Fort San Felipe del Morro
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Fort San Felipe del Morro —or El Castillo San Felipe del Morro in Spanish— is a sixteenth-century citadel which lies on the northwestern-most point of the islet of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Named in honor of King Philip II of Spain, the fort, also referred to as "El Morro" or "promontory", was designed to guard the entrance to San Juan bay, and defend the city of San Juan from seaborne enemies.
In 1983, the fort was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations and is part of San Juan National Historic Site. Over two million visitors a year explore the windswept ramparts and passageways making the fort one of Puerto Rico's main visitor attractions.
Facing "El Morro", on the opposite side of the bay, a smaller fort known as "El Cañuelo" complemented the fort's defense of the entrance to the bay.
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[edit] Architecture and History
Begun in 1539 by Spanish settlers to defend the port of San Juan, El Morro's architecture follows well established Spanish military fortification design principles. Similar Spanish fortifications of the 1600s-1700s can be seen in Cuba, St. Augustine, Florida, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Veracruz and Acapulco, Mexico, Portobello and Panama City, Panamá,and many other Latin American locations which were governed as part of the Spanish Empire during the Age of Exploration.
Construction at El Morro started in 1539 and a tiny proto-fortress was "completed" in 1589, comprising perhaps 10% of the structure people see today. Many complex additional new structures were added to El Morro over the next 400 years. The outer walls are six meters thick. By the late 18th century, El Morro's walls had grown to be 18 feet (5 m) thick. Today El Morro has six levels that rise from sea level to 145 feet high. All along the walls are seen the now famous dome-covered sentry boxes known as garitas, which have become a cultural symbol of Puerto Rico itself. Including the exterior open killing grounds, known as the glacis and esplanade, dominated by cannon in the 17th and 18th centuries, El Morro can be said to take up over 70 acres (280,000 m²).
El Morro successfully repelled attacks from foreign powers such as the English (1595 and 1598) and Dutch (1625). The British invaded Puerto Rico again in 1797, but no action took place at El Morro during that particular siege. El Morro's last active fight occurred during a naval bombardment by the United States Navy during the 1898 Spanish-American War. The short war ended with the signing of Treaty of Paris. Spain ceded ownership of the islands of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States. El Morro and many other Spanish government buildings in Old San Juan then became part of a large U.S. Army post, called Fort Brooke. In the early 20th century, the U.S. military filled up the esplanade, or green space in front of "El Morro" with baseball diamonds, hospitals, officers' quarters, an officers' club and even a golf course.
[edit] First shots fired in World War I
On March 21, 1915, Lt. Teofilo Marxuach was the officer of the day at El Morro Castle. The Odenwald, built in 1903 (not to be confused with the German World War II war ship which carried the same name), was an armed German supply ship which tried to force its way out of the bay and deliver supplies to the German submarines waiting in the Atlantic Ocean. Lt. Marxuach gave the order to open fire on the ship from the walls of the fort. The Odenwald was forced to return and its supplies were confiscated.[1] The shots ordered by Lt. Marxuach have been considered as the first fired by the United States in World War I.
[edit] World War II
During World War II the United States Army added a massive concrete bunker to the top of El Morro to serve as a Harbor Defense Fire Control Station to direct a network of coastal artillery sites, and to keep watch for German submarines which were ravaging shipping in the Caribbean. A lighthouse, rebuilt by the U.S. Army in 1906-08 is the tallest point on El Morro, standing 180 feet (55 m) above sea level. Flagpoles on El Morro today customarily fly the United States flag, the Puerto Rican flag and the Cross of Burgundy Flag, also known in Spanish as las Aspas de Borgoña, a standard which was widely used by Spanish armies around the world from 1506–1785.
[edit] Recent
In honor of the Quincentennial of the voyages of Columbus in 1992 the exterior esplanade was cleared of palm trees that had been planted by the U.S. Army in the Fort Brooke era, and restored to the open appearance this "field-of-fire" for El Morro's cannon would have had in colonial Spanish times. Parking lots and paved roads were also removed, and the El Morro lighthouse repaired and restored to its original appearance.
El Morro was used as a film set in the 1996 motion picture "Amistad." Steven Spielberg used it to represent a fort in Sierra Leone where African slaves were auctioned in 1839. The real history of Castillo de San Felipe del Morro in Puerto Rico has absolutely nothing to do with the slave trade. No such activity took place on or near El Morro.
[edit] Historical time line
1519 - Spanish settlers from Caparra found San Juan.
1539 - Construction of the first harbor defenses at El Morro and La Fortaleza authorized by King Charles V.
1587 - Engineers Juan de Tejada and Juan Bautista Antonelli lay out the main design for El Morro still seen today.
1589 - Governor Diego Menéndez begins new construction at El Morro.
1595 - Sir Francis Drake attacks El Morro unsuccessfully by sea. Gunners from El Morro shoot a cannonball through the cabin of Drake's flagship. To impede Drake's ships from entering the bay, a metal chain was drawn across the entrance.
1598 - George Clifford, Duke of Cumberland, attacks from the land side, the only time El Morro was taken in battle. English forces move into the fortress, but are so weakened by dysentery that the invasion force withdraws after only six weeks.
1625 - The Dutch under the command of Captain Balduino Enrico (also known as Boudewijn Hendricksz/Bowdoin Henrick) attacked and invaded San Juan from the "La Puntilla". El Morro held out under the leadership of Spanish Governor De Haro and Captain Juan de Amezquita of the Puerto Rican militia, but the city was sacked and burned.
1630 - Governor Enrique Enríquez de Sotomayor begins construction of the city walls. Work continues until 1678 to encircle the city completely.
1765 - Field Marshall Alejandro O'Reilly (Alexander O'Reilly) and Royal Engineer Tomás O'Daly (Thomas O'Daly) reform the defenses of San Juan by reorganizing the garrison and making the city a "Defense of the First Order".
1825 - Well known Puerto Rican pirate, Roberto Cofresí was jailed and later executed within the fort's walls.
1843 - First lighthouse in Puerto Rico constructed atop the castle.
1898 - On 12 May, US Navy warships shell El Morro in a day-long bombardment, damaging the tip of the main battery. Six months later, Puerto Rico becomes US territory by terms of the Treaty of Paris which ends the Spanish-American War.
1908 - Present lighthouse seen atop El Morro built by the United States Navy.
1915 - First shots of World War l fired by Lt. Teofilo Marxuach on behalf of the United States.
1942 - Still an active military post during World War II, concrete artillery observation posts and an underground bunker are added to El Morro to defend against possible German attacks.
1949 - San Juan National Historic Site is established.
1961 - The U.S. Army moves out of the forts of Old San Juan, and they become the jurisdiction of the United States National Park Service, to be preserved solely as museums.
1983 - San Juan National Historic Site declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations.
1992 - El Morro's grounds are returned to their historic 18th century appearance as part of quincentennial commemoration of the discovery of Puerto Rico by Christopher Columbus when modern roadways and parking lots are removed.
