Nicolás Ponce de León II

Nicolás Suárez Ponce de León II was a Spanish soldier who served as acting governor of Spanish Florida from 1663 to 1664, and from 1673 to 1675. following the death of Manuel de Cendoya. He continued construction of the Castillo de San Marcos, the new defensive fort at St. Augustine, begun by Cendoya. Construction proceeded at a slow pace because of engineering errors and sloppiness by the Spanish building supervisors, as well as the collapse of scaffolding and poorly built sections of the fort's walls. Most of the work of building the structure was done by the forced labor of local Native Americans; disease caused by poor hygiene and overcrowding killed many of them. The excessive weight of the loads they had to carry also caused them to develop musculoskeletal problems and contributed to the high casualty rate. Lack of funds remained the biggest impediment to progress in the construction, as thousands of pesos (the equivalent of thousands of dollars) were required to supply food and wages.

In addition to Native Americans, Spanish and English prisoners (who were better treated) and fifty black slaves, including skilled craftsmen, worked on construction of the new fort, which was stopped because of several accidents and lack of the funds (the royal situado) supposed to be sent by the Crown from Mexico City. Pablo de Hita y Salazar was subsequently appointed official governor of Florida.