"Within the first line near the town, was a small settlement of Germans, who had a church of their own. Upon the St. Marks river, within the second line, was also an Indian town, with a church built of freestone; what is very remarkable, it is in good taste, though built by the Indians."
The two lines of defense here spoken of, may still be traced. The nearest one is less than one-fourth of a mile from the city gate, and the other at the well-known place called the stockades, the stakes driven to form which, still distinctly mark the place; and the ditch and embankment can be traced for a considerable distance through the grounds attached to my residence.
A letter-writer, who dates at St. Augustine, May, 1774, says, "This town is now truly become a heap of ruins, a fit receptacle for the wretches of inhabitants." (Rather a dyspeptic description, in all probability.)
A bridge was built across the Sebastian river by the English, "but the great depth of the water, joined to the instability of the bottom, did not suffer it to remain long, and a ferry is now established in its room; the keeper of the ferry has fifty pounds per annum allowed him, and the inhabitants pay nothing for crossing, except after dark."
The English constructed large buildings for barracks, characterised by Romans "as such stupendous piles of buildings, which were large enough to contain five regiments, when it is a matter of great doubt whether there will ever be a necessity to keep one whole regiment here. The material for this great barracks was brought from New York, and far inferior to those found on the spot; yet the freight alone amounted to more than their value when landed. It makes us almost believe," says the elaborate Romans, "that all this show is in vain, or at most, that the English were so much in dread of musquitoes, that they thought a large army requisite to drive off these formidable foes. To be serious," says he, "this fort and barracks add not a little to the beauty of the prospect; but most men would think that the money spent on this useless parade, would have been better laid out on roads and fences through the province; or, if it must be in forts, why not at Pensacola?"
There is a manuscript work of John Gerard Williams de Brahm, existing in the library of Harvard University, which contains some particulars of interest, relative to Florida at the period of the English occupation.
He states the number of inhabitants of East Florida, which in those days meant mostly St. Augustine, from 1663 to 1771, as follows: householders, besides women, &c., two hundred and eighty-eight; imported by Mr. Turnbull from Minorca, &c., one thousand four hundred; negroes, upwards of nine hundred. Of these, white heads of families, one hundred and forty-four were married, which is just one-half; thirty-one are storekeepers and traders; three haberdashers, fifteen innkeepers, forty-five artificers and mechanics, one hundred and ten planters, four hunters, six cow-keepers, eleven overseers, twelve draftsmen in employ of government, besides mathematicians; fifty-eight had left the province; twenty-eight dead, of whom four were killed acting as constables, two hanged for pirating. Among the names of those then residing in East Florida are mentioned Sir Charles Burdett, William Drayton, Esq., planter, Chief Justice; Rev. John Forbes, parson, Judge of Admiralty and Councillor; Rev. N. Fraser, parson at Musquito; Governor James Grant, Hon. John Moultrie, planter and lieutenant Governor; William Stork, Esq., historian; Andrew Turnbull, Esq., H. M. Counselor; Bernard Romans, draftsman, &c.; William Bartram, planter; James Moultrie, Esq.
He says, The light house on Anastasia Island had been constructed and built of mason-work by the Spaniards; and, in 1769, by order of General Haldimand, it was raised sixty feet higher in carpenter's work, had a cannon planted on the top, which is fired the very moment the flag is hoisted, for a signal to the town and pilots that a vessel is off. The light house has two flag-staffs, one to the south and one to the north; on either of which the flag is hoisted, viz., to the south if the vessel comes from thence, and the north if the vessel comes that way.
"The town is situated in a healthy zone, is surrounded with salt water marshes, not at all prejudicial to health; their evaporations are swept away in the day time by the easterly winds, and in the night season by the westerly winds trading back to the eastward. At the time when the Spaniards left the town, all the gardens were well stocked with fruit trees, viz., figs, guavas, plantain, pomegranates, lemons, limes, citrons, shadock, bergamot, China and Seville oranges, the latter full of fruit throughout the whole winter season; and the pot-herbs, though suspended in their vegetation, were seldom destroyed by cold. The town is three-quarters of a mile in length, but not quite a quarter wide; had four churches ornamently built with stone in the Spanish taste, of which one within and one without the town still exist. One is pulled down; that is the German church, but the steeple is preserved as an ornament to the town; and the other, viz., the convent church and convent in town is taken in the body of the barracks. All houses are built of masonry; their entrances are shaded by piazzas, supported by Tuscan pillars or pilasters, against the south sun. The houses have to the east windows projecting sixteen or eighteen inches into the street, very wide, and proportionally high. On the west side, their windows are commonly very small, and no opening of any kind to the north, on which side they have double walls six or eight feet asunder, forming a kind of gallery, which answers for cellars and pantries. Before most of the entrances were arbors of vines, producing plenty and very good grapes. No house has any chimney for a fire place; the Spaniards made use of stone urns, filled them with coals left in their kitchens in the afternoon, and set them at sunset in their bed-rooms, to defend themselves against those winter seasons, which required such care. The governor's residence has both sides piazzas, viz., a double one to the south, and a single one to the north; also a Belvidere and a grand portico decorated with Doric pillars and entablatures. On the north end of the town is a casemated fort, with four bastions, a ravelin, counterscarp, and a glacis built with quarried shell-stones, and constructed according to the rudiments of Marechal de Vauban. This fort commands the road of the bay, the town, its environs, and both Tolomako stream and Mantanzas creek. The soil in the gardens and environs of the town is chiefly sandy and marshy. The Spaniards seem to have had a notion of manuring their land with shells one foot deep.
"Among the three thousand who evacuated St. Augustine, the author is credibly informed, were many Spaniards near and above the age of one hundred years, (observe;) this nation, especially natives of St. Augustine, bore the reputation of great sobriety."[35]