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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
一
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THE
SPANIARDS IN FLORIDA,
COMPRISING THE NOTABLE SETTLEMENT
OF THE
HUGUENOTS IN 1564,
AND THE
HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES
OF
ST. AUGUSTINE,
FOUNDED A. D. 1565.
BY GEORGE R. FAIRBANKS,
VICE-PRESIDENT FLORIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY : HONORARY MEMBER NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY : LECTURER ON AMERICAN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA. COLUMBUS DREW. 1868.
563 HF
DREW'S SERIES, NO. 1.
THE 1737770
SPANIARDS
IN
FLORIDA.
-
,
...
BY
GEORGE R. FAIRBANKS.
COLUMBUS DREW, JACKSONVILLE, FLA. %
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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by COLUMBUS DREW, Is the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.
:
3HT
PORPARS.
RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED
TO
BUCKINGHAM SMITH, ESQ .. U. S. SECRETARY OF LEGATION AT MADRID,
TO WHOSE EFFORTS IN THE
DISCOVERY AND PRESERVATION OF THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF THE SPANISH DOMINION IN AMERICA,
A GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT
IS DUE FROM
.
AMERICAN SCHOLARS.
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-
.
PREFACE.
THIS volume, relating to the history and antiquities 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 perma- nent form.
The large amount of interesting material in my possession, has made my work rather one of laborious condensation than expansion.
I have endeavored to preserve as fully as possible, the style and quaintness of the old writers from whom I have drawn, rather than to transform or embellish the narrative with the supposed graces of mod- ern diction ; and, as much of the work consisted in translations from foreign. idioms, this peculiarly un-English style, if I may so call it, will be more noticeably observed. I have mainly sought to give it a permanent value, as founded on the 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 Hug- uenot 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 endeav- oring throughout his work, to exalt the character of the Adelantado.
I am under great obligations to my friend, BUCKINGHAM SMITH, EsQ., for repeated favors in the course of its preparation.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
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THE interest evinced in the publication of the first edition of this volume, in 1858, under the title of HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF ST. AUGUSTINE, has induced the author to prepare a second edition for the press, under the present title, as being more exactly descriptive of that portion of the history of Florida embraced in its pages.
He hopes at no distant day to put to press the History of Florida, in a much more complete form, and embracing the chequered and various pictures of the many expeditions which sought either to found upon its shores a kingdom to satiate their ambition, or to find wealth com- mensurate with their desires.
A chapter of no mean interest in the history of Florida has been added since the first preface was written. Battles have been fought upon its soil, more considerable as to the numbers engaged and the fierceness of the fray, than any ever before recorded. But as this chapter forms a portion of the general history of the State rather than of the old city which played but an inconsiderable part in the contest, it does not fall within the purview of this work to make more than a brief mention of this period.
G. R. F.
UNIVERSITY PLACE, TENN.,
Ост. 1, 1868.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER I.
Introductory
9
CHAPTER II.
First discovery, 1512 to 1565 .- Juan Ponce de Leon 11
CHAPTER III.
Ribault, Laudonniere, and Menendez-Settlements of the Huguenots, and foundation of St. Augustine .- 1562-1565-1568 13
CHAPTER IV.
The attack on Fort Caroline .- 1565
19
CHAPTER V.
Escape of Laudonniere and others from Fort Caroline-Adventures of the fugitives. 24
CHAPTER VI.
Site of Fort Caroline, afterwards called San Matteo. ..... 31
CHAPTER VII. 1
Menendez's return to St. Augustine-Shipwreck of Ribault-Massacre of part of his command .- A. D. 1565. 38
CHAPTER VIII.
Fate of Ribault and his followers-Bloody massacre at Matanzas, 1565. 45
CHAPTER IX.
Fortifying of St. Augustine-Disaffections and mutinies-Approval of Menendez' acts by king of Spain .- 1565-1568. 54
CHAPTER X.
The notable revenge of Dominic de Gourgues-Return of Menendez- Indian Mission .- 1568 6)
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CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER XI.
Sir Francis Drake's attack upon St. Augustine-Establishment of mis- sions-Massacre of missionaries at St. Augustine .- 1586-1638 ..... 65
CHAPTER XII.
Subjection of the Apalachian Indians-Construction of the fort, sea wall, &c .- 1638-1700. 71
CHAPTER XIII.
Attack on St. Augustine by Gov. Moore of South Carolina-Difficul- ties with the Georgians .- 1702-1732. 77
CHAPTER XIV.
Siege of St. Augustine by Oglethorpe .- 1732-1740. ... 82
CHAPTER XV.
Completion of the castle-Descriptions of St. Augustine a century ago-English occupation of Florida .- 1755-1763-1783 .. ...... 90
CHAPTER XVI.
Re-cession of Florida to Spain-Erection of the Parish Church-Change of flags .- 1783-1821. 100
CHAPTER XVII.
Transfer of Florida to the United States-American occupation-An- cient buildings, &c 106
CHAPTER XVIII.
Present appearance of St. Augustine, as given by the author of Thana- topsis-Its climate and salubrity. 110
CHAPTER XIX.
St. Augustine in its old age .- 1565-1868
118
THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
THE Saint Augustine of the present and the St. Augus- tine of the past, are in striking contrast.
We see, to-day, a town less in population than hundreds of places of but few months' existence, dilapidated in its appearance, with the stillness of desolation hanging over it. its waters undisturbed except by the passing canoe of the fisherman, its streets unenlivened by busy traffic, and at mid-day it might be supposed to have sunk under the en- chanter's wand into an almost eternal sleep.
With no participation in the active schemes of life, and no hopes for the future; with no emulation, and no feverish visions of future greatness; with no corner lots on sale or in demand; with no stocks, save those devoted to disturbers of the public peace; with no excitements and no events ; a quiet, undisturbed, dreamy vision of still life surrounds its walls, and creates a sensation of entire repose, pleasant or otherwise, as it falls upon the heart of the weary wanderer sick of life's busy bustle, or upon the restless mind of him who looks to nothing as life except perpetual, unceasing action-the one rejoicing in its rest, the other chafing under its monotony. And yet, about the old city there clings a host of historic associations, that throw around it a charm which few can fail to feel.
Its life is in its past ; and when we recall the fact that it was the first permanent settlement of the white man, by more than forty years, in this confederacy ; that here for the first time, isolated within the shadows of the primeval for- est, the civilization of the Old World made its abiding
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THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES
place, where all was new, and wild, and strange; that this now so insignificant place was the key of an empire; that upon its fate rested the destiny of a nation ; that its occupa- tion or retention decided the fate of a people; that it was itself a vice provincial court, boasted of its adelantados, men of the first mark and note, of its Royal Exchequer, its public functionaries, its brave men at arms ; that its proud name, conferred by its monarch, " Le siempre fiel Ciudad de San Augustin,"-The ever faithful City of St. Augustine- stood out upon the face of history ; that here the cross was first planted; that from the Papal throne itself rescripts were addressed to its governors ; that the first great efforts at Christianizing the fierce tribes of America proceeded from this spot; that the martyr's blood was first here shed ; that within these quiet walls the din of arms, the noise of battle, and the fierce cry of assaulting columns, have been heard ;- Who will not then feel that we stand on historic ground, and that an interest attaches to the annals of this ancient city far more than is possessed by mere brick and mortar, rapid growth, or unwonted prosperity ? Moss- grown and shattered, it appeals to our instinctive feelings of reverence for antiquity ; and we feel desirous to know the history of its earlier days.
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11
OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA.
CHAPTER II.
FIRST DISCOVERY, 1512 TO 1565-JUAN PONCE DE LEON. ·
AMONG the sturdy adventurers of the sixteenth century who sought both fame and fortune in the path of discovery, was Ponce de Leon, a companion of Columbus on his sec- ond voyage, a veteran and bold mariner, who, after a long and adventurous life, feeling the infirmities of age and the shadows of the decline of life hanging over him, willingly credited the tale that in this, the beautiful land of his imag- ination, there existed a fountain whose waters could restore youth to palsied age, and beauty to efface the marks of time.
The story ran that far to the north there existed a land abounding in gold and all manner of desirable things, but, above all, possessing a river and springs of so remarkable a virtue that their waters would confer immortal youth on whoever bathed in them ; that upon a time a considerable expedition of the Indians of Cuba had departed northward in search of this beautiful country and these waters of im- mortality, who had never returned, and who, it was suppo- sed, were in a renovated state, still enjoying the felicities of the happy land.
Furthermore, Peter Martyr affirms, in his second decade, addressed to the Pope, "that among the islands on the north side of Hispaniola, there is one about three hundred and twenty-five leagues distant, as they say which have searched the same, in the which is a continual spring of running water, of such marvelous virtue that the water thereof being drunk, perhaps with some diet, maketh old men young again. And here I must make protestation to your Holiness not to think this to be said lightly, or rashly ; for they have so spread this rumor for a truth throughout all the court. that not only all the people, but also many of them whom wisdom or fortune have divided from the com- mon sort, think it to be true." * Thoroughly believing in
* The fountain of youth is a very ancient fable ; and the reader will be reminded of the amusing story of the accomplishment of this miracle, told in Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales, and of the marvelous effects produced by imbibing this celebrated spring water.
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THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES
the verity of this pleasant account, this gallant cavalier fitted out an expedition from Porto Rico, and in the progress of his search came upon the coast of Florida, on Easter Monday, 1512, supposing then, and for a long period after- wards, that it was an island. Partly in consequence of the bright spring verdure and flowery plains that met his eye, and the magnificence of the magnolia, the bay and the lau- rel, and partly in honor of the day, Pascua Florida, or Palm Sunday, and reminded, probably, of its appropriateness by the profusion of the cabbage palms near the point of his landing, he gave to the country the name of Florida.
On the 3d of April, 1512, three hundred and fifty-five years ago, he landed a few miles north of St. Augustine, and took possession of the country for the Spanish crown. He found the natives fierce and implacable ; and after ex- ploring the country for some distance around, and trying the virtue of all the streams, and growing neither younger · nor handsomer, he left the country without making a per- manent settlement.
The subsequent explorations of Narvaez, in 1526, and of De Soto, in 1539, were made in another portion of our State, and do not bear immediately upon the subject of our investigation, although forming a most interesting portion of our general history.
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OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA.
1
CHAPTER III.
RIBAULT, LAUDONNIERE, AND MENENDEZ-SETTLEMENTS OF THE HUGUENOTS, AND FOUNDATION OF ST. AUGUSTINE.
.1562-1565-1568.
THE settlement of Florida had its origin in the religious troubles experienced by the Huguenots under Charles IX. in France.
Their distinguished leader, Admiral Coligny, as early as 1555 projected colonies in America, and sent an expedition to Brazil, which proved unsuccessful. Having procured permission from Charles IX. to found a colony in Florida- a designation which embraced in rather an indefinite man- ner the whole country from the Chesapeake to the Tortugas- he sent an expedition in 1562 from France, under command of Jean Ribault, composed of many young men of good family. They first landed at the St. John's River, where they erected a monument, but finally established a settle- ment at Port Royal, South Carolina, and erected a fort. After some months, however, in consequence of dissensions among the officers of the garrison, and difficulties with the Indians, this settlement was abandoned.
In 1564 another expedition came out under the command of Réné de Laudonnière, and made their first landing at the River of Dolphins, being the present harbor of St. Au- gustine, and so named by them in consequence of the great number of Dolphins (Porpoises) seen by them at its mouth. They afterwards coasted to the north, and entered the River St. Johns, called by them the River May.
Upon an examination of this river, Laudonnière conclu- ded to establish his colony on its banks; and proceeding about two leagues above its mouth, built a fort upon a pleas- ant hill of " mean height," which, in honor of his sovereign, he named Fort Caroline.
The colonists after a few months were reduced to great distress, and were about taking measures to abandon the country a second time, when Ribault arrived with reinforce- ments.
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THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES
It is supposed that intelligence of these expeditions was communicated by the enemies of Coligny to the court of Spain.
Jealousy of the aggrandizement of the French in the New World, mortification for their own unsuccessful efforts in that quarter, and a still stronger motive of hatred to the faith of the Huguenot, induced the bigoted Philip II. of Spain, to dispatch Pedro Menendez de Aviles, a brave, bigoted and remorseless soldier, to drive out the French colony, and take possession of the country for himself.
The compact made between the King and Menendez was, that he should furnish one galleon completely equipped, and provisions for a force of six hundred men ; that he should conquer and settle the country. He obligated him selfto carry one hundred horses, two hundred horned cattle, four hundred hogs, four hundred sheep and some goats, and five hundred slaves, (for which he had a permission free of du- ties), the third part of which should be men, for his own ser- vice and that of those who went with him, to aid in cultiva- ting the land and building. That he should take twelve priests, and four fathers of the Jesuit order. He was to build two or three towns of one hundred families, and in each town should build a fort according to the nature of the country. He was to have the title of Adelantado of the country, as also to be entitled a Marquis, and his heirs after him, to have a tract of land, receive a salary of 2,000 ducats, a percentage of the royal duties, and have the freedom of all the other ports of New Spain .*
His force consisted, at starting, of eleven sail of vessels, with two thousand and six hundred men; but, owing to storms and accidents, not more than one half arrived. He came upon the coast on the 28th August, 1565, shortly after the arrival of the fleet of Ribault. On the 7th day of Septem- ber, Menendez cast anchor in the River of Dolphins, the har- bor of St. Augustine. He had previously discovered and given chase to some of the vessels of Ribault, off the mouth of the River May. The Indian village of Selooe then stood upon the site of St. Augustine, and the landing of Menen- dez was upon the spot where the city of St. Augustine now stands.
Fray Francisco Lopez de Mendoza, the Chaplain of the Expedition, thus chronicles the disembarkation and attend- ant ceremonies :-
" On Saturday the 8th day of September, the day of the nativity * Barcia Ensayo, Cron. 66.
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OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA.
of our Lady, the General disembarked, with numerous banners dis- played, trumpets and other martial music resounding, and amid salvos of artillery.
" Carrying a cross, I proceeded at the head, chanting the hymn Te Deum Laudamus. The General marched straight up to the cross, together with all those who accompanied him ; and, kneeling, they all kissed the cross. A great number of Indians looked upon these cere- monies, and imitated whatever they saw done. Thereupon the General took possession of the country in the name of his Majesty. All the officers then took an oath of allegiance to him, as their general, and as adelantado of the whole country."
The name of St. Augustine was given, in the usual man- ner of the early voyagers, because they had arrived upon the coast on the day dedicated in their calendar to that emi- nent saint of the primitive church, revered alike by the good of all ages for his learning and piety.
The first troops who landed, says Mendoza, were well received by the Indians, who gave them a large mansion belonging to the chief, situated near the banks of the river. The engineer officers immediately erected an entrenchment of earth, and a ditch around this house, with a slope made of earth and fascines, these being the only means of defense which the country presents ; for, says the father with sur- prise, "there is not a stone to be found in the whole country." They landed eighty cannon from the ships, of which the lightest weighed two thousand five hundred pounds.
But in the mean time Menendez had by no means forgot- ten the errand upon which he principally came; and by inquiries of the Indians he soon learned the position of the French fort and the condition of its defenders. Impelled by necessity, Laudonnière had been forced to seize from the Indians food to supply his famished garrison, and had thus incurred their enmity, which was soon to produce its sad results.
The Spaniards numbered about six hundred combatants, . and the French about the same ; but arrangements had been made for further accessions to the Spanish force, to be drawn from St. Domingo and Havana, and these were daily ex- pected.
It was the habit of those days to devolve almost every event upon the ordering of a special providence ; and each nation had come to look upon itself almost in the light of a peculiar people, led like the Israelites of old by signs and wonders ; and as in their own view all their actions were directed by the design of advancing God's glory as well as
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their own purposes, so the blessing of Heaven would surely accompany them in all their undertakings.
So believed the Crusaders on the plains of Palestine ; so believed the conquerors of Mexico and Peru; so believed the Puritan settlers of New England (alike in their Indian wars and their oppressive social polity) ; and so believed, also, the followers of Menendez and of Ribault ; and in this simple and trusting faith, the worthy chaplain gives us the following account of the miraculous escape and deliv- .erance of a portion of the Spanish fleet :-
. " God and his Holy Mother have performed another great miracle in our favor. The day following the landing of the General in the fort, he said to us that he was very uneasy because his galley and an- other vessel were at anchor, isolated and a league at sea, being unable to enter the port on account of the shallowness of the water; and that he feared that the French might come and capture or maltreat them. As soon as this idea came to him he departed, with fifty men, to go on board of his galleon. He gave orders to three shallops which were moored in the river to go out and take on board the provisions and troops which were on board the galleon. The next day, a shallop having gone out thither, they took on board as much of the provisions as they could, and more than a hundred men who were in the vessel, and returned towards the shore ; but half a league before arriving at the bar they were overtaken by so complete a calm that they were un- able to proceed further, and thereupon cast anchor and passed the night in that place. The day following at break of day they raised anchor as ordered by the pilot, as the rising of the tide began to be felt. When it was fully light they saw astern of them at the poop of the vessel, two French ships which during the night had been in search of them. The enemy arrived with the intention of making an attack upon us. The French made all haste in their movements, for we had no arms on board, and had only embarked the provisions. When day appeared, and our people discovered the French, they addressed their prayers to our Lady of Bon Secours d' Utrera, and supplicated her to grant them a little wind, for the French were already close up to them. They say that Our Lady descended, herself, upon the vessel; for the wind freshened and blew fair for the bar, so that the shallop could enter it. The French followed it; but as the bar has but little depth and their vessels were large, they were not able to go over it, so that our men and the provisions made a safe harbor. When it became still clearer they perceived besides the two vessels of the enemy, four others at a distance, being the same which we had seen in port the evening of our arrival. They were well furnished with both troops and artil- lery, and had directed themselves for our galleon and the other ship, which were alone at sea. In this circumstance God accorded us two favors. The first was, that the same evening after they had discharged the provisions and the troops I have spoken of, at midnight the galleon and other vessel put to sea without being perceived by the enemy ;
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the one for Spain, and the other for Havana, for the purpose of seek- ing the fleet which was there ; and in this way neither was taken.
" The second favor, by which God rendered us a still greater service, was that on the day following the one I have described there arose a storm, and so great a tempest that certainly the greater part of the French vessels must have been lost at sea; for they were overtaken upon the most dangerous coast I have ever seen, and were very close to the shore ; and if our vessels, that is, the galleon and its consort, are not shipwrecked, it is because they were already more than twelve leagues off the coast, which gave them the facility of running before the wind, and maneuvering as well as they could, relying upon the aid of God to preserve them."*
Menendez had ascertained from the Indians that a large number of the French troops had embarked on board of the vessels which he had seen off the harbor, and he had good ground for believing that these vessels would either be cast helpless upon the shore, or be driven off by the tempest to such a distance as would render their return for some days impossible. He at once conceived the project of attacking the French fort upon the river May, by land.
A council of war was held, and after some discussion, for the most part adverse to the plan proposed by him, Menen- dez spoke as follows :
" Gentlemen and Brothers! we have before us now an opportunity which if improved by us will have a happy result. I am satisfied that the French fleet which four days since fled from me, and has now come to seek me, has been reinforced with the larger part of the gar- rison of their fort, to which, nor to port, will they be able to return for many days according to appearances ; and since they are all Lutherans, as we learned before we sailed from Spain, by the edicts which Jean Ribault published before embarking, in order that no Catholic at the peril of his life should go in his fleet, nor any Catholic books be taken ; and this they themselves declared to us the night they fled from us, and hence our war must be to blood and fire, not only on account of the orders we are under, but because they have sought us in order to destroy us, that we should not plant our holy religion in these regions, and to establish their own abominable and crazy sect among the Indi- ans; so that the more promptly we shall punish them, we shall the
* The galleon spoken of was Menendez's own flag ship, the El Pelayo, the largest vessel in his fleet, fitted out at his own expense, and which had brought four hundred men. He had put on board of her a lieutenant and some soldiers, besides fifteen Lutherans as prisoners, whom he was sending home to the Inquisition at Seville. The orders to his officers were to go as speedily as possible to the island of Hispaniola, to bring provisions and additional forces. Upon the passage, the Lutheran prisoners, with some Levantine sailors, rose upon the Spaniards, killed the commander, and car- ried the vessel into Denmark. Menendez was much chagrined when he ascertained the fate of his favorite galleon, a long period afterwards.
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