Americans gradually began to encroach on the lands
given to the Seminoles under the terms of the Treaty of Moultrie.
In 1835, the Seminoles decided to fight against the continued
incursion on their land, defeating a U.S. Army detachment of 110
men traveling between forts in the vicinity of present-day Tampa
and Ocala. Within days, the Seminoles were burning farms and
settlements throughout North Florida. One after another, the best
generals in the U.S. Army came to Florida only to be frustrated by
the demands of unconventional warfare. It took 20,000 troops seven
years to kill or capture enough Seminoles to stop the fighting.
Even then, some Seminoles withdrew into the Everglades where they
continue to live on a reservation today. In October 1837, Seminole
Chief Osceola and seventy of his warriors arrived for negotiations
with U.S. officials, and were captured by General Hernandez without
regard to their flag of truce. A month later, twenty of the
Seminoles made a miraculous escape from their prison, but in
December more Seminole leaders and 78 warriors were again captured
under a white flag of truce. Although the 1,500 casualties suffered
by U.S. forces in combat against the Seminoles was distressing, the
$20 million spent to conduct the war was a boon to St. Augustine.
As the headquarters for the campaign against the Seminoles, the
city received numerous improvements courtesy of American
taxpayers.
Florida was admitted as a slave state, with help
from St. Augustine resident, David Levy Yulee. He was elected as
the territory's Congressional delegate and helped unite east and
west Florida. Residents of central Florida, many with plantations,
were convinced succession was necessary. On January 10, 1861 the
delegates voted and overwhelming approved secession by a count of
62 in favor and 7 opposed. In compliance with Governor
Perry’s orders, the Castillo was quietly taken over and put
into the service of the Confederacy. The initial enthusiasm for the
war began to fade when residents of St. Augustine realized their
fledgling tourist industry had abruptly ended. To make matters
worse, the Confederate Government soon imposed a steep tax on
residents in order to finance the war effort.
On the morning of March 11, 1862, federal gunboats
anchored just outside the inlet. In anticipation of their arrival,
the Confederate troops protecting the town abandoned their posts
and marched off along with some of the town’s leading
citizens into Florida’s interior. A rowboat brought U.S. Navy
Commander Rodgers under a flag of truce to the town wharf where he
met Acting Mayor Bravo. The city council quietly signed a surrender
decree and turned St. Augustine over to northern forces, who
remained in control throughout the remainder of the war. On January
1, 1863 Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was read to
slaves within the city. Many of St. Augustine’s freed slaves
enlisted in the U.S. Army serving in several regiments made up of
African-Americans. Three black St. Augustinians also served in the
Confederate Army. The city also contributed three generals to the
conflict –William Wing Loring, Edmund Kirby-Smith, and
Stephen Vincent Benet. Some 16,000 Floridians served in the
Confederate forces and about 5,000 gave their lives during the war.
The names of the 46 St. Augustinians who died in the defense of the
South are inscribed on the Confederate War Dead monument in the
Plaza.
The end of the Civil War came during the
city’s 300th birthday, but there was little cause for
celebration. The war had devastated the fledgling tourism industry
and created a new social system that was totally alien to most
residents. St. Augustine was selected as headquarter for the U.S.
Army's construction efforts.
Fortunately, St. Augustine was spared much of the
violence and hatred that Reconstruction brought to much of the
South. The presence of Northerners, even Northern landowners, was
nothing new to St. Augustine. The economic benefits of having
Northerners visit or even purchase property in the community were
well-known by most residents long before the War. As a result, the
level of resentment toward “carpet baggers” and
northern land speculators was not as severe in St. Augustine as in
other parts of the South. The strong presence of the U.S. Army also
helped discourage the types of violence associated with Southern
Reconstruction.
By 1869, tourists, land developers and Northerners
who planned to take up permanent residence in the city began
flooding into town. A new road leading northward from the city gate
was built and paved with oyster shells. New arrivals bought lots
along the road from developers and the suburb became known as North
City. On the opposite end of town, freed slaves took up homesteads,
building homes and churches in Lincolnville. To accommodate the
surge of people coming to visit or stay, the massive Hotel St.
Augustine was built. In 1883, access to St. Augustine improved
dramatically when the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River
Railroad opened a line that carried visitors directly from a
steamboat landing on Jacksonville’s south side to the oldest
city.
One of the visitors to St. Augustine during the
winter of 1884 was Henry M. Flagler, a co-founder of Standard Oil
of New Jersey and one of the richest men in America. The following
year, Flagler returned and this time he looked at St. Augustine as
the setting for a business venture - the ultimate, American luxury
resort. To turn his dream into reality, Flagler immediately hired
O.D. Seavey, the manager of the San Marco Hotel, and construction
company that built the hotel. He also enlisted Franklin Smith, a
wealthy businessman. Smith had recently built a home called Zorayda
Castle based on the design of the Alhambra Castle in Spain. Flagler
noted the strength of his "poured concrete" home, and decided to
use this building technique. He also recruited resident Dr. Andrew
Anderson, architect Thomas Hasting, and his associate John
Carrere.
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