The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1884-07-25
From the Ancient Cite"

ST. AUGUSTINE, July 81, 1884
Editor PALATKA NEWS.
Not having anything special to do, |
thought I would pen you another letter
from L" Ye Ancient Cite"
We have pleasant room near the
barracks and several times a dav the bu-
gle call sounds out loud and clear, and
every day the military band practices for
an hour and in the afternoon they give a
concert out on the parade ground. So
you see we have . music in the air."
The soldiers also go through the drill at
the same time. There are only two COM
panies of soldies here, having about 40
men in each company including officers.
| But the old fort is well worth the study
| and examination of anyone interested in
head on him" to plan that fort, and
when one approaches it and sees the
deep moat, the bastion, and gates or
rather doors, it carries him back to me-
di8val times and makes him think of
! Sir Walter SCOTS stories. The old pull
| leys, with which the drawbridge were
drawn up, still remain in their original
places, and the old Spanish coat of arms
is cut in the stone above the entrance.
! On entering the fort the old sergeant in
charge requests us to register our names
in book kept for that purpose. On in
| curing the reason for this, we are told
that thousands of people have been in
the habit of writing their names on the
| walls, and, as we saw afterwards, they
are shamefully disfigured in this way.
Old Sergeant Mcclure, who had charge
of the fort for years, died a few weeks
ago. and another old veteran is put in
his place. Inside the structure, it could
hardly be called a building, there is an
open space called the parade ground. 1t
covers about one acre and in one corner
is well, where, it is said, the Spanish
soldiers got their water The parade
| ground is square, and on the sides of it
there are twenty-seven easements, or
/ apartments. These were occupid by the
/ garrison at night, One interesting fea-
ture was the cooking apartments and
store-rooms. The sergeant lit torch
and took us into the dungeons and it was
truly a frightful place. He said that he
took party in there one day and one Of
the ladies tainted from the impurity of
the atmosphere. 1t is no wonder that
prisoners lived but a short time. in such
place. But visit to the fort would
not be complete, without going up the
stairway and mounting the tower or
lookout and the old platforms are still
remaing on which the sharpshooters used
to stand and rest their guns on the wall.
Outside the fort, in the moat, is a little
brick building in which solid balls
were heated. The whole thing is done
on a grand scale.
1t was built by the Spaniards, and is
said to have cost its weight in gold 1t
was designed by Vaubon, a famous civil
engineer of those days. and only" sixty
years was occupied in building it! The
material. coquina, was quarried across
the river at Anastasia Island and trans
ported on flats or lighters. The Indians
were employed ON it most of the time
1t is truly wonderful piece of work,
and is worth going a long distance to
see. 1t has decayed more or less, or
rather crumbled away. Outside, the CO.
quina walls were formerly covered with
cement. but that is all crumbled off
Many of the houses in St Augustine
are built of coquina, and many of the
yards have coquino walls around them.
But | must close, Mr.. Editor, lest | tire
your patience. Yours truly,
SAILOR Boy"