Spanish soldiers watched in horror as English troops set fire to their homes while the drawbridges were up and soldier-settlers and their families sheltered inside the crowded fortress. Except for a few rooms for guards on duty, the fort had no living quarters. During the nearly two-month-long siege in 1702, the English failed to conquer the Castillo but left St. Augustine in ashes. Afterward, the determined Spanish rebuilt their homes and added more defenses to protect their town.
