The Watchtower That Guarded the Back Door
During the 1740 siege, supplies slipped into St. Augustine through Matanzas Inlet. Spain then built a coquina watchtower there, finished in 1742, to guard the city's back door. Documented history
You can lock the front door of a fortress. But what about the back?
In 1740, British forces under General James Oglethorpe besieged St. Augustine and tried to starve it by blockading the harbor. But about fourteen miles south lay another way in: Matanzas Inlet. Small Spanish boats used it to bring in supplies, and the city held out.
Spain's governor, Manuel de Montiano, understood the lesson. He began building a stone watchtower at the inlet without waiting for royal permission. Finished in 1742, Fort Matanzas was built of coquina, like the Castillo, and armed with cannon that could reach any ship trying to enter.
A name with a dark history
Matanzas means 'slaughters' in Spanish. The name comes from 1565, when Pedro Menéndez de Avilés's forces killed hundreds of shipwrecked French soldiers near the inlet after a hurricane destroyed their fleet. It is one of the grimmest events in Florida's colonial history.
Getting there
Fort Matanzas is a national monument. The National Park Service has historically run a free ferry across the river to the fort. Check the day's schedule before you go.
Your mission
From the ferry dock or the tower, look at the inlet. If you were guarding a city fourteen miles away, why would this one narrow channel worry you?
Plan it
- Fort Matanzas (official NPS info)
- Kayak and nature tours near Matanzas
- Explore it on a Since 1565 adventure
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Historical basis: National Park Service, Fort Matanzas National Monument; The Massacre of the French. See all sources.