Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: Side 1: In 1717, on this site, the French began erecting Fort Crevecoeur within Spanish domain. On February 8, 1718, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne de Bienville, acting Governor of Louisiana, dispatched his brother, Lemoyne de Chateague, to complete this Fort. By May 12, the French occupied St. Joseph's Bay. Chateague reported to Bienville completion, on the mainland, opposite St. Joseph Point, the stockaded Fort Crevecoeur with four bastions and garrisoned. Simultaneously Juan Pedro Matamoros de Ysla, Governor of Spanish Florida, at Pensacola, indignantly protested this usurpation as St. Joseph's Bay belonged to Spain by earlier discovery and previous settlement. Side 2: The French Colonial Council, with unanimous discretion decided to burn Fort Crevecoeur and abandon St. Joseph's Bay. On August 20, Spanish Captain, Joseph Primo De Rivera, reported to the Spanish Governorship, at St. Augustine, the French had retired from their invasion. Whereupon Rivera was ordered to command St. Joseph's Bay. By March 10, 1719, Don Gregorio de Salinas Varona had been transferred to the Spanish Governorship of St. Joseph's Bay.