USA > Florida > Saint Johns County > Saint Augustine > History and antiquities of St. Augustine, Florida > Part 11
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Three hundred years ago, and St. Augustine stood the soli- tary settlement of the white race north of the Gulf of Mexico in all that great expanse which now boasts of its thirty-four States, its three hundred cities, and its thirty millions of people. Then the Province of Florida extended northward to the pole, and westward to the Pacific. At a later period, after the voy- . ages of the French and English, its boundaries were limited to the shores of the Chesapeake and the Mississippi river, and were subsequently gradually contracted to their present limits, so that Florida once represented upon the maps all of the United States.
The life of St. Augustine runs parallel with that of Spain. For a long period Spain was at the head of European monarch- ies; its rulers held sway over more vast possessions than had
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ever belonged to any single crown since the days of the Cæsars ; wealth flowed into its coffers from the New World in boundless profusion, and corruption, venality and effeminacy followed in its train. The whole continent of America was claimed as its dominion. Its fleets anchored upon every shore for conquest or exploration, and its banners were unfurled by its generals, and the cross was planted by its priests upon every headland. From all this grandeur and eminence the Spanish monarchy has been cast down. Driven from land to land, it has receded from the mainland of America, and has exchanged its dominion over a continent to the islands of the sea, which it holds with a preca- rious grasp, and it now remains in a dry old age a fourth-rate power where once it stood foremost.
The first planted of all the cities of the United States, St. Augustine, now ranks among the least.
Ten years have been added to the longevity of the Ancient City since the first publication of this work. Ten years do not make their mark upon the aged man as they do upon the youth launching forth into manhood, or as they do upon him who in the full measure of his matured strength is battling with life. On the nation at large, these ten years have left almost inetface- able scars and bruises; ten years, the most important; the weight- iest and the gravest of any since the throes of the great revolu- tion which gave birth to the nation. This long sad period has left no mark upon its walls, grey and mouldy with the weight of years, and has scarcely added a tinge the more of age and sor- row; and yet the inner life of the old city has sustained a great shock. The system of servitude, which has now been swept away, was the sole dependence of many aged persons, of many poor widows and orphan children.
Servants in St. Augustine were treated with paternal kind- ness; they had grown up in the family of the indulgent master, had been his playmate in infancy, and rendered willing service. They had their holidays and their balls, and were ever found in the background at all festive gatherings, enjoying, upon a priv- ileged footing. the pleasures of the hour, looking on and com- menting with pride upon the graceful movements in the dance of their young mistresses, and anon whirling each other around to the music, in the corridors, with the unrestrained exuberance
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of their simple and unalloyed happiness. All this has passed away; their homes are broken up; the poor widow and the or- phan children have been brought to want; the sound of music and dancing no longer resounds in the old streets; the privileged house-maid and man-servant no longer do their easy tasks with cheerful song and merry laugh.
The naval forces of the United States took possession of St. Augustine in 1862. Batteries had been mounted at the fort, and a small garrison of Confederate troops were in military occupa- tion of the place, but too few in numbers to offer any resistance, and the city was surrendered by the civil authorities upon the demand of Captain Dupont. The Fourth New Hampshire regi- ment first garrisoned the city. The old fort was brushed up and repaired, the earth-works strengthened, and barracks built on the platform. Occasionally reconnoitering parties of Confeder- ates approached the town, and on one occasion a festive party of officers, who had gone out to Mr. Solana's, near Picolata, to attend a dance, were captured, with their music and ambulance, by Cap- tain Dickinson, celebrated for many daring exploits. It was even believed that this daring partisan had ridden through the city at night in the guise of a Federal cavalry officer. On another occasion, the commanding officer of the garrison at St. Augustine was captured on the road from Jacksonville by a Confederate picket.
The inhabitants, isolated from all means of obtaining sup- plies from without the lines, were reduced to great straits. The only condition upon which they were allowed to purchase was the acceptance of an oath of loyalty. Sympathizing . strongly with the South, they were placed in an unfortunate position, and many doubtless suffered greatly. At one period, those of the citizens who had relatives in the Confederate service were ordered to leave the city. Then ensued a scene which beggars descrip- tion. Men, women and children were huddled on board a ves- sel, and, homeless and helpless, were carried along the coast and disembarked, shelterless, on the banks of the Nassau river, to make their way to food and shelter as best they could-hard- ships which hardly seemed called for by any military necessity. Many of the young men of the city went into the Confederate service and served through the war with distinction, but many
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fell victims on the battlefield, in the hospitals, or from exposure to the rigorous climate of Virginia and Tennessee, to which they were unaccustomed.
To these misfortunes succeeded to all, sales and forcible de- privation of property, under the most rigorous construction of most rigorous laws, the unsettling of titles and the loss of means, have combined to lessen the ability of the people to do more than try to live, without much effort to improve their homes and the appearance of the city.
Some changes have taken place in the suburbs of the city. Macariz, the site of the old Indian town, belonging to the late Judge Douglas, with its beautiful groves of forest trees, has been utterly destroyed; and a once pleasant cottage home, near the stockades, dear to the writer, cared for and embellished with many things pleasant to the eye, fragrant with the ever-blooming roses and honeysuckles, has, under the rude hand of war, been utterly destroyed, with its library, its furniture, and all its pleas- ant surroundings.
But while man's work has been to destroy, Nature has done much within these few years to restore one of its former sources of prosperity : the cultivation of the orange, which, having been at one period almost utterly destroyed by the cold, and then by the coccus insect, is now fast regaining its pristine vigor and pro- ductiveness, and promises in a few years to furnish to the city more permanent and abundant sources of prosperity than it has ever had.
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CHAPTER XX.
A. D. 1868 TO 1881.
Soon after the reconstruction period which followed the close of the civil war, a portion of that large influx of Northern visit- ors which sought Florida for the beneficial influences of its cli- mate began again to visit the Ancient City in considerable num- bers. The Tocoi Railroad, which had been commenced before the war, to connect the city with the St. Johns river, a distance of only fifteen miles, was completed by the energy of Dr. John Westcott. Although at first provided with strap-iron rail and run by mule power, it was, in comparison with the previous stage communication, both comfortable and convenient .. Travel soon increased to such an extent that it became necessary to replace the strap-iron with the usual solid rail, and to exchange the mule power for the locomotive -- the time of transit being shortened to forty minutes in lieu of the old four-hour schedule of the Pico- lata stages. The Picolata road. which had been in use for three centuries by the Indians, Spaniards, English and Americans, as the principal route of communication with the St. Johns and the interior, became a thing of the past.
With the influx of visitors, increased hotel accommodations became necessary, and the St. Augustine Hotel, a very large and imposing structure, was erected on the plaza, and subsequently the Florida House and The Magnolia were greatly enlarged, while numerous smaller hotels and boarding-houses were opened, and St. Augustine became one of the principal, as it has always been one of the pleasantest, winter resorts in the South. A num- ber of wealthy gentlemen from the North purchased property and erected handsome residences, and the general aspect of the city was greatly improved by the increasing evidences of liberal expenditure The population increased and employment, espe- cially in the winter, was abundantly provided for its inhabitants. In fishing, boating, sailing, driving, gardening, ete., its male pop- ulation found constant demand for their services. The women
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had been long known for their skillful workmanship in lace, fancy work, palmetto braiding, etc., and the sale of the curiosi- ties which strangers seek as souvenirs of travel became quite a remunerative business. In fact, small industries are the princi- pal support of the city. Property which was very much depressed in value at the close of the war soon appreciated, and confidence in the future of the city was shown by investments in real estate and extensive improvements. Among those who have built fine residences may be mentioned Messrs. Edgar, Ball, Ammidown, Howard. Tyler, Kingsland. House, etc.
It is, however, to be regretted that the new hotels and expen- sive improvements which have been built have not been fashioned more after the Moorish and Spanish styles of architecture, with balconies, projecting casements. thick walls, narrow windows, and inner courts and galleries with the characteristic Moorish or graceful Roman arches, fountains and terraces, which would have given an appropriate and picturesque character, befitting the venerable antiquity of the city, and much better suited to the locality and climate; so that when time had placed its mel- lowing tints upon their work, the old and the new would have blended and harmonized. Thus fittingly built up, St. Augustine would in all time call up the associations of its long past, extend- ing back almost to the days when for the first time its pleasant shores met the enraptured gaze of the tempest-tossed adventurers who crossed the unknown seas of seeming far-famed Cathay in quest of fame and fortune.
In 1875. old Fort Marion was made the place of confinement for a considerable number of Comanche, Kioway and Arapahoe Indians, comprising a number of leading chiefs and head men, who had been made prisoners by the United States forces oper- ating on our Western frontier. Captain Pratt, of the United States Army, aided by several humane ladies of the city, under- took the difficult task of civilizing and educating these wild sons of the forest, among the fiercest and most hostile of their race. By long perseverance and the softening power of unwearied kind- ness, their efforts were rewarded with success. The fierce chiefs, whose war-like nature had made them the relentless foes of the white race, whose hands had been stained in their blood, after a few months, assumed the dress and acquired the arts of civiliza-
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tion, and were well prepared to return to their tribes, the mes- sengers of peace, to become leaders of a new family instead of tribal life, abandoning their former precarious mode of living and devoting themselves to agricultural and other peaceful pursuits. The younger Indians were placed in school at Hampton, Vir- ginia, for the purpose of continuing and perfecting their educa- tion, to qualify them to become teachers. Thus a most valuable experience was obtained of the docility of the Indian character and some light thrown upon the Indian problem, which has so long embarrassed our Government.
The engraved map of the city as it existed in 1763, upwards of a century since, exhibits no material change in the configura- tion of the locality, and determines sufficiently the fact that St. Augustine occupies the site of the Indian town of Selooe, which offered a welcome to Menendez in 1565. It was immediately fortified upon his landing, and there is no reason to suppose that any change of location afterwards occurred.
During the past few years marry residences have been erected north of the city, and others on the west side of the St. Sebas- tian, the limits of the city proper within the gates not permitting much additional growth within the limits of the compactly built - old Spanish city.
The insufficient depth of water on the bar precludes its attain- ing much commercial importance, and its location upon the coast so near the river St. Johns gives but a moderate support from the interior. It is now becoming somewhat of a summer resort for persons living in the interior of the State, offering consider- able attraction in sea-bathing and a cooler atmosphere, owing to the prevalence of the invigorating sea-breeze common to the whole eastern coast.
Two enterprises of great importance to St. Augustine are now in contemplation-one the opening of inland communication by water by way of the North river to the St. Johns near its mouth, and with the whole Southern coast by the connecting of the Ma- tanzas river with the Halifax river, a distance of but a few miles, and Mosquito lagoon with Indian river; for which a company is now organzed. The other is the construction of a railroad from Jacksonville to the Halifax river, by way of St. Augustine; the work of construction of this road has already commenced. If
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these enterprises are carried into effect, St. Augustine may be expected to derive very great benefit from them.
St. Augustine attained its three hundredth birthday on the 8th day of September, 1865, and is consequently now in the fourth century of its existence. Sixty years have elapsed since it came under the American flag in 1821. Its population has never exceeded three thousand, which is probably about its pres- ent number of inhabitants, but there is every reason to suppose that its future growth will be considerable and permanent. I am sure that no one will feel otherwise than that its old age shall be tranquil and serene, and that its name may ever be associated with pleasant memories.
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