(7-2008) Enlarge This is a view of a display of American era artillery pieces in the water battery at the Castillo. At the beginning of the Civil War the battery was armed with 10 pieces of artillery, all of it fairly modern. Several of the original guns can still be seen in the city at the Plaza de la Constitucion, the central plaza of St. Augustine

(7-2008) Enlarge This is a view of the original iron cannon still located in the water battery of the Castillo de San Marcos. Although the Confederates removed some of the captured artillery from the battery during their occupation of the fort, several pieces were still here when the Union navy reclaimed the Castillo in 1862

(7-2008) Enlarge This is a view of the front of the water battery at the Castillo de San Marcos. American engineers built the fortification in 1840-1842 by filling in the east moat of the old Spanish fort. They then packed earth and rubble between two walls of masonry and mounted 10 pieces of artillery en barbette. The guns were positioned to allow them to direct a wall of fire at any enemy warship entering Matanzas Bay

(7-2008) Enlarge When the water battery was built, the U.S. Army was primarily worried about defending St. Augustine from attack by wooden warships. They built this hot shot furnace in the battery to allow them to heat solid shot red hot. The heated shot would then be fired at attacking warships in hopes of setting them afire. Castillo de San Marcos (called Fort Marion at the time of the Civil War) is now a National Monument located on the waterfront in St. Augustine. Beautifully maintained by the National Park Service, the old fort is open to the public daily

(Wartime) Enlarge Union soldiers camped in tents pitched on top of the fort. They obviously did this to get fresh air and also to stay out of the damp interior rooms of the fort

(Wartime) Enlarge The sally port of the fort. Notice the soldiers standing picket duty on top of the wall