Welcome to my blog, "The British Are Coming, Y'all!" From 17–27 November, I'm participating with several hundred other bloggers in the "Gratitude Giveaways Hop," accessed by clicking on the logo on the left. All blogs in this hop offer reader-appreciation giveaways, and we’re all linked, so you can easily hop from one giveaway to another. But here on my blog, I’m posting essays from Relevant History author guests on the theme of gratitude and thanksgiving. We'll give away books and gifts during the eleven days, to show appreciation for our readers. To find out how to qualify for the giveaways on my blog, read through each day’s Relevant History post below and follow the directions. Then click on the Gratitude Hop logo so you can move along to another blog. Enjoy!

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On 6 September 1565, five Spanish ships commanded by Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés anchored off the northeast coast of Florida in a harbor the Spaniards had mapped and named "San Augustín" earlier that week. Menéndez was neither the first European nor the first Spaniard to cast a conquering eye upon Florida. Enemy French Huguenots had already occupied several settlements along the coast, one just a few miles to the north. Menéndez had been ordered to eradicate them. When he and his landing party stepped ashore, they were greeted by a delegation of Native Americans speaking the Timucuan dialect. Their ancestors had arrived in Florida ten thousand years earlier. They knew the drill for dealing with Europeans.

No pressure, Pedro.

Within a few months, Menéndez and the Spaniards had permanently routed the French military presence in Florida. During that time, several makeshift Spanish forts were destroyed by fire, but the Spaniards rebuilt them. The earliest portions of the city of St. Augustine may have dated from that time.

For most of the remaining years of the sixteenth century, Indians assaulted the settlement at St. Augustine, and for the next two hundred years, the Spaniards contended with fire, famine, disease, hurricanes, and pirates. Settlement of Florida seemed jinxed, and several times, the Spanish government nearly pulled the plug on the enterprise. But each time buildings were destroyed, the Spaniards rebuilt. After each famine or disease epidemic, the population rebounded. The city grew.

In 1763, the Treaty of Paris accomplished what centuries of fire, famine, disease, hurricanes, and pirates had failed to do. The flag of Britain was raised over El Castillo de San Marcos, the squarish castle made of coquina stone that anchors the city. All but three Spaniards relocated to Cuba that year. (One who remained was Luciano de Herrera, who became a spy for the Governor of Cuba. He makes a cameo appearance in my first book, Paper Woman.) In 1784, the Spaniards returned to St. Augustine, courtesy of the second Treaty of Paris. In 1821, Spain ceded East Florida to the United States.

Every time I contemplate the history of St. Augustine, I marvel at the perseverance and resilience of the Spaniards. St. Augustine is the oldest surviving European settlement in the United States, predating Jamestown, Virginia by almost half a century. El Castillo de San Marcos, which dates from 1672, is still standing, an impressive feat of engineering.

The Spaniards who called St. Augustine home were tough. How did they stick it out for so long? Florida was a frontier for Spain—a money pit without the glamour of Spanish conquests in Central and South America. Thus many a Spanish governor in St. Augustine made do with little or no regular supplies from the mother country.

What records show is that despite their hardship, residents in St. Augustine found ways to honor a saint's day or give gratitude for a shipload of supplies or a birth in the royal family. Sometimes a governor would contribute from his own pocket, help create a multi-day fête because the citizens needed the gesture of celebration.

Gratitude helped the Spaniards persevere in Florida for more than two centuries. In history, gratitude and perseverance are often found together.

Before the jingle-jangle rush smothers the last embers of Thanksgiving, remember the words of Edward Sandford Martin: "Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow." (Thanks to reader Liz Veronis for the quote.)

If you're in St. Augustine the first Saturday of December, make sure you attend the annual British Night Watch and Grand Illumination. It's a lovely way to kick off your holiday season.

So now we've made Thanksgiving last eleven days! And that time wouldn’t have been possible without you or my talented guest authors: Suzanne Tyrpak, Peg Herring, Margaret Lake, M. E. Kemp, and Gwen Mayo. What worlds can they open for you? Browse back through the posts. Give these authors your patronage.

Then comment on something you learned at "The British Are Coming, Y'all!" during the Gratitude Giveaways Hop that made history relevant to you. Thanks for stopping by!

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I'm giving away an ebook copy of my latest release, Regulated for Murder, to someone who contributes a legitimate comment on my blog today or tomorrow. Make sure you provide your email address. I'll choose the winner in a drawing from among those who comment on this post by Sunday 27 November at 6 p.m. ET, then publish the name of the winner on my blog 28 November. Multiple file formats are available. No eReader required.

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