USA > Florida > Duval County > Jacksonville > History of early Jacksonville, Florida; being an authentic record of events from the earliest times to and including the civil war by Thomas Frederick Davis > Part 2
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Concerning the massacre at Fort Caroline many historians claim that there was an indiscriminate slaughter of the French, regardless of sex and age
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and only those persons who sought safety in flight, 60 in number, escaped the butchery of the Spaniards. Also, that Menendez caused his cap- tives to be led out and hanged from the limbs of near-by trees. The garrison at Fort Caroline after the departure of Ribault consisted of 240 per- sons, mostly women and children.
The Spanish historians say that Menendez was not present at the fort when the massacre began, that he was in the rear collecting the stragglers of his force as they came up; but hearing the clamor, he came running to the fort. When he perceived that his soldiers gave no quarter, he shouted in a loud voice, "At the peril of your lives neither kill nor wound any woman, cripple, or child under fif- teen years of age", by which it is claimed 70 per- sons were saved, the rest having already perished.
Likewise, there are two versions as to the cor- rectness of the narrative regarding the hanging of the Huguenots. Some historians give it that Menendez erected on the spot a tablet bearing the inscription, "Not as Frenchmen, but as Luther- ans". Others disclaim this altogether, and the question probably never will be settled to the satis- faction of all.
Menendez took possession of Fort Caroline, changed its name to San Mateo, and garrisoned it with 300 soldiers. With his remaining force of about 50 men he returned to St. Augustine.
Laudonniere and 25 of his followers that man- aged to escape from Fort Caroline, waded the saw-
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grass marshes and after terrible hardships boarded two small vessels left by Ribault at the mouth of the River May. They hastily set sail for France. A perilous voyage carried one of these ships to the coast of France, while the other, with Laudonniere aboard, landed at a port in Wales. Laudonniere returned to France and made a full report of the massacre at Fort Caroline; but the news was received with stolid indifference at the French court, the anti-Huguenot party being then in power. Very little is known about the other survivors ; most of them probably spent their lives among the Indians.
RETRIBUTION OF DOMINIC DE GOURGUES.
One Dominic de Gourgues, observing that this slaughter of his countrymen would likely go un- avenged and believing that the honor of his coun- try (France) demanded a retributive measure, took upon himself the responsibiltiy of equipping a private expedition against the Spaniards in Florida. In this enterprise he exhausted his own fortune and that of some of his friends; but at last he succeeded in procuring three vessels and 250 picked men. He sailed from France in August, 1567. After loitering and refitting in the West Indies, he sailed for Florida and arrived at Amelia Island in the spring of 1568. Menendez had erected two small forts at the mouth of the River May, now called the River San Mateo, after the capture of Fort Caroline, one on Batten Island and
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one on the opposite side of the river. As De Gourgues sailed by these forts, their garrisons saluted him with their guns, supposing his vessels to be Spanish; the Frenchmen returned the salute to confirm the error. After enlisting the services of a large number of Indians, who, it appears, had turned against the Spaniards, De Gourgues and his allies crossed to Fort George Island at low tide, waded the intervening marsh, and fell upon the fort at Batten Island at day-break. When within 200 yards of the post they were discovered by the sentinel, who fired his culverin twice before he was killed. The garrison rushed out pell-mell, endeavoring to escape, but all perished on the spot, except fifteen; these were taken prisoners and re- served for another purpose. De Gourgues had ordered one of his vessels to come up the river at the proper time, to convey his men across. In this way he crossed over, his Indian allies swimming alongside in great numbers.
The garrison in the fort on the south side of the river made no attempt at resistance and fled ingloriously toward Fort San Mateo. Few of them made their escape, nearly all being slain by the Indians. De Gourgues marched as rapidly as pos- sible toward Fort San Mateo, capturing on the way a reconnoitering party of 60 Spaniards. He de- ployed his force skillfully so that every avenue of escape was closed, and most of the garrison fell into the hands of the Indians and perished. The prisoners that had been captured were led out.
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De Gourgues lectured them, reciting the circum- stances under which his countrymen had been slain. They were then hanged as "Traitors, thieves, and murderers".
Having now avenged what he believed to be the wanton slaughter of his countrymen, De Gourgues embarked for France early in May, 1568. Menen- dez had gone to Spain and was there while these events were taking place in Florida, but he set sail for St. Augustine about the time De Gourgues sailed for France; somewhere on the broad Atlan- tic they passed each other, one sailing westward and the other sailing eastward. When Menendez arrived at St. Augustine and learned what had transpired during his absence his fury can be conjectured. De Gourgues landed on the coast of France in June. He immediately reported the success of his expedition, but he, too, was received coldly at the French court; in fact, it became necessary for him to seek safety in concealment. Later, however, he was appointed admiral in the French navy.
LOCATION OF FORT CAROLINE.
All traces of old Fort Caroline have long since disappeared, but its location seems certainly to have been at St. Johns bluff, on the south side of the river a few miles below Jacksonville. Its location was described precisely by Laudonniere and others of his time; and Buckingham Smith, who did a great deal toward clearing up the misty
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early history of the Spaniards in Florida, after a careful study of the original archives in Spain, came to the conclusion that the fort was at St. Johns bluff. It was not on top of the bluff, but at its base, near the water's edge-a curious selec- tion of a site for a fortification. In 1856, a hand- ful of old Spanish coins cast prior to the year 1555, was found near the supposed site of Fort Caroline.
SUBSEQUENT EVENTS.
The Spaniards repaired and again garrisoned the forts on the St. Johns after the terrible retri- bution of De Gourgues, and although mutiny, desertion, pestilence, and famine followed one an- other at recurring intervals, these forts were maintained many years. Other posts were estab- lished also, among them one called San Nicholas (St. Nicholas), located near the present site of South Jacksonville. A long period elapsed, how- ever, before history again takes up the record of events having a direct bearing upon this vicinity ; yet during this period there were numerous forays toward or from St. Augustine and the Colonies, " and there are good grounds for the belief that many war parties camped upon a high bluff that stood at the foot of the present Liberty, Wash- ington, and Catherine Streets, before crossing the river for a dash upon St. Augustine, or, returning tarried here for rest, preparatory for the long march northward.
(
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In 1763, this bluff was described as being very imposing, and timbered with live oak, palms, and wild orange; back from the river a short distance stood a small Indian village. At the foot of Liberty street there was a bold spring of clear, good water2.
FORT ST. NICHOLAS.
The location of Fort St. Nicholas was about a mile east of the present South Jacksonville ferry, back from the river 250 or 300 yards. Around the - fort was a moat, or excavation, 100 feet square, and surrounding this was a cantonment or settle- ment, together with offices, quarters, and barracks for the men. Mr. Hudnall acquired the land upon which the fort stood, even while a part of the old fort was still in existence, and he leveled the tim- bers for use on his farm. He built his house directly on the east side of the moat, and while excavating found many Spanish coins4.
Toward the end of the Spanish rule, Fort St. Nicholas was maintained principally as a post to prevent smuggling.
THE ST. JOHNS RIVER.
The Indian name for the St. Johns River was "Illaka", corrupted into "Welaka" by the whites. Buckingham Smith asked an intelligent Indian what "Illaka" signified, and the reply was, "Dis- tinct, unusual, different from any other", mean- ing, as nearly as could be interpreted, that the
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river ran north3. The French called it the Riviere de Mai, or the River May. By the Spaniards it was first named San Mateo, in honor of the patron Saint Matthew, near whose day the capture of Fort Caroline took place; but later they changed it to the River San Juan, and from this name we derive the English St. Johns. John Bartram in his "Travels" speaks of it as the River St. Juan.
BIBLIOGRAPHY, CHAPTER I.
1 History and Antiquities of St. Augustine; and History of Florida, George R. Fairbanks.
2 Historical Sketch by J. M. Hawks in Jacksonville City Directory, 1870.
3 Florida and the South, Brinton.
4 Columbus Drew, in Florida Times-Union, Trade Edition, January, 1890.
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CHAPTER II.
THE COW FORD.
The locality of Jacksonville was first known as the place where the Indians forded their cattle across the river, and was called by them "Wacca Pilatka", signifying the place where cows crossed or could swim over1. An Indian trail ran from this place westward across the sand hills to the Suwanee River, thence to Alapaha, Aucilla, Micasuki, and Tallahassee, towns of the Apala- chees. The Spaniards called the ford at the St. Johns the "Pass of San Nicholas", but it was known to all English-speaking people as the "Cow Ford.""2
THE KING'S ROAD.
The path made by the Indians' cattle and by the pack-ponies of the traders in the course of time grew into a trail, then into a beaten track as travel increased, and culminated finally in the King's Road, made during the English occupation of Florida, about 1765. The route of this road was from the St. Marys River, opposite Colerain, Ga., to the Cow Ford, thence to St. Augustine and New Smyrna1. It met the St. Johns River at the foot of what is now Liberty Street, and began again on the other side directly opposite. Nearly all travel between St. Augustine and the Colonies passed
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over this highway, and therefore through the site of Jacksonville.
ENGLISH LAND GRANTS.
Soon after Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain, 1763, the Marquis of Hastings obtained a grant of 20,000 acres covering most of the land between Maxton's (now McGirt's) Creek and Trout Creek, embracing the present site of Jack- sonville. About the same time the Marquis of Waterford obtained a grant, also of 20,000 acres, on the opposite side of the St. Johns, beginning at Pottsburg Creek3.
Upon the recession of Florida to Spain, all the British grants reverted to the Spanish crown, but the British subjects that left the country were re- munerated for their land®. To obtain grants from the Spanish government now the practice was for the applicant to set forth his desires in a memorial to the governor of the province, asking for lands corresponding to the number of his family and his slaves, the location desired being described in the memorial. To these applications the usual reply of the governor was, "Let the lands asked for be granted, without injury to a third person5"'. The fine estates left by the Eng- lish on the St. Johns remained unoccupied for some time and became a prey to rapid decline®, but the ease with which grants could now be ob- tained induced many new settlers to come to the St. Johns country.
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In the spring of 1774, John Bartram, the bota- nist, visited the Cow Ford', and he mentions the existence of a public ferry here even at that early date. He bought a sailboat at an indigo planta- tion near the ferry, but he does not say from whom, nor on which side of the river the plantation was situated. There was a severe frost (freeze) in northern Florida during that winter, with snow- fall, which the natives long afterward spoke of as "the extraordinary white rain".
JOHN H. MCINTOSH.
About the year 1790, one John H. McIntosh moved from Georgia into Florida and occupied lands on the north side of the St. Johns River near the Cow Ford. Here he was appointed to some office by the Spanish governor. McIntosh was a turbulent man, of a restless and reckless disposi- tion, and in some way he aroused the suspicion of the Spaniards, with the result that he was arrested for intrigue in 1794 and sent to Havana, where he was confined in Morro Castle for a year.1 There, perhaps, he worked out the plans that afterward made him a conspicuous figure in the country about the lower St. Johns.
After his release from prison, McIntosh re- turned to Florida with a band of adventurers, and attacked and destroyed the Spanish post at the Cow Ford (St. Nicholas), together with the "Boats of the Royal Domain" on the river. How near an international affair this came is not
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recorded; but he and the Spaniards seem to have made an amicable settlement, since some years later he was granted lands in the vicinity of the Cow Ford, where he became engaged in executing large contracts for the exportation of lumber, and incidentally lived like a lord. In the Jacksonville Sun and Press of August 11, 1877, there was a signed article written by Rev. J. N. Glenn, who was sent to St. Augustine in 1823, as a Methodist mis- sionary. He says: "General McIntosh told me once that he had two boat loads of sea-island cot- ton he had raised up the St. Johns River, which he wished to pass the Spanish post at the Cow Ford, without paying the Spanish duties. Accordingly, he approached the officer in command of the post on the subject. Just then the boats hove in sight, coming down the river. The commander put up his spy-glass and remarked, 'There is too much cotton to let it pass'. The General then handed him a doubloon. He put the coin to one eye and the spy-glass to the other, and said, 'Too much yet.' The General gave him another doubloon. He then put a doubloon to each eye and said, 'I see no cotton now' ".
This is the same McIntosh who afterward was one of the originators and the prime mover in the "Patriot" war in Florida. That his connection with this disturbance was the outgrowth of entanglements with Spanish laws in the execution of his lumber contracts, supplemented by a desire for further revenge for his imprisonment at
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Havana, is a plausible surmise never presented before.
SPANISH LAND GRANTS.
Under date of January 3, 1791, Robert Pritch- ard obtained a grant from Governor Queseda, for 450 acres of land on the north side of the St. Johns, opposite Fort St. Nicholas. A regular survey was made, and Pritchard took possession immediately, erected buidings, and planted crops. He died a few years later, but his heirs, through their autho- rized agents, continued to cultivate the tract, until driven away by the troubles about 1812 (Patriot revolution). One of these agents was John Joseph Lain, who cultivated and lived on the land later granted to Mrs. Purnal Taylor, and afterward included in the plat of Jacksonville®. THIS WAS THE FIRST SETTLEMENT ON THE SITE OF JACKSONVILLE, OF WHICH THERE IS AUTHENTIC RECORD.
William Jones, on February 14, 1793, was granted 216 acres across the river near the present location of South Jacksonville, in fact, a part of that town stands on a portion of this tract. Jones was later accused of being a rebel against His Catholic Majesty, thereby forfeiting his rights to the premises. This tract was re-granted to Wil- liam Hendricks, May 18, 17975.
In February, 1804, Isaac Hendricks received a concession embracing a triangular tract of 350 acres, described in 1823 as being bounded south
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by McCoy Creek, east by lands granted to Hogans (the Taylor grant), and northwest by public lands. Hendricks built houses and cultivated this tract, and on September 28, 1816, he received title of absolute property to the same from Governor Coppinger. It seems that one John Jones, per- haps a kinsman of William Jones, claimed title to this tract, but his claim was set aside by the com- mission appointed by the United States Congress to examine titles in connection with Spanish grants in Florida5.
That there was quite a number of bona fide set- tlers near the Cow Ford prior to the year 1800 is certain, regardless of the fact that this locality was then the stamping ground of criminals from the Colonies, slave catchers, ruffians, and banditti of every description, resulting in a state of un- bounded rowdyism that continued more or less until the end of the "Patriot" rebellion, and in a modified form for many years afterward.
THE PATRIOT RAID IN FLORIDA.
At the outbreak of the war of 1812, between the United States and Great Britain, a band of per- sons calling themselves "Patriots" assembled at St. Marys, Ga., and marched into Florida, seeking to seize the country from Spain for the purpose of establishing a republican form of government. The country north of the St. Johns River was "annexed", and a paper government was orga- nized. John H. McIntosh was chosen governor
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and director-general. The "Patriots" and the United States fleet acting in concert, frightened the Spanish commander of Fernandina into sur- rendering the town. The articles of capitulation were signed by Don Jose Lopez, for Spain, and John H. McIntosh, in the name of the "Patriots". The next day the "Patriot" flag was hauled down and the United States forces took possession of the place and raised the United States flag over the fort. The "Patriots", reinforced by a detachment of United States regulars, now marched to cap- ture St. Augustine. In this they were unsuccess- ful, as the Spanish governor put some guns on a schooner and shelled their camp, compelling them to fall back. Finding their force insufficient to take St. Augustine, the "Patriots" returned to the St. Johns River, and made the Cow Ford their rendezvous6. Here the "Patriot" and United States flags were unfurled side by side. The camp at the Cow Ford comprised 40 calvary, together with shifting bands of infantry and partisan rang- ers. These forces pillaged the surrounding plantations and destroyed an enormous amount of property, for much of which the United States government was later held responsible. This state of affairs continued until the United States forces were withdrawn in 18133. Then the "Patriot" organization disbanded, and its members returned whence they came. After their departure, the plantations along the lower St. Johns presented a desolate appearance-houses burned and fields
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overgrown with weeds. A few of the former set- tlers one by one returned, and in two or three years new settlers began to come.
BIBLIOGRAPHY, CHAPTER II.
1 Memoirs of Florida, Fleming.
2 Observations on the Floridas, Vignoles.
3 Historical Sketch of Jacksonville, J. M. Hawks, City Direc- tory, 1870.
4 Bartram's "Travels"'.
5 American State Papers, Duff Green, Vol. IV.
6 History of Florida, George R. Fairbanks.
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CHAPTER III. PERMANENT SETTLEMENTS ON THE SITE OF JACKSONVILLE.
LEWIS ZACHARIAH HOGANS .*
During the "Patriot" troubles, a Spanish sub- ject by the name of Purnal Taylor was killed in a skirmish with a scouting party of the "Patriot" army, in the inland passage to Fernandina. His widow, Mrs. Maria Taylor, petitioned the Spanish Government and was granted 200 acres of land on the north side of the St. Johns River, opposite Fort San Nicholas. Lewis Zachariah Hogans married Mrs. Taylor, and late in the year 1816, they moved across the river from the south side, where before then Mr. Hogans had been living, and settled upon the land that had been granted to Mrs. Taylor. Inasmuch as the houses that for- merly stood on this site were all destroyed by the "Patriots", Mr. Hogans may be said to have built the first house in the future metropolis of Florida. His building stood partly in what is now Forsyth Street and partly north of it, immediately to the southwest and west of the Duval Hotel, northwest corner of Forsyth and Hogan Streets. He cleared up land and fenced it, and in the following
*The Hoganses signed their names with an "s" (Hogans) in the early days; but later the "s" was dropped, and now we have Hogan Street and Hogan's Creek.
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spring, 1817, planted a crop from which he gath- ered in great abundance1. A copy of the Spanish grant made to Mrs. Taylor, in part, follows :2
(TRANSLATION)
Don Jose Coppinger, lieutenant colonel of the royal armies, civil and military governor pro tem., and chief of the royal finance in the city of St. Augustine, Florida, and its province :
Whereas by royal order of the 29th of March, 1815, his majesty has been pleased to approve the gifts and rewards proposed by my predecessor, the Brigadier Don Sebastian Kindelan, for the officers and soldiers both of the line as well as the militia of the said province, who contributed to the defense of the same at the time of the rebellion, being one of said rewards, the partition of lands in proportion to the number of family each individual may have, That Dona Maria Suarez, widow of Turnel* Taylor, having presented herself soliciting the quantity she, her deceased husband, children and slaves were en- titled to, on account of the said husband being killed in the attack made by the enemy upon the river St. Johns during the insurrection in this province, as she has proved by certificate, then was granted by my decree on the 12th of the present month two hun- dred acres of land on the opposite side of the military post of St. Nicholas, on the river St. Johns, at the mouth of the creek known as McCoy's Creek, bounded on the west by the plantation of John Jones and on the other sides by vacant lands ; all conform-
*Should be Purnal.
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able to the regulation established by this govern- ment for the partition of lands and the number of persons and slaves her said family is composed of, as is set forth in the proceedings instituted by the above-mentioned Dona Maria Suarez, on file in the government notary's office .***
Given under my hand and seal and countersigned by the undersigned notary of the government and royal finance, in the city of St. Augustine, Florida, September 13, 1816.
JOSE COPPINGER.
By order of his Excellency,
JUAN DE ENTRALGO, etc., etc., etc.
In 1823, Zachariah Hogans, by his attorney, A. Bellamy, entered a claim for title to these 200 acres of land, the tract being described at that time as being bounded north by public land, south by the river St. Johns, west by lands formerly granted to John Jones, and east by lands granted to Maestre. Hogans's claim for title was con- firmed April 26, 1824, by the commissioners ap- pointed by the United States Congress to investi- gate Spanish grant titles'. I. D. Hart eventually got hold of all of the Taylor grant, except ten acres. In 1821, he bought 18 acres in the south- east section ; on July 10, 1831, he acquired another portion; May 28, 1834, another; and April 15, 1836, still another portion3, altogether amounting to about 190 acres.
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JUAN MAESTRE.
Immediately following the grant to Mrs. Taylor, Juan Maestre, a "Skipper in the Boats of the Royal Domain", representing himself to be in straitened circumstances, petitioned on Novem- ber 18, 1816, for "100 acres of vacant hammock lands on the north side of the river St. Johns, op- posite the battery of St. Nicholas". On Decem- ber 2, 1816, the governor of the province ordered that Maestre's petition be granted, which was done on December 13, 1816. He was granted only 50 acres, however, that being the amount he was able to locate under the Spanish law; but subse- quent surveys increased it to about 80 acres3. This land was bounded east and north by Hogan's Creek, west by L. Z. Hogans's lands, and south by the river St. Johns. It was surveyed by G. T. F. Clarke, February 21, 18172. Maestre took possession of his property in 1817, and built his house upon what is now the center of the north- east quarter of the square bounded by Forsyth, Liberty, Bay, and Market Streets. Large spread- ing live oaks stood around his dwelling. He cleared up a field and planted it. In the spring of 1818, the Carthagenians, or Venezuelan Patriots, as they are sometimes called, took possession of Fernandina. As soon as this became known in St. Augustine, the Spanish garrison at Fort St. Nicholas and the "Boats of the Royal Domain" on the St. Johns River were withdrawn to that
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