Undefeated - History of Castillo de San Marcos
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 ม.ค. 2025
- Castillo De San Marcos is more than 200 years old making it the oldest fort in the United States. This fort has a fascinating history. It was controlled by Spain, England and the United States, besieged twice - but was never defeated in battle.
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This video is a short documentary about Castillo de San Marcos, in St. Augustine, Florida. The video covers it's entire lifetime - from construction to modern day.
Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the United States. It was initially built in the 1600s to defend St. Augustine, Florida from attack. British pirates and privateers had burned previous wooden forts in the area, so a masonry fort was constructed. The initial phase of construction on this historic fort ended in 1695.
Castillo de San Marcos was built from coquina, a soft limestone made up of broken sea shells. The fort has a square shape with diamond shaped bastions at each corner. This shape allowed defensive fire in all directions. The structure was surrounded by a moat for additional protection.
Shortly after Castillo de San Marcos was built, the English attacked St. Augustine. They laid siege to the fort for 50 days, but were unable to penetrate the coquina walls with their cannon balls.
After this attack several improvements were made to the fort, which included raising the height of the walls.
In 1740 the English attacked Castillo de San Marcos again, and were unsuccessful for a second time. More improvements were made to the fort in 1762.
In 1763 Castillo de San Marcos was handed over to England as part of the treaty that ended the Seven Year's War (known in America as the French and Indian War). The British changed the name of the fort to Fort St. Mark. British control of Florida did not last long, and Spain regained the colony after the United States War for Independence in1784.
In 1824 Spain ceded Florida to the United States. St. Augustine and the Castillo de San Marcos were under Spanish rule for the final time.
The fort was used mostly to house prisoners from the Seminole wars until 1900 when it was taken out of service.
In 1924 Castillo de San Marcos was designated a National Monument.
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Your videos are really well made and you speak excellently - deserve many more views / subs!
Thank you, I really appreciate it
Agree 💯
This is why spanish empire wasn’t a colonist was more an “annexer”, first hospitals, first universities, first militar schools, first shipyards, firt chart of rights “leyes de indias” later “Leyes de burgos”, mix of cultures…. All spanish.
They invested a lot of the gold and silver they extracted, Brits and French did not mix, they brought European couples. Spanish as catholics had to evangelized by marrying native women. Almost all conquistadores did it Cortez, Pizarro, Alvarado, Garay, Almagro…etc.
They were (under the standards of those years) the most modern dudes
Excellent video! The evolution of the fort is really fascinating, and really shows the development of technology throughout its life.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it
Very well done! I love that fort. Liked and subscribed!
Thank you! I appreciate it. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'll be posting some more videos about other old forts soon.
Great doc, so much history in St Augustine!
Thank you David!
I could spend forever in St. Augustine just learning about its past
I lived in St. Auggie for about 30 years before pulling up stakes. Still miss it sometimes, those old places have a culture all their own. They *feel* old. At any rate, there's a much smaller fort further down the intracoastal called Fort Matanzas that might make an interesting video.
Thanks, I’m hoping to visit Fort Matanzas next time I’m in the area
I've been there!
Spanish had big cojones, beat the French and British
That doesn’t surprise me much
About to go to St. Augustine for vacation, and I'm so excited to see this fort in person
It’s a really cool place. Have a great trip!
I absolutely love this man's voice no lie u play this guy in high schools no more nap time when the projector hits lol 😆
*Oldest masonry fort in the mainland United States, or alternatively, in one of the 50 states. There are multiple in Puerto Rico that are older.
Went here back in 2018 and loved it! The fort was unfortunately closed due to the deteriorating condition, but it was still worth it to stroll around the fort. The old town was also great fun and loved the fish and chips that was being sold at one of the food stall (can't remember the name 😣)
Went to the fort today. It is open For the Public. It was very cold to see in my son loved it.
Went there yesterday, lots of school kids. Loved the 300 year old graffiti from the soldiers.
Very interesting & well done! San Marcos may be the oldest fort in the continental US, but isn't Castillo San Felipe del Morro (in San Juan, PR) older?
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Yes that fort is older. I think there are some others in the Caribbean that are older as well.
The ACROPOLIS is older
Just left there! Amazing place!
Muito bom!
Excellent!
Thank you John, I appreciate it!
You have an excellent voice for narration work, enjoying your vids, great work!
Thank you, I really appreciate that. I have a backlog of stuff I'm trying to get through, and should have more videos up soon.
What about the fortress in San Juan Puerto Rico? Bigger and older as is the city of San Juan which is part of the USA.
I got to go tour that place
It was really cool
i realy wanne go there
It's worth the visit. I recommend going early morning before too many people show up
@@ErikKSwanson i live in the netherlands so i have to collect money for the travel but its my goal :)
Unless the Spaniards had experimented with that wall material, then how would they know that Limestone/Crushed Seashell could bounce cannonballs hitting those walls flat? 😎👍
They used coquina cause they don´t find rocks strong enough in entire florida,so they decided try on this,with excellent result.
Star Forts.
I like 'em short and sharp
Thanks. That’s a great way to put it.
“Short and sharp” is going to be my mantra when I edit now
Fort Independence
Spanish pride, whrn 60% of usa was part of the spanish empire