06/17/2026
🇬🇧3 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE SIGNERS were held at the fort in 1780 in St. Augustine, Florida during the American Revolution! The British imprisoned Thomas Heyward, Jr., Arthur Middleton, and Edward Rutledge. Britain controlled St. Augustine from 1763 to 1784.
The three men were prominent South Carolina Patriots captured after the British siege of Charleston in 1780. In total, British forces exiled 63 prominent Patriots to the loyalist stronghold of St. Augustine in East Florida. They were held until July 1781. While some prisoners were kept strictly inside the fort (then also known as Fort St. Marks), the signers were allowed to live under house arrest in the city, with records placing them near the current site of Trinity Episcopal Church, corner of King and St. George Streets
🇬🇧That’s right, a British flag flew over the Castillo de San Marcos 250 years ago when the United States celebrated its independence on July 4, 1776!
🇺🇸 Florida became a territory in 1821, and officially joined the USA in 1845.
📸 Elijah Fly Photography
