nass r Slf s© C 7 X- PEDRO MENENDEZ DE AVILES _foa.ni/ir of S'^ Av.qiuu'rve _.]S6S -s'k& CO C5 O) ex CO t=3 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF TUE CITY OK ST. AUGUSTIM, FLORIDA, FOUNDED A.D. 1565 COMPRISING SOME OF THE MOST INTERESTING PORTIONS EARLY HISTORY OF FLORIDA. GEORGE R. FAIRBANKS, VICE-Pr.ESIDE>'T OF TUK FLORIDA niSTORICAL SOCIETV. NEW YORK: CHARLES B . NORTON, AGENT FOR LIBRARIES. 1858. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S5S, by GEORGE E. FAIRBANKS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for ihv Soulhern District of New York. Bakek & Godwin, Printers, 1 Spruce St., N. Y. RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED B U C K I N a H A M SMITH, ESQ., r . « . ■; E r p. E T A R y of legation at Madrid, TO WHOSE EFFORTS IN TUB DISCOVERY AND PRESERVATION OF THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES |>F THE SPANISH DOMINION IN AMERICA, A (", R A T E F C L A C K N W L E D G AI E N T IS DUE FROM "3^ 111 c t t r a n_ Scholars, PREFACE. This volume, relating to tlie history and antiqui- ties of the oldest settlement in the United States, has grown Out of a lecture delivered by the author, and which he was desired to embody in a more permanent form. The large amount of interesting material in my possession, has made my work rather one of labori- ous condensation than expansion. I have endeavored to preserve as fully as possible, the style and quaiutness of the old writers from whom I have draw^n, rather than to transform or embellish the narrative with the supposed graces of modern diction ; and, as much of the work con- sisted in translations from foreign idioms, this pecu- liarly un-English style, if I may so call it, will be more noticeably observed- I have mainly sought 6 PREFACE. to give it a permanent value, as founded on tlie most reliable ancient authorities ; and thus, to the extent of the ground which it covers, to make it a valuable addition to the history of our country. In that portion of the work devoted to the destruction of the Huguenot colony and the forces of Ribault, I have in the main, followed the Spanish accounts, desiring to divest the narrative of all suspicion of prejudice or unfairness ; Barcia^ the principal authority, as is well known, professing the same faith as Menendez, and studiously endeavoring throughout his work, to exalt the character of the Adelantado. I am under great obligations to my friend, Buck- ingham Smith, Esq., for repeated favors in the course of its preparation. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Page. Introductory, . . . . . " . . . 9 CHAPTER n. First discovery, 1512 to 1565. — Juan Ponce de Leon. . . .12 CHAPTER HI. Ribault, Laudonniere, and Menendez — settlements of the Huguenots, and foundation of St. Augustine. — 1562 — 1565 — 1568. . . 15 CHAPTER IV. The attack on Fort Caroline. — 1565. .... CHAPTER V. Escape of Laudonniere and others from Fort Caroline — Adventures of the fugitives. . . . . . . . 36 CHAPTER VI. Site of Fort Caroline, afterwards called San Matteo. . . .51 CHAPTER VII. Menendez's return to St. Augustine — Shipwreck of Ribault — Massacre of part of his command. — A. D. 1565. .... 60 CHAPTER VIII. Fate of Ribault and his followers — Bloody massacre at Matanzas. — 1565. '76 8 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. Page. Fortifying of St. Augustine — Disaffections and mutinies — Approval of Menendez' acts by king of Spain. — 1565 — 1568. . .91 CHAPTER X. The notable revenge of Dominic de Gourgues — Return of Menendez — Indian Mission.— 1568. ...... 102 CHAPTER XL Sir Francis Drake's attack upon St. Augustine — Establishment of mis- sions — ^Massacre of missionaries at St. Augustine. — 1586 — 1638. Ill CHAPTER Xn. Subjection of the Apalaehian Indians — Construction of the fort, sea wall, «fec.— 1638— 1700. ..... 121 CHAPTER XHI. . Attack on St. Augustine by Gov. Moore of South Carolina — Difficulties with the Georgians.- 1702— 1732. . . .131 CHAPTER XIV. Siege of St. Augustine by Oglethorpe. — 1732 — 1740. . . 141 CHAPTER XV. Completion of tlie castle — Descriptions of St. Augustine a century ago — English occupation of Florida.— 1755— 1763— 1783. . 155 CHAPTER XVI. Re-cession of Florida to Spain — Erection of the Parish Church — Change offlags.— 1783— 1821. ...... 173 CHAPTER XVH. Tran.-?fer of Florida to the United States — Amei'ican occupation — Ancient buildings, ! 4. Entrance of St. John'.s River, . . .")l 5. Menendez, Founder of St. Aucjistim;, . . 1"9 G. Spanish Coat SSACRE AT MATANZAS— 1565. The first detaclimeut of the French whom Me- nendez met and so utterly destroyed, constituted the complement of a single vessel, which had been thrown ashore at a more northerly point than the others. All these vessels were wrecked between Musquito Inlet and Matanzas. Of the fate of the main detachment, under Ri- bault in person, we have the following account, as related by the same apologist, the chaplain De Solis : " On the next day following the return of the Adelantado at St. Augustine, the same Indians who came before returned, and said that ' a great many more Christians were at the same part of the river as the others had been.' The Adelantado concluded that it must be Jean Ribault, the General of the Lutherans at sea and on land, whom they called the Viceroy of this country for the king of France. He immediately went, with one hundred and fifty men N OF ST. AUGUSTIXE, FLORIDA. 77 in good order, and reached the place where he had lodged the first time, at about midnight ; and at dawn he pushed forward to the river, with his men drawn out, and when it was daylight, he saw, two bow-shots from the other bank of the river, many- persons, and a raft made to cross over the people, at the place where the Adelantado stood. But imme- diately, when the French saw the Adelantado and his people, they took arms, and displayed a royal standard and two standards of companies, sounding fifes and drums, in very good order, and showing a front of battle to the Adelantado ; who, having ordered his men to sit down and take their breakfast, so that they made no demonstration of any change, he himself walked up and down the shore, with his admiral and two other captains, pay- ing no attention to the movement and demonstration of battle of the French ; so that they, observing this, halted and the fifes and drums ceased, while with a bugle note they unfurled the white flag of peace, which was returned by the Adelantado. A French- man placed himself upon the raft, and cried with a loud voice that he wished to cross over, but that owing to the force of the current he could not bring the raft over, and desired an Indian canoe which was there to be sent over. The Adelantado said he could swim over for it, under pledge of his word. 78 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES A Frencli sailor immediately came over, but the General would not permit Lim to speak witli him, but directed him to take the canoe, and go and tell his captain, that inasmuch as he had called for a conference, if he desired any thing he should send over some one to communicate with him. The same sailor immediately came with a gentleman, who said he was the sergeant major of Jean Ki- bault, Viceroy and Captain General of this land for the king of France, and that he had sent him to say, that they had been wrecked with their fleet in a gi'eat storm, and that he had with him three hundred and fifty French ; that they wished to go to_ a fort which they held, twenty leagues from there ; that they wished the favor of boats, to pass this river, and the other, four leagues further on, and that he desired to know if they were Spaniards, and under what leader they served. " The Adelantado answered him, that they were Spaniards, and that the Captain under whom they served was the person now addressing him, and was called Pedro Menendez. That he should tell his Gen- eral that the fort which he held twenty leagues from there had been taken by him, and he had destroyed all the French, and the rest who had come with the fleet, because they were badly governed ; and then, passing thence to where the dead bodies of the OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 79 Frenclimen whom lie had killed still lay unburied, pointed them out to him and said, therefore he could not permit them to pass the river to their fort. "The sergeant, with an unmoved countenance, and without any appearance of uneasiness on account of what the Adelantado had said, replied, that if he would have the goodness to send a gentleman of his party, to say to the French general, that they might negotiate with safety, the people Avere much exhausted, and the general would come over in a boat which was there. The Adelantado replied, ' Farewell, comrade, and bear the answer which they shall give you ; and if your general desires to come and treat with me, I give my word that he shall come and return securely, with four or six of his people whom he may select for his advisors, that he may do whatever he may conclude to be best.' " The French gentleman then departed with this message. Within half an hour he returned to accept the assurance the Adelantado had given, and to ob- tain the boat ; which the Adelantado was unwilling to let him have, but said he could use the canoe, which was safe, and the strait w^as narrow ; and he again went back with this message. " Immediately Jean Kibault came over, whom the Adelantado received very well, with other eight gentlemen, who had come with him. They were 80 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES all gentlemen of rank and position. He gave them a collation, and would Lave given them food if tliey liad desired. Jean Eibanlt witli mucli liumility, thanked Mm for liis kind reception, and said that to raise their spirits, much depressed by the sad news of the death of their comrades, they would partake only of the wine and condiments, and did not wish any thing else to eat. Then after eating, Jean Ei- bault said, ' that he saw that those his companions were dead, and that he could not be mistaken if he desired to be.' Then the Adelantado directed the soldiers to brins: each one whatever he had taken from the fort ; and he saw so many thicgs, that he knew for certain that it was taken ; although he knew this before, yet he could not wholly believe it, because among his men there was a Frenchman by name of Barbero, of those whom the Adelantado had ordered to be destroyed with the rest, and who was left for dead with the others, having with the first thrust he received fallen down and made as though he were dead, and when they left there he had passed over by swimming, to Eibault ; and this Barbero held it for certain that the Adelantado had deceived them in saying that the fort was taken, it not being so ; and thus until now he had supposed. The Adelan- tado said that in order with more certainty to believe this and satisfy himself, he might converse OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 81 apart witli the two Frenclimeu t\^1io were present, to satisfy him better ; which he did. "Immediately Jean Ribault came towards the Adelantado and said, ' it was certain that all which he had told him was true ; but that what had happened to him, might have happened to the Adelantado ; and since their kings were brothers, and such great friends, the Adelantado should act towards him as a friend, and give him ships and provisions, that he mio'ht return to France.' " The Adelantado replied in the same manner that he had done to the other Frenchmen, as to what he would do ; and that taking it or leaving it, Jean Ribault could obtain nothing further from the Ade- lantado. Jean Eibault then said that he would go and give an account of matters to his people, for he had among them many of noble blood ; and would return or send an answer as to what he would do. " Three hours afterwards, Jean Eibault returned in the canoe, and said, ' that there were different opinions among his people; that while some were willing to yield themselves to his clemency, others were not.' The Adelantado replied ' that it mat- tered but little to him whether they all came, or a part, or none at all ; that they should do as it pleased them, and he would act with the same liberty.' Jean Ribault said to him, ' that the half of the peo- 82 THE HISTORY AXD ANTIQUITIES pie wlio were willing to yield themselves to his clemency, would pay him a ransom of more than 100,000 ducats ; and the other half were able to pay more, for there was among them persons of wealth and large incomes, who had desired to establish estates in this country.' The Adelantado answered him, ' It would grieve me much to lose so great and rich a ransom, under the necessity I am under for such aid, to carry forward the conquest and settle- ment of this land, in the name of my king, as is my duty, and to plant here the Holy Evangel.' Jean Ribault considered from this, that with the amount which they could all give, he might be induced to spare his own life and that of all the others who were with him, and that they might be able to pay more than 200,000 ducats ; and he said to the Ade- lantado, ' that he would return with his answer to his people ; that as it was late, he would take it as a favor if he would be willing to wait until the follow- ing day, when he would bring their reply as to what they would conclude to do.' The Adelantado said, ' Yes, that he would wait.' Jean Kibault then went back to his people, it being already sunset. In the morning, he returned with the canoe, and surren- dered to the Adelantado two royal standards — the one that of the king of France, the other that of the Admiral (Coligny), — and the standards of the OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 83 company, and a sword, dagger, and helmet, gilded very beautifully ; and also a shield, a pistol, and a commission given him under the high admiral of France, to assure to him his title and possessions. " He then said to him, ' that but one hundred and fifty of the three hundred and fifty whom he had with him were willing to yield to his clemency, and that the others had withdrawn during the night ; and that they might take the boat and bring those who were willing to come over, and their arms.' The Adelantado immediately directed the captain, Diego Flores Valdes, Admiral of the fleet, that he should bring them over as he had done the others, ten by ten ; and the Adelantado, taking Jean Ri- bault behind the sand hills, among the bushes where the others had their hands tied behind them, he said to these and all the others as he had done be- fore, that they had four leagues to go after night, and that he could not permit them to go unbound ; and after they were all tied, he asked if they were Catholics or Lutherans, or if any of them desired to make confession. " Jean Ribault replied, ' that all who were there were of the new religion,' and he then began to repeat the psalm, ' Domine ! Memento Mel ; ' and having finished, he said, ' that from dust they came and to dust they must return, and that in twenty 84r THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES years, more or less, lie must render his final account ; that the Adelantado might do with them as he chose.' The Adelantado then ordered all to be killed, in the same order and at the same mark, as had been done to the others. He spared only the fifers, drummers, and trumpeters, and four others who said that they were Catholics, in all, sixteen persons." " Todos los demas fueron degcdladosj'' — " all the rest were slaughtered," is the sententious summary by which Padre de Solis announced the close of the sad career of the gray-haired veteran, the brave soldier, the Admiral Jean Eibault, and his companions.* At some point on the thickly-wooded shores of the Island of Anastasio, or beneath the shifting mounds of sand which mark its shores, may still lie the bones of some of the three hundred and fifty who, spared from destruction by the tempest, and escaping the perils of the sea and of the savage, fell victims to the vindictive rancor and blind rage of one than whom history recalls none more cruel, or less humane. But while their bones, scattered on earth and sea, unhonored and unburied, were lost to human sight, the tale of their destruction and sad fate, scattered in like manner over the whole world, *Barcia, p. 89. OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLOKIDA. 85 has raised to their memory through sympathy with their fate, a memorial which will endure as long as the pages of history. The Adelantado returned that night to St. Augus- tine, where, says his apologist, some persons censured him for his cruelty. Others commended what he had done, as the act of a good general, and said that even if they had been Catholics, he could not have done more justly than he had done for them ; for with the few provisions that the Adelantado had, either the one or the other people would have had to perish with hunger, and the French would have destroyed our people : they were the most numerous.* "VVe have still to trace the fate of the body of two hundred, who retired from Ribault after his fatal determination to surrender to the tender mercies of Menendez. As we are already aware, it comprised the elite of his force, men of standing and rank, and whose spirits had retained the energy to combat against the natural discouragements of their position ; and they adopted the nobler resolve of selling their lives, at least with their swords in their hands. De Solis proceeds to give the following further account of them : — " Twenty days subsequently to the destruction of * Barcia, p. 89. 86 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES these, some Indians came to the Adelantado, and informed him by signs, that eight days' journey from here to the southward, near the Bahama Channel, at Canaveral, a large number of people, brethren of those whom the General had caused to be killed, were building a fort and a vessel. The Adelantado at once came to the conclusion, that the French had retired to the place where their vessels were wrecked, and where their artillery and munitions, and provi- sions were, in order to build a vessel and return to France to procure succor. The General thereupon dispatched from St. Augustine to St. Matteo, ten of his soldiers, conveying intelligence of what had taken place, and directing that they should send to him one hundred and fifty of the soldiers there, with the thirty-five others who remained when he returned to St. Augustine, after taking the fort. The master of the camp immediately dispatched them, under command of Captains Juan Velez de Medrano and Andrez Lopez Patrio ; and they arrived at St. Augus- tine on October 23d. On the 25th, after having heard mass, the Adelantado departed for the coast, with three hundred men, and three small vessels to go by sea with the arms and provisions ; and the vessels were to go along and progress equally with the troops ; and each night when the troops halted. OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 87 the vessels also ancliored by them, for it was a clear and sandy coast. " The Adelantado carried in the three vessels, pro- visions for forty days for three hundred men, and one days' ration was to last for two days ; and he promised to do everything for the general good of all, although they might have to undergo many dangers and pri- vations ; that he had great hope that he would have the goodness and mercy of God to aid him in carry- ing through safely this so holy and pious an under- taking. He then took leave of them, leaving most of them in tears, for he was much loved, feared, and respected by all.* " The Adelantado, after a wearisome journey, marching on foot himself the whole distance, arrived in the neighborhood of the French camp on All Saints Day, at daylight, guided by the Indians by land, and the three vessels under the command of Captain Diego de Maya. As soon as the French descried the Spaniards, they fled to their fort, w^ith- out any remaining. The Adelantado sent them a trumj)eter, offering them their lives, that they should return and should receive the same treatment as the Spaniards. One hundred and fifty came to the Adelantado ; and their leader, with twenty others, * Barcia, p. S9. 88 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES sent to say that tliey would sooner be devoured by the Indians, than surrender themselves to the Span- iards. The Adelantado received those who surren- dered, very well, and having set fire to the fort, which was of wood, burned the vessel which they were building, and buried the artillery, for the vessels could not carry them." De Solis here closes his account of the matter ; but from other accounts we learn that the Adelantado kept his faith on this occasion with them, and that some entered his service, some were converted to his faith, and others returned to France; and thus ended the Huguenot attempt to colonize the shores of Florida. There are several other accounts of the fate of Ribault and his followers, drawn from the narratives of survivors of the expedition, which, without vary- ing the general order of events, fill in sundry details of the massacres. The main point of difference is, as to the pledges or assurances given by Menendez. The French accounts say that he pledged his faith to them, that their lives should be spared.* It will be seen that the Spanish account denies that he did so, but makes him use language subject to misconstruc- * Such was the understandiug of those who then wrote ia reference to the transaction, as Barcia admits. OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 89 tion, and calculated to deceive them into the Lope and expectation of safety. I do not see that in a Christian or even moral view there is much difference between an open breach of faith, and the breach of an implied faith, particularly when it was only by this deception that the surrender could have been accomplished. Nor could Menendez have had a very delicate sense of the value of the word of a soldier, a Christian, and a gentleman, when, as his apologist admits, he did directly use the language of falsehood, to induce them to submit to the degradation of hav- ing their hands tied. Nor, considered in its broader asj^ects, is it a matter of any consequence, whether he gave his word or no ; nor does it lessen the enormity of his conduct, had they submitted themselves in the most unreserved manner to his discretion. France and Spain were at peace ; no act of hostility had been committed by the French toward the Spaniards ; and Ribault asked only to be allowed to pass on. In violation alike of the laws of war and the law of humanity, he first induced them to surrender, to abide what God, whose holy name he invoked, should put into his heart to do, and then cajoling them into allowing their hands to be tied, he ordered them to be killed, in their bonds as they stood, defenseless, helpless, wrecked, and famished men. It would have been a 90 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES base blot upon human nature, bad be tbus served tbe most savaoje tribe of nations, standino; on tbat far shore, brought into the common sympathy of want and suffering. The act seems one of monstrous atrocity, when committed against the people of a sister nation. OF ST AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 91 CHAPTER IX. FORTIFYING OF ST. AUGUSTINE— DISAFFECTIONS AND MUTI- NIES—APPROVAL OF MENENDEZ' ACTS BY KING OF SPAIN. 1565-1568. DuRESTG the time of tlie several expeditions of the Aclelautado asjainst the French Huo:uenots, the for- tification and strengthen! ng of the defenses of the settlement at St. Augastine had not been neglected. The fort, or Indian council-house, which had been first fortified, seems to have been consumed in the conflagration spoken of ; and thereupon a plan of a regular fortification or fort was marked out by Menendez ; and, as there existed some danger of the return of the French, the Spaniards labored unceas- ingly with their whole force, to put it in a respectable state of defense. From an engraving contained in De Bry, illustrating the attack of Sir Francis Drake, twenty years afterwards, this fort appears to have been an octagonal structure of logs, and located near the site of the present fort, while the settlement itself was probably made in the first instance, at the lower Q-^. 92 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES / end of the peninsula, near the building now called ) the powder-house. He also established a government for the place, with civil and military officials, a hall of justice, et cetera. All of these matters were arranged by Menendez before his expedition against the French at Canave- ral, of whom one hundred and fifty returned with him, and were received upon an equal footing with his own men, the more distinguished being received at his own table upon the most friendly terms ; a clemency which, with a knowledge of his character, can only be ascribed to motives of policy. The position of the French at Canaveral was probably inaccessible, as they had their arms, besides artillery brought from the vessels ; and the duplicity which had characterized his success with their comrades, was out of the question here; the French could therefore exact their own terms, and unshackled could forcibly resist any attempt at treachery. The addition of this number to his force lessened the already diminished supply of provisions which Menendez had brought with him ; and want soon began to threaten his camp. He sent as many of his soldiers as he could into camp at San Matteo, and endeavored to draw supplies from the Indians ; but unfortunately for him, the country between the St. OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA, 93 Johns and St. Augustine was under the rule of the Indian Chief, Satouriara, the friend (and ally of the ^l French), whose hostility the Spaniards were never able to overcome. Satouriara and his followers withdrew from all peaceable intercourse with the Spaniards, and hung about their path to destroy, harrass, and cut them off upon every possible occa- sion. The winter succeeding the settlement of the Spaniards at St. Augustine, was most distressing and discouraging to them. The lack of provisions in their camp drove them to seek, in the surrounding country, subsistence from the roots and esculent plants it might afford, or to obtain in the neigh- boring creeks, fish and oysters ; but no sooner did a S23aniard venture out alone beyond the gates of the fort, than he was grasped, by some unseen foe, from the low underbrush and put to death, or a shower of arrows from some tree-top was his first intimation of danger ; if he discharged his arquebuse towards his invisible assailants, others would spring upon him before he could reload his piece ; or, if he attempted to find fish and oysters in some quiet creek, the noiseless canoe of an Indian would dart in upon him, and the heavy war-club of the savage descend- ing upon his unprotected head, end his existence. Against such a foe, no defense could avail ; and it is y 9J: THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES related that more than one hundred and twenty of the Spaniards were thus killed, including Captain Martin de Ochoa, Caj)tain Diego de Hevia, Fernando de Gamboa, and Juan Menendez, a nephew of the Adelantado, and many others of the bravest and most distinguished of the garrison. In this crisis of affairs, the Governor concluded to go to Cuba himself, to obtain relief for his colony. He in the meantime established a fort at St. Lucia, near Canaveral. A considerable jealousy seems to have existed on the part of the governor of Cuba ; and he received Menendez with great coolness, and in reply to his appeals for aid, only offered an empty ves- sel. In this emergency, Menendez contemplated, as his only means of obtaiuing what he wished, to go upon a filibustering expedition against some Portuguese and English vessels which were in those waters. While making preparations to do this, four vessels of the fleet with which he had left Spain, and which had been supposed lost, arrived ; and after dispatching a vessel to Campeachy for provisions, he commenced his return voyage to his colony, delaying however for a time in South Florida, to seek intelligence among the Indians of his lost son. In the mean time his garrisons at St. Augustine and San Matteo had mutinied, and were in open revolt ; provisions had become so scarce that twenty- OF ST. AUGUSTIN^E, FLORIDA. 95 five reals had been given for a pound of biscuit, and but for the fish they would have starved. They plundered the public stores, imprisoned their officers, and seized uj)on a vessel laden with provisions w^hich had been sent to the garrison. The Master of the Camp succeeded in escaping from confinement and releasing his fellow prisoners, by a bold movement cut off the intercourse between the mutineers on board the vessel and those on shore, and hung the Sergeant Major, who was at the head of the move- ment. The Commandant then attempted to attack those in the vessel, and was nearly lost with his companions, by being wrecked on the bar. The vessel made sail to the West India Islands. The garrison at San Matteo took a vessel there and came around to St. Augustine, but arrived after their accomplices had left. Disease had already begun to make its ravages, and added to the general wish to leave the country ; which all would then have done had they had the vessels in which to embark. They used for their recovery from sickness, the roots of a native shrub, which produced marvelous cures. At this period Menendez returned to the famished garrison, but was forced to permit Juan Vicente, with one hundred of the disaffected, to go to St. Domingo by a vessel which he dispatched there for 93 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES supplies ; and it is said that the governors of the islands where they went, harbored them, and that of some five hundred who on different occasions deserted from the Adelantado, and all of whom had been brought out at his cost, but two or three were ever returned to him ; while the deserters putting their own construction upon their acts, sent home to the king of Spain criminations of the Adelantado, and represented the conquest of Florida as a hopeless and worthless acquisition ; that it was barren and swampy, and produced nothing. After this defection, Menendez proceeded along the coast to San Matteo, and thence to Guale, Amelia, and adjoining islands, Orista and St. Helena ; made peaceful proposals to the Indian tribes, lectured them upon theology, and planted a cross 'at their council-houses. The cacique of Guale asked Me- nendez how it was " that he had waged war upon the other white men, who had come from the same country as himself ? " He replied, " that the other white people were bad Christians, and believers in lies ; and that those whom he had killed, deserved the most cruel death, because they had fled their own country, and came to mislead and deceive the caciques and other Indians, as they had already before misled and deceived many other good Christ- ians, in order that the devil may take possession of OF ST, AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 97 them." While at St. Helena he succeeded iu obtaining permission of the Indians to erect a fort there, and he left a detachment. On his return he also erected fort San Felipe, at Orista ; and after setting up a cross at Guale, the cacique demanded of him, that as now they had become good Christians, he should cause rain to come upon their fields ; for a drought had continued eight months. The same night a severe rain-storm happened, which confirmed the faith of the Indians, and gained the Adelantado great credit with them. While here, he learned that there was a fugitive Lutheran among the Indians, and he took some pains to cause to be given to the fugitive, hopes of good treatment if he would come in to the Spanish post at St. Helena, while he gave private directions that he should be killed, directing his lieutenant to make very strange of his disap- pearance ; an incident very illustrative of the vindic- tiveness and duplicity of Menendez.* He returned to St. Augustine, and was received with great joy, and devoted himself to the comple- tion of the fort, which was to frighten the savages, and enforce respect from strangers. It was built, it is said, where it now stands, donde este aliora^ (1722.) The colony left at St. Helena mutinied almost * Ensay. Cron. 110. 9S THE HISTORY AXD ANTIQUITIES immediately, and seizing a vessel sent with supplies, sailed for Cuba, and were wrecked on tlie Florida Keys, where tliey met at an Indian town, tlie muti- neers who had deserted from the fort at St. Matteo : these had been also wrecked there. The garrison again becoming much straitened for provisions, the Adelantado, in June, was obliged to go to Cuba for succor. He was received with indif- ference, and his wishes unheeded. He applied to the governor of Mexico, and others who happened to be there, and who had the power of assisting him; from all he received no encouragement, but the advice to abandon his enterj^rise. He at last pawned his jewels, the badge of his order, and his valuables, thus obtaining five hundred ducats ; with which he purchased provisions, and set sail on his return, with only sixty-five men. But Just at this period, succor came to the fam- ished troops ; a fleet of seventeen vessels arrived with fifteen hundred men from Spain, under Juan de Avila, as admiral. By this means all the posts were succored and reinforced, and the enterprise saved from destruction ; for the small supplies brought by Menendez would have been soon exhausted, and further eftbrts being out of his power, they would have been forced to withdraw from the country. OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 99 The admiral of the fleet also had entrusted to him for the Adelantado, a letter from the king, written on the 12th of May, 1566, which, among other matters, contained the following royal com- mendation of the acts of Menendez. " Of the great success which has attended your enterprise, we have the most entire satisfaction, and we bear in memory the loyalty, the love, and the diligence, with which you have borne us service, as well as the dangers and perils in which you have been placed ; and as to the retribution you have visited upon the Lutheran pirates who sought to occupy that country, and to fortify themselves there, in order to disseminate in it their wicked creed, and to prosecute there their wrongs and robberies, which they have done and were doing against God's service and my own, we believe that you did it with every justification and propriety, and we consider ourself to have been well served in so doing." * To this commendation of Philip II., it is unneces- sary to add any comment, save that no other action could have been expected of him. And of Charles the Ninth, of France, the Spanish historian says that he treated the memorial of the widows and orphans of the slain with contempt, " considering their pun- * Ensajo : Cron. 115. 100 THE HISTORY AIs'D ANTIQUITIES isliment to liave been just, in tliat they were equally enemies of Spain, of France, of the Church, and of tlie peace of the world." During the absence of Menendez to inspect his posts, disaffection again broke out; and finding his force too numerous, he witli sixteen vessels went upon a freebooting expedition to attack pirates. He failed to meet with any ; but having learned that a large French fleet was on its way, he visited and fortified the forts on the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico, and again returned to Florida ; tlie expected French fleet never having arrived. About this time, a small vessel brought from Spain three learned and exemplary priests ; one of whom. Padre Martinez, landed upon the coast with some of the crew, and being unable to regain the vessel, coasted aloncc to St. Georsre Island, where he was attacked and murdered by the Indians, with a number of his companions. The following year was principally occupied by Menendez, in strengthening his fortifications at his three forts, in visiting the Indian chiefs at their towns, and exploring the country. One of his expe- ditions went as far north as the thirty-seventh degree of latitude by sea, and another went to the foot of the Apalachian Mountains, about one hundred and fifty leairues, and established a fort. The former was OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA, 101 about the mouth of the Chesapeake, called the Santa Maria ; * and the land expedition, probably to the up- country of Georgia, in the neighborhood of Rome. All attempts at pacifying their warlike neighbor, were as fruitless as their attempts to subjugate him ; whether in artifice and duplicity, in open warfare, or secret ambush, he was more than equal to the Adelantado, and was a worthy ancestor of the mod- ern Seminole, — never present when looked for, and never absent when an opportunity of striking a blow occurred. The Adelantado having had built an extremely slight vessel of less than twenty tons, called a frigate, concluded to visit Spain, and ran in seventeen days to the Azores, sailing seventy leagues per day, an exploit not often equaled in modern times. He was received with great joy in Spain, and the king treated him with much consideration. The Adelan- tado felt great anxiety to return to his colony, and deprecated the delays of the court, fearing the result of the indignation at his cruelty to the Huguenots, which, says his chronicler, increased day by day.f * Pensacola Bay was also so called. f Ensayo : CroD. 133. 103 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES CHAPTER X. THE NOTABLE REVENGE OF DOMINIC DE GOURGUES— RETURN OF MENENDEZ— INDIAN MISSION— 1568. While Menendez thus remained at the Spanish court urging the completion of his business, seeking compensation for the great expenditures which he had made in the king's service, and vindicating him- self from the accusations which had been preferred against him, — the revenge, the distant murmurs of which had already reached his ears, fell upon the Spaniards on the St. Johns. Dominic de Gourgues, one of those soldiers of for- tune, who then abounded throughout Europe, took upon himself the expression of the indignation with which the French nation viewed the slaughter of of their countrymen. From motives of policy, or from feelings, still less creditable, the French court ignored the event ; but it rankled nevertheless in the national heart, and many a secret vow of revenge was breathed, the low whisj)ers of which reached even the confines of the Spanish court. Conscience, OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 103 and the knowledge tliat the sentiment of the age was against him, made Menendez from the moment of his success exceedingly anxious lest well-merited retribution should fall upon his own colony. He guarded against it in every way in his power : he strengthened all his posts ; he erected for the protec- tion of San Matteo, formerly Fort Caroline, two small forts on either side of the entrance of the river, at the points now known as Batten Island and Mayport Mills. He placed large garrisons at each post, and had made such arrangements against surprise or open attack upon his forts, that Father Mendoza boasted that " half of all France could not take them." De Gourgues, with three vessels and about two hundred and fifty chosen men animated with like feelings with himself, appeared in April, 1568, off the mouth of the St. Johns. The Spanish fort re- ceived his vessels with a salute, supposing them to be under the flag of Spain. De Gourgues returned the salute, thus confirming their error. He then en- tered the St. Marys, called the Somme, and was met by a large concourse of Indians, friendly to the French and bitterly hostile to the Spaniards, at the head of whom was the stern and uncompromising Saturioura. Their plans were quickly formed, and immediately carried into execution. Their place of rendezvous was the Fort George Inlet, called by them 104 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES the Sarabay ; and tliey traversed tliat island at low tide, fell suddenly upon the fort at Batten Island on tlie north side of the river, completely surpris- ing it. The force occupying the Spanish forts amounted to four hundred men, one hundred and twenty of whom occuj^ied the two forts at the mouth of the river, and the remainder Fort Caroline. The French with their Indian allies approached the fort on the north side of the river at clay-break. Hav- ing waded the intervening marsh and creek to the great damage of their feet and legs by reason of the oyster banks, they arrived within two hundred yards of the post when they w^ere discovered by the sen- tinel upon the platform of the fort ; who immediately cried, " to arms," and discharged twice at the French a culverin which had been taken at Fort Caroline. Before he could load it a third time the brave 01a- tocara leaped upon him, and killed him with a pike. Goui'gues then charging in, the garrison by this time alarmed rushed out, armed hastily and seeking es- cape ; another part of Gourgues' force coming up, inclosed the Spaniards between them, and all l^ut jBfteen of the garrison perished on the spot ; the others were taken prisoners, only to be reserved for the summary vengeance which the French leader medi- tated. The Spanish garrison in the other fort kept up OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 105 in the mean time a brisk cannonade, wliicli incom- moded tlie assailants, wlio however soon managed to point the pieces of the fort they had taken ; and under the cover of this fire the French crossed to the other fort, their Indian allies in great numbers swimming with them. The garrison of sixty men, panic-struck, made no attempt at resistance, but fled, endeavoring to reach the main fort ; being inter- cepted by the Indians in one direction, and by the French in another, but few made good their escape. These, arriving at Fort Caroline, carried an exagger- ated account of the number of their assailants. De Gourgues at once pushed forward to attack Fort Caroline, while its defenders were terrified at the suddenness of his attack, and the supposed strength of his force. Upon his arrival near the fort, the Spanish commander sent out a detachment of sixty men, to make a reconnoisance. De Gourgues skill- fully interposed a body of his own men with a large number of the Indians between the reconnoiterino: party and the fort, and then with his main force charged upon them in front ; when the Spaniards turning to seek the shelter of the fort, were met by the force in their rear, and were all either killed or taken prisoners. Seeing this misfortune, the Spanish commander despaired of being able to hold the for- tress, and determined to make a timely retreat to St. 106 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES Augustine. In attemptiug this, most of Ms followers fell into the hands of the Indians, and were slain upon the spot ; the commandant with a few others alone escaped. De Gourgues, now completely successful in making retaliation for the fate of his countrymen on the same spot where they had suffered, on the same tree which had borne the bodies of the Huguenots caused his prisoners to be suspended ; and as Menendez had on the former occasion erected a tablet that they had been punished "not as Frenchmen but as Luther- ans," so De Gourgues in like manner erected an inscription that he had done this to them " not as to Spaniards^ iwr as to outcasts^ hid as to traitors^ thieves^ and miirderersy ^' After inducing the Indians to destroy the forts, and to raze them to the ground, he set sail for France, arriving safely without further adventure. His conduct was at the time disavowed and cen- sured by the French court ; and the Spanish ambas- sador had the assurance, in the name of that master who had publicly declared his approval of the con- duct of Menendez, to demand the surrender of De Gourgues to his vengeance. The brave captain, however the crown might seem to disapprove, was * Ternaux Compaus, p. 357. OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 107 secretly sustained and protected by many distiu- guislied persons official and private, and by the mass of the people ; to whom his boldness, spirit, and signal success were grateful. Some years afterwards, he was restored to the favor of his sovereign, and ap- pointed admiral of the fleet. That De Gourgues deserves censure, cannot be denied ; but there will always exist an admiration for his courage and intrepid valor, with a sympathy for the bitter provocations under which he acted, both personal and national ; a sympathy not shared with Menendez, w^ho visited his wrath upon the religious opinions of men, while De Gourgues was the unauthorized avenger of undoubted crime and inhumanity. Both acted in violation of the pure spirit of that Christianity which they alike professed to revere, under the same form. While these scenes were enacting on the St. Johns, Menendez was upon his way to his colonies, where he first heard of the descent of De Gourgues, then on his way back to France. The Adelantado upon his arrival found his troops hungry and naked, and their relations with the Indians worse than ever. Having made such arrangements as were in his power, he returned to Havana, to further his plans for introducing Christianity among the Indians ; to which, to his credit be it said, he devoted the greater 103 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES share of Lis time and attention. Fatlier Rogel ap- plied himself to learning their language, with great \y success ; and an institution was established in Havana especially for thieir instruction. In the Ensayo Cronologica, tliere is set fortli in full, a rescript ad- dressed by Pope Pius V., to Menendez, conveying to him the acknowledgments of his Holiness, for the zeal and loyalty he liad exhibited, and his labors in carrying the faitli to the Indians, and urging him strongly to see to it, that bis Indian converts should not be scandalized by the vicious lives of tlieir white brethren who claimed to be Christians. A small party of Sj^aniards, as has already been mentioned, accomj^anied by a priest, De Quiros, had been left upon the Chesapeake, and under the auspices of a young converted chief, who had been some time with the Spaniards in Havana and Florida, anticipa- ted a more easy access to the Indian tribes in that region. Another priest, with ten associates, went the following year ; when, after they had sent away their vessel, they discovered that their predecessor had been murdered, through the treachery of the renegade apostate ; and they themselves fell shortly victims to his perfidy. Menendez dispatched a third vessel there ; when the fate of the two former parties was ascertained, and he went in person to cliastise the murderers ; he succeeded in capturing six or seven, OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 109 who, it is said (ratlier improbably I think), confessed themselves to have been implicated in the massacre. Menendez, in his summary and sailor-like way, ordered their execution at the yard-arm of his vessel. The Cronicle says, that they were first converted and baptized, by the zeal of Father Rogel, before the sentence was carried into execution. A long period elapsed before any further efforts were made in this quarter to establish a colony ; and it was then accom- plished by the English. In consequence of these temporary establishments, however, the Spanish crown, for a long period, claimed the whole of the intervening country, as lying within its Province of Florida. The annals of the city during the remainder of the life of Menendez, present only the usual vicissi- tudes of new settlements, — the alternations of supply and w\ant, occasional disaffections, and petty annoy- ances. Menendez was the recipient from his court of new honors from time to time, and had been appointed the grand admiral of the Spanish Armada ; when, in September, 1574, he was suddenly carried off by a fever, at the age of fifty-five. It is a singular coin- cidence, that De Gourgues, five years afterwards, was carried off in a similar manner, just after his appointment as admiral of the French fleet. A 110 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES splendid monument in the cliurcli of San Nicolas, at Aviles, was erected to the memory of Menendez, with the following inscrij)tion : "Here lies buried the illustrious Cavaliek, Pedro Menendez de Aviles, a native of this CITY, AdELANTADO OF THE PROVINCES OF FlOEIDA, Knight Commander of Santa Cruz of the order OF Santiago, and Captain General of the Oce- anic Seas and of the Armada which his Eoyal Highness collected at Santander in the year 15*74, WHERE he died on the 17tii of September of that year, in the 55th year of his age. OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. Ill CHAPTER XI. SIR FRANCIS DRAKE'S ATTACK UPON ST. AUGUSTINE— ESTAB- LISHMENT OF MISSIONS— MASSACRE OF MISSIONARIES AT ST. AUGUSTINE— 1586— 1638. Nine years had elapsed from tlie death of Meuen- dez, and the colony at St. Augustine had slowly pro- gressed into the settlement of a small town ; but the eclat and importance which the presence of Menen- dez had given it, were much lessened ; when, in 1586, Sir Francis Drake, with a fleet returning from South America, discovered the Spanish look-out upon Anastasia Island, and sent boats ashore to ascertain something in reference to it. Marching up the shore, they discovered across the bay, a fort, and further up a town built of wood. Proceeding towards the fort, which bore the name of San Juan de Pinas, some guns were fired upon them from it, and they retired towards theii' vessel ; the same evening a fifer made his appearance, and informed them that he was a Frenchman, detained a prisoner there, and that the Spaniards had aban- doned their fort ; and he offered to conduct them 112 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES over. Upon this information tliey crossed tlie river and found tlie fort abandoned as tliey had been informed, and took possession of it without opposi- tion. It was built entirely of wood, and only sur- rounded by a wall or pale formed of the bodies or trunks of large trees, set upright in the earth ; for, says the narrative, it was not at that time inclosed by a ditch, as it had been but lately begun by the Spaniards. The platforms were made of the bodies of large j)ine trees (of which there are plenty here), laid horizontally across each other, with earth rammed in to fill up the vacancies. Fourteen brass cannon were found in the fort, and there was left behind the treasure chest, containing .£2,000 sterling, designed for the payment of the garrison, which consisted of one hundred and fifty men. Whether the massive, iron-bound mahogany chest, .still pre- served in the old fort is the same which fell into the hands of Drake, is a question for antiquaries to de- cide ; its ancient appearance might well justify the supposition. On the following day, Drake's forces marched towards the town, but owning, it is said, to heavy rains, were obliged to return and go in the boats. On their approach, the Spaniards fled into the coun- try. It is said, in Barcia, that a Spaniard concealed in the bushes, fired at the sergeant major and OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 113 wounded liirn, and then ran np and dispatched him, and that in revenge for this act, Drake burnt their buildings and destroyed their gardens. The garri- son and inhabitants retired to fort San Matteo, on the St. Johns river. Barcia says that the popuhxtion of the place was then increasing considerably, and that it possessed a hall of justice, parochial church, and other buildings, together with gardens in the rear of the town. An engraved plan or view of Drake's descent upon St. Augustine, published after his return to England, represents an octagonal fort between two streams; at the distance of half a mile another stream ; beyond that the town, with a look-out and two religious houses, one of which is a church and the other probably the house of the Franciscans, who had shortly before established a house of their order there. The town contains three squares lengthwise, and four in width, with gardens on the west side. Some doubt has been thrown on the actual site of the first settlement, by this account ; but I think it probably stood considerably to the south of the present public square, between the barracks and the powder-house. Perhaps the Maria Sanchez creek may have then communicated with the bay near its present head, in wet weather and at hioh tides isolatino^ the fort from the town. The present north ditch may 114 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES have been the bed of a tide creek, and thus would correspond to the appearance presented by the sketch. It is well known that the north end of the city was built at a much later period than the southern, and that the now vacant space below the barracks, was once occupied with buildings. Buildings and fields are shown upon Anastasia Island, opposite the town. The relative position of the town with reference to the entrance of the harbor is correctly shown on the plan ; and there seems no sufiicient ground to doubt the identity of the present town with the ancient locality. The garrison and country were then under the command of Don Pedro Meuendez, a nephew of the Adelantado ; who, after the English squadron sailed, having received assistance from Havana, began, it is said, to rebuild the city, and made great efforts to increase its population, and to induce the Indians to settle in its neighborhood. In 1592, twelve Franciscan missionaries arrived at St. Augustine, with their Superior, Fray Jean de Silva, and placed themselves under the charge of Father Francis Manon, Warden of the convent of St. Helena. One of them, a Mexican, Father Fran- cis Panja, drew up in the language of the Yemasees his " Abridgment of Christian Doctrine," said to be OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 115 the first work compiled in any of our Indian lan- guages. The Franciscan Father Corpa, established a Mis- sion house for the Indians at Talomato, in the north- west portion of the city of St. Augustine, where there was then an Indian villas^e. Father Bias de Rodri- guez, also called Montes, had an Indian Church at a village of the Indians, called Tapoqui, situated on the creek called Cano de la Leche, north of the fort ; and the church bearing the name of " Our Lady of the Milk " was situated on the elevated ground a quarter of a mile north of the fort, near the creek. A stone church existed at this locality as late as 1795, and the crucifix belonging to it is preserved in the Roman Catholic Church at St. Ausrustine. These missions proceeded with considerable appa- rent success, large numbers of the Indians being received and instructed both at this and other mis- sions. Among the converts at the mission of Talomato, was the son of the cacique of the province of Guale, a proud and high-spirited young leader, who by no means submitted to the requirements of his spiritual fathers, but indulged in excesses which scandalized his profession. Father Corpa, after trying private remonstrances and warnins-s in vain, thous^ht it ne- cessary to administer to him a public rebuke. This 116 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES aroused tlie pride of the young cliief, and he sud- denly left the mission, determined upon revenge. He gathered from the interior a band of warriors, ■whom he ins]3ired with his own hatred against the missionaries. Returning to Talomato with his fol- lowers under the cover of night, he crept up to the mission house, burst open the chapel doors, and slew the devoted Father Corpa while at prayer ; then severed his head from his body, set it upon a pike- staff, and threw his body out into the forest where it could never afterwards be found. The scene of this tragedy was in the neighborhood of the present Roman Catholic ceilietery of St. Augustine. As soon as this occurrence became known in the Indian village, all was excitement ; some of the most devoted bewailing the death of their spiritual father, while others dreaded the consequences of so rash an act, and shrunk with terror from the vengeance -of the Spaniards, which they foresaw would soon follow. The young chief of Guale gathered them around him, and in earnest tones addressed them. " Yes," said he, " the friar is dead. It would not have been done, if he would have allowed us to live as we did before we became Christians. We desire to return to our ancient customs ; and we must provide for our defense against the punishment which will be hurled uj)on us by the Governor of Florida, which, if it OF ST. AUGUSTI]!sE, FLORIDA. 117 be allowed to reach us, will be as rigorous for this single friar, as if we liad killed them all. For the same power which we possess to destroy this one priest, we have to destroy them all." His followers approved of what had been done, and said there was no doubt but that the same ven- geance would fall upon them for the death of the one, as for all. He then resumed. " Since we shall receive equal punishment for the death of this one, as though we had killed them all, let us regain the liberty of which these friars have robbed us, with their promises of good things which we have not yet seen, but which they seek to keep us in hope of, while they accumu- late upon us who are called Christians, injuries and disgusts, making us quit our wives, restricting us to one only, and prohibiting us from changing her. They prevent us from having our balls, banquets, feasts, celebrations, games, and contests, so that being deprived of them, we lose our ancient valor and skill which we inherited from our ancestors. Although they oppress us with labor, refusing to grant even the respite of a few days, and although we are disposed to do all they require from us, they are not satisfied ; but for everything they reprimand us, injuriously treat us, oppress us, lecture us, call us bad Christians, and deprive us of all the pleasures which our fathers 118 iilE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES enjoyed, in the hope that they would give us heaven ; by these frauds subjecting us and holding us under their absolute control. And what have we to hope except to be made slaves ? If we now put them all to death, we shall destroy these excrescenses, and force the governor to treat us well." The majority were carried away by his address, and rung out the war-cry of death and defiance. A¥hile still eager for blood, their chief led them to the Indian town of Tapoqui, the mission of Father Montes, on the Cano de la Leche ; tumultuously rush- ing in, they informed the missionary of the fate of Father Corpa, and that they sought his own life and those of all his order ; and then with uplifted weapons bade him prepare to die. He reasoned and remon- strated with them, portraying the folly and wicked- ness of their intentions, that the vengeance of the Spaniards would surely overtake them, and implored them with tears, that for their own sakes rather than his, they should pause in their mad designs. But all in vain ; they were alike insensible to his eloquence, and his tears, and pressed forward to surround him. Finding all else vain, he begged as a last favor that he should be permitted to celebrate mass before he died. In this he was probably actuated in part by the hope that their fierce hatred might be assuaged by the sight of the ceremonies of their faith, or that OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 119 the delay miglit afford time for succor from the adjoining garrison. The permission was given ; and there for the last time the worthy Father put on his robes, which might well be termed his robes of sacrifice. The wild and savage crowd, thirsting for his blood, reclined upon the floor and looked on in sullen silence, awaiting the conclusion of the rites. The priest alone, standing before the altar, proceeded with this most sad and solemn mass, then cast his eyes to heaven and knelt in private supplication ; where the next moment he fell under the blows of his cruel foes, bespattering the altar at which he ministered, with his own life's blood. His crushed remains were thrown into the fields, that they might serve for the fowls of the air or the beasts of the forest ; but not one would approach it, except a dog, which, rushing forward to lay hold upon the body, fell dead upon the spot, says the ancient chronicle ; and an old Christian Indian, recognizing it, gave it sej^ulture in the forest. From thence the ferocious young chief of Guale, led his followers against several missions, in other parts of the country, which he attacked and de- stroyed, together with their attendant clergy. Thus upon the soil of the ancient city, was shed the blood of Christian martyrs, who were laboring with a zeal 120 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES well wortliy of emulation, to carry tlie trutlis of reli- gion to tlie native tribes of Florida. Two hundred and sixty years have passed away since these sad scenes were enacted ; but we cannot even now repress a tear of sympathy and a feeling of admiration for those self-denying missionaries of the cross, who sealed their faith with their blood, and fell victims to their energy and devotion. The sjDectacle of the dying priest struck down at the altar, attired in his sacred vestments, and perhaps imploring pardon upon his murderers, cannot fail to call up in the heart of the most insensible, something more than a passing emotion. The zeal of the Franciscans was only increased by this disaster, and each succeeding year brought additions to their number. They pushed their mis- sions into the interior of the country so rapidly that in less than two years they had established through the principal towns of the Indians, no less than twenty mission houses. The presumed remains of these establishments are still occasionally to be found throughout the interior of the country. OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 121 CHAPTER XII. SUBJECTION OF THE APALACHIAN. INDIANS— CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORT, SEA WALL, &c.— 1638— 1700. In tlie year 1638, hostilities were entered into between tlie Spanish settlements on the coast, and the Apalachian Indians, who occupied the country in the neighborhood of the river Suwanee. The Spaniards soon succeeded in subduing their Indian foes ; and in 1640, large numbers of the Apalachian Indians were brought to St. Augustine, and in alleged punishment for theii' outbreak, and with a sagacious eye to the convenience of the arrangement, were forced to labor upon the public works and for- tifications of the city. At this period the English settlements along the coast to the northward, had begun to be formed, much to the uneasiness and displeasure of the Spanish crown, which for a long period claimed, by virtue of exploration and occu- pation, as well as by the ancient papal grant of Alexander, all the eastern coast of the United States. Their missionaries had penetrated Virginia 9 "• 122 THE HISTORY AXD ANTIQUITIES before tlie settlement at Jamestown ; and they had built a fort in South Carolina, and kept up a garrison for some years in it. But the Spanish government had become too feeble to compete with either the Enoflish or the French on the seas ; and with the loss of their celebrated Armada, perished for ever their pretensions as a naval power. They were therefore forced to look to the safety of their already estab- lished settlements in Florida ; and the easy capture of the fort at St. Augustine by the passing squadron of Drake, evinced the necessity of works of a much more formidable character. It is evident that the fort, or castle as it was usually designated, had been then commenced, although its form was afterwards changed ; and for sixty years subsequently, these unfortunate Apala- chian Indians were compelled to labor upon the works, until in 1680, upon the recommendation of their mission Fathers, they were relieved from further compulsory labor, with the understanding that in case of necessity they would resume their labors. In 1648, St. Augustine is described to have contained more than three hundred householders {vecinos)^ a flourishing monastery of the order of St. Francis with fifty Franciscans, men very zealous for the conversion of the Indians, and regarded by their countrymen with the highest veneration. Besides OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 123 these tliere were in the city alone, a vicar, a paro- chial curate, a superior sacristan, and a chaplain attached to the castle. The parish church was built of wood, the Bishop of Cuba, it is said, not being able to afford anything better, his whole income being but four hundred pezos per annum, which he shared with Florida; and sometimes he expended much more than his receipts. In 1665, Captain Davis, one of the English bucca- neers and freebooters (then very numerous in the West Indies), with a fleet of seven or eight vessels came on the coast from Jamaica, to intercept the SjDanish j)late fleet on its return from New Spain to Europe ; but being disappointed in this scheme, he proceeded along the coast of Florida, and came off St. Augustine, where he landed and marched directly upon the town, which he sacked and plundered, without meeting the least opposition or resistance from the Spaniards, although they had then a garri- son of two hundred men in the fort, which at that time was an octagon, fortified and defended by round towers. The fortifications, if this account be true, were probably then very incomplete ; and with a vastly inferior force it is not surprising that they did not undertake what could only have been an ineffectual resistance. It does not appear that the fort was 124 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES taken ; and the inhabitants retired probably within its inclosnre with their valuables * In the Spanish account of the various occurrences in this country, it is mentioned that in 1681, "the English having examined a province of Florida, dis- tant twelve leagues from another called New Castle, where the air is pleasant, the climate mild, and the lands very fertile, called it Silvania ; and that knowing these advantages, a Quaker, or Shaker (a sect barbarous, impudent, and abominable), called William Penn, obtained a grant of it from Charles II., King of England, and made great efforts to colonize it." Such was the extent then claimed for the province of Florida, and such the opinion entertained of the Quakers. In 1681, Don Juan Marquez Cabrera, applied himself at once, upon his appointment to the gover- ship of Florida, to finishing the castle ; and collected large quantities of stone, lime, timber, and iron, more than sufficient subsequently to complete it. About this period, a new impulse was given to the extension of the missions for converting the Indians ; and large reinforcements of the clerical force were re- ceived from Mexico, Havana, and Spain ; and many * I do not find any account of this expedition and capture of St. Augus- tine in the Ensayo Cronologica. OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 125 of tliem received salaries from tlie crown. A con- siderable Indian town is spoken of at this period, as existing six hundred varas north of St. Augustine, and called Macarasi, which would correspond to the place formerly occupied by Judge Douglas (where, in Multicaulis' times, he built a cocoonery), and which has long been called Macariz. Other parts of the country were known by various names. Amelia Island was the province of Guale. The southern part of the country was known as the province of Carlos. Indian Kiver was the province of Ys. "Westwardly was the province of Apalachie ; while smaller divisions were designated by the names of the chiefs. It is hardly to be doubted, that the same spirit of oppression towards the Indians, exercised in the other colonies under Spanish domination, existed in Florida. It has been already mentioned that the Apalachians w^ere kept at labor upon the fortifica- tions of St. Augustine ; and in 1680, the Yemasees, who had always been particularly peaceful and man- ageable, and whose principal town was Macarisqui, near St. Augustine, revolted at the rule exercised over them by the Spanish authorities at St. Augustine, in consequence of the execution of one of their chiefs by the order of the governor ; and six years after- wards they made a general attack upon the Span- 126 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES iards, drove tliem within the walls of the castle, and became such mortal enemies to them, that they never gave a Spaniard quarter, waylaying, and invariably massacring, any stragglers they could intercept outside of the fort. In 1670, an English settlement was established near Port Royal, South Carolina, one hundred and five 3^ears subsequent to the settlement of St. Augus- tine. The Spaniards regarded it as an infringement upon their rights ; and although a treaty, after this settlement, had been made between Spain and Eng- land, confirming to the latter all her settlements and islands, yet as no boundaries or limits were men- tioned, their respective rights and boundaries remained a subject of dispute for seventy years. About 16T5, the Spanish authorities at St. Augus- tine, having intelligence from ivldte servants who fled to them, of the discontented and miserable situation of the colony in Carolina, advanced with a party under arms as far as the island of St. Helena, to dislodge or destroy the settlers. A treacherous colonist of the name of Fitzpatrick, deserted to the Spaniards; but the governor, Sir John Yeamans, having received a reinforcement, held his ground ; and a detachment of fifty volunteers under Colonel Godfrey, marched against the enemy, forcing them OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 127 to retire from the Island of St. Helena, and retreat to St. Augustine.* Ten years afterwards, three galleys sailed from St. Augustine, and attacked a Scotch and English set- tlement at Port Royal, which had been founded l3y Lord Car dross, in 1681. The settlement was weak and unprotected, and the Spaniards fell upon them, killing several, whipped many, plundered all, and broke up the colony. Flushed with success, they continued their depredations on Edisto River, burn- ing the houses, wasting the plantations, and robbing the settlers ; and finished their marauding expedition by capturing the brother of Governor Morton, and burning him alive in one of the galleys which a hurricane had driven so high upon land as to make it impossible to have it re-launched. Such at least is the English account of the matter ; and they say that intestine troubles alone prevented immediate and sig- nal retaliation by the South Carolinians.f One captain Don Juan de Aila, went to Spain in the year 1687, in his own vessel, to procure additional forces and ammunition for the garrison at St. Augus- tine. He received the men and munitions desired ; * Carroll's S. C, Vol. l,p. 62. f Rivers' S. C. Hist. Coll, p. 143. Do. Appendis, 425. Carroll's ColL, 2