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Benavides' junta concluded it was impossible to comply with the repayment plan or reconstruction

Source: The Governorship of Spanish Florida #122

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Benavides’ use of the remaining 6,000 pesos for bolstering the defenses of Saint Augustine left his treasury empty. For the first time in 20 years, the governor was without a contingency fund for use in emergencies. Keenly aware of his plight, Benavides was anxious to build up a new reserve that he could call upon when the situado did not arrive or in times of sudden crises. Undeterred by the king’s cedula of November, 1720, Benavides again requested money to rebuild the buildings destroyed in the siege of Saint Augustine 24 years before. [Note 70: These projects included stone redoubts to encircle Saint Augustine, the city gates, and adjacent walls. See Chatelain, The Defenses of Spanish Florida.] Similar pleas had won 26,000 pesos for Zuniga and 20,000 for Corcoles, and Benavides evidently had a slim hope that they might still be persuasive. [Note 71: FL junta 6/10/1726] This time, however, Philip V refused. In September, 1726, he turned down the governor’s request and reiterated his order calling for the creation of a new building found out of small sums from the yearly situado. [Note 72: Cedula 9/21/1726]

Failure to get help from Spain forced Benavides to call a junta, an indication of the seriousness of his economic situation. After inspecting the royal storehouses and surveying the general economic condition of the colony, the junta concluded that it would be impossible for Benavides to comply with the cedula of November, 1720. Since the situado could not even meet the ordinary needs of the colony, taking money from the subsidy for a building program would leave the soldiers without pay and their families without food. The junta estimated too that 60,656 pesos would be necessary for rebuilding Saint Augustine. [Note73: Testimonios… 7/22/1727]

(Tepaske GSF)

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