Our interesting guide announced that before us was the Plaza, where the landing of Menendez was celebrated September 7, 1565, amid the thunder of artillery and the blasts of trumpets, with the banner of Castile and Aragon unfurled. He immediately ordered the celebration of mass, while his soldiers chanted the Te Deum. He named the place St. Augustine, for he had sighted land on the feast day of that saint. The celebration of mass in this old city has been kept up uninterruptedly for 333 years. The old Cathedral with its four chimes (one of which has the date 1682) hanging from bars in niches of the steeple, give a truly Spanish flavor to the surroundings. The present old building was built in 1793; the original one having been destroyed by fire the previous year. A monument in the center of the Plaza marks the commemoration of the adoption of the Spanish constitution of 1812; also a monument of the Florida soldiers of the civil war stands here. Across the street on the right is Trinity Episcopal Church, consecrated in 1833 by Bishop Bowen of South Carolina.
Our restaurant now appearing, our interest in the "most ancient city" suddenly lapsed over the prospect of a good dinner. We had a chance to wash and then partook of a fine repast, the like of which we had not seen since leaving home. Fine bread, green corn, roast lamb and golden butter, and to crown all, a heaping saucer of ice cream, and all for 25 cents.
In the Plaza before mentioned stands a shed, covering a platform upon which for over 200 years slaves were bought and sold, and many a heart-rending scene took place there. The powder magazines of the Spanish were pointed out to us; now a barracks for a battery of artillery; also the oldest house in the United States, and now so improved (?) that hardly any of the quaint architecture is apparent. It is at present owned by a Dr. Carver.
Two monuments on St. Francis street commemorate the Dade massacre in December, 1835; Major Dade, Captain Frazer and one hundred men, after a desperate resistance, were mercilessly slaughtered by the Seminoles under Micanopy, an Indian who, tradition says, "could eat a calf at one sitting, and then coil up like a snake" to digest the repast. Osceola, chief of the Seminoles, slew General Thompson, the Indian Agent, and then waged a ruthless war which ended only after the Okeechobee battle had been fought and the celebrated chief captured. We were now going through streets lined with fine residences and gardens. Some of the banana trees were in blossom while others had small green bunches hanging from the topmost boughs. Oranges were abundant. Date palms waved their feathery crests at us, but above all were the beauty and fragrance of the oleanders.
Now we came in sight of what everybody comes here to see, the old Fort. Almost before we were aware of it we were at the celebrated gates, which are built of stone and formed part of the line of defence projected at the time the Fort was built. There are niches or sentry boxes in each gate, where undoubtedly the sentries found shelter from the weather. We tramped up the hill to the Fort and were struck at once by the peculiar substance with which it is built. On Anastasia Island across the bay are quarries from which this substance "Coquina" or shell rock is dug. Double walls were built of stone and broken stone and Coquina were rammed down between them. This wall being of such peculiar composition would impact the shot, and would prevent it from splintering or cracking. We entered over the drawbridge and were confronted by the arms of Castile and Aragon over the portcullis. Here was legitimate Spanish prey. Why not capture it? But the eye of the Ordnance Sergeant is upon us. The pulley and beams which raised and held the drawbridge across the moat are still in the walls. We are now in the court or assembly place. On the right are two guard rooms and a dungeon. In this dungeon Osceola was confined and niches cut in the wall by him for the purpose of looking out on the court are shown. The next door contains an old Spanish lock of considerable size. The iron framework of the door is still intact, but has been filled in with new wood. The next room is the chapel and a niche for the patron saint Augustine. Here mass was said and marriages performed. A part of the timbers supporting the choir loft is still there. In the next room holes in the wall indicate where crosses, thumb-screws and other instruments of fiendish torture of the inquisition were placed. Rings to which chains were attached are still in the walls. A torch was now lighted and we entered from the last room into one of utter darkness, save a window for ventilation eighteen feet from the ground. It was from this room that the two Seminole chiefs, Wildcat and Hadjo escaped through that very window, the bars of which were scarce twelve inches apart, and made a leap of thirty feet to the ground on the outside. The guide called to us to follow, and led us through an aperture six feet high and two and a half feet wide. This room is five feet by twenty and fifteen feet high. We take this size from our guide, for we can see nothing. Then he bade us stoop low and follow closely. We were beginning to have a creepy feeling about the roots of our hair, and this increased after emerging from an entrance four and a half by three feet wide. The air is oppressive and the sepulchral tones of the guide announces that this room was not known to exist until it had been in possession of the United States for fourteen years. It is twenty feet long, thirteen feet wide and seven feet high. With the entrance closed, death would occur in about fifteen minutes. In the outer room through which we stumbled, tradition says two skeletons, male and female, were found hanging in cages nailed to the wall. The incredulous are shown the nail holes. These dungeons were used probably to a considerable extent during the inquisition. At each of the four corners of the fort is a watch tower, named respectively St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Charles and St. Augustine, into each of which curiosity led us.
The broad terreplein furnishes one of the finest promenades imaginable, the ocean being plainly visible over Anastasia Island, while the freshest of sea breezes neutralize the intense heat of the sun. One hundred and ninety-one years is the record of labor on this fortification. For sixty years the Appalachian Indians were compelled to work upon it and to their efforts are probably due the immense labor of construction.
We had now "done" the Ancient City pretty thoroughly, so we again took our carriage, obtained another square meal and boarded the train, arriving in camp as taps were sounding. The Spaniards were fond of bombast and high-sounding phrases. Here is a proclamation issued by the Governor upon landing in St. Augustine: