National Monument

National Monument

There are many important monuments all over the United States that have been dedicated to an important person or a memorable event. One of them that caught my attention the most was Fort Matanzas. This incredible monument is relatively near to me. Matanzas is located in St.Augustine off the shores of florida. This monument represents the Spanish phase of Colonial American history. The Spanish root word of Matanzas is mata, meaning to kill. This is why they call it "the place of many slaughters."

Everything began on the year of 1748, the sun is rising emitting a strong glow that beams off the eastern side of a small, stone made structure located in the middle of nowhere. There are seven Spanish soldiers staying in this simple building that get an early start to their mornings by beginning on their daily duties. Several miles north of this, there are residents that live in St.Agustine. The main duty of these Spanish soldiers is to protect and maintain the safety of these residents. They do this by patrolling from a watch tower the waterways around the Matanzas

French Hugenot Jean Ribault failed at trying to create a base within Spanish America in 1562. He wanted to establish this for the King of France. Two years went by and Fort Carline was established. Fort Carline was located on the St. Johns River. Since the Spaniard had discovered and fought for the land that now Fort Caroline was built on, the Spaniards viewed it as trespassing. King Philip was not too happy by this and sent Pedro Menendez to establish a settlement in Florida. After Menendez had a confrontation with Ribault, He established St. Augustine. Ribault came prepared to attack and take over St. Augustine. Ribault biggest advantage was that he came with more men then the Spaniards had all

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together. But a unfortunately for Ribault and his men a hurricane hit the coast of Florida and distributed them down the coast. Menendez's troops immediately took advantage of this situation and traveled on foot to attack the enemy base. After Menendez and his men killed 245 French prisoners on the 14 mile beach of St. Augustine, the French troops the remained surrendered.

After the attack of the French they became more couscous and built a watchtower made of wood just a little bit north of Matanzas in 1569. Just like Matanzas there was six solider that their duty was to make sure there was no trespassing of any kind. They realized this new tower wasn't enough on 1740, when Oglethorpe who founded the English colony of Georgia claimed by Spain. Oglethorpe plans were to siege St. Augustine by blocking the Matanzas River, this wasn't a treat to St. Augustine because they were well prepared and unlike Oglethorpe they did not lack naval support. Oglethorpe had no choice but to raise the siege and surrender with his troops. Manuel