Sunday, December 26, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
NewsDaily: Russia prods North Korea on nuclear programme, attack
NewsDaily (2010-12-13) -- Russia's foreign minister told his North Korean counterpart on Monday that Moscow was deeply concerned over Pyongyang's uranium enrichment efforts and condemned an attack on a South Korean island, the ministry said. ... > read full article
NewsDaily (2010-12-13) -- Russia's foreign minister told his North Korean counterpart on Monday that Moscow was deeply concerned over Pyongyang's uranium enrichment efforts and condemned an attack on a South Korean island, the ministry said. ... > read full article
NewsDaily: U.S. envoy seeks progress despite talks' collapse
NewsDaily (2010-12-13) -- Washington's Middle East peace envoy said on Monday he would strive to achieve "real progress" in the coming months toward a Middle East framework peace deal, despite the collapse of direct Israeli-Palestinian talks. ... > read full article
NewsDaily (2010-12-13) -- Washington's Middle East peace envoy said on Monday he would strive to achieve "real progress" in the coming months toward a Middle East framework peace deal, despite the collapse of direct Israeli-Palestinian talks. ... > read full article
Sunday, December 12, 2010
NewsDaily: Drug shootout mars religious festival in Mexico
NewsDaily (2010-12-12) -- Suspected drug cartel gunmen attacked each other during annual religious celebrations in a small Mexican town, killing 11 people and wounding 22 others, local authorities said on Saturday. ... > read full article
NewsDaily (2010-12-12) -- Suspected drug cartel gunmen attacked each other during annual religious celebrations in a small Mexican town, killing 11 people and wounding 22 others, local authorities said on Saturday. ... > read full article
what a trip
It must have been a depressing time for St. Augustine residents in December 1763. The gray damp December days surely did not boost the spirits of the residents who boarded ships that carried them to Cuba. They were leaving behind their own homes in St. Augustine. For many of them, they were leaving the town of their birth and where their grandparents and several earlier generations and been born and lived.
In December 1763, six ships carried Spanish evacuees to Cuba following the transfer of Florida to Great Britain. Spain had been on the losing side of the Seven Years War, (usually called the French and Indian War in the United States) and had given up Florida as part of the peace negotiations. British soldiers and administrators had arrived in St. Augustine in July 1763. Spanish residents were given about six months to depart.
The evacuation had begun in April 1763. Families boarded schooners, sloops and brigantines with their trunks and furniture. No doubt many of the evacuees had never sailed on a ship, especially the women. Ships also carried away the weapons that had protected Castillo de San Marcos. The British brought in their own artillery.
Six shiploads of residents departed that December. One ship carried only a dozen evacuees. The Spanish brigantine San Jose y Nuestra Senora del Rosario left port on Dec. 19 with 90 persons, the largest sailing in December.
The "spread sheet" of the departures compiled in Havana in April 1764 by Florida's Spanish governor Melchor Feliu and Juan Elixio de la Puente tell us that on most of the vessels, the passenger list was about half and half children and adults.
Surely every passenger had his or her own tale, but the old records do not provide much of that sort of information. Eighteenth-century documents did not leave us many of the personal interest stories that abound today. Combining many different documents, I was able to piece together a glimpse of one family at the time they boarded the ship bound for Havana. It is probably a representative story.
Juana de Navarro stepped onto the sloop San Antonio in October 1763 probably carrying her five-week-old baby, her ninth child. Her husband Salvador de Porras and her six other surviving children were on board. They left behind their home on St. George Street, which had been the property of Juana's mother and grandmother. They also owned land and buildings on today's Avenida Menendez.
Some version of this story was repeated over and over until Jan. 21, 1764, when the last of the 3,000 Spanish evacuees sailed away from our town. Some of them, including Juana's middle child Catalina would return 20 years later, when Spain regained Florida in 1784.
By SUSAN R. PARKER
In December 1763, six ships carried Spanish evacuees to Cuba following the transfer of Florida to Great Britain. Spain had been on the losing side of the Seven Years War, (usually called the French and Indian War in the United States) and had given up Florida as part of the peace negotiations. British soldiers and administrators had arrived in St. Augustine in July 1763. Spanish residents were given about six months to depart.
The evacuation had begun in April 1763. Families boarded schooners, sloops and brigantines with their trunks and furniture. No doubt many of the evacuees had never sailed on a ship, especially the women. Ships also carried away the weapons that had protected Castillo de San Marcos. The British brought in their own artillery.
Six shiploads of residents departed that December. One ship carried only a dozen evacuees. The Spanish brigantine San Jose y Nuestra Senora del Rosario left port on Dec. 19 with 90 persons, the largest sailing in December.
The "spread sheet" of the departures compiled in Havana in April 1764 by Florida's Spanish governor Melchor Feliu and Juan Elixio de la Puente tell us that on most of the vessels, the passenger list was about half and half children and adults.
Surely every passenger had his or her own tale, but the old records do not provide much of that sort of information. Eighteenth-century documents did not leave us many of the personal interest stories that abound today. Combining many different documents, I was able to piece together a glimpse of one family at the time they boarded the ship bound for Havana. It is probably a representative story.
Juana de Navarro stepped onto the sloop San Antonio in October 1763 probably carrying her five-week-old baby, her ninth child. Her husband Salvador de Porras and her six other surviving children were on board. They left behind their home on St. George Street, which had been the property of Juana's mother and grandmother. They also owned land and buildings on today's Avenida Menendez.
Some version of this story was repeated over and over until Jan. 21, 1764, when the last of the 3,000 Spanish evacuees sailed away from our town. Some of them, including Juana's middle child Catalina would return 20 years later, when Spain regained Florida in 1784.
By SUSAN R. PARKER
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
St. Augustine Tour Guides Trials & Tribulations: The end of the story
St. Augustine Tour Guides Trials & Tribulations: The end of the story: "Moore ordered St. Augustine set to the torch as his men withdrew, and on 30 December Zuniga's men reoccupied the town and controlled the fir..."
The end of the story
Moore ordered St. Augustine set to the torch as his men withdrew, and on 30 December Zuniga's men reoccupied the town and controlled the fires. The siege was over, but St. Augustine had to be almost completely rebuilt. The English destruction of Spanish settlements at Apalache, Timuca, and Guale left St. Augustine the only Spanish strongpoint in northern Florida, and over the next twenty years the town was rebuilt with a surrounding wall.
The retention of the Spanish hold on Florida was not completely accepted by the English colonists to the north. Although the War of the Spanish Succession ended in 1713, military action did not completely stop. In 1728 Colonel William Palmer of Carolina marched against the fort but "refrained" from capturing the town once he saw the fort. The next and last serious attack came in 1740, when the founder of the colony of Georgia, James Oglethorpe, led an expedition against Castillo de San Marcos in order to secure his southern border from expected Spanish incursion. Spanish Governor Manuel de Montiano commanded a sortie be launched against the English while their forces were divided and that paralyzed the English attack. They proceeded to bombard the fort with naval gunfire for twenty-seven days, but inflicted little damage and few casualties. With hurricane season approaching, the force finally retreated to Georgia.
The Castillo de San Marcos, when finally completed, performed its mission. It maintained Spanish authority in northern Florida by resisting every attack launched against it. Their final additions to the fort were built in 1762, at the end of the Seven Years War, but the fort saw no more action after Oglethorpe's abortive attack. Spain ceded Florida to Britain the following year as penalty for being on the losing side in the Seven Years War, but regained it in the wake of the American Revolution. The Spanish possessed Florida until 1819, when the territory was finally sold to the United States. By then Spanish power was little but a fond memory and the United States was just starting down the path to greatness.
The retention of the Spanish hold on Florida was not completely accepted by the English colonists to the north. Although the War of the Spanish Succession ended in 1713, military action did not completely stop. In 1728 Colonel William Palmer of Carolina marched against the fort but "refrained" from capturing the town once he saw the fort. The next and last serious attack came in 1740, when the founder of the colony of Georgia, James Oglethorpe, led an expedition against Castillo de San Marcos in order to secure his southern border from expected Spanish incursion. Spanish Governor Manuel de Montiano commanded a sortie be launched against the English while their forces were divided and that paralyzed the English attack. They proceeded to bombard the fort with naval gunfire for twenty-seven days, but inflicted little damage and few casualties. With hurricane season approaching, the force finally retreated to Georgia.
The Castillo de San Marcos, when finally completed, performed its mission. It maintained Spanish authority in northern Florida by resisting every attack launched against it. Their final additions to the fort were built in 1762, at the end of the Seven Years War, but the fort saw no more action after Oglethorpe's abortive attack. Spain ceded Florida to Britain the following year as penalty for being on the losing side in the Seven Years War, but regained it in the wake of the American Revolution. The Spanish possessed Florida until 1819, when the territory was finally sold to the United States. By then Spanish power was little but a fond memory and the United States was just starting down the path to greatness.
The Battle of 1702
The Battle
Moore collected a force of some 500 militia soldiers and 300 Yamasee Indians with the willing support of the Carolina legislature, who felt the need to act once word arrived in mid-summer of the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in Europe. Since England and Spain were at war, so should their respective colonies be. The legislature appropriated the funding for the expedition and promised to any participant in the attack an equal share of whatever loot might be captured.
Fourteen ships departed Charleston on 16 October 1702. The plan was for Moore to attack Spanish outposts along the coast with a seaborne force while a land-based force under Colonel Robert Daniel marched on St. Augustine. Daniel's troops landed in the Spanish province of Guale (some 60 miles north of St. Augustine), on 3 November. They proceeded to kill, capture, or drive off all the Spanish and Indian inhabitants of villages, who retreated south. Moore's force had similar success attacking various villages along the coast. Fleeing Spaniards and Indians reached St. Augustine on the evening of the 4th with news of the attack.
Governor Zuniga immediately gathered the inhabitants of St. Augustine into the citadel and appropriated all available food. He also sent a frigate to Havana begging for aid, while other messengers were dispatched to the Spanish outposts at Pensacola and Mobile. He sent a small force northward to slow or stop the English colonists, but they had little success. English sails were sighted 9 miles north of the town by the evening of the 5th. The next day, three English ships sailed south past St. Augustine to the mouth of the Matanzas Inlet, the southern approach to St. Augustine harbor. The remaining ships sailed up to the harbor on the morning of 8 November, but owing to the shallow bar at the entrance the men debarked on the south side of the harbor and marched around to join Daniel's force.
On the 9th Zuniga brought the final citizens of the town into the fortress. The following morning his scouts reported the approach of Daniel's men. When the English colonists arrived in St. Augustine and took up positions, Moore then landed his men from the ships. Inside the fort Zuniga oversaw approximately 1,500 people, of whom some 600 were either soldiers (just over 200) or citizens he could use for the defense. His fourteen cannon were old, his ammunition in short supply, and his artillerymen without experience. From interrogated prisoners Zuniga learned that the En-glish had brought supplies for a three-month siege. As he could not match that, his only hope was relief from Havana.
The English were not fully in occupation of St. Augustine until 14 November, at which point Zuniga sent out a sally to burn down all the houses in the immediate neighborhood. They were destroyed to a distance of about 75 yards from the fort, giving the muskets a clear field of fire. The English had few cannon of their own, but began digging parallels to bring them as close as possible. The Spanish cannon fire did little direct harm but did keep the English cautious and under cover. The siege trenches were dug in anticipation of heavy artillery arriving from Jamaica; Moore dispatched Daniel there to fetch weapons and reinforcements.
The siege settled into a waiting game, with Zuniga occasionally able to get messengers carrying requests for aid through the English force. On 14 December an Indian, calling himself Juan Lorenzo, and his wife approached the Castillo San Marcos gate. When admitted inside, he claimed to be a deserter from the English force. He informed Zuniga that the English morale was rapidly deteriorating and that they would soon abandon the siege. After questioning, Lorenzo and his wife went to join the other Indians in the fort. He then tried to provoke a rebellion against the Spanish. When this was reported to Zuniga, Lorenzo was taken into custody and tortured for information, which he refused to give. His wife, however, admitted that they had been sent by the En-glish, hoping they could explode the fort's powder magazine.
By the 19th the English trenches were within 100 yards of the walls, but the English still lacked strong enough guns to create a breach. Spanish morale plummeted when two sails came into view on Christmas Eve and they were topped by the Union Jack. The English ships did not carry heavy ordnance from Jamaica; however, they did bring more men and ammunition. Zuniga ordered a Christmas party and a bonus for the defenders in order to keep up spirits. It did not succeed, but the arrival of four Spanish ships on the 26th did raise morale. The ships did nothing until the 29th, apparently unready to engage the English ships on hand. On the 29th, however, they finally unloaded 212 soldiers just down the coast. That was sufficient to bring Moore to the decision to withdraw. The return of Spanish ships from their unloading of troops blocked an escape by sea, so he ordered his own ships burned and retreated by land. Luckily for him, he had stationed reserve ships up the coast and they were used to ferry the remaining 500 men back to Carolina.
Moore collected a force of some 500 militia soldiers and 300 Yamasee Indians with the willing support of the Carolina legislature, who felt the need to act once word arrived in mid-summer of the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in Europe. Since England and Spain were at war, so should their respective colonies be. The legislature appropriated the funding for the expedition and promised to any participant in the attack an equal share of whatever loot might be captured.
Fourteen ships departed Charleston on 16 October 1702. The plan was for Moore to attack Spanish outposts along the coast with a seaborne force while a land-based force under Colonel Robert Daniel marched on St. Augustine. Daniel's troops landed in the Spanish province of Guale (some 60 miles north of St. Augustine), on 3 November. They proceeded to kill, capture, or drive off all the Spanish and Indian inhabitants of villages, who retreated south. Moore's force had similar success attacking various villages along the coast. Fleeing Spaniards and Indians reached St. Augustine on the evening of the 4th with news of the attack.
Governor Zuniga immediately gathered the inhabitants of St. Augustine into the citadel and appropriated all available food. He also sent a frigate to Havana begging for aid, while other messengers were dispatched to the Spanish outposts at Pensacola and Mobile. He sent a small force northward to slow or stop the English colonists, but they had little success. English sails were sighted 9 miles north of the town by the evening of the 5th. The next day, three English ships sailed south past St. Augustine to the mouth of the Matanzas Inlet, the southern approach to St. Augustine harbor. The remaining ships sailed up to the harbor on the morning of 8 November, but owing to the shallow bar at the entrance the men debarked on the south side of the harbor and marched around to join Daniel's force.
On the 9th Zuniga brought the final citizens of the town into the fortress. The following morning his scouts reported the approach of Daniel's men. When the English colonists arrived in St. Augustine and took up positions, Moore then landed his men from the ships. Inside the fort Zuniga oversaw approximately 1,500 people, of whom some 600 were either soldiers (just over 200) or citizens he could use for the defense. His fourteen cannon were old, his ammunition in short supply, and his artillerymen without experience. From interrogated prisoners Zuniga learned that the En-glish had brought supplies for a three-month siege. As he could not match that, his only hope was relief from Havana.
The English were not fully in occupation of St. Augustine until 14 November, at which point Zuniga sent out a sally to burn down all the houses in the immediate neighborhood. They were destroyed to a distance of about 75 yards from the fort, giving the muskets a clear field of fire. The English had few cannon of their own, but began digging parallels to bring them as close as possible. The Spanish cannon fire did little direct harm but did keep the English cautious and under cover. The siege trenches were dug in anticipation of heavy artillery arriving from Jamaica; Moore dispatched Daniel there to fetch weapons and reinforcements.
The siege settled into a waiting game, with Zuniga occasionally able to get messengers carrying requests for aid through the English force. On 14 December an Indian, calling himself Juan Lorenzo, and his wife approached the Castillo San Marcos gate. When admitted inside, he claimed to be a deserter from the English force. He informed Zuniga that the English morale was rapidly deteriorating and that they would soon abandon the siege. After questioning, Lorenzo and his wife went to join the other Indians in the fort. He then tried to provoke a rebellion against the Spanish. When this was reported to Zuniga, Lorenzo was taken into custody and tortured for information, which he refused to give. His wife, however, admitted that they had been sent by the En-glish, hoping they could explode the fort's powder magazine.
By the 19th the English trenches were within 100 yards of the walls, but the English still lacked strong enough guns to create a breach. Spanish morale plummeted when two sails came into view on Christmas Eve and they were topped by the Union Jack. The English ships did not carry heavy ordnance from Jamaica; however, they did bring more men and ammunition. Zuniga ordered a Christmas party and a bonus for the defenders in order to keep up spirits. It did not succeed, but the arrival of four Spanish ships on the 26th did raise morale. The ships did nothing until the 29th, apparently unready to engage the English ships on hand. On the 29th, however, they finally unloaded 212 soldiers just down the coast. That was sufficient to bring Moore to the decision to withdraw. The return of Spanish ships from their unloading of troops blocked an escape by sea, so he ordered his own ships burned and retreated by land. Luckily for him, he had stationed reserve ships up the coast and they were used to ferry the remaining 500 men back to Carolina.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
St. Augustine Tour Guides Trials & Tribulations: Last Weeks Tour
St. Augustine Tour Guides Trials & Tribulations: Last Weeks Tour: "Well I made it through my first fort tour and didn't loose a child. Thank goodness for cannon firings that helped out . I stumbled a couple ..."
Last Weeks Tour
Well I made it through my first fort tour and didn't lose a child. Thank goodness for cannon firings that helped out . I stumbled a couple of times but they sure stayed off the walls of our fort.
Has any of you had the chance to go through the new museum at the Nombre De Dios yet? If not it is definitely a place to go now.
Has any of you had the chance to go through the new museum at the Nombre De Dios yet? If not it is definitely a place to go now.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
St. Augustine Tour Guides Trials & Tribulations: Is it Possible to Measure the Soul or Spirit?
St. Augustine Tour Guides Trials & Tribulations: Is it Possible to Measure the Soul or Spirit?: "Would you let someone weigh your body before physical departure and after being clinically and medically dead? Well, five people did in the ..."
Is it Possible to Measure the Soul or Spirit?
Would you let someone weigh your body before physical departure and after being clinically and medically dead? Well, five people did in the early 1900's. In one very limited 1907 study, researcher Duncan McDougall attempted to measure the soul by weighing five patients, as they died one by one. In two of the patients, there was a sudden weight loss of a half-ounce, followed by another sudden one-ounce weight loss within three minutes of time of death. A third patients weight fluctuated just after death, first dropping a bit, followed by an abrupt large weight gain, then another loss. There was no discernable change on the other patients. Needless to say, the results were inconclusive.
Tom Ogden
Tom Ogden
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
St. Augustine Tour Guides Trials & Tribulations: Followup on Death of a Govenor
St. Augustine Tour Guides Trials & Tribulations: Followup on Death of a Govenor: "This is in the time period of 1655-1657. So After the Death of Governor Benito Ruid Salazer And two other pro tem who all the sudden come ..."
Followup on Death of a Govenor
This is in the time period of 1655-1657.
So After the Death of Governor Benito Ruid Salazer And two other pro tem who all the sudden come up dead??
There’s is Meeting of certain officials of the Garrison and guess what there all related and they decide's that good ol Don Pedro Ruitinez is the best man for the governorship.
This is a statement from an anonymous letter to the king.
Governor Don Pedro Ruitinez – Who intimidates the people and squanders the money sent for their support-The Treasurer a partner in the illegality, and the judge receives hush money-This Governor maltreated an official who is also a solder and a conveyor of monies and goods for this port from Havana, for his Majesty – Traffic in amber from the Indians – Taking the iron and implements sent to be used in repairing the fort as money to purchase amber. Declares he will consult his own pleasure concerning the laws of the Church, taking communion once in one and one-half years. A distressing condition of mismanagement. So this goes on until the uprising of the Indian chiefs in 1657 who march to St Augustine and you'll never guess what they did as the letter to the King say.
Because of his insistence on their carring heavy loads of corn into the settlement, when they the Indians, had vassals to perform such labor they hung the Governor. there's a lesson for ya
So After the Death of Governor Benito Ruid Salazer And two other pro tem who all the sudden come up dead??
There’s is Meeting of certain officials of the Garrison and guess what there all related and they decide's that good ol Don Pedro Ruitinez is the best man for the governorship.
This is a statement from an anonymous letter to the king.
Governor Don Pedro Ruitinez – Who intimidates the people and squanders the money sent for their support-The Treasurer a partner in the illegality, and the judge receives hush money-This Governor maltreated an official who is also a solder and a conveyor of monies and goods for this port from Havana, for his Majesty – Traffic in amber from the Indians – Taking the iron and implements sent to be used in repairing the fort as money to purchase amber. Declares he will consult his own pleasure concerning the laws of the Church, taking communion once in one and one-half years. A distressing condition of mismanagement. So this goes on until the uprising of the Indian chiefs in 1657 who march to St Augustine and you'll never guess what they did as the letter to the King say.
Because of his insistence on their carring heavy loads of corn into the settlement, when they the Indians, had vassals to perform such labor they hung the Governor. there's a lesson for ya
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
St. Augustine Tour Guides Trials & Tribulations: Self Guided Tours
St. Augustine Tour Guides Trials & Tribulations: Self Guided Tours: "I'd like to know from all of you how you feel about all the self guided tours coming through town. If we as Tour Guides have to be licenced ..."
Self Guided Tours
I'd like to know from all of you how you feel about all the self guided tours coming through town.
If we as Tour Guides have to be licenced by the city to give tours it seems to me that every one of those
un-licenced School teachers need to go through the same testing as we did. Not to talk about the money they're taking out of our mouths.Just think about it I know 2 weeks ago I saw 3 buses with nothing but there teachers leading out of control kids. what type of education did those kids get??? I bet nothing but a bag full of junk and a hell of a sugar high.
If we as Tour Guides have to be licenced by the city to give tours it seems to me that every one of those
un-licenced School teachers need to go through the same testing as we did. Not to talk about the money they're taking out of our mouths.Just think about it I know 2 weeks ago I saw 3 buses with nothing but there teachers leading out of control kids. what type of education did those kids get??? I bet nothing but a bag full of junk and a hell of a sugar high.
Monday, November 29, 2010
St. Augustine Tour Guides Trials & Tribulations: New Paranormal Tour
St. Augustine Tour Guides Trials & Tribulations: New Paranormal Tour: "We have started a new paranormal tour at the Spanish military hospital. This is a 90 min investigation using the same tools as well you know..."
New Paranormal Tour
We have started a new paranormal tour at the Spanish military hospital. This is a 90 min investigation using the same tools as well you know who. So come join us on a paranormal investigation new tour starting
untold story of st augustine
I just started reading the untold story of St Augustine and what a bunch of crooks ran this town in the beginning. Talk about some travesty caused by the powers to be.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
change to the spanish quarter
Yesterday this was in the paper about the face lift to the spanish quarter.I think the new trolley drop off is a good thing.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
The end of a 2 day tour!!
4/16/10
Hi all,
The wife just called and informed me to make sure there's a cocktail for her.It's been of of those tours out til 11:30 the night before(LOST NO ROOMS FOR THE GROUP LOL). So the question for the day is, if a school group comes in how many children should be in each group?
Hi all,
The wife just called and informed me to make sure there's a cocktail for her.It's been of of those tours out til 11:30 the night before(LOST NO ROOMS FOR THE GROUP LOL). So the question for the day is, if a school group comes in how many children should be in each group?
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