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Buenaventura... had come to St. Augustine in July 1735 as the first auxiliary bishop to be seen there since Resino’s three-week visit in 1709. An ambitious, able Franciscan from Seville, Buenaventura found the church in shambles. Little morality, many scandals, a tumbledown, leaky chapel poorly furnished and no living quarters for himself—these had been the conditions facing Resino Twenty-six years before, but Buenaventura was of different stuff, and considerably younger.

Buenaventura, who had played so critical a part in Moral’s ouster, had come to St. Augustine in July 1735 as the first auxiliary bishop to be seen there since Resino’s three-week visit in 1709. An ambitious, able Franciscan from Seville, Buenaventura found the church in shambles. Little morality, many scandals, a tumbledown, leaky chapel poorly furnished and no living quarters for himselfthese had been the conditions facing Resino Twenty-six years before, but Buenaventura as of different stuff, and considerably younger. (Same source) The serious rift between the Floridanos and the Spanish friars was a “deep abyss of enmity and dissension,” the bishop discovered. He moved to strengthen the position of his fellow Iberians and generally accounted for a revival of religious strength in the town. The rivalries within the Franciscan order were reduced, and the secular clergy bolstered by added personnel.( Oldest House booklet)

Buenaventura, who had played so critical a part in Moral’s ouster, had come to St. Augustine in July 1735 as the first auxiliary bishop to be seen there since Resino’s three-week visit in 1709. An ambitious, able Franciscan from Seville, Buenaventura found the church in shambles. Little morality, many scandals, a tumbledown, leaky chapel poorly furnished and no living quarters for himself—these had been the conditions facing Resino Twenty-six years before, but Buenaventura as of different stuff, and considerably younger. Error! Bookmark not defined. The serious rift between the Floridanos and the Spanish friars was a “deep abyss of enmity and dissension,” the bishop discovered. He moved to strengthen the position of his fellow Iberians and generally accounted for a revival of religious strength in the town. The rivalries within the Franciscan order were reduced, and the secular clergy bolstered by added personnel. Error! Bookmark not defined.

April - Philip V ordered Juan Francisco de Guemes y Horcasitas, the Cuban governor, to remove Moral… To learn more about Oglethorpe, the man and his plans, Guemes used the second purpose to clothe the first. He dispatched the engineer Antonio de Arredondo to Florida, ostensibly to discuss with the English general in Georgia the ever-present border disputes. (Source lost)

October - At Federica, Arredondo was met with elaborate hospitality. Although harsh words marred these talks, when Arredondo returned to St. Augustine in October, he brought to Moral the agreement atht Oglethorpe would dismantle Fort St. George at the mouth of the St. Johns, that Spain would not then move ot occupy the island, and that larger questions would be left to higher authorities across the Atlantic. Moral forwarded the document to Madrid, proud of the local diplomacy. On Spain’s part, those larger questions never came into consideration, for the Council of th eIndies denounced the treaty out of hand. The governor of Florida had no authority to make agreements with another nation, it held, and that Moral had done so added emphasis to the need for his removal. Error! Bookmark not defined.

November - In the presidio, Arredondo was fulfilling the second part of his mission, gathering details for Moral’s misuse of his position. The engineer’s lengthy report went to Guemes in late November. That worthy studied other firsthand reports, including one from the new auxiliary bishop for Florida, Francisco de San Buenaventura. (Same source)

Guemes ordered Josef de Justis to Florida as interim governor, with instructions for Moral’s recall. Error! Bookmark not defined.

Castillo modernized (Engineer Pedro Ruiz de Olano more vaults and the watchtower) (Source lost) The St. Augustine defenses were reviewed in 1736 by two engineers from Havana: Antonio de Arredondo and his assistant, Pedro Ruiz de Olano. They gave Governor Manuel de Montiano plans for a modernization of the Castillo and the walls around the city. Arrendondo may be credited with giving the island across the Bridge of Lions its name: Anastasia Island. It was named after Saint Anastasia. Ruiz de Olano in 1738 began the work on the Castillo. (Source lost) Guemes found soldiers, provisions and evn hard cash for St. Augustine, along with a work force of convicts; all were put to use at once on their arrival in the spring of 1738. A major enterprise was the construction of bombproofs, great coquina vaults which would line the four sides of the castillo’s courtyard behind the thick walls. It took a year, from October to October, before the first eight, along the important east curtain, were completed. After Moore’s 1702 siege, earthwork defense lines had been built across the St. Augustine peninsula to bar an enemy approach to the town by land. In the years since the siege other earthworks were raised. Now th whole town was protected on this land side by walls and these barriers were further strengthened in hectic preparation for a confrontation with the British. (Source lost)

From Mose in Secondary Literature by Amy Ruiz de Olano in 1738 began the work on the Castillo. 37 Guemes found soldiers, provisions and evn hard cash for St. Augustine, along with a work force of convicts; all were put to use at once on their arrival in the spring of 1738. A major enterprise was the construction of bombproofs, great coquina vaults which would line the four sides of the castillo’s courtyard behind the thick walls. It took a year, from October to October, before th efirst eight, along the important east curtain, were completed. After Moore’s 1702 siege, earthwork defense lines had been built across the St. Augustine peninsula to bar an enemy approach to the town by land. In the years since the siege other earthworks were raised. Now th whole town was protected on this land side by walls and these barriers were further strengthened in hectic preparation for a confrontation with the British. Error! Bookmark not defined.

Coquina fort built at Mantanzas31

In the first weeks of 1740 the Castillo’s tall watch tower was completed, but Montiano figured that at the rate he was going it would take “at least eight years for the rehabilitation of the Castillo.” He didn’t have that much time. In the same month that the sentinels could first climb the watch tower and look east for signs of trouble, Oglethorpe came down the St. Johns River, far to the west, to attack the twin forts of Pupo and Picolata and established his own garrison there while the Spanish forces retreated to St. Augustine. From the St. Johns, Oglethorpe returned to Georgia, and proceeded to assemble a force of Carolinians, Indians and Georgians. (Source lost) 1740-1 Tall domed watchtower built on northeast San Carlos bastion31

At the end of May, Oglethorpe moved his headquarters to Fort San Diego, temporarily putting an end to what his scornful Carolinians termed “fruitless marches” for mere “squirrel shooting.” Some days later the general re-established a small force at Fort Mose. In the following weeks, there were scattered encounters between Spanish and English in the palmetto scrub north of town.

In May [Oglethorpe] headed south again. He had organized a naval force also, under Commandant Vincent Pierse, and they would rendezvous at the mouth of the St. Johns. In the weeks following his arrival there, the general’s soldiers came to know only too well the palmettos, sand, marshes, mosquitos and heat of the coast south of the river. (Source lost)

While these king’s men marched down the coast and marched back again, Montiano was desperately trying to keep communications open with Havana. He had twenty-four hundred people on his hands, and few supplies. “Unless help can come by June 20,” he wrote Guemes, “it is the most natural thing in the world that this garrison perish.” Out in the bay at least, Montiano cold move constructively. His six galliots, sheltering at times under the guns of the castillo, would be both an attack and a defense force. These maneuverable vessles, manned by thirty men and two officers (twenty men at the oars) were armed with a nine-pounder at the bow, and swivel guns fore and aft. Error! Bookmark not defined. (From Mose in Secondary Literature by Amy)

On the twenty-second they marched down to capture little Fort San Diego, twenty miles to the north of St. Augustine, and returned to the St. Johns…(Source lost)

…Off they went again to Fort Mose, within two miles of the castillo and then back to their river base. (Source lost)May - While these king’s men marched down the coast and marched back again, Montiano was desperately trying to keep communications open with Havana. He had twenty-four hundred people on his hands, and few supplies. “Unless help can come by June 20,” he wrote Guemes, “it is the most natural thing in the world that this garrison perish.” Out in the bay at least, Montiano cold move constructively. His six galliots, sheltering at times under the guns of the Castillo, would be both an attack and a defense force. These maneuverable vessels, manned by thirty men and two officers (twenty men at the oars) were armed with a nine-pounder at the bow, and swivel guns fore and aft. (Source lost)At the end of May, Oglethorpe moved his headquarters to Fort San Diego, temporarily putting an end to what his scornful Carolinians termed “fruitless marches” for mere “squirrel shooting.” Some days later the general re-established a small force at Fort Mose. In the following weeks, there were scattered encounters between Spanish and English in the palmetto scrub north of town. (Source lost)

Artillery was landed at the northern edge of the St. Augustine inlet on June 23, under the command of Colonel Alexander Vander Dussen, and on the same day Oglethorpe set up his own guns on Anastasia Island, south of the inlet. Pierse’s naval supports, frigates and schooners, totally blocked the entrance to the harbor. Inside, the galliots harrassed the English at all points.

The guns started to speak on June 24. Day in and day out, the English cannonballs and mortar shells dropped into the town, into the bay, and occasionally into the coquina walls of the fort. “…In this Affliction the Settlement and the Garrison took for their defense Most Holy Mary of the Rosary, ordering that at each shot from the Enemies no other thing was to be heard than AVE MARIA, the same with the balls and bombs…” So Bishop Buenaventura described his contribution to the general welfare; such moral builders as these shouts of “Ave Maria” were of increasing importance as supplies dwindled and sleep was constantly interrupted by the shelling. (Source lost)

The guns started to speak on June 24. Day in and day out, the English cannonballs and mortar shells dropped into the town, into the bay, and occasionally into the coquina walls of the fort. “…In this Affliction the Settlement and the Garrison took for their defense Most Holy Mary of the Rosary, ordering that at each shot from the Enemies no other thing was to be heard than AVE MARIA, the same with the balls and bombs…” So Bishop Buenaventura described his contribution to the general welfare; such moral builders as these shouts of “Ave Maria” were of increasing importance as supplies dwindled and sleep was constantly interrupted by the shelling. (From Mose in Secondary Literature by Amy)

After a decade of hearings and appeals, in July 1748 Moral was exonerated by the Council of the Indies.