Fort San Carlos

Fort San Carlos, completed by the Spanish in 1816 on a bluff overlooking the Amelia River, was a wood-and-earthworks fort armed with eight or ten guns. As the Spanish Empire disintegrated, it became increasingly vulnerable to foreign intervention. In June 1817, Sir Gregor MacGregor, commissioned by representatives of revolting South American countries to liberate Florida from Spanish control, seized the fort. After his withdrawal in September, a Spanish attempt to reassert authority was repelled by forces led by MacGregor's lieutenants, Jared Irwin and Ruggles Hubbard. Somewhat later, the pirate Luis Aury gained control of the fort. Because Aury's privateering threatened negotiations concerning the cession of Florida, United States troops occupied Fort San Carlos in December 1817. Although Spain was upset by U.S. interference there, it ceded Florida in 1821, and the U.S. abandoned the fort shortly after the transferral. Archaeologists estimate that two-thirds of the area has disappeared through erosion.

Fernandina Beach, Florida · United States