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Moore's junta decided to starve SA rather than take on the Castillo
Source: The Governorship of Spanish Florida #122
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The two Carolinians immediately called a council of war. At the meeting Moore and his aides decided that Fort San Marcos was too formidable to be taken by storm. Their force was too small and their equipment inadequate to take the fort. The scaling ladders they carried with them would be of little use because of the deep moat surrounding the land sides of the fort, a surprising development in view of Zuniga’s earlier complaint to the crown concerning the inadequacy of the moat. To the Carolinians Zuniga’s rusty cannon, mounted high on the parapets at San Marcos, presented another difficult obstacle. Both Moore and Daniel thus decided on a siege to starve the Floridians into submission. Immediately they dispatched one of their ships to Jamaica to secure additional mortars and cannon and took the necessary steps to seal off the land sides of the fort. This, they envisioned, would prevent the more than “one thousand Eaters” in San Marcos from obtaining rations and water. [Note 10: Daniel and Moore to the Board of Trade and Plantations, Saint Augustine, 11/9/1702.] Moore’s decision to lay siege to San Marcos was crucial in turning the tide in Zuniga’s favor. Before Moore had surrounded the fort, the governor had dispatched pleas for help to Apalache, Havana, Mobile, and Pensacola. One messenger had reached Cuba, where the governor quickly organized a relief expedition. At the same time the English agent sent to Jamaica to procure mortars and artillery returned to Charleston instead of carrying out his assignment, leaving Moore and Daniel futilely waiting for aid from the English island. Finally, Moore became panicky. With his supplies running low and his bombardment of San Marcos achieving little effect, he sent Daniel to Jamaica to check on the agent and obtain new supplies. (Tepaske GSF)
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