Global InformationFort San Francisco de Pupo information
| Fort San Francisco de Pupo | |
|---|---|
| Northwest of St. Augustine, Florida, on west bank of the St. Johns River in United States | |
 Plan and Profile of Fort San Francisco de Pupo | |
  Fort San Francisco de Pupo Location of Fort San Francisco de Pupo  Fort San Francisco de Pupo Fort San Francisco de Pupo (the United States) | |
| Coordinates | 29°56′19″N 81°36′14″W / 29.93861°N 81.60389°W |
| Height | 32 ft. |
| Site information | |
| Condition | Only traces remain |
| Website | Waymarking.com |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1734 |
| Built by | Spanish Army (Ejército de Tierra) |
| In use | 1740 |
| Materials | Pine log palisade and blockhouse |
| Events | Seized by James Oglethorpe's troops |
| Garrison information | |
| Past commanders | British Captains MacKay and Desbrissy |
| Garrison | Regular army troops |
Fort San Francisco de Pupo (Spanish: Fuerte San Francisco de Pupo) was an 18th-century Spanish fort on the west bank of the St. Johns River in Florida, about eighteen miles from St. Augustine (San Agustín), the capital of Spanish Florida (La Florida). Lying on the old trail to the Spanish province of Apalachee in western Florida, Fort Pupo and its sister outpost, Fort Picolata on the opposite shore of the river, controlled all traffic on the ferry crossing.[1] The remains of Fort Pupo are situated about three miles south of Green Cove Springs in Clay County, near the end of Bayard Point opposite Picolata.[2] The surrounding area is a hammock of southern live oak, southern magnolia, pignut hickory and other typical trees native to the region.[3]
The site of Fort Pupo was excavated in stratigraphic tests by cultural anthropologist John Goggin and students of the University of Florida in 1950 and 1951;[3][4][5] his team's excavations indicated that the original structure of Fort Pupo was little more than a sentry box. A letter written by Royal Engineer Antonio de Arredondo on January 22, 1737 describes it as "a sentry box built of boards, eight feet in diameter… surrounded by a palisade."[6] This diminutive fortification was replaced in 1738 by the construction of a new wooden blockhouse, barracks, and storehouses on the orders of the governor of La Florida, Manuel de Montiano. The work was done under the direction of Engineer Pedro Ruiz de Olano, who pulled a crew of carpenters, sawyers, and axemen from construction of the Castillo de San Marcos, the fortress of St. Augustine, to rebuild the Pupo blockhouse.[7] The architectural plan and profile of the structure are shown in his "Plano y perfil del nuevo fortín de San Francisco de Pupo" (Plan and Profile of Fort San Francisco de Pupo).[8]
- ^ Ricardo Torres-Reyes (March 10, 1972). The British Siege of St. Augustine in 1740: Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (Historic Resource Study). National Technical Information Service. p. 7. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
- ^ Larry E. Ivers (23 February 2016). This Torrent of Indians: War on the Southern Frontier, 1715-1728. University of South Carolina Press. p. 229. ISBN 978-1-61117-607-0.
- ^ a b John M. Goggin (October 1951). "Fort Pupo: A Spanish Frontier Outpost". The Florida Historical Quarterly. 30 (2). Florida Historical Society: 140–141. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
- ^ Edward Sapir; Leslie Spier (1951). Yale University Publications in Anthropology. Department of Anthropology, Yale University. p. 37.
- ^ "Florida Museum of Natural History - Florida Historical Archeology Sites - Florida Historical Archeology Sites". www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu. Archived from the original on June 17, 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
- ^ Goggin 1951, p. 146
- ^ Manuel de Montiano (1909). Letters of Montiano: Siege of St. Agustine. Savannah, Georgia: Georgia Historical Society. p. 24.
- ^ Historic Structure Report for Fort Matanzas National Monument, St. John's County, Florida. Denver Service Center, Southeast/Southwest Team, Historic Preservation Branch, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. 1980. p. 20.