes and onions. The women were expected to cook the food themselves, except for the bread, which was made down the street at St. Francis Barracks and carted over each morning. They drank coffee with sugar, or they had water from the well within the fort’s walls. 

 

Geronimo, one of the most famous Apache
warriors. While he was not held at Fort Marion,
his wife was, and gave birth to his daughter, Marion
(later renamed Lenna), while there.

There were twelve Apache children born during the year they were incarcerated at Fort Marion, the first of which was Geronimo’s daughter (aptly names “Marion”, although she later changed her name to Lenna). Unfortunately, there were also several deaths in that year. When you stop to consider the sheer number of people in such confined spaces, it isn’t surprising that illness ran rampant among them. Colonel Langdon, who was in charge of overseeing the Apache prisoners, brought in Army physician, Dr. DeWitt Webb, to treat the men, women, and children. Despite his best efforts, Dr. Webb reported that he lost numerous patients to various diseases, such as dysentery, acute bronchitis, marasmus (or wasting disease), old age, epilepsy, tuberculosis, and neonatal tetanus. All told, twenty-four Apaches died during that year in St. Augustine. 

 

In order to make more room during the daylight hours, the Apaches were allowed to spread out outside the fort walls on the grounds and go into town, but even so, there wasn’t much for them to do. Children played games while the adults saw to the needs of their families, cooking, mending clothing, and repairing their few belongings. There wasn’t enough space for much else. The women would weave baskets to sell to locals and tourists, and men and boys would make and sell bows and arrows, as well as offer lessons in how to use the weaponry. However, with the overcrowded conditions, it was harder for the Apaches to make and sell their wares than it had been for the seventy-three Plains Indians a decade before.

 

The prisoners began turning to gambling and card games to pass the time until Colonel Langdon came to the same conclusion that his predecessor, Lt. Richard Henry Pratt, had. They needed stimulation, and it would come through education and assimilation. Colonel Langdon contacted Richard Henry Pratt in Carlisle, PA, to ask him to return to Fort Marion and interview the children to see if any would be a good fit at the Carlisle Indian Residential School, of which Pratt was the founder and headmaster. Upon Pratt’s visit, he selected 103 of the children to return with him to the school, and they young ones were immediately sent on their way under Pratt’s care. At the Carlisle Indians School, they children were given military-style uniforms to wear, their hair was cut short, and they were given Christian names.

Apache children in traditional garb on their arrival at Carlisle Indian School (left).
Many of the same children after receiving haircuts and military-style uniforms (right).

 

Of the roughly four hundred remaining Apaches, Colonel Langdon again called upon St. Augustine’s women to begin educating the Natives. Just as with the Plains Indians, Miss Sarah Mather and other local women set up classes so the Apache adults could learn to read, write, and speak English, as well as some simple arithmetic, science, and other subjects. Those children who were not taken to Carlisle, PA, were taken each weekday to a local nunnery where the Sisters of St. Joseph educated them in similar subject matter. Unlike Lt. Pratt before him, Colonel Langdon did not implement a physical training program or having skilled craftsman teaching the Apaches their crafts—more than likely because there were too many prisoners and not enough space for such education.

 

After roughly one year, those Apaches left in St. Augustine were moved again, this time to a reservation in Alabama, and later to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, where they remained.

 

Award-winning, best-selling novelist Jennifer Uhlarik has loved the western genre since she read her first Louis L’Amour novel. She penned her first western while earning a writing degree from University of Tampa. Jennifer lives near Tampa with her husband, son, and furbabies. www.jenniferuhlarik.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

AVAILABLE NOW!

 

Love's Fortress by Jennifer Uhlarik

 

A Friendship From the Past Brings Closure to Dani’s Fractured Family

 

When Dani Sango’s art forger father passes away, Dani inherits his home. There, she finds a book of Native American drawings, which leads her to seek museum curator Brad Osgood’s help to decipher the ledger art. Why would her father have this book? Is it another forgery?

 

Brad Osgood longs to provide his four-year-old niece, Brynn, the safe home she desperately deserves. The last thing he needs is more drama, especially from a forger’s daughter. But when the two meet “accidentally” at St. Augustine’s 350-year-old Spanish fort, he can’t refuse the intriguing woman.

 

Broken Bow is among seventy-three Plains Indians transported to Florida in 1875 for incarceration at ancient Fort Marion. Sally Jo Harris and Luke Worthing dream of serving on a foreign mission field, but when the Indians reach St. Augustine, God changes their plans. However, when Sally Jo’s friendship with Broken Bow leads to false accusations, it could cost them their lives.

 

Can Dani discover how Broken Bow and Sally Jo’s story ends and how it impacted her father’s life?

 

The Pony Express in a Nutshell By Donna Schlachter -- with Giveaway

Poster advertising for riders

Most people know a little about the Pony Express, but few realize it only operated from April 1860 through to November 1861. The first ride left St. Joseph, Missouri heading west, and from Sacramento, California heading east, on April 3rd, 1860. 

The idea for a Pony Express was conceived in the minds of its owners because of the possibility of winning the contract for the overland US mail. Another company, Butterworth, was running a southern route that took up to three weeks to deliver to the west coast, and Majors and Waddell thought they could beat that time by taking the shorter northern route.
The irony of the matter is they never won the contract; instead, they merged with Butterworth to form the Overland Mail Company, and closed with the Pony Express over $200,000 in debt.


From idea to the first mail run took less than six months. First they identified the easiest and shortest route; then they contracted with stagecoach stops, mercantiles or other businesses in small towns and cities for the home stations, where a rider lived and worked, making his runs about a hundred miles east and west. For the relay stations, where horses were changed out, the Pony Express contracted with ranches, outfitters, and ordinary folks to stable three to six horses and have somebody on hand with a saddled horse for the incoming rider. These relay stations were fifteen to twenty miles apart, depending on the terrain. Sometimes they had to start from scratch and hire somebody to build a barn, corral, and cabin to be in the right place at the right time.

For a period of about six weeks in the Spring 1861, the mail run was halted due to unrest between settlers and the native peoples, and while records aren’t clear, it appears no rider or mail bag was lost during the eighteen months of its operation. However, there are stories that talk about a horse shot out from under its rider and the mail bag being stolen, only to be recovered a year later.

As with any great piece of history, there will be myths and stories told. Among the famous legends are that Buffalo Bill Cody rode for the Pony Express. Records and recollections vary and contradict each other, but it is possible he rode for them for a short time as a young boy. Another great story is that women disguised themselves as men in order to sign up, but again, records are not clear whether this is true or not. However, it is documented as fact that women did sign up as soldiers in the Civil War, so it could be true.

Riders were hired for their ability to ride, endure the elements, as well as perform other necessary tasks around the home stations. Posters that advertise for wiry orphans are not completely true, but no doubt orphans could have been preferred. The pay started at around $25 a month plus room and board, which was a lot of money in those days, particularly for a teenage boy. However, along with their horsemanship and ranch skills, they were also exhorted not to drink, not to cuss, and not to shoot people without cause. At their swearing-in, each took an oath to act like a gentleman, and were issued a handgun, a rifle, and a Bible. Most carried their rifle in a scabbard, but often left the pistol and Bible in their bunk to reduce weight.

The time period, 1860, fascinates me as there were so many changes happening in America. The train is a near dream; the cross-country telegraph is nearing completion; the country is brewing for civil war; women are campaigning for voting and civil rights. In just a few short years, cameras will photograph the first war ever; telephones will be installed in people’s homes; electricity will light our lives into the dark of night. Despite the changes, one thing is sure: the Pony Express lives on in our hearts and our folklore much longer than it actually ran.

In my story in the “Pony Express Romance Collection”, Echoes of the Heart, both characters are running from bad situations, which mirrors the thinking of the day: go West and start over.

Leave a comment, and I will draw a lucky winner of a print copy (US only) of “Pony Express Romance Collection”.

Donna writes historical suspense under her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts, and has been published more than 30 times in novellas, full-length novels, and non-fiction books. She is a member of ACFW, Writers on the Rock, SinC, Pikes Peak Writers, and CAN; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; ghostwrites; edits; and judges in writing contests.

Echoes of the Heart: http://amzn.to/2lBaqcW
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Books: Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ci5Xqq and Smashwords: http://bit.ly/2gZATjm About Echoes of the Heart:

Catherine Malloy, an orphan girl running from a compromising situation in Boston, answers a personal ad in a magazine, on behalf of her illiterate friend. Through his letters, she finds herself falling in love with this stranger. Benjamin Troudt is crippled and illiterate, and knows nothing of this ad. His route supervisor, Warton, who was helping Benjamin with the paperwork, has been given only a short time to live, and knows Benjamin needs help, so he places the ad. Can Catherine overcome her belief that the God of her parents has abandoned her? And can Benjamin allow God to open his eyes and his heart to love?

St. Augustine, Florida and the Rise of Ledger Art

Group of Plains Indians on their arrival at Fort Marion, 1875

By Marilyn Turk

On May 21, 1875, seventy-two Native Americans arrived in St. Augustine, Florida, to be held as prisoners at Fort Marion (now called by its original name, Fort San Marcos). They had traveled over a thousand miles by wagon, railroad and steamboat from Fort Sill, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). These Native Americans had been chosen at random from other Indians captured during the 1874 Red River War of the Southern Plains.

The group included so-called ringleaders of raids on white settlers and included representatives from five different tribes - Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, Arapaho, and Caddo. The Native Americans, shackled in chains and heavily guarded, slept on the dirt floor of the fort.

When Lieutenant Richard Henry Pratt of the 10^th Calvary was given charge over the prisoners, he improved their living conditions. The prisoners were unchained and allowed to move more freely around the fort. They were also given wood to build their own barracks on top of the gun deck (terreplein).

Native American soldiers

Lt. Pratt issued the prisoners military uniforms and had their hair cut. They were organized into guard units and taught to perform daily drills, engage in morning exercise routines and were subject to daily inspections like regular soldiers. In addition, Pratt organized camping bivouacs for the Native Americans on nearby Anastasia Island and taught them how to sail and fish.

Pratt believed Native Americans could be educated, so he recruited local teachers to come teach the English language, along with other elementary skills to the prisoners. Several of the fort’s rooms were turned into classrooms and one was converted to a chapel where local ministers would preach the gospel. Although Pratt’s goal was to “westernize” the Native Americans with his theory, “kill the Indian, save the man,” his approach to their treatment was more humane than many of his peers who did not see the Indians as human equals. 

Many of the Native Americans were accustomed to telling their stories by drawing on buffalo hides. Pratt encouraged their drawing skills by giving them pencils and paper from ledger books to use and later, sketch pads. In this way, the Native Americans preserved the history of their life on the plains, their journey to Florida and their life at the fort. Several of the Indians achieved some fame with their artwork.

Three years later, the prisoners at Fort Marion were released to the care of the Indian Bureau. Many returned west, but 22 expressed a desire to stay in the east and continue their education. Pratt made arrangements to have their education funded by white citizens. He convinced the superintendent of the Hampton School, a Virginia school started for freed slaves after the Civil War, to accept seventeen of these men as students. The remaining five went to live with families in the northeast.

Have you ever heard of ledger art? Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of my new book, Redeeming Light.

Add caption

Cora Miller, a recent widow, moves to St. Augustine in 1875 with her young daughter to start life over as a single mother. She opens a fine millinery shop and seeks the business of affluent town society. An unfortunate incident during the arrival of Indian prisoners results in Cora meeting a group of wealthy tourists.

When Daniel Worthington accompanied his mother and sister to St. Augustine, he didn’t expect their trip to coincide with the arrival of Plains Indians at the fort. But concern for their plight prompts him to use his art training to help the prisoners communicate. He has little interest in pretty hatmaker Cora Miller, who has no sympathy for the Native Americans and is only concerned with frivolities. But seeing her with a benevolence group at the fort, his opinion of her begins to change.

Just as Cora’s business is picking up, her wealthy customers report the theft of their jewelry. When the jewelry mysteriously appears in her shop, she is afraid of being accused of theft. What will happen to her if no one believes her? Will she lose everything she’s worked for, or will someone step up to her defense?