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The Castillo de San Marcos (Spanish for "St. Mark's Castle") is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States; it is located on the western shore of Matanzas Bay in St. Augustine, Florida.
The Castillo de San Marcos at St. Augustine was built in the later years of the 17th century, in part because previous English raids demonstrated the inadequacy of wooden fortifications, and to address the threat posed by the founding of Charles Town. [3] The fortress, a fairly conventional star fort, was constructed from soft coquina limestone ...
Castle of San Marcos (also Castillo de Alfonso X El Sabio) is a medieval castle located in El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, Spain. The castle was erected as a fortified church by King Alfonso X of Castile. It was built on the site of a mosque of which the wall of the qibla survives.
The Castillo de San Marcos, located on South Castillo Drive, is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States. Made of a limestone called coquina (Spanish for "small shells"), construction began in 1672. In The fort was declared a National Monument in 1924, and after 251 years of continuous military possession, was deactivated in 1933.
Engineer Pedro Ruiz de Olano, who had worked on additions to the Castillo de San Marcos, [6] designed the fortified observation tower. [7] Convicts, slaves, and troops from Cuba were used as labor to erect the structure, which was sited on present-day Rattlesnake Island [ 8 ] and had a commanding position over Matanzas Inlet.
The Spanish built the Castillo de San Marcos to defend St. Augustine. After Florida became a U.S. territory, its name was changed to Fort Marion. Today a national park site, its name was officially restored to the Castillo de San Marcos. During most of the American Civil War the Florida city of St. Augustine was under Union control.
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After the 1702 siege of St. Augustine and its burning to the ground by troops under the command of James Moore, governor of Carolina, the Spanish determined to improve the defenses of St. Augustine outside the confines of their massive masonry fortress, the Castillo de San Marcos.