War in the Swamps Torchlight Tour

Castillo de San Marcos Chief of Interpretation, Jon Burpee, has invited Historic City News readers to join the National Park Service on January 19th as they revisit the events that occurred in St Augustine during the Second Seminole War through the eyes of a United States Army Sergeant inside the fort.

Although the Americans would not know it until four years later, the last major battle of the war had been fought on Christmas day in 1837. Conflicts would continue intermittently until 1842, when many Seminole Indians were forced west.

“We will hold a nighttime candle lit tour of the fort, lasting from 7:30 until 8:30 in the evening,” Burpee told reporters. “This war is particularly significant because it remains one of the longest conflicts in US history; and, it would spur the eventual statehood of the Florida Territory.”

St Augustine was embroiled in conflict with the Seminoles; who, along with black raiders, attacked small caravans and homesteads only a few miles from the town. Even the Castillo de San Marcos, renamed Fort Marion, was not entirely safe — but, during the war, it became the center of defense for the townspeople once again.

Tickets are available from the booth and will be $8 per adult ages 15 and up, $4 per child aged 5 to 15 and children under 5 free. Space is limited.