The Years Accumulate
It was the following spring of 1575 before the news of Menendez' death
reached Florida. St. Augustine, now ten years old, had lost not only its
founder and a resourceful leader, but was left without his financial
support. As he had spent his entire fortune in establishing the Florida
posts, his heirs were in no position to assume the obligation of
sustaining them.
Influential advisors in Spain urged that the settlement of Florida be
abandoned, because the province produced no gold, silver, or other
riches. King Philip II weighed the problem carefully. He decreed that
the Florida posts should continue to be maintained, because of their
value in protecting the vital trade route along the coast, and as a
refuge for shipwrecked mariners and vessels in distress. Since the heirs
of Menendez could not finance them, they would be made crown colonies
under the supervision of the King, and would be supported by an annual
_Situado_ or subsidy, which the Viceroy of New Spain (Mexico) was
ordered to provide.
Hernando de Miranda, a son-in-law of Menendez, became the next
_Adelantado_ and governor of Florida. In the face of Indian difficulties
he abandoned the fort at Santa Elena and was removed from office. As his
successor the king appointed Don Pedro Menendez Marques, who had saved
St. Augustine from abandonment in 1570, and was a man of proven ability.
He remained governor of Florida for the next twelve years, from 1577 to
1589.
Spain was at the peak of its wealth and power, but England under Queen
Elizabeth was becoming bold and a growing menace on the seas.
_First English Visit_
The passing years rooted St. Augustine more firmly to its soil. The
spring of 1586 brought fresh green to the grass and trees, a warmth and
fragrance to the air. Mocking birds and bright red cardinals sang gaily
from the branches. The settlement was twenty-one years old when a vessel
arrived bearing news that Spain and England were at war, and that Sir
Francis Drake, the dreaded English corsair, was raiding Spanish colonies
in the Caribbean.
Governor Marques took immediate steps to prepare St. Augustine's
defenses. Slaves and soldiers labored in cutting and hauling logs from
the forest to complete the new fort then under construction. Detailed
plans were made for the evacuation of the families and removal of
supplies. Sentinels scanned the horizon with more than usual care. The
month of May wore on into June and it was hoped that the English fleet
had sailed on by.
[Illustration: _Map drawn by one of the participants in Drake's
attack on St. Augustine shows the English entering the town and
their ships anchored outside the inlet._]
EXPVGNATIO CIVITATIS S. AVGVSTINI IN AMERICA SITAE.
On June 6th (Spanish calendar), the lookout stationed in the tall watch
tower on Anastasia Island saw white specks appear on the horizon. They
grew into sails and he signalled a warning to the settlement across the
bay. Soldiers rushed to their battle stations. Housewives crossed
themselves and whispered their _Ave Marias_ with frightened children
clinging to their skirts. Slaves began removing supplies, but in the
confusion much was left behind.
The powerful English fleet of Sir Drake, heavy with plunder from the
Caribbean, drew closer and came to anchor in the roadstead outside the
inlet. The Spaniards counted over twenty large ships and their auxiliary
craft. The estimated 2,000 men aboard hopelessly outnumbered St.
Augustine's little garrison of barely 150 defenders.
[Illustration: _The Spanish lookout tower on Anastasia Island as
described by a member of Drake's expedition._]
The English, having sighted the settlement's lookout tower, decided to
investigate what manner of place the Spanish King had here. A detachment
soon landed on Anastasia Island and marched around the shore where, one
of their number relates, "We might discerne on the other side of the
river over against us a Fort which had been newly built by the
Spaniards; and some mile or thereabouts above the Fort a little Towne or
village without walles: built of wooden houses."
Later the English landed cannon and about dusk of the second day opened
fire. Governor Marques and his garrison, according to his report, clung
bravely to their fort until they saw boats put out from the opposite
shore. After firing a few shots they retired barely in time to escape
capture. During the night a Frenchman, held prisoner by the Spaniards,
went over to the English camp and informed them of the garrison's
withdrawal. They occupied the fort, finding in it some fourteen large
brass cannon and a chest of money intended for the pay of the soldiers.
In the morning the English advanced into the town. The English
sergeant-major, a man of considerable rank and importance, mounted a
deserted horse and rode hotly in pursuit of some fleeing Spaniards. He
drove one of them to the edge of a swamp and wounded him with his lance.
Mustering all his strength, the wounded Spaniard turned upon his
assailant and killed him. The English version relates that the officer
was shot from ambush, and on falling to the ground was stabbed to death
by several Spaniards. Possibly due to this incident, Drake ordered the
fort and town of St. Augustine burned to the ground. After remaining a
few days in the vicinity to careen one of their ships, the English
sailed away.
When the people of St. Augustine returned, smoke still curled from the
ruins of their fort and homes. Even their fruit trees had been destroyed
by the invader. Governor Marques sent word of the disaster to Havana.
St. Augustine gradually arose from its ashes, rebuilt and somewhat
improved with assistance from Spain and Cuba. The post at Santa Elena
was at this time permanently abandoned in order to strengthen St.
Augustine's garrison.
_Saving of Savage Souls_
King Philip II of Spain, Menendez and their successors burned with zeal
to convert the natives of Florida to Catholicism, and regarded this as a
sacred obligation. After Drake's attack, a friary or monastery was
erected at St. Augustine to shelter the Franciscan missionaries who were
beginning to arrive from Spain to work among the Indians. The friary was
located on what is now St. Francis Street on the site of the present
State Arsenal.
[Illustration: Spanish missionary.]
Other missionaries of the Jesuit Order had come before them, but in the
face of the early antagonism of the Indians they were able to accomplish
little. Jesuit missions had been established as far north as the
Chesapeake Bay region of Virginia, in the vicinity of Tampa Bay, and at
_Tequesta_, near the present site of Miami. In about 1570 the Jesuits
were replaced by missionaries of the Order of St. Francis, or
Franciscans.
The presence of Franciscans in Florida is recorded as early as 1573, but
for a number of years they made only limited progress. The courageous
friars endured many hardships and privations in attempting to carry the
peaceful message of Christ deep into the Florida wilderness, where they
lived alone far from civilized comforts and companionship. Some suffered
torture and martyrdom at the hands of those they sought to save, but all
went resolutely forth from St. Augustine eager to reap a glorious
harvest of savage souls.
The first Franciscan missions were established along the coast north of
St. Augustine, where they could be reached readily by boat. If the
Indians proved tractable and friendly, a crude chapel was built and the
peal of a mission bell went out over swamp and woodland calling them to
prayer.
By 1595 the Franciscans claimed a total of 1,500 Indian converts. Two
years later their success was interrupted by an Indian revolt incited by
a young chief, who had been publicly censured for his desire to have
more than one wife. Five Franciscans were clubbed or tomahawked to
death.
[Illustration: _Approximate location of the principal Franciscan
Missions in about 1650._]
_The Glorious Harvest of Savage Souls_
One of the highlights in the early religious annals of Florida was its
first visitation by a Bishop in 1606. Bishop Altamirano arrived at St.
Augustine from Cuba shortly before Easter. Impressive religious
ceremonies followed with candles burning brightly on the flower-decked
altars. On Easter Saturday the Bishop ordained twenty young men as
clerics, some of them natives of the settlement. On Easter Sunday he
celebrated Mass and confirmed 350 Spaniards. After a week's rest, the
Bishop made a leisurely tour of the outlying Franciscan missions,
confirming a total of 2,000 Indian converts.
Each year this peaceful conquest of Florida continued to expand, and by
the middle of 1600's extended into north central Florida, a region known
as Apalache, in the vicinity of present Tallahassee. This was a rich
agricultural area and at times furnished St. Augustine with supplies,
which were brought around the peninsula by boat, or were carried
overland on the backs of Indians to the capital. The missions also
embraced a large section of _Guale_, or southeastern Georgia. When
Bishop Calderon visited Florida in 1674-75, a remarkable total of 13,152
Indian converts were presented to him for confirmation.
Aside from its religious significance, the missionary movement had other
far-reaching effects. Through the missions St. Augustine, with its
relatively small garrison, was able to control a wide territory, holding
the numerically strong Indian tribes in check. It was said that a lone
Franciscan, with no weapons other than his Cross and Bible, could do
more with the Indians than a hundred men at arms. The missions also
served as outlying posts that could warn the capital of approaching
strangers or enemies. When the abandonment of the settlement was again
seriously considered in 1602, the existence of the missions proved a
strong argument in favor of maintaining St. Augustine as their
protective center.
While the Franciscan missions of Florida were more numerous and of
earlier origin than those of California, they have received little
emphasis, possibly because they were built of wood and no physical
evidence of them remains.
[Illustration: _Florida State Arsenal buildings occupy the site of
the Old Franciscan friary._]
_Another Crisis_
In 1598 death brought to an end the long reign of that remarkable
sovereign of Spain, Philip II. He had initiated the settlement of
Florida, and later as a crown colony it had come under his supervision.
When news of his passing reached Florida in March of 1599, the
Franciscans gathered at St. Augustine to hold the customary prayers for
their departed patron. The same month the cry of "Fire" rang out in the
quiet streets. Flames raced through the tinder-dry palm-thatched roofs
of the town's buildings, destroying many, including the Franciscan
quarters. In the fall of the same year a storm did considerable damage.
The wind-driven waters of the bay rose higher with each tide, flooding
dwellings and washing away a portion of the fort.
Philip III, who ascended the throne of Spain in 1598, failed to share
his father's interest in this distant Florida post, from which no riches
flowed into the royal coffers. From it came only constant pleas for more
assistance.
The King ordered Pedro de Valdes, the Governor of Cuba, to make a
thorough investigation of conditions in Florida. Valdes sent his son to
St. Augustine in 1602 to hold hearings, in which missionaries and
settlers of long residence testified. While many of these witnesses
expressed the view that a more favorable location for a settlement might
be found, the conclusion reached was that St. Augustine should continue
to be maintained as a center for the expanding missions, and as a base
to guard the vital trade route.
The passing years were being added slowly to its age. Deaths, births,
marriages, Indian insurrections, the coming of new governors, and the
arrival of an occasional ship made up the drama of its obscure
existence. Isolated by a wilderness of land and sea, it had little
contact with the outside world.
_Capital of La Florida_
About 1590 the older portion of St. Augustine was laid out in
approximately its present form. The plan followed specifications
contained in a _cedula_ issued by the Spanish King in 1573, directing
that all Spanish colonial towns should have a central Plaza with the
principal streets leading from it. During about the same period an
official governor's residence was established on the site of the present
post office.
Women were present in the colony from the beginning, a few having come
with the original Menendez expedition. Others arrived with the Arciniega
reinforcements and later fleets. Some of the soldiers married Indian
maidens, who had become Christians and been given Spanish names.
The governors complained of the problem of feeding the increasing number
of children in the colony, and asked that the married soldiers be given
extra pay. The yellowed pages of St. Augustine's Cathedral Parish
records, dating from 1594, indicate an average of twenty-five births per
year during the early 1600's. They also record the deaths and marriages.
[Illustration: _The first buildings in St. Augustine were of wooden
boards, with roofs of thatched palmetto leaves held down by
stringers._]
The principal officers of the colony consisted of the governor, who was
its chief executive; the royal treasurer, who was custodian of the royal
funds and their disbursement; and the _factor_, who distributed the
supplies. A sergeant-major was in command of the infantry and succeeded
the governor in case of the latter's death or resignation. A minor but
important official, from the standpoint of historians, was the
_Escribano_ (writer), who kept a record of meetings, handled
correspondence, took the testimony of witnesses, and acted as a notary
public.
The governors of Florida were appointed by the King in distant Spain
from a list of candidates proposed by the Council of the Indies. They
were usually men of previous military experience, and served generally
for a term of six years. When a new governor arrived at St. Augustine to
take office, Indian chiefs trooped in from the outlying districts to
pledge their friendship and allegiance. They were entertained as
elaborately as the resources of the settlement would permit, given
trinkets and food for the long journey home. Although relatively small
in size, St. Augustine was the capital and citadel of a vast area. La
Florida then as claimed by Spain embraced not only the present
peninsula, but the entire Atlantic coast as far north as Canada and as
far inland as the continent was known to exist. For a time after the
expulsion of the French Huguenots, no other European nation seriously
challenged this claim, but the clouds of strife were beginning to
appear.
[Illustration: _A pamphlet, designed to attract English settlers,
described Carolina as being "On the Coasts of Floreda"._]
A Brief Description
OF
The Province
OF
CAROLINA
_On the_ Coasts _of_ FLOREDA
AND
More perticularly of a _New-Plantation_ begun by the _ENGLISH_ at
_Cape-Feare_, on that River now by them called _Charles-River_, the
29^th of _May_. 1664.
_Wherein is set forth_
The _Healthfulness_ of the Air; the _Fertility_ of the _Earth_, and
_Waters_; and the great _Pleasure_ and _Profit_ will accrue to those
that shall go thither to enjoy the same.
_Also_,
Directions and advice to such as shall go thither whether on their own
accompts, or to serve under another.
_Together with_
A most accurate _MAP_ of the whole _PROVINCE_.
_London_, Printed for _Robert Horne_ in the first Court of
_Gresham-Colledge_ neer _Bishopsgate street_, 1666.