Santo Domingo Redoubt
Posted by: Markerman62
N 29° 53.867 W 081° 18.896
17R E 469594 N 3307500
A group of markers near the city gate
Waymark Code: WMKBHG
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 03/14/2014
Views: 14
Panel 1
The Defensive System of Colonial St. Augustine
Following the 1792 English siege of St. Augustine, the Spanish began construction of a system of peripheral fortifications to protect the town based on the principle of DEFENSE-IN-DEPTH.
Between 1704-1821, the Spanish completed the outworks of the Castillo and erected five earthen walls known as LINES OF ENTRENCHMENT. The Tosario Line and the eastern segment of the Cubo Line formed the city wall, also known as the LINE OF CIRCUMVALLATION.
During the British occupation of Florida (1763-1784), military engineers repaired the Spanish fortifications and erected a chain of seven free-standing redoubts west and south of the town.
Panel 2
Cartography of the Presidio de San Agustin de la Florida
Historians and archaeologists consulted Colonial and Territorial Period documents to locate the site of the Santo Domingo Redoubt, which was also referred to at various times as the Tolomato Redoubt.
Archaeological excavations of the Santo Domingo Redoubt confirmed documentary evidence that the redoubt, constructed in the 1730s, was built on two separate occasions (1808 and 1834). Excavations have revealed that, unlike the five-sided structures represented in some maps, the 1808 and 1834 redoubts were square in shape.
Panel 3
Archaeology
In 1704, following the English siege of 1702, the Spanish built the Cubo Line to protect the town's northern sector. In the 1730s, they rebuilt the line in anticipation of an English attack from Georgia.
In 1808, a time of upheaval in the Spanish empire, the redoubt was again rebuilt to strengthen St. Augustine's defenses against the enemies of Spanish Florida.
In 1834, on the eve of the Second Seminole War (1835-1842), the U.S. Army constructed a wooden redoubt on the site of the ruined Santo Domingo Redoubt.
You are standing inside the reconstructed 1808 Santo Domingo Redoubt, an earthen structure held in place by a palm log revetment.
Rows of Spanish Bayonet (a type of yucca with sharp leaves) were planted at the base of defensive lines and redoubts to fend off enemy soldiers and stray livestock.
Panel 4
Garrison Life in 1808
The Infantry Regiment of Cuba was formed in 1788-1789 as a result of Spanish military reforms introduced in the second half of the 1700s. The Regiment consisted of three battalions. The First and Second Battalions were assigned to Havana and Santiago de Cuba. The Third Battalion was assigned to the Presidio de San Agustine de la Florida, a dependency of Cuba.
In St. Augustine, Spanish infantrymen garrisoned the Castillo de San Marcos, the defensive walls, redoubts, lookout towers and small forts that protected the Presidio.
Four embrasures pierced the walls of Santo Domingo Redoubt to accommodate ordnance pieces, typically (?) 6 and 9-pound guns mounted on siege and field carriages. In the absence of field pieces, garrison guns from the Castillo were moved to the redoubt.
Panel 5
Santo Domingo Redoubt & City Gate
Following the 1702 English siege of St. Augustine, the Spanish began construction of a DEFENSIVE SYSTEM to protect the Presidio. The CUBO LINE, built in 1704 to safeguard the town's northern sector, was the first line of defense the Spanish raised.
In the early 18th century, the Spanish on Florida used the medieval term CUBO to describe rounded, pointed or square bastions built into defensive walls. The Cubo Line derived its name from the three cubos built into its wall.
Throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Spanish in Florida applied the term REDUCTO (redoubt) to cubos built into the defensive walls.
The eastern portion of the Cubo Line (reconstructed here) incorporated the City Gate and the Santo Domingo Redoubt. This wall, also known as the INTERIOR LINE, ran westward from the Castillo to the San Sebastian River.
Marker Number: 0
Date: None
County: St Johns
Marker Type: Other
Sponsored or placed by: City of St. Augustine
Website: Not listed
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