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At the conclusion of the first article in this series, St. Augustine, named after an African, had survived to 1573. In this second article of the series, exclusive to Examiner.com, the Spanish establish an even firmer foothold on the North American continent. They were blessed without English or French interference for several years as they worked on organizing their supply and funding issues.
The Africans living in the presidio remained a vital part of the small community and became established as an integral part of the fabric of society.
When Sir Francis Drake attacked on June 6, 1586, free Africans fought to help protect homes, crops, and the wooden and clay fort. The Africans, then, were on hand to help rebuild after the town was burned during the raid; some being experienced workers with wood and iron; and proved themselves indispensable in the recovery.
Historical records reveal there was a marriage of two Africans in 1598. This at a time when there were both free and enslaved Africans living in the Spanish colony.
The Spanish Catholics did not, however, practice the form of chattel slavery as did the English Protestants. With the Spanish, an enslaved person could be owned by another if they refused to convert to Catholicism. But a slave could take the owner to court for mistreatment; and could hire themselves out to earn money to buy their freedom. This contrasts greatly with the system of chattel slavery to be established to the north with the ensuing establishment of the English colonies of Virginia and Carolina (1607 and 1670, respectively); which held that enslaved persons were the property of the owner and devoid of human rights (i.e. the right to litigate; the right to self-employment, etc.).
Pursuant to this, some enslaved Africans escaped from St. Augustine to a native town in the Cape Canaveral area in 1603.
And in 1606, when Bishop Juan de las Cabezas Altamirano reported 3000 natives had been converted to Christianity; the parish archives show there was a Black child baptized in the presidio. Being Catholic, that child, and, presumably, the parents were free because one Catholic cannot own another as a slave.
Tragedy once again befell the presidio in 1668 with the attack by the pirate Robert Searle, who was also known as John Davies, and who looted and burned and took Spanish hostages to hold for ransom; and sold non-Hispanics into slavery.
He even considered using the location as a pirate base as in Tortuga and in coves along the coasts of Jamaica and elsewhere. He was eventually forced out, however, by Spanish forces.
This turn of events at this point in the development of St. Augustine as a military outpost did not end an African presence, however, for, with the settling of the English colonies, the southbound underground railroad opened for business.
The raid and destruction perpetrated by Robert Searle prompted the Queen Regent Mariana to order construction of a stone fort (having discovered the coquina shell stone on Anastasia Island previous to this). After arranging for a design and funding, work began in 1672 and construction of the walls continued until their completion in 1695; the walls being comprised of over half a million coquina blocks from the royal quarry. The work to complete a chapel, barracks, powder room, etc. continued thereafter and payroll records preserved from that time to this indicate there were 11 African skilled artisans who were paid to help build our country’s oldest National Monument.
During this 23-year upgrade to the defensive system, St. Augustine repelled English corsairs in 1683 and French pirates led by Nicholas Grammont in 1686.
By this point there was a separate Black militia charged with assisting in the defense of St. Augustine; some of them former slaves from the English colonies who wore the Spanish uniform and trained diligently with the musket and the cutlass.
This concludes the second in a series of articles on First Coast African-American history.
Stay with Examiner.com as the series continues.