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Photo courtesy of the Florida Photo Archives.
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Spain occupied Pensacola from 1722 until 1763, when the Treaty of Paris ceded it to the British. Spanish fortifications protected only the harbor, so the British turned their attention to the town itself. Just north of town, Gage Hill rose 60 feet above flood-plain level. Here, near present-day Lee Square, the British built Fort George, named for their king. Made of earth and wood and surrounded by a dry ditch and other earthworks, the fort itself was vulnerable to bombardment from even higher ground to the northwest; additional fortifications - the Queen's Redoubt and the Prince of Wales Redoubt - were built to protect the fort. When the Spanish retook Pensacola in 1781, a direct hit exploded the magazine at The Queen's Redoubt, killing nearly 100 defenders. The fort, renamed Fort San Miguel, no longer was defensible and needed repair, but Spain's European wars had left her treasury bare. Because pirates posed the primary threat to Pensacola in the ensuing years, the Spaniards devoted what resources they could to their coastal fortifications. Neglected, Fort George/San Miguel disappeared, although reconstructions of part of the fort may be seen today.
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