New Britain herald., 1924-12-17
LIBERTY STATUE
 COMES ID ITS OWN
With Four Others They Are
 Made National ShrineS

on New York harbor must have blushed under the reverent gaze of millions of immigrants Only in October, 1924, did she come into her own, officially she was made . a national monument by an execu- tive order of President Coolidge. The order reads that Fort Wood, New York, shall be made a na- tional monument. Fort Wood is no more and no less than the Statue Of Liberty Enlightening the World.
 Tn the same order that made the Statue of Liberty what the Ameri- can people thought she was, four other military reservations or parts of them were set aside as national monuments open to the public. One of these, Fort Marion at St. Augus- tine, Florida, is well known. The others. Castle Plnckney Charles ton harbor, South Carolina: Fort Pulaski, near Savannah, Georgia; and Fort Matanzas, near St, Au- gustine are less well known.
 i"t
 "A massacre which probably was the most terrible committed on American soil, the only intact eX- ample of a medieval fort in North America, the site where rifed guns first spelled the doom of parapets. scene of the Civil wars first shot and the first successful submarine attack, and the modern worlds equivalent of the Colossus Of Rhodes these are the incidents memorialized by the five new na- tional monuments" says bulletin of the National Geographic society from its headquarters in Washing ton, D. C.
 History knits together the stories of Fort Marion and Fort Matanzas, the latter fifteen miles to the south. Don Pedro Menendez, the 'adeantado' or governor of Florida, founded St, Augustine in 1865 as a base from which to at- tack the Huguenot colony at Fort Caroline, fifty miles north. Spain claimed the Huguenots trespasscd on their territory. But the Hugue- nots, French Protestants, who had come for religious freedom like the Pilgrims were to come 6o years later, decided to surprise the Span- ish.
 Their fleet syooped down on St. Augustine but a Florida hurricane drove the French vessels on the beach some miles south, wreoklng every vessel. After forced march Menendez captured Fort Caroline. All the defenders were killed and the women and children were car ried away. Returning to St. Angus
 tine he rushed south to meet the shipwrecked French. They sur
 renderd internationally
 Binding the arms of his prisoners
 Mendendez started them in parties
 toward St. Augustine. Near the site
 Of the new national monument
 Fort Matanzas, he placed a firing
 squad. Florida's white sand was
 stained with the blood of two hun
 dred French that day. Matanzas
 in Spanish means massacre One
 hundred and fifty French in a
 second party farther down the
 coast refusing 10 trust Menendez
 vanished into the swamps and dis
 appeared forever Two years later
 De Gourgues, a French gallant, de-
 scended on the Spanish settlements
 on the St. Johns river, taking re- venge in kind, but Fort Marion wal even then for him to attack Gave Us Lemons, Lines, and Oranges
 Tnder the protection Of tht walls of Fort Marion, first knowr
 as San Juan de PnOs and later a St. Mark. the Spanish introduced into America Hines, lemons, citron and China and Seville oranges While these fruits which were t' make Florida famous were pros pering In St. Augustine sands an other innovation was destined t bring woe to America. Menende brought the first African slaves t American shores.
 "Discovery of coQuina, sof shel land coral stone, near St. Au gustine about 1870 led to the de | placement Of the wooden structur with the material a visitor sees to dav Old Fort Matanzas is soquinI also. Thirty million dollars is tn reported cost of Fort Marion. Whel King Ferdinand " heard this Il ] exclaimed, What! Is this for | built of silver dotlars?'
 l To-day the war department keep l both forts in repair. Fort Mario
 has embattlements wide enough 10 an automobile drive. Its angle
 bastions and apsule-shaped sentr
 towers, overlooking grassy moa | complete picture of old Spain. | "Fort Moultric, that beat off | British fleet in 1776, and Fort Sum | ter. the Civil wars Serajevo. ar | twin guards to Charleston harbo
 These two forts are still in activ
 use so Castle Pinckney, an unuse
 fort on Shutes' Folly island, hs
 been named a national monumeI | for Charleston harhor. It k oppc | site the point where batteries fir
 poured shot Into Sumter. Unio | forces used Castle Pinckney in tho | final attack on Charleston. It wi | in this harbor that the first submj
 rine, run by steam, torpedoed | ship during the Civil war, but wel | to the bottom with its Nictir
 Castle PinCkncy saw one of n | first attacks Of an armored fleet C