USA > Maine > A history of the discovery of Maine > Part 39
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
* Challeux, 1. c. p. 29.
-
1
-
455
EXPEDITION OF MENENDEZ, 1563-1567.
Thus, too, was Le Moyne brought into those relations with several parties in England, which led to his subsequent resi- dence in Blackfriars in London, under the patronage of Sir Walter Raleigh, and to his preparing and publishing there, rather than in France, the accounts and portraitures, "lively drawn in colors," of those things of which he had been an eye-witness in Florida .*
A few of these French colonists escaped at a later period from Spanish slavery ; amongst them a sailor, who, after hav- ing experienced some wonderful vicissitudes of fortune in Florida, brought home additional reports of the proceedings of the Spaniards there, which have been used by subsequent historians. ;
7. EXPEDITIONS OF DON PEDRO MENENDEZ DE AVILES ON THE COAST OF FLORIDA, IN 1565-1567.
In relating the last French expedition to Florida, I spoke of the military achievement of Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles, the Spanish general, which resulted in the destruction of their colony. This Spanish expedition gave rise to several new explorations along the southern section of our east coast, introduced there several new names, and determined the con- dition of Florida for a long time, and therefore demands a particular discussion. As it was occasioned by the French voyages, and was intimately connected with them, it natu- rally finds a place immediately after the second and last voyage of Ribault.
Don Pedro Menendez was a seaman and soldier trained in the school of Philip II. He had been successfully em-
* See on these latter events, Laudonnière, I. c. fol. 113 seq. [Also, Hak- luyt, vol. 3, p. 301, ed. 1600 .- ED.]
t See Charlevoix, Histoire de la Nouvelle France, vol. 1, p. 85.
.
456
EXPEDITION OF MENENDEZ, 1565-1507.
ployed by his monarch in what the Spaniards called "chasing pirates," and in capturing and destroying such French and Dutch navigators as presumed to intrude upon waters claimed by Spain. He had acquired great wealth during his service in Spanish America, "which was no school of benevolence." * Menendez conceived the first idea of an enterprise to Florida in consequence of the loss by shipwreck on the coasts of that country, or of the Bermudas, of his son, who was said to be still living among the natives, and for whom the father was in search. For this purpose he fitted out a small armament, which was enlarged by the king, who gave him a commis- sion to survey the coasts of Florida, and to make a chart of them, for the benefit of Spanish navigation. ;
As we are seldom favored with the exact contents of the royal instructions given to the old navigators, we will repeat here that part of Philip's commission to Menendez, which relates to the exploration and occupation of our coast. Me- nendez was directed " within three years, to take possession of the country of ' Florida' (North America), and to have explored and reconnoitered all its coasts, to have surveyed all its harbors, bays, inlets, currents, and rocks, making a de- scription of all of them, and putting them down as accurately as possible, according to their altitudes, roads, and bearings, that the whole secret of the coast might be understood and known." He was, at the same time, directed to attempt a settlement, in order to convert the heathen inhabitants of the country to the Catholic religion. For these purposes he was to carry to Florida five hundred handicraftsmen and labor- ers, and twelve missionaries ; and besides these, five hundred black slaves, one hundred horses, two hundred calves, four hundred hogs, four hundred sheep, goats, and other cattle,
* Bancroft. t See Barcia, 1. c. pp. 56-63.
.
+
457
EXPEDITION OF MENENDEZ, 1365-1567.
and all things necessary for the cultivation of the soil, the planting of sugar-cane, and the erecting of sugar-mills .*
.
This was the interesting and most peaceable mission over which Menendez was placed in 1565, with the title of " Per- petual Adelantado of Florida." But when he was nearly ready for sailing, news came to Spain, that French Hugue- nots had, three years before, settled and fortified themselves in Florida, f and that another large armament was preparing in France for their relief. This information gave to the whole undertaking of Menendez another turn. A military arma- ment was given to it, under a commission to attack the French forces, to destroy their colony, and to effect the con- quest of Florida. It was, in fact, with respect to its most prominent object, a kind of crusade. This change made the enterprise popular in Spain ; and Menendez, who was to pay the greater part of the expenses, received assistance from every quarter. He was thus enabled to spend upon his ex- tensive preparations, within a year, not less than one million of ducats.# Volunteers, who furnished their own equipments, flocked in from all sides ; and the number of men who joined his banner swelled to not less than two thousand six hundred and forty-six persons. They were embarked on board of thirty-four vessels, among which were four first class ships.§
* See Barcia, 1. c. p. 66.
t So Barcia, 1. c. p. 66; though it appears nearly incredible, that the Spanish authorities should not have known of these expeditions of Ribault and Laudonniere. The Spanish colonists in the West Indies had long been acquainted with them, as they had in 1564 suffered from French pirates swarming from the French colony at May River, and had captured some of them.
#"Though this seems to be incredibly large," says Barcia (1. c. p. 69), "still it is fully warranted by authentic and original documents." [See, however, a letter from Menendez in Parkman, "Pioneers of France," note 2, p. 03 .- ED.]
§ Barcia, I. c. pp. G8, 69.
458
EXPEDITION OF MENENDEZ, 1565-1567.
Never before did so great an armament go out from Europe to the eastern coast of North America.
These vessels set out at different dates and from different ports. Menendez, burning with zeal for the destruction of the heretics, could not wait for the assemblage of all his vessels in one port ; but having collected in the harbor of Cadiz about nineteen vessels, and about fifteen hundred men, leaving some of the smaller ones to follow on his course, he sailed from thence on the 29th of June, 1565; about five weeks after the departure of Ribault from Dieppe. He took the usual Spanish route, by the Canaries and the An- tilles. Having passed the former group, the fleet was separ- ated in a storm, and Menendez arrived at the Antilles early in August, with only five men-of-war .*
But anxious to surprise the French before they had forti- fied themselves in Florida, Menendez decided not to await the arrival of the rest of his fleet and forces, but to sail at once for his destined object ; and fearing lest the French fleet, con- sisting, as he knew, of seven ships and seven hundred men, might be posted in the Gulf of Florida somewhere in the neighborhood of Havana, he resolved to leave the usual Spanish route to Florida, around Cape St. Antonio and Ha- vana, and to sail on a " new and shorter route, through the Lucayan Islands and the Bank of Bahama." In this he suc- ceeded, and entered " by the new route," the direction of which is not accurately known by us, on the 25th of August, into the Strait of Bahama ; f and on the 28th, he descried the coast of Florida, and came to anchor in the harbor, called by him "San Augustino; " from which point he set out on his purpose of attacking the French forces, and breaking up and destroying their settlement.
* Barcia, I. c. p. 69.
t Sec Menendez, l. c. p. 183 seq.
/
-
1
459
EXPEDITION OF MENENDEZ, 1565-1567.
After having done this in the manner before described, he gave his attention, in the period from 1565 to 1573, to the execution of the remaining objects of his commission ; namely, exploring and surveying the coasts of Florida, and planting and fortifying them against any renewed attacks of French and English " corsarios." In this work, full of dangers, cares, and difficulties, he proved himself a most active and energetic man, and made himself famous in the history of the exploration and colonization of the eastern coast of the future United States.
In the first place, he erected several forts along the coast of southern Florida ; one at "San Augustino," another at the place of the French fort, which he called " San Mateo," and another near our present " Indian River Inlet," called by him " Sta. Lucia," and in the following year, 1566, still another, "San Felipe," on that part of the coast where Ayllon, in 1526, had made his settlement, not far from St. Helena Sound, on the coast of South Carolina.
He sent out also in 1566, pioneer exploring and planting expeditions to the north, toward the " Bay of St. Mary " (Chesapeake), discovered by Ayllon in 1526. This expedi- tion, however, proved a failure ; because the planters and soldiers assigned to it, being unwilling to settle in so distant a place, and wearying of the voyage thither, escaped to Spain, reporting that they were driven from the coast by stormns .* Menendez found full employment in keeping together his mu- tinous soldiers, who did not like the toilsome life of planters in a new and uninhabited country, and were always tempted to escape to Mexico or Peru, their promised land.
He also sent into the interior several exploring expeditions along the St. John's, and other rivers, and toward the Appala- chian Mountains, which were thought to be rich in silver
* See Barcia, 1. c. pp. 119 and 123.
-
1
460
EXPEDITION OF MENENDEZ, 1565-1567.
mines. One of these expeditions, under Jean Pardo, made in 1567, is supposed to have penetrated further north even than De Soto. Menendez, like Cortez, held to the opinion, that there existed, somewhere in the central parts of " Flor- ida " (North America),* a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. His captains had heard the northern Indians speak of a "Rio Salado " (salt river), which Menendez considered as the salt-water of the Western Sea. And "though he knew the Indians to be great liars, still from this he became still more convinced, that he might find here a passage to the oriental regions " (passo a Orienti). f One Spanish author says, "that Menendez knew more about the secret of the north-west passage than anybody of his time." With others, he thought that the far-reaching St. Mary's Bay (Chesa- peake) might be connected with a western sea, or with the waters of the great St. Lawrence system.
All these schemes, undertakings, and explorations carried him several times back to Cuba and the West India Islands ; where, principally at Havana, he found his supplies and har- bors of refuge ; and where, too, he could procure new ships and recruits. In falling back to these strong-holds he was ob- liged to sail against the Gulf-stream, which he did repeatedly with great skill and good fortune. The Spanish authors con- sider this sail of Menendez from Florida up the Gulf-stream to Havana, as a new achievement, a great feat, and an impor- tant event in the maritime history of North America. Until then, they affirmed that Spanish vessels had only sailed down the Gulf-stream ; that no Spanish vessel had entered Havana from the east, sailing against it, though many navigators had
* [For the extent of Florida, see Parkman, "Pioneers of France," p. 14, and his note 2, for his authorities ; and also Asher's Introduction to "Henry Hudson," pp. 84-89 -ED.]
t Barcia, I. c. p. 119.
-
461
EXPEDITION OF MENENDEZ, 1565-1507.
made the attempt ; and that Menendez was the first who suc- cessfully accomplished it, and thus brought Florida, in its wide sense, into a more intimate relation with the West India Islands .*
Menendez had as many difficulties in securing his conquest, as he had had in gaining it. They arose from the nature of the country, from the mutinous spirit of his men, and also from the unfavorable disposition of the royal governor of Cuba ; who considered Florida as a part of his dominion, and sometimes refused assistance to Menendez, to whom Florida had been given as an independent government.
But Menendez rose superior to all these difficulties, and Philip II. rewarded this active servant, whom we might well style the Alva of North America, with abundant honors and pecuniary rewards. He presented him with 200,000 ducats ; and, what was still more honorable, made him governor of Cuba ; so that henceforth Menendez could reside as a pow- erful viceroy in the best and most convenient seat for man- aging the affairs of that widely extended empire, which it was thought he had created for Spain.
In the summer of 1567 he returned to Spain to make report of his grand achievements, and to receive from the king the promised rewards. Returning from thence to America in the beginning of 1568, he found the affairs of " his empire " once more in disorder. In some of his forts there had been re- volts, the Indians on the coast were in a bad humor toward the Spanish intruders ; and the French, in his absence, had made another expedition to Florida, and had destroyed some of his forts. I will here leave Spanish affairs for a while, to say a few words of this fourth and last expedition of the French.
* See Barcia, 1. c. p. 92.
462
EXPEDITION OF GOURGUES, 1567-68.
8. EXPEDITION OF DOMINIQUE DE GOURGUES FROM FRANCE TO FLORIDA, IN 1567-1568.
The French Huguenots, after their entire defeat and over- throw in Florida in 1565, made renewed efforts to reestab- lish their colony in the same region, and then to take revenge on the Spaniards.
They addressed a petition to Charles IX, in the name of the families and kindred of those "nine hundred sons " slain by the Spaniards, in which they rehearsed their wrongs and sufferings, and earnestly appealed to the king to avenge this flagrant injury and insult to the French nation. The king listened, but made no response to his heretical subjects, who were detested by him and his court as much as they were by the Spaniards, and who were soon after butchered in Paris, in a manner more treacherous and cruel than they had been in Florida. Regarding Florida as the favorite resort of his Protestant subjects, he could not be induced to lend his aid for its recovery from the Spaniards, and seemed willing to abandon it to their power.
It is, however, gratifying to know, that at last, a Catholic nobleman took the Protestant cause into his own hands. The Chevalier de Gourgues, a French patriot, and a man of high honor and justice, born in the province of Guyenne, was incited by a desire to repair the honor of his nation. He sold his property, borrowed money of his friends, who gladly con- tributed their aid, and was thus able to purchase and equip three ships, and to enlist about eighty sailors and one hundred and fifty soldiers, for a distant adventure.
Having served his king from boyhood, he had acquired great experience and reputation, both as a naval and military officer. His adventurous life, and reverses of fortune, some- . what resemble the varied phases of the life of the celebrated
1
,
-
463
EXPEDITION OF GOURGUES, 1567-68.
John Smith, who, at a later time, became prominent in the affairs of Virginia and New England. Gourgues had served, when quite a youth, in Italy, where he was taken prisoner by the Spaniards and condemned to the galleys. The vessel in which he was a slave was captured by the Turks, who car- ried him, in the same capacity, to Rhodes and Constantino- ple. From this imprisonment at the oar, he was retaken by the knights of Malta, by whom he was liberated.
Delighted with a life of adventure, he sailed afterwards to Africa, to Brazil, and " the Southern Seas,"* in what capac- ity we do not learn ; probably he was one of the adventur- ous French privateersmen who then roved through the entire Atlantic, with whose history we are unhappily but little ac- quainted.
With the reputation he enjoyed of being one of the most able and valiant of French navigators, it was not difficult for him to excite an interest, and obtain assistance, for any new expedition in which he was to be the leader. To attract as little as possible the attention of the authorities, and to obtain the necessary papers for his outfit, he concealed the destina- tion of his voyage, and professed that it was designed for the coasts of Africa, and for the capture of slaves. He received his commission from the governor of the province of Guy- enne, M. de Montluc, as a slave-trader to the coast of Benin in Africa.
With this commission he sailed from Bordeaux on the 2d of August, 1567, the time at which Menendez, having ac- complished his mission in Florida, had already returned to Spain, and presented himself at court, and thus escaped out of the hand of the avenger.
Like former French expeditions for the west, the three ships of Gourgues were, for some weeks, tossed about in the
* Probably the Southern Atlantic. See Charlevoix, vol. 1, p. 95.
-
464
EXPEDITION OF GOURGUES, 1567-68.
boisterous Bay of Biscay. He tried to find shelter in Ro- chelle and in the mouth of the Charente ; but, at last, on the 22d of August, he took leave of the coast of France .*
On his passage to America, he took the long and devious route, leading far to the southi, usually followed by the Haw- kins, the Fentons, and other English slave-traders. During the autumn of 1567, he went as far south as the Cape Verde Islands ; and from thence taking his way westward, he entered the Caribbean Sea ; and sailing round Cuba, arrived in sight of Cape Antonio in the spring of 1568.
There he went on shore ; and assembling around him all his company, he proclaimed to them, in an eloquent speech, the plan and object of his undertaking. The communication was received with the greatest applause. Thus supported by " the enthusiasm of his men, he passed through the Bahama Channel, and made directly for Florida.
. In passing the Spanish ports on that coast, he was descried, and being taken for a Spaniard was saluted with a discharge of cannon. To confirm this mistake, he answered their sa- lute. But when night came on, he made for land, and came to anchor five or six leagues north of the Spanish port "San Mateo," at the mouth of the river which Ribault had named " La Rivière Seine," and the Indians, " Tacata couron," now called Cumberland Sound.
He went on shore, and found the Indians of the neighbor- hood assembled there in large numbers. Among the chiefs was Satouriova, or Satouriba, an old acquaintance of Ribault and Laudonnière. Gourgues hastened to announce to them his intention, as he had done before to his soldiers. He in- formed them that he was a Frenchman, and a mortal enemy of the Spaniards. He found that they had long been dis-
* See the work, "La Reprinse de la Floride," published by Ternaux- Compans in his " Pièces sur la Florida," pp. 310, 311. Paris, 1841.
.
.
EXPEDITION OF GOURGUES, 1567-68. 465
gusted with Spanish tyranny, and were in the best possible disposition to lend him their assistance. A treaty of friend- ship was made with the chiefs present and their warriors, and a plan for an attack on the Spanish forts was agreed upon. No traitor was found among them.
Gourgues was informed by the Indians that the Spaniards had repaired the old French fort on May River, and had made it their principal fortress ; that besides this they had built two smaller forts, and might have altogether a force of four hundred men, which was more than double his own. Hc sent out an officer to reconnoitre the situation, who was to return in three days; within which time the Indian chiefs were also to come back, with their warriors prepared for bat- tle. Meantime Gourgues was to make the proper disposition of his vessels.
These plans were carried out and accomplished with great promptness. On the day appointed, the French and their In- dian allies set forth in high spirits for the execution of the terrible vengeance which they meditated. But neither my limited space, nor the maritime character of my history, will allow me to present the details of the admirable style in which one Spanish fort after another* was carried by Gourgues, who seemed as if inspired and assisted by the Demon of Re- venge. The Spaniards f were taken by surprise, and their movements and counter-movements were wholly unsuccessful. The parties they sent out were immediately cut off. Escape was impossible. The Indians murdered them on the spot. A few only were made prisoners by Gourgues, and spared for a more formal punishment.
When he had complete possession of their works, he found
.
* The first two small forts he took on the eve of Quasimodo, 1563. t The commander of the Spaniards is not named. But probably it was the often mentioned Villarvel.
30
----
١
466
EXPEDITION OF GOURGUES, 1567-68.
the trees where, three years before, his countrymen had been hanged by Menendez. Thither he conducted his Spanish prisoners, and after charging upon them treachery and cru- elty toward the soldiers of an allied power, ordered them to be hung on the same trees on which the companions of Ri- bault and Laudonnière had been hung before; and to make the retaliation perfect, placed over their heads a tablet, on which were burned with hot iron, the words, "I have done this, not as to Spaniards, but as to traitors, robbers, and mur- derers." *
Having destroyed and burnt the forts, and laid waste every- thing about them, he left his Indian allies to take care of themselves in the probable event of the return of the Span- iards, not considering himself strong enough for their protec- tion ; and immediately sailed for France on the 3d of May. After a remarkably quick and pleasant voyage, he arrived on the 6th of June, on Whitsunday, at Rochelle. He crossed the ocean in four weeks, making in one part of his voyage eleven hundred leagues in seventeen days.f
In Rochelle, the head-quarters of the Protestants in France, Gourgues of course enjoyed a splendid reception. Sailing from thence to his native town, Bordeaux, he happily es- caped a Spanish fleet of eighteen armed vessels, which were in search of him.# He was afterwards obliged to secrete himself, even in his own country. The king of Spain set a high price upon his head. The court of France, in its defer- ence to Spanish influence, appeared disposed to have him arrested and arraigned ; though, as Charlevoix assures us,
*Gourgues appears to have destroyed the Spaniards to a man; for Bar- cia says no Spanish eye-witness of the events ever returned to Spain, I. c. pp. 133, 134. He takes his statement entirely from French sources, and had no original Spanish reports whatever before him.
1 La Reprinse, I. c. p. 363 seq.
į Ibid.
-
.
-----
.
-
467
EXPLORATION OF MARQUEZ, 1573.
the king of France had, personally, a secret admiration for him, as he had also for Coligny. Queen Elizabeth of Eng- land ere long made him a proposition to enter her service. In a subsequent year, Don Antonio of Portugal offered him the command of a fleet, to vindicate his claims to the throne of Portugal against the claims of Philip II. Gourgues was inclined to accept the offer, but was taken suddenly ill on his way to meet the Prince of Portugal, and died at Tours, in 1582, universally regretted, and with the reputation of having been one of the most patriotic Frenchmen, and most valiant captains of his time .*
Then soon ensued the most gloomy period in the history of the French Protestants. Their great leader Coligny, the French Raleigh, was murdered in the massacre of St. Bar- tholomew. From that time, France relinquished all preten- sions to Florida .; After the "passing storm" of Gourgues' expedition, the vast and undefined territory which bore that name, reverted to the Spanish dominion, and so remained for a long period.
9. A SPANISH SURVEY OF THE EAST COAST OF FLORIDA, IN 1573.
When Menendez returned from Spain in 1568 to his gov- ernment of Cuba, he found his affairs in Florida in the utmost confusion from the raid of Gourgues. But as the principal seat of his government was so near, it was not difficult for him to revive his wasted province by rebuilding his forts and restoring the colony. He also sent among the Indians Jesuit missionaries, to convert them to the Catholic faith ; some of whom traveled north of Port Royal into the territories of the
* See Charlevoix, vol. 1, pp. 103, 106.
t Bancroft.
468
EXPLORATION OF MARQUEZ, 1573.
present States of Georgia and Carolina. These were the first Jesuits ever brought to North America. They afterwards became prominent, taking the lead of many exploring expe- ditions into the interior of the continent, and contributing to make its condition, especially that of Canada and Maine, better known to the world. The above-named southern States, having been the theater of the first attempt to estab- lish a Protestant community on the North American conti- nent, enjoyed also the distinction of having the first Jesuit missionaries among them. Wherever Protestants planted themselves, the Jesuits followed. French Protestants had shown them the way to Brazil. The first entry of the Jes- uits into the city of Mexico did not take place before 1573; * and into California, not till several years later; when they had already penetrated the wilderness of the eastern terri- tory, where the Jesuits had been slain among the Indians, and were esteemed as martyrs to their cause.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.