Forts of Pensacola
When the Spaniards permanently established Pensacola in 1698, they built the fortified community of Presidio Santa María de Galve. The fort, made of wood and earth, was named San Carlos de Austria and had a traditional square shape with bastions at each corner. In 1707, English-allied Indigenous tribes attacked the settlement but failed to capture it. In 1719, the French captured the city from the Spanish and burned the fort, but abandoned the settlement three years later.
In 1722, Spaniards moved their colony across Pensacola Bay to Santa Rosa Island and built a new fort. They occupied the island until 1752, when hurricanes forced their return to the mainland. Presidio San Miguel, built in Pensacola in the 1750s, included a wooden fort that protected the town during an attack by the Creek in 1761.
