USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina, from its first European discovery to its erection into a republic: with a supplementary chronicle of events to the present time > Part 2
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meeting between themselves and the Europeans, and the very spot on which it took place is supposed, and with strong probability, to be that now occupied by the town of Coosawhatchie, a name borrowed from the aborigines.
On an island-by some conjectured to be Lemon Island, by others, Beaufort-Ribault raised a monument of free stone, on which the arms of France were engraved, and took possession of the fertile domain, in the name of his sovereign. Here he built a fortress, " in length but a sixteen fathom, and thirteen in breadth, with flanks according to the proportion thereof," in which he placed provisions and warlike munitions, and to which he gave the name of Fort Charles, in honor of the reign- ing monarch of France. At the persuasion of Ribault, twenty-six of his men consented to garrison his fort, and when he had provided, as he supposed, sufficiently for their safety, he set sail for France, leaving one captain Albert in command of the colony.
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CHAPTER II.
Ribault continued his voyage northwardly along the coast, but made no discoveries of any importance, and though he penetrated some rivers in his pinnace, he effected no landing. His crews became impatient for their own country. His officers congratulated him on having discovered "in six weeks, more than the Span- iards had done in two years in the conquest of their New Spaine ;" and pleased and satisfied with this conviction, his prows were turned to the east. He reached France in safety ; but the fires of civil war, which the sagacious mind of Coligny had anticipated, were already blazing in that kingdom. The admiral, struggling with dangers at home, and beset by powerful foes, against whom he could barely, and only transiently maintain himself, was in no condition to send supplies to the colony in Carolina. The forlorn few who remained in that wild country, were left to themselves, to their own enterprize, courage, and industry-qualities which, if exercised, might have amply sustained them among the hospitable natives ; but which seem to have been utterly banished from their minds, by rashness, improvidence, and the most unhappy dissentions.
When first left by their companions, the twenty-six Frenchmen, under their captain, Albert, duly impressed with their isolation, proceeded, without intermission of labor, to fortify themselves in their habitations. This done, they proceeded to explore the country, and made
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allies of several Indian tribes, north and south of their fortress. Audusta, the king or chief of one of these tribes -a name in which we may almost recognize the modern Edisto-was in particular their friend. He sent them embassadors, invited them into his country, furnished them with provisions, and admitted them to a sight of those ceremonies of his religion, which, among the Indian tribes, have been most usually kept secret from strangers. Some of these ceremonies were curious, like those of most savages ; an odd mixture of the grotesque and sanguinary. The scene of the performance, and one of their superstitious festivals, is thus described by Laudonniere. "The place was a great circuit of ground, with open prospect, and round in figure. All who were chosen to celebrate the feast, were painted, and trimmed with rich feathers of divers colors. When they had reached the place of Toya-such was the name of their deity-they set themselves in order, following three other Indians, who differed in gait and in gesture from the rest."
" Each of them bore in his hand a tabret, dancing and singing in a lamentable tune, when they entered the sacred circuit. After they had sung and danced awhile, they ran off through the thickest woods, like unbridled horses, where they carried on a portion of their ceremonies in secret from the crowd. The women spent the day in tears, as sad and woful as possible: and in such rage they cut the arms of the young girls with muscle shells, that the blood followed, which they flung into the air, crying out as they did so, He-Toya-He-Toya-He- Toya." They had three priests, to whom they gave the
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name of Iawas. These presided over their sacrifices, were their only physicians, and professed to deal in magic. They held almost unlimited power over the minds of their people, and dictated in all the counsels of the country. It was fortunate for the French that they took no alarm at their presence, and suffered the hospitality of the aborigines to pursue a natural direction.
The provisions of the colonists soon" failed them, and they were compelled to turn to the Indians for supplies. The humble stock of the savages was freely shared with them ; " they gave them part of all the victuals which they had, and kept no more to themselves than would serve to sow their fields." This excessive liberal- ity had the effect of sending the natives to the woods, that they might live upon roots until the time of harvest : and having thus exhausted the resources of the people of Audusta, the French turned to other tribes-to king Couexis, " a man of might and renown in this province, which maketh his abode toward the south, abounding at all seasons, and replenished with quantity of milk, corne, and beans"-and to " king Ouade, a brother of Couexis, no less wealthy than the former. The liberality of Ouade, whose territories lay upon the river Belle, (May,) was not less than that of Audusta. He received the French kindly, in a house hanged about with tapestry feathers of divers colors." "Moreover, the place where the king took his rest was covered with white coverlets, embroidered with devices of very witty and fine workman- ship, and fringed round about with a fringe dyed in the color of scarlet." This prince commanded their boats to be filled with provisions, and presented them with
3
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six coverlets, like those which decorated his couch. The French were not wanting in gratitude, which they testified by similar presents, and the parties separated, equally pleased and satisfied. The colonists had scarcely returned to the fort, when it was destroyed by fire ; a catas- trophe which was soon repaired by their Indian neighbors. They hurried to the spot, and with an industry only equalled by their generous enthusiasm, a large company, under the direction of two of their chiefs, rebuilt the fabric in the short space of twelve hours.
But no generosity of the Indians could enable them to supply the continual demands which the colonists made for food. The resources of Ouade failed them in like manner with those of Audusta, and a portion of the company was sent to explore the country. They were next supplied by Couexis, who added to his gifts a certain number of exceeding fair pearls, some pieces of fine chrystal, and certain silver ore. This last gift inflamed the minds of the colonists with new and fatal desires. They eagerly demanded whence the chrystal and the silver came, and were told that the "inhabitants of the country did dig the same at the foot of certain high mountains, where they found it in very good quantity."
Hitherto, the French had conducted themselves in a proper and becoming manner. They had dealt justly and gently with the natives, and had been treated kindly. "But," in the language of the old chronicle, from which we quote, "misfortune, or rather the just judgment of God, would have it, that those who could not be overcome by fire nor water, should be undone by their own selves This is the common fashion of men who cannot continue
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in one state, and had rather overthrow themselves, than not attempt some new thing daily."
The first civil troubles among the colonists began about a common soldier, named Guernache. He was a drum- mer of the band, and for some offence, the character of which is unknown, but which has been represented as too small to have justified the severity with which he was treated, he was hung without trial, by the orders of captain Albert. This commander appears to have been of a stern, uncompromising, and perhaps tyrannical temper. Such, at least, is the description given of him by those whom he ruled-a description not to be received without great caution, since it is made to justify their own violent and insubordinate conduct while under him. His usual treat- ment of his men was said to be harsh and irritating ; and, while they were yet aroused and angry because of his alledged injustice to Guernache, he added still farther to the provocation by degrading another soldier, a favorite of the people, named La Chere. This man he banished to a desert island about nine miles from the fort, and there left him to starve without provisions ; his avowed desire being, that he should perish of hunger. This conduct, if truly reported, might well justify the mutiny which followed. A threat of their imprudent commander, to treat in like manner those who complained of this in- justice, precipitated a revolt. The colonists conspired against him, rose suddenly in arms and slew him. This done, they brought the banished La Chere back from his place of exile, where they found him almost famished. They then chose a leader from their ranks in the person of one Nicholas Barre', a man described by Laudonniere
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as worthy of commendation, and one who knew so well how to acquit himself of the charge, that all rancour and dissension ceased among them. Famine, and the lone- liness of their condition, contributed to dispose them peaceably.
Hearing nothing from France, hope sickened within them, and they yearned to return to their homes. They resolved, by unanimous consent, to leave the wilderness in which, however hospitable had been the natives, they had found little besides suffering and privation. Though without artificers of any kind, they commenced building a pinnace. Necessity supplied the deficiencies of art ; and the brigantine rose rapidly under their hands. The luxuriant pine forests around them yielded resin and moss for caulking. The Indians brought them cordage for tackle; and their own shirts and bed linen furnished the sails. The brigantine was soon ready for sea, and a fair wind offering, the adventurers prepared to depart. The Indians, to whom they left all their unnecessary merchandize, beheld their departure with a lively sorrow ; while the poor colonists themselves, "drunken with the too excessive joy which they had conceived for their returning into France, without regarding the inconstancy of the wind, put out to sea, and with so slender a supply of victuals, that the end of their enterprize became unlucky and unfortunate."
For a time, however, fortune smiled upon their progress. They had sailed, without mishap, a full third of their way, when they were surprised by a calm. For three weeks they made but twenty-five leagues ; and to add to their trials, their supplies failed them. Twelve grains
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of corn daily, were made to answer the cravings of their hunger ; and even this resource, so carefully computed, lasted but a little while. Their shoes and leathern jerkins became their only remaining food, and death appeared among them, and relieved their misery by thinning their numbers. The picture of their distress is not yet com- plete. "Besides this extreme famine, which did so grievously oppress them, they were constrained to cast the water continually out, which on all sides entered into their barque." Each day added to their sufferings, so that, in the simple but strong language of the old chronicler, "being now more out of hope than ever, to escape this extreme peril, they cared not to cast out the water which now was almost ready to drown them, and as men resolved to die, every one fell down backwards and gave themselves over altogether, to the will of the waves." From this condition of despair, one among their number, the man La Chere, who had been exiled by captain Albert, and who seems to have been of a character to justify the interest which his people took in his fate, was the first to recover. He encouraged them to take heart, saying they could now have but a little way to sail, and assured them that if the wind held, they should make land within three days. This encouragement prompted them to renew their efforts. They recommenced the task of throwing out the water from their sinking vessel, and endured for three days longer without drink or food. At the end of this time, seeing no land, they once more gave themselves up to despair. The want of food was their greatest evil, and the same person, La Chere, whose words had encouraged them so long, again came to 3*
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their relief. He proposed that one of their number should die for the safety of the rest. The lot fell to himself, and without struggle or reluctance, he bared his neck to the stroke. His flesh, distributed equally among them, ena- bled them to bear a little longer, until "God of his good- ness, using his accustomed favor, changed their sorrow into joy, and shewed unto them a sight of land. Whereof they were so exceeding glad, that the pleasure caused them to remain a long time as men without sense ; whereby they let the pinnace float this way or that way, without holding any right way or course." In this state they were picked up by an English vessel, which carried the few and feeble survivors of this expedition into England. Thus ended the first effort of the European world to found a permanent colony upon the continent of North America.
CHAPTER III.
Meanwhile, a treacherous peace had been made be- tween the imbecile Charles, and the Protestant part of his subjects. This peace enabled Coligny to direct his attention to the forlorn colony which had been left in Carolina. Its fate was as yet unknown in France. To relieve the colonists, three ships were given for the ser- vice, and placed under the command of Rene Laudonniere ; a man of intelligence, a seaman rather than a soldier, who had been upon the American coast in a former voyage, and was supposed to be the most fitting that could be chosen, from many offering, to lead forth the present colony. Emigrants offered themselves in num- bers ; for Florida was, at this time, a country of romance. Men dreamed of rich mines of gold and silver in its bowels; they had heard truly of its fruits and flowers; and they believed, in addition, that, under its bland airs and genial influence, the duration of human life was extended. Laudonniere himself tells of natives whom he had seen, who were two hundred and fifty years old, yet had a reasonable hope of living forty or fifty years longer. These idle fancies, which could only have found credence at a period when the wonderful discoveries of Columbus and other captains, had opened the fountains of the marvellous beyond the control of the ordinary standards of human judgment, readily stimulated the passion for adventure, and the armament of Laudonniere was soon rendered complete and ready for the sea. A
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voyage of sixty days brought the voyagers to the shores of New France, which they reached the 25th of June, 1564. They proceeded to May river, where they were received by the Indians with the warmest shows of friendship. They carried Laudonniere to see a pillar of stone which Ribault had set up in a former voyage, and the satisfaction of the Europeans may be imagined, when they beheld the pillar crowned with chaplets of laurels and other flowers, while its base was encircled with baskets of provisions, with which these generous children of the forest testified the unqualified measure of their friendship for their strange visitors. The Indians had learned glibly to pronounce the French word "ami," sig- nifying "friend;" and with this word in their mouths, men and women followed in crowds the progress of the vessels, as they coasted along the shore, showing a degree of attachment for their visitors, which seems to have had the unusual effect of producing a corresponding kindness in return. The French did not abuse a con- fidence so courteously expressed, and the future pages of this narrative, however painful to read where the dealings of the Europeans with each other are recorded, bear few evidences of that cruelty and wrong towards the Indian, which blacken so many of the histories of European conquest.
Laudonniere, after some delays, in which he seemed to have almost forgotten one of the objects of his voyage, resumed it and proceeded northwardly, until he received tidings of the fate of the colony he came to succour. The news discouraged him in his design of visiting Port Royal. He stopped short, and for various reasons re-
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solved upon establishing his new settlement at the mouth of the river May. A small hill was chosen, a little retired from the northern bank of the river, upon which he erected the arms of France; and with favorable auspices, springing rather from his hopes and fancies, than from any obvious superiority in the place of his choice over that which he had resolved to desert, he commenced the foundation of the second European fortress in North America. The site chosen, though greatly inferior to that of Port Royal, had its attractions also. "Upon the top of the hill," in the warm language of Laudonniere, " are nothing else but cedars, palmes, and bay trees, of so sovereign odor, that balme smelleth nothing in com- parison. The trees were environed round with vines, bearing grapes in such quantity, that the number would suffice to make the place habitable. Touching the pleasure of the place, the sea may be seen plane and open from it ; and more than five great leagues off, near the river Belle, a man may behold the meadows divided asunder into isles and islets, interlacing one another. Briefly, the place is so pleasant, that those which are melancholick, would be forced to change their humour." The objections to Port Royal, exaggerated by the disastrous termination of the first settlement, are fitly opposed to this glowing description. "On the other side," says the same com- mander, "if we pass farther north to seek out Port Royal, it would be neither very profitable nor convenient; at least if we should give credit to the report of them which remained there a long time, although the haven were one of the fairest of the West Indies. In this case the question is not so much of the beauty of the place, as of
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things necessary to sustain life. It is much more needful to us to plant in places plentiful of victual, than in goodly havens, fair, deep, and pleasant to the view. In consider- ation whereof, I was of opinion to seat ourselves about the river of May ; seeing also, that in our first voyage we found the same only among all the rest, to abound in maize and corne, besides the gold and silver that was found there ; a thing that put me in hope of some happy discovery in time to come."
The fort was built in shape of a triangle ; the landside, which looked westwardly, was faced by a little trench, and "raised with terraces, made in form of a battlement, nine foot high;" the river side was inclosed with "a palisado of planks of timber, after the manner that gab- ions are made." On the south side there was a bastion, which contained a room for the ammunition. The fabric was built of turf, fagots, and sand, and remains of this primitive fortress are said to have been since discovered. When finished, it was named with all due ceremonies, La Caroline, in honor of the reigning monarch. The name thus conferred, extended over the whole country, a full century before it was occupied by the English. It remained unchanged, and was adopted by them, as it equally served to distinguish their obligations to Charles II, of England, under whose auspices and charter the first permanent European colony was settled in Carolina.
Like their predecessors, the colonists under Lau- donniere, were well received and kindly treated by the natives of the country. At the first this reception was natural enough. Pleased with the novelty of such an advent, the poor savages did not anticipate the constant
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drain upon their limited resources, which would follow the coming of the French. Simple and uncalculating, they did not reflect how inadequate would be the supplies of their little corn crops, to meet the wants of so many additional mouths ; and it was only when their own utter impoverishment and famine ensued from their unwise hospitality, that they became conscious of their error. When they withheld their stores, the necessities of the strangers overcame all their scruples. Laudonniere took an unbecoming part in their petty wars, robbed their granaries, and made enemies of all around him.
The inevitable consequences of such a condition of things, ensued among the colonists. Disaffection follow- ed, the authority of their leader was defied, and mutinous disorders became frequent. The emigrants to a new country, at its first settlement, are generally of a desperate complexion. Those under Laudonniere were particularly so. The civil wars through which they had just passed in France, had given them a taste for insubordination ; and appreciating their wants and habits, one La Roquette, a common soldier, conceived the idea of deposing his commander. He claimed to be a magician, and pretended, by reason of his art, to have discovered a mine of gold or silver, at no great distance up the river. He invited his comrades to join with him in effecting this discovery. He pledged his life on the issue. Some trifling ac- quisitions of silver which they had made, by trade among the Indians, strengthened his assurances, which soon became generally believed. He found an active coad- jutor in another soldier, named La Genre, who had taken offence at Laudonniere, because he had been denied the
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command of the packet which returned to France .- These wretches conspired the death of Laudonniere ; first by poison, then by an explosion of gunpowder. Their schemes failed, most probably through their own want of courage. Meanwhile, a captain Bourdet arrived at the settlement, with an additional body of soldiers from France, which timely event, perhaps, restrained the more open development of their hostility. Laudonniere, thus strengthened, seized this occasion to examine into the conduct of La Genre, who had shown himself the most active among the discontents. The chief officers were assembled for this purpose, but the criminal fled to the woods, and took shelter with the Indians. After the departure of Bourdet, the conspirators, no longer restrained by the presence of numbers, resumed their evil practices. Availing themselves of the sickness of their commander, they put themselves in complete armor, and under the guidance of three ringleaders, Fourneaux, La Croix, and Stephen le Genevois, they penetrated his chamber and seized upon his person. Depriving him of his arms, they carried him on board ship, where they extorted from him, under the most atrocious threats, a sort of passport or commission for the seas ; an instrument which they immediately employed to cover a premeditated course of piracy. They seized two of his vessels, and de- parted for the West India islands, where they succeeded in seizing upon the governor of Jamaica, and possessing themselves of considerable wealth besides. They deman- ded a large sum for his ransom, and in order to procure it, permitted him to send messengers to his wife. The wily governor contrived, by the same messengers, to apprise
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the captains of his vessels, of his true situation. They came to his relief, and so completely were the pirates en- snared, that the governor, with all his ships and treasure, was rescued from their possession. One of the French vessels escaped under the guidance of the pilot, who had been forced by the pirates from Fort Caroline, and who, without their knowledge, carried her back to May river. Want of food compelled the pirates to return to the com- mander whom they had deserted, and the opportunity thus afforded for avenging his own wrong, and punishing the criminals against his authority, was not suffered to escape. Four of the chief conspirators were seized, condemned and executed, as an example to the rest ; and this sum- mary justice done, the discontents and strifes of the col- ony were ended for a brief period.
Laudonniere was soon after this relieved from some of the cares of his government. Ribault arrived from France in command of a well appointed fleet, and with a commission to supercede him. Some mutual distrusts and jealousies between the two commanders, were recon- ciled after a friendly explanation, but the former, though offered equal authority with Ribault, resolved on yielding up his charge. His successor had scarcely commenced his duties, before he was beset by dangers of a new and formidable character. His fleet had been closely followed from Europe by one under the command of Pedro Melen- dez de Avilez, a Spanish captain of great renown at that period. In the command of a far superior force to that of Ribault, he seemed to be advised of all the movements of the latter ; and it is the conviction of most historians, that his master, the king of Spain, had been duly informed
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