Florida Day 3

Last night G3 hung his hammock when we returned to the campsite. He also hung a tarp to keep him dry if the rain commenced again.

I fell asleep listening to the cicadas and drops of water falling from the trees and tapping the rainfly of my tent. When I woke up, just before seven, I found G3 sleeping in the car. He said he had to withdraw from his hammock because the mosquitoes were feasting on his legs. We ate breakfast at the campsite and two young deer came to visit. They were a bit skittish but not very fearful. They walked right up to us keeping only about four or five feet of distance.

After breaking camp, we stopped at the visitor center and museum because I wanted to see and learn about the fort. Fort McAllister is one of the most unique forts I’ve been too—and I’ve been to many. I would say it was the prettiest but that is an adjective not quite suitable for anything pertaining to war. It is an earthwork fort with mounds rising up out of the ground and southern live oaks draped with Spanish moss surrounding the fortifications. The trees weren’t there when it was being used as an active fort but they add an element of beauty now.

The fort sits on the Ogeechee River, a vital waterway for the Confederates, especially after Fort Pulaski fell to the Union. While the Union set up a blockade to cut the South off at the sea, some Confederate ships managed to break through. One notable ship was the Nashville. Unfortunately for the Confederates, the USS Montauk sank it as it attempted to run back through blockade with its hold packed with goods headed to Europe.

The USS Montauk was an ironclad ship which made it harder than wooden ships to sink or damage in battle. The Montauk launched several bombardments on Fort McAllister in early 1863. The cannon balls fired from the fort were heated until they were red hot. This was an effective strategy against wooden ships which would burst into flames from the heat when struck. They were far less effective on the Montauk. While the Confederates had many direct hits, none caused extensive damage. The Montauk also neglected to deliver a severely damaging blow to the fort. The earth-walls were less susceptible to crippling damage because they could be repaired quickly and easily. While the Montauk did deliver some fierce shots which blew huge holes in the walls, men were able to fill them, restoring them to their former strength.

In one bombardment in March of 1863 there was only one casualty—a cat who was taken in by the Confederate army and adopted as their mascot. This saddened the men who had grown fond of the cat.

Unable to capture the fort, the Montauk eventually withdrew. For roughly a year and a half afterwards, the only enemy the Confederate Army dealt with were the mosquitoes and other annoying insects. Then in late 1864, after burning Atlanta, Sherman began his march of destruction to the sea. It ended at Fort McAllister on December 13. Knowing that Sherman was on his way, the Confederates buried mines near the fort. This Sherman considered a dishonorable way to fight. Most Union casualties were a result of these mines. Despite the Confederates’ determined attempt to hold the fort, the union outnumbered and overpowered them. Sherman’s victory over Georgia was complete.

Kati was kind enough to detour to St. Simon Island while en route to St. Augustine so I could visit Fort Frederica. Fort Frederica was a military town established by James Oglethorpe and settled by his “worthy poor” in 1733 on land claimed by the Spanish. The purpose of the town was twofold: settlement and defense. Britain and Spain were fierce enemies in the 1700s and England feared the Spanish might begin to encroach on their colonies. Spain believed that the British were squatting on their’s. When the town was first established on the banks of the Frederica River, it resembled nearly every other town in England at the time.

In 1740, Oglethorpe set out with troops to lead an assault on St. Augustine. He failed in his attempt to breech the city. Two years later, the Spanish returned the favor, attacking the British on St. Simon island. The British won a decisive victory in the Battle of Bloody Marsh and the Spanish withdrew back to Florida. Both battles were part of the War of Jenkin’s Ear which I wrote about yesterday.

Eventually, peace came and the British and Spanish stopped fighting. As a result, Fort Frederica was no longer important. In 1743, Oglethorpe returned to England and by 1755, most settlers had left the town. Soon after, it was abandoned, left to fall into disrepair. Today, it is mostly a grassy field with ruins scattered about. Part of the fort still stands overlooking the river and one wall of the barracks remains, looking more like a monument than a building. Back in the 1700s, all buildings were constructed using tabby, a type of cement made from mixing sand, ash, and burnt oyster shells (called quicklime) with water.

My favorite part of the visit were the Southern live oaks and the Spanish moss blowing in the strong breeze coming off the water. I seriously love those trees and their moss.

After visiting Fort Frederica, we continued south into Florida, stopping at Blaze Pizza for lunch. None of us cared for the pizza. Kati disliked the dough and I found the food rather flavorless. Our destination is St. Augustine, a city I have wanted to visit for a very long time considering it is the oldest city in America. Jamestown gets too much credit because it was settled by the British and became one of the original thirteen colonies but St. Augustine was settled first. It’s just that the Spanish got their first and held it in their possession for nearly two hundred years before the British—and then the Americans—snatched it from them. Why the name St. Augustine? That was the question I pondered as Kati drove. A Google search provided an answer.

England wasn’t Spain’s only enemy. Remember, the French also had a presence in North America and were eager to expand their influence.  In 1565, the king of France sent and expedited to Florida to establish a colony. The expedition established a presence on the St. John’s River in what is now Jacksonville. This infuriated the king of Spain who sent Don Pedro Menéndez to expel them. Menendez came from Avilés in Spain and it just so happened that St. Augustine was the town’s patron saint. Plus, Menendez and his crew first caught sight of Florida on August 28, 1565 which happened to be St. Augustine’s feast day. If you are Catholic you know how important that is. Needless to say, Menendez had two very good reasons to name the city he founded in honor of St. Augustine.

We reached St. Augustine in the late afternoon so we went straight to Anastasia State Park which is where we are camping. We wanted to set up our tent while we still had sunlight to see by. G3 set up his hammock. The campsite is small but quaint. A patch of sandy dirt surrounding by palm trees and the oaks I love so much with the Spanish moss.

I am eager to explore the Historic District but we will be here for two more days. I will have time. Since Kati is melting in the heat and G3 has been itching to see the Odyssey we decided to head to the movies. But first, we stopped by the beach which is in walking distance from our campsite. We didn’t have time for a swim—the movie started at 6:00–but I did put my feet in the water. Compared to Alaska, it feels like a bathtub. I hope the weather doesn’t foil our plans to go swimming either tomorrow or Wednesday.

We all enjoyed the movie, however, G3 and I stepped out of the theater rattling off the inaccuracies, all the ways the movie differed from the poem. Key parts were left out, like when Odysseus escapes the cyclops and tells him his name is nobody. The movie also cut the scene with the Lotus Eaters and I don’t remember there being big cats at Circe’s, just pigs. Odysseus’ return was dramatized way more than it needed to be considering it’s already dramatized. I won’t say more incase you haven’t seen it, except that Kati, who read the odyssey so long ago she doesn’t remember it, really liked the movie. Despite what the script got wrong, the acting was fantastic, as was the directing. However, it was way too loud, especially the scenes in which Poseidon was raging and I felt as if the stormy seas were trying to drown me.

Dinner was a quick stop at Taco Bell and I am now in my tent getting ready for bed. It’s so warm and humid Kati might completely dissolve into a puddle before morning.