(Source of image: Image taken by and copyright by JacksonvilleStory.com Website Manager)

Hard to believe, but River City residents once feared an invasion from Spain during the days of our great grandparents.  And they proved no different from many other American citizens in 1898.  Up and down the nation's east coast, people worried that a mighty Spanish armada would pound their port cities into submission. 

Actually, this could never have been the case during the Spanish American War.  Spain represented a paper tiger.  The fighting took place largely in Cuba and the Philippines, and the U.S. military suffered only minimal losses as it sunk many Spanish vessels and manhandled enemy troops.  America prevailed in what Teddy Roosevelt called "a splendid little war."

Before victory was certain, however, jittery Jacksonville took precautions.  After all, it served as a major military center during the conflict, with nearly 30,000 solders stationed here.  The U.S. government erected a defensive gun battery at St. Johns Bluff, located on the St. Johns River between Jax and the ocean. 

One of the Bluff's defenders, John J. O'Rourke, is buried in Evergreen Cemetery.  In the photo above, a blue-clad re-enactor is portraying Mr. O'Rourke at his tombstone.  (The wooden crate is an ammo box.)  On the morning of June 19, 1898, some of the Bluff's personnel sat in a small, frame building that contained dynamite.  They were double checking mine fuses by testing the weapons with weak electrical charges.  Mr. O'Rourke passed another man a fuse to hold while he zapped it.  However, an accident occurred:  Mr. O'Rourke shot too much juice.  The building and its contents went up with a loud bang, and Mr. O'Rourke's fate has finally gone down as part of Evergreen's lore.

Fortunately, the bluff's artillery was never fired in anger.  After the conflict, it was transferred to Pensacola, but the concrete gun emplacements and ammo magazine still remain, a testament to an old war scare.

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