Santa Elena, South Carolina: Fort San Marcos (1577)

Santa Elena, South Carolina: Fort San Marcos (1577)
How do you convert a 434 year old sketch by a Spanish engineer into a 21st century computer model?

One of the real treasures, dating from the earliest colonization of North America, is a sketch of a prefabricated fort on what is now Parris Island, SC by Spanish Army Engineering Officer, Captain Alvaro Flores de Valdés. The scaled drawing made possible a reasonably accurate three dimensional computer model of Fort San Marcos and an adjacent church. It is a glimpse into the world of over four centuries ago.

Continue reading on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/architecture-design-in-national/santa-elena-south-carolina-fort-san-marcos-1577

Also, links to similar articles and recreations below:

The French :
Charlesfort (1562 AD) - Parris Island, South Carolina
Fort Caroline: Jacksonville, Florida (1564)

English:
Fort Raleigh: Roanoke Island, North Carolina

Spanish:
Mission Santa Catalina de Guale - Part One

A Question of Daily Rations

I remember that one day seven horsemen left the camp to ranchear (that is, to look for food) and to kill some little dog, for in that land all of us were accustomed to eating these animals and held the day fortunate when a portion of one fell to our lot.

- Garcilaso de la Vega

On Thursday the chief of Coste came out to receive them in peace, and took the Christians to sleep in a village of his; and he was offended because some soldiers provisioned [ranchearon] themselves from, or, rather, robbed [saquearon] him of, some barbacoas of corn against his will.

Rodrigo Ranjel

I recently got an interesting question regarding any sources for the specific ration of a 16th c. Spanish soldier and in particular for those accompanying Ponce de Leon's explorations. " I have found lots of references to types of food, but nothing concrete on the specific daily ration." Alas, I too found most of my sources largely silent as to a daily ration for soldiers. This is probably because soldiers were expected to supplement their rations with forage. Noted above in passages from accounts of the De Soto expedition.

A typical example is found in Charles Hudson's The Juan Pardo Expeditions. Although the appendices (Accounts of the supplies and equipment distributed and used up during Pardo's foray's into northern la Florida [the modern day Carolinas & Tennessee c.1566-1568].) are quite detailed as to the overall quantities and types of rations its is annoying short of a per person breakdown, unlike for example shoes and sandals distributed to the soldiers by name!

"In regards to the bread, wine and cheese [it was used up] in giving it and dividing it to the soldiers of his company, as it was given and divided at times of greatest need when the journey was being made, as is certain and notorious." p.341

But I have found a couple of examples which can give us an idea as a basic marching ration.

Narváez/Cabeza de Vaca C. 1528 in La Florida
Leaving the Port of La Cruz for the interior:

..

.The Governor ordered two pounds of biscuit and half a pound of bacon rationed each man who was going with him.4

We traveled [northward] for fifteen days on our rations without finding anything edible but palmettos... 5

32/15 =roughly 2oz of biscuit /day 8/15 =roughly 0.5 oz of protein/day
...the best selling Conquistador Diet!

One of the mounted men...drowned with [his] horse...This death hit us hard, for until now not a man had been lost. The horse meanwhile, furnished a supper for many that night.6

Covey, Cyclone Trans.& Annot. Cabeza de Vaca’s Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America (University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque: 1993) p.31.
4 Covey. p.35.
5 Covey. p.36.
6 Covey. p.37.

More to the point, for Ponce de Leon reenactment which was a sea based expedition can be found in Pablo E. Perez-Mallaina's Spain's Men of the Sea:
p.141

"As an example, although there were others that were practically identical, I am going to discuss the daily rations per person for crews on the armada captained by Pedro Menendez de Aviles in 1568.

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and Saturdays: a pound and a half of biscuit, one liter of water, one liter of wine, half a peck of a mixture of horse beans and chickpeas for each twelve persons (150 grams or 5.3oz per person )and one pound of salted fish for each three persons (153.3 grams or 5.4oz per person).

Tuesdays: a pound and a half of biscuit, one liter of water, one liter of wine, one pound of mixed rice and oil for each ten persons (46 grams or 1.6oz [I assume this the is uncooked weight] per person. and half a pound of salt pork.


Sundays and Thursdays a pound and a half of biscuit, one liter of water, one liter of wine, one pound of salted meat, two ounces of cheese.

Highway Marker Salutes 16th Century Spanish Fort

I just got this press release:

Highway Marker Salutes 16th Century Spanish Fort

RALEIGH – In a place called Xuala, Joara, Cuena, and now Morganton, the 16th century Spanish explorer Capt. Juan Pardo and his men constructed a fort. Garrisoned with 30 soldiers and called Fort San Juan, it was the largest of several fortifications Pardo constructed. Within two years all were destroyed. The memory of Fort San Juan will be honored by the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources with a N. C. Highway Historical Marker dedication on Aug. 15, at 11 a.m., at McDowell House on St. Mary’s Church Rd. The marker will stand at Green St. and Bost Rd. in Morganton.

In May 1568, word reached Santa Elena, now Parris Island, Fla., that the forts had been destroyed by American Indians for reasons unknown. Evidence suggests that during the 18 months the Spanish made too many demands on their hosts and may have behaved inappropriately with native women. Today the archaeological site near Morganton continues to produce artifacts that support the theory that the tract was the location of Fort San Juan The 12 acre tract, known as the Berry Site, belongs to the Berry family and has yielded artifacts including Spanish olive jars, pieces of chain mail, pipes, and other articles consistent with long-term occupation. The excavated buildings are appropriate to a 16th century Spanish fort, and more significantly, the buildings were all burned at the same time.

Each summer the public is invited to volunteer at the Berry Site for an archaeological field school. The site has born many names as a result of early European and American Indian contact. By any name it is among premier archaeological site in America.

For additional information about the marker dedication, contact Dr. David Moore at (828) 298-3325. For information about the Highway Marker Program, contact Ansley Wegner at (919) 807-7290.