USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Historical collections: containing I. The Reformation in France; the rise, progress and destruction of the Huguenot Church. Vol I > Part 8
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Saurin, a son of one of the Protestant refugees, and a cele- brated preacher at the Hague, gives a further illustration of those acts of violence :
" A thousand dreadful blows, " said the preacher, "were struck at our afflicted churches before that which destroyed them; for our enemies, if I may use the expression, not content with seeing our ruin, endeavored to taste it.
" One while edicts were published against those who, foreseeing the calamities that threatened our churches, and not having power to pre- vent them, desired only the sad consolation of not being spectators of their ruin. Another while, August, 1669, against those who, through their weakness, had denied their religion, and who, not being able to bear the remorse of their conscience, desired to return to their first pro- fession.
"One while, May, 1679, our pastors were forbidden to exercise their discipline on those of their flocks who had abjured the truth. Again, June, 1680, children of seven years of age were allowed to embrace doc- trines which the Church of Rome allows are not level to the capacities of adults. Sometimes we were forbidden to convert infidels, and some- times to confirm those in the truth whom we had instructed from their infancy. In July, 1685, the printing of our books were prohibited, and those which we had printed were taken away.
" In September, 1685, we were not suffered to preach in a church, and we were punished for preaching even on the ruins of a church; and at length we were forbidden to worship God in public at all. Again, in
* Sec Bishop Burnett's history of his own time, new edition; published in London, A. D., 1850, pp. 419, 421-422.
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October, 1685, we were banished; then, in 1689, we were forbidden to quit the kingdom on pain of death.
" Here, we saw the glorious rewards of some who betrayed their religion ; and there, we beheld others, who had the courage to confess it, a hailing to a dungeon, a scaffold, or a galley. Here, we saw our per- secutors drawing on a sledge the dead bodies of those who had expired on the rack. There, we beheld a false friar tormenting a dying man, who was terrified, on the one hand, with the fear of hell, if he should aposta- tize; and, on the other, with the fear of leaving his children without bread, if he should continue in the faith; yonder, they were tearing children from their parents; while the tender parents were shedding more tears for the loss of their souls than for that of their bodies or lives .*
In referring to these tragic acts, Mr. Bancroft remarks :
" The extremity of danger inspired even the wavering with courage. What though they were exposed without defense to the fury of an unbri- dled soldiery, whom hatred of heretics had steeled against humanity ? Property was exposed to plunder; religious books were burned; chil- dren torn from their parents; faithful ministers, who would not aban- don their flocks, broken on the wheel. Men were dragged to the altars to be tortured into a denial of the faith of their fathers, and a relapse was punished with extreme rigor.
" The approach of death removes the fear of persecution; bigotry invented a new terror; the mean-spirited, who changed their religion, were endowed by law with the entire property of the family. The dying father was made to choose between wronging his conscience by apostasy, and beggaring his offspring by fidelity. All children were ordered to be taken away from Protestant pareuts; but that law it was impossible to enforce; nature will assert her rights.
" It became a study to invent torments, dolorous but not mortal; to inflict all the pain the human body could endure and not die. What need of recounting the horrid enormities committed by troops whose commanders had been ordered to use the utmost rigor towards those who would not adopt the creed of the king ? To push to an extremity the vain-glorious fools who would delay their conversion to the last ?
" What need of describing the stripes, the roasting by slow fires, the plunging into wells, the gashing with knives, the wounds from red-hot pincers, and all the cruelties employed by men who were only forbidden not to ravish nor kill ? The loss of lives can not be computed. How many thousands of men, how many thousands of women and children
* Sec vol. II, 3d series Mass. Hist. Collections, pp. 22-26 inclusive, part of Dr. Holmes' Memoirs of the French Protestants who settled at Oxford, Massachusetts, A. D., 1686.
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perished in the attempt to escape, who can tell ? An historian has as- serted that 10,000 perished at the stake, or on the gibbet and the wheel.
" But the efforts of tyranny were powerless. Truth enjoys serenely her own immortality ; and opinion, which always yields to a clearer con- viction, laughs violence to scorn.
" The unparalleled persecutions of vast masses of men for their relig- ious creed occasioned but a new display of the power of humanity ; the Calvinists preserved their faith over the ashes of their churches and the bodies of their murdered ministers.
" The power of the brutal soldiery was defied by whole companies of faithful men that still assembled to sing their psalms, and from the country and the city, from the comfortable homes of the wealthy mer- chants, from the abodes of an humble peasantry, from the workshops of artisans, hundreds of thousands of men rose up as with one heart to bear testimony to the indefeasible, irresistible right to freedom of mind."*
The vast numbers of these persecuted people who escaped from France during the civil wars and the reign of Louis XIV have been differently estimated; those who fled their country in the few years immediately preceding the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and about the time this act became the law of the country, have been computed at 800,000 souls.
Soon after the death of Mazarin, March 9, 1661, which left the king unembarrassed and free to exercise his own will in the affairs of government, it soon became evident that a de- struction of the Protestants was contemplated, and with this view many of the better informed of that class of religionists began to make provision for their escape to other countries.
In this early period of persecution by Louis XIV the authorities of Massachusetts were applied to for relief in this respect.
"John Touton, a French doctor, and an inhabitant of the city of Rochelle, in behalf of himself and other Protestants expelled from their habitations on account of their religion, applied as above, in 1662, that they might have liberty to inhabit there,"
which was readily granted to them.t
* See Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. II, pp. 178-179.
t See Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, 3d edition, vol. I, p. 206.
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What settlements may have been made in Massachusetts at this time by French Protestants does not appear; but there is abundant evidence of the fact that colonies of this class of people were established about this time in New York, which will be noticed more particularly in another part of this sketch .*
These emigrations were the most extensive to Switzer- land, Germany, and the Netherlands, but to the latter more particularly to those seven provinces which had secured their independence of the Spanish crown, and at this time generally designated as Holland; while very large numbers fled to Protestant England, to whom Hume refers in his history :
"Louis XIV, having long harasscd and molested the Protestants, at last revoked entirely the Edict of Nantes, which had been enacted by Henry IV, for securing them the free exercise of their religion, which had been declared irrevocable, and which, during the experience of near a century (from 1598 to 1685), had been attended with no sensible incon- venience.
" All the iniquities inseparable from persecution were exercised against those unhappy religionists, who became obstinate in proportion to the oppressions which they suffered, and either covered under a feigned conversion a more violent abhorrence of the Catholic commu- nion, or sought among foreign nations for that liberty of which they were bereaved in their native country.
" Above half a million of the most useful and industrious subjects desertcd France, and exported, together with immense sums of money, those arts and manufactures which had chiefly tended to enrich that kingdom. They propagated everywhere the most tragical accounts of the tyranny exercised against them, and revived among the Protestants all that resentment against the bloody and persecuting spirit of Popery to which so many incidents in all ages had given too much foundation.
"Near fifty thousand refugees passed over into England ; and all men were disposed, from their representations, to entertain the utmost horror against the projects which they apprehended to be formed by the king (James II) for the abolition of the Protestant religion."+
* See Brodhead's History of New York, pp. 730-734, referring to the French settlements in the city and at Staten Island, in the colony of New York, 1664.
+ See Hume's England, vol. II, pp. 263 and 264.
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The tendencies of Charles I, Charles II, and James II, of England, were in favor of the Romish church, as favoring the power of the crown, while the two latter were tools of Louis XIV ; but the succession of the Prince of Orange, who had married Mary, eldest daughter of James, Duke of York, as William III, closing the short and inglorious reign of James II, brought the crown into unison with the Protestants ; while Holland was strengthened against the efforts to crush her by French Papacy.
Great credit is due to the exiled Huguenots of France for the aid they rendered in driving from the throne of England James II, and establishing the Revolution of 1688. Like the Puritans of England who exhibited their heroism in defense of the Parliament, under John Hampden, and subsequently Cromwell at the battle of Marston Moor, July 3, 1644, and at Naseby, the 14th of June, 1645, in favor of civil liberty and religious freedom, whole regiments of these Huguenots,t in- spired by like principles, followed the Prince of Orange into England, and fought for a similar cause. The celebrated battle of the Boyne, on the 1st of July, 1690, achieved by their aid, will always remain a testimony in favor of their bravery and devotion to freedom of conscience and religious toleration.
The English colonies in America, from their commence- ment, received large accessions to their numbers from these exiled Huguenots.
For the further credit of the Huguenots it is proper here to state that the French Calvinists were the first to attempt to plant colonies within what is now the territory of the United States.
As early as the 18th of February, 1562, two ships left
* See Bancroft, vol. II, pp. 416, 446, 447, 462, and 468.
+ Same, vol. II, page 180.
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France with Huguenot colonists, under command of Captain John Ribault, and arrived on the coast of what was then known as Florida, in May following, where they came to a river, which they named the River May, because they discovered it on the first day of that month. This river is now known as the St. John's, but was called the " San Matheo " by the Spaniards. In further sailing along that coast north- erly they discovered other rivers which were named as fol- lows: The Loire, the Altamaha; Charante, the Newport ; Garonne, the Ogeechee ; Gironde, the Savannah ; Bellevoir, the May, in South Carolina ; Grande, now the Broad ; Jordan, the Combahee; Port Royal is now Port Royal. Captain Ribault finally determined upon a place to build a fort, and to plant a colony. This location was on the island in the bay of Port Royal, where is now the town of Beaufort. The fort erected here was named "Charles Fort," in honor of Charles IX, who, at the suggestion of Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France, permitted this expedition to be sent out, and, as designed by the admiral, to be a colony of refuge for the Huguenots.
Having provided an armament for this fort, and provisions and clothing for the men who were to remain, the same was placed in charge of Captain Albert, until relieved by additional colonists from France.
Captain Ribault, having completed these arrangements, resolved to depart for France, where he arrived, on July 12, 1562. At this time civil war was again raging in the king- dom, which prevented the succor promised by Captain Ribault when he sailed from Fort Charles.
When peace was again restored, which was soon after the assassination of Francis, second Duke of Guise, Admiral Coligny urged a second expedition, under the command of Captain Rene Laudonniere, with three ships freighted with colonists for planting another colony.
The colonists who had been left at Fort Charles in 1562
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received marked acts of respect and kindness from all the neighboring nations and tribes of natives. The long delay of the receipt of the promised supplies left them in a destitute condition, when they were compelled by their necessities to beg provisions for their subsistence of the different tribes of Indians, which were very cheerfully granted to them for small trifles given in payment.
Their patience becoming exhausted, and anxious to return to their native homes, they employed themselves in building a vessel to transport their colony to France. Having finished their ship, and rigged it with cordage* furnished them by the natives, and received from them corn and beans, and such pro- visions as their scanty means could supply, they embarked, ' and finally reached France in a state of starvation, many hav- ing died on the passage.
The second expedition embarked at New Haven, France, the 22d of April, 1564, and arrived on the coast of Florida, June 22 following, and on the 25th landed at the mouth of the river May, now St. John's. They soon proceeded up that river to a place now called "St. John's Bluff," and built a fort, which they named "Fort Caroline," the outlines of which are yet traceable. The time of building this fort by the French Huguenots is forty-three years before the first English colony in America was planted at Jamestown, in Virginia, and fifty- five years before the Pilgrims landed from the May Flower upon Plymouth rock in 1620.
This second colony, like the first, treated the natives with consideration, respecting them as the lawful proprietors of the country, and received much favor and kindness in return. Such was the general deportment of the French towards the Indians, in all their intercourse with them, the reverse of the
* This was the first vessel built within the limits of the United States; and, as the story gives it, neither of these colonists were skilled in this line of work, but constructed it in such manner as to be able to navigate the Atlantic,
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course adopted by the Spaniards, and, in many instances, by the English colonists, which accounts for the friendship the Indians had for the French, and the distrust and hatred mani- fested towards the Spaniards and others who adopted their harsh and disrespectful conduct.
These French colonists, like the first colony planted at Port Royal, in South Carolina, after a few months were reduced to great distress for want of provisions and the necessaries for the promotion of health and subsistence, and would have abandoned the country a second time but for the arrival of Captain John Ribault with reinforcements.
Intelligence of the existence of this small Huguenot colony was given to the harsh and intolerant Philip II, King of Spain, who, by virtue of discovery, laid claim to all this southern country, by the name of Florida. Jealous of his sovereign rights and of any encroachments by other Euro- pean powers in the New World, and especially indignant that a colony of heretics should presume to trespass upon any of his domain, he dispatched six ships, well armed and provisioned, under the command of Captain Pedro Menendez de Aviles, a brave, bigoted, and remorseless soldier, to drive out this French Protestant colony, and to take possession of the country for himself.
The contract of Captain Menendez with the Spanish king was, that he should furnish one of the galleons, completely equipped and provisioned, and that he should conquer and set- tle the country. He obligated himself to take to this country 100 horses, 200 head of horned cattle, 400 hogs, 400 sheep, and some goats, and 500 slaves, the third part of whom were to be men, to aid in cultivating the soil and for building habi- tations ; also to take in this expedition twelve priests and four fathers of the Jesuit order.
He was to build two or three towns of 100 families each,
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with a fort ; and was to be governor, with a salary of 2,000 ducats, and a percentage of the royal duties.
His force on leaving Spain was 2,600 men, many of whom were lost on the passage by storms and accidents. He ar- rived on the coast, August 28, 1565, shortly after the arrival of the fleet of Captain John Ribault.
On the 7th day of September Menendez cast anchor in the river of Dolphins, so named from the large number of these fish found there, and which is now the harbor of St. Augustine.
He disembarked his men on the present site of this city, and here commenced one of the towns which his contract with Philip II required him to establish, and it being the calendar day of that eminent saint, St. Augustine, the 8th of September, the place received this saint's name that day, 1565, which it has since retained. Here Captain Menendez landed eighty cannon from his ships, of which the lightest weighed 2,500 lbs.
He immediately set upon the work for which he came, and by inquiry of the natives learned the true position of the French fort and the character of its defenses. The two parties each numbered about 600 combatants.
In those days the belief in special providence was much stronger than at the present time, and on every act, especially that which pertained to the support and protection of their religion, there was a special invocation to the Deity, and whether they were to proceed on an errand of mercy, or to murder those of a different religious faith, they were laboring for the glory of God.
After hearing mass, and having excited his soldiers by an address, showing them that it was a duty to themselves, their holy religion, and the king, to punish the French heretics, about five hundred men, well armed and provisioned for four days, moved forward against Fort Caroline, the head-quarters
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of the French, they first having ascertained that a large part of the force had left the fort and embarked aboard their vessels, under command of Captain Ribault, to attack the Spaniards by sea, and had by a severe storm been blown far off to a distant part of the coast.
It was under these circumstances that the Spanish force fell upon the small number of the French at Fort Caroline, on the 20th of September, then containing a garrison of about 240 souls-men, women, and children. The commander, Laudonniere, finding resistance useless, escaped with twenty or thirty men on board a vessel in the harbor, and, after some delay, departed for France. All the others, some reports say, were massacred; but the Spanish accounts say that the women, and all children under fifteen years of age, were spared.
The troops which unfortunately left the fort with Captain Ribault to attack the Spanish forces by sea were wrecked on the coast by the severe storm before referred to, and were soon reported to the Spaniards by the Indians as being in a distressed condition.
Menendez at once laid his plans to entrap and get them into his hands, and soon succeeded, by holding out acts of clemency towards them. Their whole number, consisting of about 550 men, who had become separated, and were then in two companies, at different points on the coast, below St. Augustine.
One of these companies, numbering about 208 men, was first inveigled by false pretenses into his custody, and having been interrogated as to their faith, and acknowledging then- selves Lutherans and Calvinists, all but eight of them, who were Catholics, namely, about 200, were marched in the direction of St. Augustine, in small companies of ten per- sons, with their hands tied behind them, and when they ar- rived at a point designated by Menendez, they were shot by
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his orders, each company as they reached that point, but were all ignorant of their fate until the time of execution, and from the representations of Menendez supposed they were soon to be shipped to France. About 200 of the other company, including Captain Ribault, were induced to surrender by the same pretenses, and shot in like manner, after all had delivered up their standards and arms, without having offered any resistance or done any injury to the Spaniards. Nothing in the annals of crime exhibits more deception and villainy than the wholesale murder of these prisoners by Menendez, and approved as a satisfactory course of procedure by Philip II, of Spain. The remaining party, numbering 150 men, having been taken afterwards, were treated more humanely ; they were permitted to remain with the Spanish colony ; but prob- ably left Florida as opportunity occurred, being of a different religious faith.
Thus terminated Admiral Coligny's colony of French Prot- estants in Florida, and the first attempt at establishing a European colony within the limits of the United States.
A remarkable act of revenge and retaliation fell upon this Spanish colony in the year 1568. Dominic de Gourgues, a gentleman of wealth, but accustomed to adventure, having suffered as a prisoner at a former period by the Spaniards, took upon himself, being a Frenchman, the expression of the indignation with which the French people viewed the slaughter of their countrymen, as the French court, being Catholic, had taken no notice of this event.
De Gourgues, with three vessels, and a land force of 250 select soldiers, animated with like feelings as their leader, appeared in April, 1568, off the mouth of the St. John's. The Spanish fort received his vessels with a salute, supposing them to be under the Spanish flag. De Gourgues returned the sa- lute to deceive the Spaniards. He found the Indians very friendly, but bitterly hostile to the Spaniards, and quite ready
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to join him against their persons and effects. His plans were quickly formed, and immediately carried into execution.
IIe had learned from the Indians that the Spaniards num- bered about 400 persons, being divided into three parties, and located in three forts, built and flanked, and well fortified upon the high bank of the river May, alias St. John's, alias San Matheo.
The great fort begun by the French, and finished by them, was located in the most commanding point of the principal landing-places, and about two leagues down the river; they had two smaller forts (the river passing between them), with 120 soldiers, and artillery and ammunition for their defense.
De Gourgues rendezvoused at Fort George Inlet, called by them "Sarabay ;" they then moved upon the lower forts at break of day, on the Sunday next after Easter Day, in April, 1568, and soon made capture of both, killing all their garri- sons, except fifteen men, reserved for future execution in imitation of the barbarous acts of Menendez upon his French prisoners. Some few, however, of the garrisons of these two forts escaped to the great fort, named Fort Caroline, upon which De Gourgues, with his French soldiers and numerous Indians, who had joined him, now advanced. Their numbers had been greatly magnified by the Spanish soldiers, who, in their terror, had escaped from the lower forts. Having skill- fully marshaled his forces, with his Indian allies as outposts to secure such Spaniards as should attempt to escape, he then with his main body charged them in front; the Spaniards, turning to seek security, were met by the force stationed in the rear, and this portion were all either killed or taken prisoners. Seeing this misfortune, the Spanish commander despaired of being able to hold the fortress, determined to make a timely escape to St. Augustine, when most of his followers either fell into the hands of the Indians, or were
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slain upon the spot. The commander, with a few others, were all that escaped.
De Gourgues, now completely successful in retaliation for the fate of his countrymen on this spot three years before, caused to be suspended on the same tree which had borne the bodies of the Huguenots, his Spanish prisoners ; and, as Menendez had on that occasion erected a tablet, stating that " they had not been punished as Frenchmen, but as Lutherans and heretics," so he (De Gourgues) in like manner erected his tablet, with the inscription that he had done this to them, " not as to Spaniards, nor as to mariners, but as to traitors, thieves, and murderers."
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