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Fort San Mateo was again rebuilt by the Spanish and garrisoned as an
outpost. A French vessel was captured in its harbor, July 20, 1580, and those
aboard were executed. San Mateo also became a retreat to which the
Spaniards retired when Sir Francis Drake, in 1587, attacked and burned St.
Augustine. In 1602, San Mateo is mentioned in Fray Pareja's reports as being
an Indian village with a mission sub-station church. Dona Francisca, a native
cacica of the village, was confirmed by Bishop Altamirano, in 1606.

After a period of comparative peace lasting nearly one hundred
years, San Mateo was finally destroyed early in the 18th century, when
Indians and British raiders swept down from the north, looted and
burned many Spanish mission villages and carried off the native
inhabitants to slavery in Carolina.