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Siege!: The Story of St. Augustine in 1702
The Spanish colonists in St. Augustine withdraw to the fort as the English approach the town hoping to claim it and subsequently all Florida for England.
93 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1976
9 people want to read
About the author
Wilma Pitchford Hays
48 books6 followersWilma Pitchford Hays, 98, Venice, died March 10, 2006. She was born Nov. 22, 1907, in Nanee County, Neb., and came to Venice in 1965 from Connecticut. She had taught in a one-room school and later wrote more than 40 children's books.
- Sarasota, Florida, Herald Tribune
- Sarasota, Florida, Herald Tribune
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 21, 2023
Think this one came from Grandma. She's into art and the illustrations in here are really good! Have started it a few times, only finished it now. Less because of how many pages it has (about 100), and more because I get distracted.
The history of St Augustine, FL, is really interesting! Since the book was published during America's bicentennial, there's a timeline in the back about the city's notable but turbulent past: From 1513 when Ponce de León first set foot in The New World near the place the town would be founded fifty years later -- "the only town in North America to remain occupied from that day to this" -- up to 1845, when Florida became the 27th state in the union.
Between those times, the city was often attacked until 1672-1696, when the fort Castillo de San Marcos was built. This book is about how that fort served as a refuge for the townspeople during a two-month-long siege that took place not long after.
It follows the family of Juan Olfonso, a boy whose father (Captain Olfonso) has been ordered to sail to Cuba for reinforcements. Juan and his mother and sister must remain in the fort, venturing out occasionally and secretly for supplies, through Noche Buena, the Christmas holiday.
My interest is piqued! Being from the "Weekly Reader Children's Book Club," it's meant for younger readers; however, it touches upon many topics that I wished to know in more detail. There's a sketched map of the area, including the town, fort, harbor and inlet. But I'm not sure if it's to scale, and wanted to know more about the fort. It's big enough to hold at least 900 people (townspeople and local natives). There might be some hospital area, because there's some talk of people getting sick and children being born while there. How is it stocked? It seems like it had cannons but not guns, which were requested from other places nearby. How does this siege compare with other attacks? Most of the town is burned down in this one, which sounded similar to what Sir Francis Drake did in 1568. Also: How many different people groups were there? The standoff is between two governors, Governor Zúñiga of St Augustine and Governor Moore of the Carolinas. A few Native American tribes are mentioned, such as the Yamasee and the Guale.
Because the book is written from the perspective of the besieged (Spanish), there's not a lot of information on their adversaries (English). One part said some of the English soldiers thought they could loot the town, only to find that it did not have many resources. (The timeline says the King of Spain paid a lot to build the fort, probably to preserve and commemorate de León's discovery.) I'd like to learn more about the history of St Augustine and the surrounding area.
I had a couple of questions on some things. Some were minor, like are the Captain Daniel (page 38) of the English army land forces and the Colonel Daniel (page 51) sent to Jamaica for warships two different people? (Not usually good with military ranks, but I've gotten a little better since memorizing USAF's to figure out how I could shed the Gump-themed "Lt Dan" moniker I found myself with when I was in the Civil Air Patrol.) There aren't very many characters, so I was surprised to see a name repeated.
Another question was: Why didn't someone else rescue the Olfonso's blue Madonna heirloom? Some houses were too close to the fort, so the townsfolk had to burn them down to avoid sheltering the enemy. The townspeople could make a last pass over the houses, but only men were allowed to, and Juan's father was away on a mission. I guess Juan could have, but he carved a new Madonna, so I think it all worked out in the end.
Don't remember if I knew about this book when we visited Florida. Would have been nice to read on the trip. Very interesting stuff!
The history of St Augustine, FL, is really interesting! Since the book was published during America's bicentennial, there's a timeline in the back about the city's notable but turbulent past: From 1513 when Ponce de León first set foot in The New World near the place the town would be founded fifty years later -- "the only town in North America to remain occupied from that day to this" -- up to 1845, when Florida became the 27th state in the union.
Between those times, the city was often attacked until 1672-1696, when the fort Castillo de San Marcos was built. This book is about how that fort served as a refuge for the townspeople during a two-month-long siege that took place not long after.
It follows the family of Juan Olfonso, a boy whose father (Captain Olfonso) has been ordered to sail to Cuba for reinforcements. Juan and his mother and sister must remain in the fort, venturing out occasionally and secretly for supplies, through Noche Buena, the Christmas holiday.
My interest is piqued! Being from the "Weekly Reader Children's Book Club," it's meant for younger readers; however, it touches upon many topics that I wished to know in more detail. There's a sketched map of the area, including the town, fort, harbor and inlet. But I'm not sure if it's to scale, and wanted to know more about the fort. It's big enough to hold at least 900 people (townspeople and local natives). There might be some hospital area, because there's some talk of people getting sick and children being born while there. How is it stocked? It seems like it had cannons but not guns, which were requested from other places nearby. How does this siege compare with other attacks? Most of the town is burned down in this one, which sounded similar to what Sir Francis Drake did in 1568. Also: How many different people groups were there? The standoff is between two governors, Governor Zúñiga of St Augustine and Governor Moore of the Carolinas. A few Native American tribes are mentioned, such as the Yamasee and the Guale.
Because the book is written from the perspective of the besieged (Spanish), there's not a lot of information on their adversaries (English). One part said some of the English soldiers thought they could loot the town, only to find that it did not have many resources. (The timeline says the King of Spain paid a lot to build the fort, probably to preserve and commemorate de León's discovery.) I'd like to learn more about the history of St Augustine and the surrounding area.
I had a couple of questions on some things. Some were minor, like are the Captain Daniel (page 38) of the English army land forces and the Colonel Daniel (page 51) sent to Jamaica for warships two different people? (Not usually good with military ranks, but I've gotten a little better since memorizing USAF's to figure out how I could shed the Gump-themed "Lt Dan" moniker I found myself with when I was in the Civil Air Patrol.) There aren't very many characters, so I was surprised to see a name repeated.
Another question was: Why didn't someone else rescue the Olfonso's blue Madonna heirloom? Some houses were too close to the fort, so the townsfolk had to burn them down to avoid sheltering the enemy. The townspeople could make a last pass over the houses, but only men were allowed to, and Juan's father was away on a mission. I guess Juan could have, but he carved a new Madonna, so I think it all worked out in the end.
Don't remember if I knew about this book when we visited Florida. Would have been nice to read on the trip. Very interesting stuff!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 29, 2021
Possibly this gets a higher rating because the combination of reading the book and visiting St Augustine and Castillo de San Marco was so memorable. This is the perfect book to pick up if you are planning a visit to the fort! My kids ages 6-13 all enjoyed the story and it was so interesting and discussion-provoking that the main characters were Spanish and thus the English were the “bad guys” of the story. Being American, this was such a valuable viewpoint to read and short enough to fit in easily with our other historical reading. I learned quite a lot of Florida history along the way as well.
January 9, 2019
3.5 stars! This was a very nice book. We read it for our family trip to St Augustine recently and I’m SO glad we did! Our trip to the fort was so much more rich and memorable bc of this book! It is well written. I definitely recommend it!
February 4, 2025
Great quick read to give kids a better picture of St Augustine and the fort during times of battle.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews