Siege of St . Augustine ( 1702 ) The Siege of St . Augustine was an action in Queen Anne ' s War during November and December 1702 . It was conducted by English provincial forces from the Province of Carolina and their native allies , under the command of Carolina ' s governor James Moore , against the Spanish colonial fortress of Castillo de San Marcos at St . Augustine , in Spanish Florida . After destroying coastal Spanish communities north of St . Augustine , Moore ' s forces arrived at St . Augustine on 10 November , and immediately began siege operations . The Spanish governor , Joseph de Zúñiga y Zérda , had advance warning of their arrival , and withdrew civilians and food supplies into the fortress , and also sent messengers to nearby Spanish and French communities for relief . The English guns did little damage to the fortress walls , prompting Governor Moore to send an appeal to Jamaica for larger guns . The Spanish calls for relief were successful ; a fleet sent from Havana , Cuba landed troops nearby on 29 December . Moore lifted the siege the next day , and was forced to burn many of his boats before retreating to Charles Town in disgrace . Background . English and Spanish colonization efforts in southeastern North America began coming into conflict as early as the middle of the 17th century . The founding in 1670 by the English of Charles Town ( present - day Charleston , South Carolina ) in the recently established ( 1663 ) Province of Carolina heightened tensions . Traders , raiders , and slavers from the new province penetrated into Spanish Florida , leading to raiding and reprisal expeditions on both sides . In 1700 , Carolina ' s governor , Joseph Blake , threatened the Spanish that English claims to Pensacola , established by the Spanish in 1698 , would be enforced . Blake ' s death later that year interrupted these plans , and he was replaced in 1702 by James Moore . Even before news of the war declarations opening the War of the Spanish Succession arrived in the colonies , Moore proposed an expedition against Spanish Florida ' s capital , St . Augustine . News of the war ' s formal opening arrived in 1702 , and Moore convinced the provincial assembly in September 1702 to fund an expedition against St . Augustine . Moore raised a force of colonists and Indians , the latter a combination of Yamasee , Tallapoosa , and Alabama warriors , principally led by a Yamasee chief named Arratommakaw . The exact size of these forces varies by source ; accounts provide numbers ranging from 800 to 1 , 200 in strength ; most sources say that about 500 colonists and 300 – 400 Indians took part . Some of this force , primarily the Indians , went overland to Port Royal under the command of Deputy Governor Robert Daniell , while Moore embarked the rest of the force on 14 boats . These forces joined at Port Royal , and Daniell ' s force was landed on what is now known as Amelia Island ( it was called Isla Santa Maria by the Spanish , and was part of Florida ' s Guale Province ) , while Moore sailed on to Matanzas Bay . 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 . The fortress , a fairly conventional star fort , was constructed from soft coquina limestone . Governor Joseph de Zúñiga y Zérda assumed command of the post in 1700 . Natives friendly to the Spanish heard of the recruitment , and word of the expedition reached Zúñiga on October 27 . He ordered the town ' s inhabitants into the fort , commandeered all food stores in anticipation of an extended siege , and dispatched messengers to Pensacola , Havana , and the French at Mobile with calls for assistance . Refugees swelled the civilian population to about 1 , 500 , of which only a small number were deemed capable of military action . Zúñiga estimated the food provisions brought in to be sufficient for a siege of three months ' duration . Some of Zúñiga ' s men wanted to do battle with the English ; the governor identified , in addition to 174 regulars and 14 artillerymen , 44 Europeans from the population that were fit for action , 123 Indians ( most armed with poor - quality or useless weapons ) , and 57 black men ( freemen , mulattoes , and slaves ) of which only 20 had any experience with weapons . Zúñiga did not consider either the Indians or the Negroes to be trustworthy , and estimated that only about 70 men of this entire force were actually prepared for a battle . He consequently prepared for a siege . His principal concern was the training of the artillerymen , of whom he wrote that they " had no service record , lacked discipline , and have only a slight knowledge of the . . . guns which are mounted . " English approach . Daniell ' s forces landed on Amelia Island , and began attacks on the northern end of the island at midnight on 3 November , killing two Spanish soldiers and overrunning the village of San Pedro de Tupiqui . They advanced south , driving southward a flood of refugees and the few Spanish troops on the island . The main settlements at San Felipe and San Marcos were overrun the next day , as the Spanish were in the process of evacuating them . Zúñiga learned of the advance on 5 November , and sent 20 men under Captain Joseph de Horruytiner north , with instructions to make a stand at San Juan del Puerto , seven leagues from St . Augustine , which Zúñiga saw as the " key to the province of Guale " . The news also prompted Zúñiga to mobilize all able - bodied men over 14 , and order all available food into the fort . Horruytiner never made it beyond the St . Johns River ; he did capture three enemy soldiers ( two Englishmen and a Chiluque Indian ) on 6 November , and returned with them to St . Augustine two days later . Zúñiga learned from these captives that the English had brought three months ' provisions , and that they had only brought smaller cannons ( 6 to 10 pounders ) . In the meantime , Moore sailed south with the fleet . Three ships were sent ahead of the main fleet to blockade the entrance to Matanzas Bay , south of St . Augustine . These were spotted from the fort on 7 November . The next day the main body of the fleet began arriving at the bar outside the St . Augustine inlet . This prompted Zúñiga to order his two frigates , " La Gloria " and " Nuestra Señora de la Piedad y el Niño Jesús " , to anchor under the fort ' s guns . The " Nuestra " , which was outside the bar , was unable to cross , and was eventually burned . Sixteen of her men joined the fort ' s garrison , providing valuable gunnery skills . Daniell ' s force , after being landed , made good progress . The small Spanish force on Amelia Island was unable to check the English advance at San Juan del Puerto , and was dispersed ; some of them took days to reach St . Augustine . Daniels continued to advance , and entered the town of St . Augustine without resistance on 10 November . Eight of the English ships crossed the bar and began landing men that day . As the English began to close the circle around the fortress , a Spanish foraging expedition successfully drove 163 head of cattle through the English lines and into the fort ' s ( dry ) moat . Siege . The Spanish guns opened fire on the English as they began siege preparations on November 10 . One of the older Spanish cannons exploded that day , killing three and wounding five . A few days later , Zúñiga ordered a sally to destroy portions of the town within firing range of the fort ; according to later accounting , this action destroyed more than 15 , 000 pesos worth of property . Moore had brought four small cannon , but these made little impression on the coquina walls of the fortress , and the Spanish guns had longer range , keeping most of his forces at bay . Around November 22 , Moore dispatched Deputy Governor Daniell to Jamaica for larger cannons and ammunition . The English continued digging siege trenches , and began firing on the fortress from musket range on November 24 . This cannon fire continued to have little effect , and Moore ordered more of the town torched the next day , including the Franciscan monastery . Since his cannons were not effective against the fort ' s walls , Moore attempted a deception to gain entry to the fort . On December 14 , a Yamasee couple managed to gain entry to the fort posing as refugees , apparently with the goal of detonating the fort ' s powder magazine . However , Zúñiga was suspicious of their behavior and , according to his account of the siege , they were tortured into admitting the plot . By December 19 the English trenches had closed on the fort to the point that they threatened nearby fields from which the Spanish had been collecting forage . As a result , Zúñiga ordered a sally . There was a skirmish , and Spanish casualties were light : one killed and several wounded . Relief attempts . Spanish leaders at San Luis de Apalachee ( present - day Tallahassee , Florida ) began mobilizing when they received the news of the siege . Short on supplies , they appealed to the French at Mobile , who provided critical guns and gunpowder ; the Pensacola garrison also spared ten men . The relief force left San Luis de Apalachee on December 24 , but turned back when news was received that the siege had been lifted . Also on December 24 , sails from a pair of ships were spotted approaching St . Augustine . English records do not indicate what these ships were ; Spanish records show that they were English in origin , but probably not from Jamaica , since the nature of the siege did not change with their arrival . The expedition to Jamaica , having failed in its mission , returned directly to Charles Town . Spanish messengers from Pensacola eventually reported St . Augustine ' s plight to Havana . Governor Pedro Nicolás Benítez held a war council on December 2 , in which a relief expedition was organized . A detachment of over 200 infantry under the command of Captain López de Solloso was embarked on a small fleet headed by General Estevan de Berroa in the " Black Eagle " . Berroa ' s fleet arrived outside St . Augustine ' s harbor on December 28 . Apparently believing the siege to already be over , Berroa did not land any troops . The next day , Governor Zúñiga sneaked some men out of the fort and made contact with the fleet . Berroa then landed Solloso and about 70 raw recruits on Anastasia Island , about below the fort . This action prompted Moore to lift the siege and prepare a retreat . Berroa also dispatched smaller ships to block the southern inlet to Matanzas Bay , trapping some of Moore ' s ships in the bay . Moore ordered the remaining buildings in the town , including the church , put to the torch . Some of his men departed north via the mainland , while the rest crossed Matanzas Bay to their boats . Moore burned the eight ships trapped in the bay , and retreated to the north , eventually returning to Charles Town in disgrace . Zúñiga sent men out after the English departure ; they were able to recover three of the English boats that failed to burn completely . Casualty reports made by both sides varied ; historian Charles Arnade notes that all of the numbers reported are probably unreliable . Moore ' s report listed only two men killed , while Zúñiga in his report claimed that more than 60 of the English force were killed . Zúñiga claimed only three or four killed and 20 wounded for the Spanish contingent , none of which were caused by English cannon fire . Aftermath . Moore was forced to resign his post as governor because of the failed raid , and its cost to the province ( which included compensating owners for the loss of their ships ) caused riots in Charles Town . Some of Moore ' s contemporary critics accused him of executing the raid for the purpose of seizing slaves or booty ; the Spanish characterized it in religious terms , citing the " English provincial hatred against the Church of God . " Moore continued to be active in the war , leading a small number of Carolinians and a large band of Indians on the destruction of Spanish missions in Florida in 1704 . By 1705 the English and their Indian allies had destroyed 32 Spanish mission communities , and by 1711 there were reported to be only about 400 Indians left in Florida . Governor Zúñiga was rewarded for his successful defense with a special commendation from the king and promotion to the more prestigious and desirable governorship of Cartagena . He made a series of highly critical complaints of General Berroa : the general failed to destroy the English fleet ; he failed to share the plunder taken from the ships burned by the English ; he refused to leave any of his fleet to assist in protection of the town ; and he landed only the weakest and least effective troops in a bid to avoid combat . The general also sailed for Havana on January 8 , barely one week after the siege was lifted . In 1704 Governor Zúñiga convinced some Spanish privateers to raid the Carolina coast in revenge for Moore ' s activities . Spanish and French forces , motivated and organized by Pierre Le Moyne d ' Iberville ( who died shortly before its departure ) , attempted the capture of Charles Town in August 1706 ; their attempts to land forces were successfully repulsed . The Castillo de San Marcos was not subjected to further attacks in the war . The expedition destroyed all but two communities in the provinces of Guale and Timucua ; Spanish Florida never really recovered from the decimation of its population in the following years . St . Augustine was again unsuccessfully besieged in 1740 by forces from the Province of Georgia , and the castillo underwent numerous renovations and uses in the 18th and 19th centuries . It is now a National Monument managed by the National Park Service , and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places .