06/01/2026
Revolutionary reflections at Tolomato Cemetery! Life in St Augustine was a little complicated during the American Revolution, since Florida was under the British, the Spanish had left, and even the newest group to arrive, the Minorcans, were British citizens. Minorcan had been a Spanish territory for centuries, but during the War of the Spanish Sucession and various Napoleonic Wars, it ended up as British territory and in fact the British even had a naval base there. This is the reason that the Scot and British citizen Dr. Turnbull used it has his home port in his search for Mediterranean laborers and families wanting to sign on as indentured servants in the New World.
During the Revolution, it was difficult for the Minorcan population, since some remained British Loyalists and others favored the American (and Spanish) side.
But most of St Augustine was on the side of the British, and it functioned primarily as a prison for captured Americans. Three signers of the Declaration of Independence even spent time in prison in the Castillo de San Marcos.
But there were some “Patriots,” a term that described not only the Americans themselves but people who fought on the American side or helped the American side during the war. Even now, the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) and the SAR (Sons of the American Revolution) use the term as a special category of honor for their historical markers.
And somehow, Tolomato ended up with three of them!
First, of course, you will see our old friend Don Juan McQueen, a Carolinian who fled to Second Spanish Period Florida after the war to escape his creditors. But during his career in the Carolinas, he had been a successful businessman, involved with shipping, property and a host of other things. He was an important person, and used his foreign contacts to carry secret letters back and forth between Gen Washington and General Layette in France. In fact, he had dinner with Thomas Jefferson three times in Paris!
He established himself in St Augustine and became an important person here, involved in property sales and ventures - and a good friend of Fr Miguel O’Reilly. The two used to play checkers in the evening outside the Cathedral, which was near McQueen’s house, which in its turn was strategically located next to Government House.
The DAR placed his marker very near to the tomb of Fr Miguel O’Reilly. You can, of course, find out more about him in the Maria trilogy of Eugenia Price.
Nearby is Juan Francisco Ruiz del Canto, who was a ship’s captain and while on a routine trip, happened to sight a British ship heading down the coast. He took them prisoner and brought them to Cuba, where the ship’s captain revealed the plans to reinforce Pensacola with British troops in order to wipe out Spanish New Orleans and seize the mouth of the Mississippi. News was immediately sent to General Gálvez in Louisiana, enabling him to launch an attack on the British in Pensacola, ultimately retaking Pensacola and preventing the British from capturing the Mississippi.
Finally, Francisco Xavier Sanchez, a member of one of the five Spanish families, most of them ranchers on the other side of the St John’s, that remained in Florida during the British period. His brother had gone to Cuba, but he stayed to run the family cattle ranching business and keep an eye on the property sales. As a merchant, his job was to provide meat and supplies for St Augustine, and it was he who helped the Americans imprisoned in the Castillo to survive their stay there. After the war, he provided a ship to take them up the coast to Charleston so they could finally make their way home.
