USA > Florida > Saint Johns County > Saint Augustine > The history and antiquities of the city of St. Augustine, Florida, founded A.D. 1565. Comprising some of the most interesting portions of the early history of Florida > Part 6
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The Spanish garrison in the other fort kept up
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in the mean time a brisk cannonade, which incom- moded the assailants, who 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 reconnoitering 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.
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Augustine. In attempting this, most of his 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, nor as to outcasts, but as to traitors, thieves, and murderers." *
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.
IIis 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
* Ternaus Compans, p. 357.
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secretly sustained and protected by many distin- guished 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, who 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
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share of his time and attention. Father Rogel ap- plied himself to learning their language, with great success ; and an institution was established in Havana especially for their instruction. In the Ensayo Cronologica, there is set forth 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 had exhibited, and his labors in carrying the faith to the Indians, and urging him strongly to see to it, that his Indian converts should not be scandalized by the vicious lives of their white brethren who claimed to be Christians.
A small party of Spaniards, as has already been mentioned, accompanied 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 chastise the murderers ; he succeeded in capturing six or seven,
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who, it is said (rather 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 want, 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
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splendid monument in the church of San Nicolas, at Aviles, was erected to the memory of Menendez, with the following inscription :
" HERE LIES BURIED THE ILLUSTRIOUS CAVALIER, PEDRO MENENDEZ DE AVILES, A NATIVE OF TIIIS CITY, ADELANTADO OF THE PROVINCES OF FLORIDA, KNIGHIT COMMANDER OF SANTA CRUZ OF THE ORDER OF SANTIAGO, AND CAPTAIN GENERAL OF TIIE OCE- ANIC SEAS AND OF THE ARMADA WHICH IHIS ROYAL HIGIINESS COLLECTED AT SANTANDER IN THE YEAR 1574, WHERE IIE DIED ON THE 17TII OF SEPTEMBER OF THAT YEAR, IN THE 55THI YEAR OF IIIS AGE.
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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 the death of Menen- 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 their 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
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over. Upon this information they crossed the river and found the fort abandoned as they 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 pine 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 owing, 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
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wounded him, and then ran up 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 population 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 high tides isolating the fort from the town. The present north ditch may
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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 sufficient 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 Menendez, 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
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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 village. Father Blas 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. Augustine.
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 warnings in vain, thought it ne- cessary to administer to him a public rebuke. This
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aroused the pride of the young chief, and he sud- denly left the mission, determined upon revenge. . He gathered from the interior a band of warriors, whom he inspired 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 cemetery 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 tho 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 upon us by the Governor of Florida, which, if it
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be allowed to reach us, will be as rigorous for this single friar, as if we had 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
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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 exerescenses, 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. While still eager for blood, their chief Ied 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
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the delay might 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 focs, bespattering the altar at which he ministered, with his own life's blood. ITis 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 sepulture 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
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well worthy of emulation, to carry the truths of reli- gion to the 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 spectacle 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.
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CHAPTER XII.
SUBJECTION OF TIIE APALACIIIAN, INDIANS-CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORT, SEA WALL, &c .- 1638-1700.
IN the year 1638, hostilities were entered into between the 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 their 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
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before the 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 English 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
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these there 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 Spanish plate 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
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taken ; and the inhabitants retired probably within its inclosure 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.
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