USA > Florida > Florida, 1513-1913, past and future; four hundred years of wars and peace and industrial development > Part 3
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DE GOURGES' REVENGE
That this was not an idle report was proved by the expedition led by Dominie de Gourges, a French soldier who had suffered much as a prisoner of war from the Spaniards. His desires for revenge were not inspired by religious fanaticism, for there is evidence that he was himself a Romanist, but he burned to avenge the insult to the French nation, which the king and court of Franee had noticed only by half- hearted remonstranees to the Spanish throne. With a hundred soldiers and fifty armed sailors, he embarked from France on August 22, 1567, ostensibly for a voyage to Africa to procure slaves. Reaching Cape San Antonio, the eastern point of Cuba, he revealed his plans to his little company. Quickly he enlisted their enthusiastie support, and they proceeded to the mouth of the St. Johns river, where they were saluted by the Spanish forts on either side of the river, and which they answered, encouraging the idea that De Gourges and his follow-
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ers were Spaniards. Then the expedition sailed to the St. Mary's river, the present harbor of Fernandina.
By a fortunate combination of circumstances, he was enabled to enlist the services of two Indian chiefs, Satourioura and his nephew, Olocatora, against their hated foes, the Spaniards. The chiefs as- sembled their warriors, a thousand or more of them, and marched across the country to the blockhouse on Amelia Island, thence across Fort George Island. By a sudden attack, they annihilated the Span- ish garrison on the north side of the St. Johns river, under the immedi- ate command of De Gourges, who with Olocatora, led the attacking forces. Swimming the river, the fort and garrison on the south side were attacked and vanquished. Those who escaped, attempted to reach Fort San Mateo, on the same side of the river, some five or six miles further up from the mouth, but they were killed by the Indians.
Fort San Mateo was then besieged, and its capture was soon ac- complished. The thirty survivors were brought before De Gourges. He rehearsed to them the wrongs committed by Menendez against the subjects of the French king, and he told them that he had come to avenge the insults to his country. Then he hanged them from the oaks under whose shade the Huguenots had suffered a similar fate two years before. Paraphrasing the epitaph put up by Menendez, he marked the place with a pine board, on which he had burned with a hot iron the words: "I do this not as unto Spaniards nor mariners, but as to traitors, thieves and murderers."
The Indian allies willingly destroyed the fort and urged De Gourges to complete his work by the destruction of the Spanish garri- son and fortifications at St. Augustine, but believing his forces inade- quate to the task, he dismissed his allies with the promise that he would return within a twelvemonth with a larger and sufficient force. But the anti-Huguenot faction was in power and the temper of the French court was not favorable to his plans.
MENENDEZ' RETURN TO FLORIDA
Menendez returning to Florida in March, 1568, learned on his ar- rival of the swift retribution inflicted by De Gourges. He found his garrisons demoralized and suffering from a lack of food. The In- dians, aroused by the successful incursion of De Gourges, were every- where in revolt against Spanish power and authority. Nevertheless, Menendez devoted himself earnestly to restoring the military posts along the coast. He brought with him ten Franciscan priests, and he
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began again to establish Catholic missions among the native tribes, extending his efforts as far north as Chesapeake Bay. But his suc- cess was doubtful, for while the natives listened attentively so long as they were generously supplied with food, their religious zeal promptly waned when these supplies were shortened.
The importance of Florida as a foreign possession soon declined in public estimation. No great deposits of gold had been found within its confines, and those who had pioncered the country had had to be sustained by constant supplies from the home country. Finally, dele- gating his authority to Pedro Menendez Marquis, a nephew, Menen- dez returned to Spain, where he died in 1574.
With his departure, the aggressive policy of Spain may be said to have been ended in the territory which Ponce de Leon had given to his fatherland. It is true that efforts, more or less effective, were made to maintain the dog-in-the-manger policy of holding the country by force of arms, without developing its material resources, and re- sisting the efforts of other nations to undertake such development. For a hundred years after the death of Menendez, Spanish power was employed in Florida, mainly to quict the uprisings of hostile Indians, to establish Catholic missions among theni, and in making a futile re- sistance to the growing power of the French and English on the new continent.
Sir Francis Drake, in 1580, attacked the garrison at St. Augus- tine. He destroyed the fort and sacked the treasure chest that he found. The little settlement was rebuilt, and in 1593, twelve Fran- ciscan brothers made it their headquarters for extending the Catholic missions and religion throughout the peninsula.
Five years later began a series of attacks and massacres upon the Spanish missions by the Indians, but not discouraged by thesc disasters the missionaries became even more aggressive, and increas- ing success scemed to crown their efforts. War between the Spanish colonists and the Apalachee Indians broke out in 1638, in which the settlers were substantially victorious.
FORTIFICATIONS OF ST. AUGUSTINE
So important in the history of Florida have been the activities cen- tering about St. Augustine, that a description of the old city and of its fortifications is not out of place here. Its location is near the spot where Ponce de Leon landed in 1513. The city itself was founded by Menendez in 1565, the first permanent settlement by Europeans on
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American soil. The location is on a narrow peninsula, which in former times could be approached by land, only from the north. The St. Sebastian river and the swamps on the west join the Matanzas river a short distance south of the town. Across the Matanzas, which bor- ders the city on the east, lies Anastasia Island, separating it from the ocean and extending about eighteen miles south to Matanzas Inlet.
Across the little peninsula, east and west, was built a line of forti- fications, which barred easy approach. From the fort at the edge of the Matanzas river, a deep ditch extended to the St. Sebastian river, which was flooded at high tide. Entrance to the town was over a drawbridge across the ditch and through a massive gate in the line of fortifications. Earthworks extended along the St. Sebastian on the west of the town and around to the Matanzas on the south. When night came the drawbridge was raised, the gate was closed and the guards took their station.
Of these fortifications, only the gate and a small portion of the adjoining walls remain, picturesque reminders of those earlier days when war was the vocation of every able-bodied man. The growth of the modern St. Augustine has extended far beyond the gates and they stand today in the midst of strangely incongruous surroundings.
Bronze Tablet on the old City Gates at St. Augustine, Florida :
THESE GATES WERE BEGUN AS A DEFENCE AGAINST THE ENGLISH IN 1743 DURING THE REIGN OF KING PHILIP V OF SPAIN. IN 1804 THEY WERE REBUILT OF COQUINA BY ANTONIO ARRENDONDO ROYAL ENGINEER OF SPAIN.
THIS TABLET IS ERECTED BY THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF COLONIAL DAMES OF AMERICA RESIDENT IN FLORIDA 1906.
FORT MARION
Almost from the first occupation of the place, a fort has been located just north of the old city and outside its ancient walls. The
THESE GATES WERE BEGUN AS A DEFENCE AGAINST THE ENGLISH IN 743, DURING THE REIGN OF KING PHILIP VIOF SPAIN
I. 1804 THEY WERE REBUILT OF COOLNARR BY ANTONIO ARREDONDO ROYAL ENGINEER OF SPAIN.
THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF COLONIAL DATES OF AMERICA RESIDENT RI FLORIDA 1906
BRONZE TABLET ON CITY GATES AT ST. AUGUSTINE
OLD CITY GATES OF ST. AUGUSTINE'S ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS
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site commands the approach by land from the north and by sea from the east. "In different forms and bearing different names it has been established for more than three centuries. For two hundred years it was St. Augustine and St. Augustine was Florida At first a rude and temporary structure of pine logs, the fortifications expanded in magnitude, until it developed into the great stone fortress as it stands today. In the years of its building the progress of the work was slow. Convicts from Spain and Mexico, and Indians and slaves quarried the coquina roek on Anastasia Island, ferried it across the Matanzas river, and toiled at the walls. The work was considered finished in 1756.
"The story is told, that the King of Spain, counting up the cost, fancied that the fort must have been built of gold, and it is easy to imagine that the successive governors-general grew rich from their manipulations of the great work."
The fort was called San Mareo, but this name was changed to Fort Marion, in honor of the Revolutionary hero, General Francis Marion, soon after Florida became a possession of the United States.
This fort which is the only example of mediaeval fortification ex- isting on this continent, is a fine sample of the science of military engineering as it had been developed in the early part of the eighteenth century. The inner court, one hundred and three by one hundred and nine feet, is surrounded by casemates, which were used for barracks, messrooms, storerooms and a chapel. An inner room in the northeast corner of the structure, surrounded by thick walls, and with no direct opening to the outer light and air, was used as the magazine. Recent writers have called this the "dungeon," and have drawn highly imaginative pictures of the tortures inflicted therein by Spanish brutality. There is no foundation in any recorded his- torical facts for such imaginings.
From the court a stone ascent leads to the terreplein of the ram- parts. At the outer angle of cach bastion is a sentry box. The outer walls of the fort are nine feet thick at the base, four and a half fect thick at the top and rise twenty-five feet above the present level of the moat. The entire fort is surrounded by a moat, forty feet wide, which formerly could be flooded from the river at high tide. Along the outer edge of the moat are narrow covered ways and wider level spaces, called Places-of-Arms, where artillery was mounted and troops gathered under the protection of the outer wall or rampart.
The United States Government made some additions to the forti- Vol. 1-3
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fications in 1842 and 1844. Fort Marion is one of the military reserva- tions of the United States, and while the War Department has used it at intervals, particularly during the Seminole war, as a military prison, the place is now garrisoned by one non-commissioned officer, who serves as care-taker.
ENGLISH AND FRENCH INFLUENCES IN FLORIDA 1663-1821
The settlement of Virginia by the English was undertaken in 1607, and other colonies were planted along the Atlantic seaboard by the English and Dutch without opposition from the Spanish crown. Charles II granted the Charter of Carolina in 1663, and these settle- ments trenched upon the territory claimed by the Castilians. The establishment of these colonies was the signal for war that continued for a hundred years. England's power was augmented by the sturdy but lawless rovers, who even in that day were establishing Britain's power over the seas. Their frequent attacks upon vessels and their readiness to sack towns along the coast, were a constant menace, par- ticularly to those that did not fly the British flag. Many such incur- sions were made upon the Spanish settlements and treasure vessels, and the pirates found refuge in the English settlements and ports of Carolina.
The raid of Sir Francis Drake upon St. Augustine, was that of a privateer, and the city was again made the victim of a similar at- tack in 1665. The Spaniards made frequent complaints to the Eng- lish authorities of this lawlessness. The Carolinians, in turn, declared that the Spaniards were constantly inciting the Indians to attack the English settlements. It is entirely probable that both charges were quite within the bounds of truth.
LA SALLE'S EXPLORATIONS
It was in the latter part of the seventeenth century-1687 -- that De La Salle traversed the Mississippi river, from near its headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico. By this comparatively insignificant but suc- cessful expedition, which was made in a small fleet of frail canoes, he conferred upon France the right to appropriate the finest portion of the American continent, the great Valley of the Mississippi, and it
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was this that gave the name of the French monarch to the new pos- sessions, Louisiana.
This aggressive movement aroused Spain once more to the neces- sity of making good its elaim to at least a part of the vast region which seemed about to pass under the dominion of the hated French. Pen- sacola was occupied in 1696, and a fortress was built upon the pres- ent site of Fort Barancas, and this was garrisoned by Spanish forces. Andres Arricola was appointed the first governor of the provinces. Some three years later D'Iberville arrived with a commission from Louis XIV of France, and established a colony on Dauphin Island, at the entrance to Mobile Bay. This was the first French colony in the South after the destruction of the Huguenots on the east coast of Florida in 1565, more than one hundred and thirty years before.
SPANISH POLICIES
The conditions existing in Florida at this time are thus summar- ized by Fairbanks in his History of Florida, (page 118) : "At the beginning of the seventeenth century no European colony existed on the Atlantic coast of North America, except St. Augustine. In 1607, forty-two years after the founding of St. Augustine, Jamestown in Virginia, was settled by the English, and thirteen years later, in 1620, the Plymouth colony landed on the shores of New England. In the course of the next fifty years, settlements were made on the Atlantic coast by the French, English, Dutch and Swedish, and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Port Royal in South Carolina, flourishing settlements had been planted and a very considerable commerce had grown up under the fostering care of their respective governments.
"During the seventeenth century, Spain possessed by right of dis- covery and partial occupation, a claim to the most valuable portion of the American continent; but the history of this one hundred years is a record only of feeble and spasmodic efforts at colonization and timid exploration of the regions adjoining the military posts. Pensacola and St. Marks had been established as advanced and isolated posts, and a few others, but the history of Florida during this period pre- sents but little more than a chronicle of the changes of governors and petty details of unimportant local events. Having the fertile valley of the Mississippi, the rich plains of Texas, the productive valleys and uplands of Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky within their reach, no explorations had been made even into the gold fields of upper Georgia. no colonies planted, no empire founded, and in this magnificent and then vacant domain, the result of over one hundred years of Spanish
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domination was three small fortified towns and a few missions. It is, indeed, quite probable that in the year 1700 they knew less of the country than Menendez did within ten years after his arrival. The mines of Mexico and the riches of the Spanish Main had drawn the attention of the Spanish monarchy from the more enduring wealth and power to be derived from a fertile and populous region. The Spanish force of character, the spirit of adventure, the characteris- ties of such men as Cortez and De Soto, had departed, and the great Spanish monarchy, which at one time seemed to control the destiny of America, had sensibly declined both here and elsewhere."
ENGLAND AND SPAIN AT WAR
Until the latter part of the eighteenth century, when by treaty between England, Spain and France, in 1763, the peninsula of Florida was ceded to England, the entire territory was disturbed by conflict between the colonists and their various Indian allies. The growing jealousy between the Spanish in Florida and the English in Caro- lina, brought about many bloody conflicts. With the accession of Governor Moore of Carolina, the English opposition against the Spaniards became more aggressive. At the head of six hundred mili- tia and as many Indian allies, he made an attack upon St. Augustine in 1702. He was unable to capture the fort, but he burned the town. In the same year the Spanish incited the Apalachee Indians to take the warpath against the English settlements in Carolina. They were opposed by the Creek tribes as the allies of the English, who defeated them with great slaughter.
Governor Moore in 1704, with a force of fifty mounted men and a thousand Creeks, began a campaign against the Spanish and their Apalachee allies in southwestern Georgia. He attacked them at va- rious points, notably at Fort San Luis, near the present location of Tallahassee, with the result that many of the Indian settlements were wiped out and the Indian missions destroyed.
The increasing strength of the English in Carolina prompted an expedition by the Spanish and French combined in 1706, which re- sulted disastrously to the invaders. The English in 1708, under Colonel Barnwell of Carolina, made another incursion against the settlements of west and middle Florida, penetrating as far south as Lake Okeechobee. At the instigation of the Spanish, the Indian tribes on the borders of Carolina combined to raid the English settlements in 1714, but they were defeated and driven back into Florida.
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FRENCH AGGRESSION
It was about this time that the French settlers who had spread along the Gulf and the banks of the lower Mississippi, became ag- gressive. The colony at Mobile was so near the Spanish garrison at Pensacola, that frequent collisions resulted. De Bienville, the French commander at Dauphin Island, fitted out an expedition in 1719 against Pensacola, which captured the outpost on Santa Rosa Island and eventually took possession of the fortifications at Pensa- cola itself. The Spanish shortly afterward recaptured the fort and made an aggressive campaign against the French settlements on Dauphin Island, but this was repulsed. In turn, the French deter- mined to retake Pensacola, which they accomplished on September 18, 1719. Feeling themselves unable to hold the position, they de- stroyed Fort San Carlos and the public buildings and burned the town. Thus, within a period of three months Pensacola was three times assaulted and taken and then having been burned, the site was abandoned, as there was nothing left to be defended.
The harbor was reoccupied by the Spaniards in 1722 and the town was rebuilt on Santa Rosa Island. This location was occupied for forty years. Gradually the settlers began to plant on the northern side of the bay and in 1763 the site of Pensacola was laid out in its present location. The city may be said to date its existence from about the year 1750.
During this period the definition of the boundaries between Span- ish Florida and English Carolina continued to be the cause of much friction. An attempt at arbitration in 1725 was fruitless. The Span- ish Indian allies continued to harass the English settlements until, in 1727, Colonel Palmer, with a force of white volunteers and Indian allies, made a rapid descent upon the Florida colonists. Once more St. Augustine was attacked and burned, the inhabitants of the town fleeing for safety to the fort. This energetic action for a time put an end to attacks upon the English colonies and colonists.
SETTLEMENT OF GEORGIA
The English settlement of Carolina was begun at Port Royal in 1670, and at Charleston in the following year. The occupation of the country had not been extended south of the Savannah river, excepting for the erection of Fort George at the mouth of the Altamaha river. But in 1730 the colonization of the country between that stream and the
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Savannah river was begun. This was not a great success, but it led in 1732 to the issue of letters patent for the colonization of the region under the name of Georgia. The southward movement of the Eng- lish settlements led to further complications inspired by the Spanish. Governor Oglethorpe of Georgia received a summons from the Span- ish governor at St. Augustine, requiring the surrender and immediate evacuation of all lands south of St. Helena Sound. Oglethorpe de- clined to obey and prepared to resist Spanish invasion, which he felt sure would follow. From England he received reinforcements of a regiment of regulars and large financial backing. The Spanish garrison at St. Augustine also was strengthened and both sides augu- mented their forces by alliances with the Indians.
Negotiations for a peaceful settlement of differences failed, and in October, 1739, Great Britain declared war upon Spain and sent a fleet to the West Indies to cooperate with Oglethorpe. Hc planned an aggressive campaign by land and sea against St. Augustine, the Span- ish capital. Not until May of 1740, did he arrive at the mouth of the St. Johns river, some thirty-six miles north of St. Augustine. He con- tinued his march toward that point and encamping on Anastasia Island, just beyond the reach of the guns at Fort San Marco, he awaited the expected arrival of the Carolina reinforcements and of the English frigates, which reached him in June. He planted his bat- teries on the island across from St. Augustine and began the siege. Shallow water over the bar prevented the ships from entering the river and their guns at this long distance were ineffective against the fort and town.
FRUITLESS SIEGE
The opposing forces, besiegers and besieged, were lined up against each other for forty days without serious injury to either, the Georgia commander hoping to force a surrender by cutting off the supplies for the garrison in the fort. But Monteano, the Spanish general, received word that provisions and ammunition had been landed for him by Spanish vessels at Mosquito Inlet, two days' journey south of Matanzas, and he managed to convoy them by a heavy guard over- land to his soldiers. Oglethorpe then seeing that a hopeless task was before him, withdrew his forces, leaving the Spaniards unharmed, and from this time two years passed without aggressive operations on either side, although each was watching closely for an opening.
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FORT MATANZAS
Fort Matanzas was built opposite the Matanzas Inlet, some twenty miles south of St. Augustine, by the Spanish Governor Monteano, whose administration extended a few years before and after 1740. But little mention is made of it in the records of those years, but it was constructed to oppose the invasion by sea of hostile forces during the period when Governor Oglethorpe of Georgia was active in his campaigns against Spanish Florida Its location is near where Menen- dez met and massacred the French Huguenots under Ribaut in 1565.
This fortification, although its original position was opposite the shallow inlet from the sea, is now nearly two thousand feet north of it, showing the peculiar tendency of unprotected openings from the ocean along the eastern coast of Florida, to move southward during the passage of the centuries. The action of the strong northeast winds and tides is to cut away the sand from the southern side of the inlet, and the northern side, less exposed to the direct influence of these winds and tides, is gradually filled, so that in the end sub- stantially the same width of channel is preserved. Similar action has been noted in other localities along this coast and elsewhere.
Fort Matanzas, which is rarely visited by travelers in later times, on account of its inaccessibility, is one of the most venerable relics of the period of Spanish occupancy on this continent. It is slowly crumbling to ruin, and in 1912 an unsuccessful effort was made to secure Congressional appropriation for its restoration and main- tenance.
The Spaniards were the first to move, and in 1742 Governor Mon- teano, at the head of five thousand troops and with a well equipped fleet, carried the war into the enemy's country. The campaign was short and decisive. Oglethorpe, with three vessels and six hundred men, but aided by a superior knowledge of the country, drove the invaders from his territory, inflicting heavy losses and suffering little himself.
In the following ycar Oglethorpe made a sudden descent upon Florida and again drove the Spanish colonists to take refuge in the fort at St. Augustine, but he failed to effect its capitulation. This ended the long series of fruitless hostilities and the British colonists, undisturbed for a time, increased in numbers and wealth. The gar- rison at St. Augustine was reduced to a small defensive force and in 1748 a treaty was concluded by England and Spain, which ended
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