EXPEDITIONS OF MURUELO, CORDOVA, ALMINOS, AYLLON, AND NARVAEZ.
In the next twenty years there were many captains who undertook voyages
for the exploration and subjugation of Florida.
It must be remembered that at this time, and until the beginning of the
eighteenth century, the grand divisions of North America were known only
as Florida and Canada.
Diego Muruelo, a Spanish adventurer, by profession a pilot, is said to
have sailed from Cuba, and returning with gold and precious stones
obtained from the Florida Indians, spread glowing reports of the
country. These reports may have influenced the home government, as about
this time a Dominican, “Bernardo de Mesa,” was chosen Bishop of Cuba
“including Florida.”
Fernandez de Cordova landed on the coast, but was driven off by the
Indians, and returned to Cuba, where he died of his wounds. The famous
Bernal Diaz was a member of this expedition.
One De Alminos, a member of Cordova’s party, made such a favorable
report of the country and the advantages to be derived from a possession
of the same that he induced Francisco de Geray, the governor of Jamaica,
to furnish him with three vessels, with which he returned to the coast;
but was unsuccessful in his attempts to make any acquisition of wealth
or power in Florida, though slight progress was made in the survey of
its coast. De Geray, however, trusting in the reports given him, applied
to the home government to be made Adelantado of Florida, though his
request is said to have been denied.
Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, an auditor of St. Domingo, a rich and learned
man, formed a company with six other inhabitants of the island of
Hispaniola, for the purpose of securing Indians to work as slaves in the
mines of Mexico.
In the humane laws decreed by the Spanish crown against the enslaving of
its Indian subjects, an exception had been made against the Caribs, or
Cannibals; these Indians being considered especially barbarous and
deserving of castigation.
De Ayllon falsely declaring that the inhabitants of the mainland were
Caribs, set sail in 1520 with two vessels, and directed his course to
the east coast of Florida. He landed in the province of Chicora in South
Carolina, where the Indians were ruled by a chief named Datha who was a
giant. His gigantic stature had been attained by a process of stretching
which elongated the bones while a child. This practice was applied only
to those of royal race.
The simple Floridians at first fled from the vessels and their
pale-faced occupants. The Spaniards, however, by kind treatment
succeeded in assuring the Indians, and, finally, induced the cacique and
a hundred and thirty attendants on board the ships. These were at once
secured, and the ships set sail for Hispaniola. It is also said that, as
a parting salute, De Ayllon fired the cannon of the ships into the crowd
assembled on the shores; but this inhuman act is not authenticated, and
the treachery of which he certainly was guilty is sufficiently execrable
to account for that remorse which he is said to have suffered afterward.
One vessel was lost on the voyage, and the cargo of the other was sold
upon their arrival at St. Domingo. The North American Indians, however,
have never submitted like the African to the servile yoke. The
Christianizing and civilizing blessings of slavery have never been
appreciated by these Indians. This body of North American captives, the
first which history mentions, set an example which has been followed by
their unfortunate descendants. No promises nor hopes could influence
these to forget their heritage of freedom. Refusing all sustenance,
borne down by sorrow and home-sickness, to a man they chose death rather
than slavery.
Charles the Fifth had been so affected by the eloquent and earnest
appeals of that humane and nobly pious Bishop of Chiapa, Bartholomi de
las Casas, that he issued decrees visiting his anger and the severest
penalties upon the Spanish governors who, by their barbarous tyranny,
had made the Indians of the New World to detest Christianity, and
tremble at the very name of Christian. Though these ordinances appear
often to have been disregarded, Vasquez’s perfidious treatment of the
natives seems to have been disapproved at Court; for when he applied to
the Spanish Crown for the governorship of the province, his request was
granted on condition that he should not enslave the Indians.
Tempted by the profit of his first venture, he disregarded this
provision of his grant, and returned to secure a second cargo. The
Indians were equal to the occasion, and met the whites with their own
methods. Having decoyed the Spaniards away from the shore, the Indians
fell upon them and killed two hundred. The Spaniards after this attack
put to sea, and soon after encountering a severe storm were shipwrecked,
and are all reported to have perished except Vasquez himself, who was
picked up and saved, only to pass the remainder of his life in misery
and remorse. His unhappiness may have had for its cause his disgrace and
the displeasure of the king, which he is said to have incurred. Another
account says he was among the killed.
Despising the ignorant and untrained races of Indians and overweeningly
confident in the mighty influence of the name of his king and the power
of the Spanish arms, Pamphilo de Narvaez, having obtained from Charles
the Fifth a grant of all the lands from Cape Florida to the River of
Palms in Mexico, determined to extend the Spanish rule and the Catholic
faith. Narvaez was also actuated by a desire to retrieve his own
disgrace. Having been sent to Mexico by Valasquez, the Governor of Cuba,
to supersede Cortez, the latter had by a sudden attack seized Narvaez
and assumed the command of his forces, who were doubtless only too
willing to serve under so gallant and successful a commander.
Returning to Spain, Narvaez was unable to obtain redress for the
injuries sustained at the hands of Cortez, but was placated by the
Commission of Adelantado of Florida.
On the 12th day of April, 1528, he sailed from St. Jago de Cuba, with
four hundred men and forty horses. Landing near what is now Charlotte
Harbor, he took formal possession of the country in the name of the King
of Spain.
The houses of the Indians, already evacuated, were in sight of the bay.
Proceeding inland, he came upon a town located on another and larger bay
(Tampa Bay), where the Indians offered him corn.
Here was promulgated a manifesto prepared by Narvaez, in the Spanish
language, abounding in arrogant assumption of power and superiority,
intended to awe the Indians, and secure at once their allegiance and
homage.
This curious document is still extant among the Archives of the Seville
Chamber of Commerce. The proclamation throws such a light upon the
estimate which the Spaniards had of the rights and condition of the
Indians, of their own authority, its source, and the purposes for which
it was to be exercised, that a considerable extract is quoted.
“A summons to be made to the inhabitants of the countries which extend
between the River of Palms and Cape Florida:
“In the name of his Catholic and Imperial Majesty, ever august King, and
Emperor of all the Romans; in the name of Dona Juana, his mother; King
of Spain; Defender of the Church, always victorious, and always
invincible, the conqueror of barbarous nations; I, Pamphilo de Narvaez,
their servant, and Ambassador and Captain, cause to be known to you in
the best manner I am able.” How God created the world and charged St.
Peter to be sovereign of all men in whatever country they might be born,
God gave him the whole world for his inheritance. One of his successors
made a gift of all these lands to the Imperial Sovereigns, the King and
Queen of Spain, so that the Indians are their subjects. After claiming
their allegiance he closes with the following invitation to embrace the
Catholic faith, which is more after the pagan than Christian order:
“You will not be compelled to accept Christianity, but when you shall be
well informed of the truth you will be made Christians. If you refuse,
and delay agreeing to what I have proposed to you, I testify to you
that, with God’s assistance, I will march against you, arms in hand. I
will make war upon you from all sides, and by every possible means. I
will subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and His
Majesty. I will obtain possession of your wives and children; I will
reduce you to slavery. I notify you that neither His Majesty, nor
myself, nor the gentlemen who accompany me will be the cause of this,
but yourselves only.” That the Indians gave little heed to the claims
and threats of this haughty knight is evident from the sad result of his
expedition. While resting at the village about Tampa, Narvaez was shown
some wooden burial cases, containing the remains of chiefs, and
ornamented with deerskins elaborately painted and adorned with sprigs of
gold. Learning that the gold came from farther north, at a place called
Appalache, Narvaez immediately ordered his men to march thither. With
more judgment or prophetic wisdom his treasurer, Cabeça de Vaca,
endeavored in vain to dissuade him. Having distributed a small quantity
of biscuit and pork as rations, he set out on the 1st of May with three
hundred men and forty horses. They marched through a desolate country,
crossing one large river and meeting only one settlement of Indians
until the 17th of June, when they fell in with a settlement, where they
were well received and supplied with corn and venison. The Spaniards
learning that this tribe were enemies of the Appalacheans, exchanged
presents and obtained guides to direct them to the Appalachean town.
This they reached on the 25th, after a fatiguing march through swamps
and marshes, and at once attacked the inhabitants without warning, and
put them all to the sword.
The town consisted of comfortable houses well stocked with corn, skins,
and garments made from bark cloth. Not finding the wealth he had
expected, and being subject to the repeated attacks of the Indians,
Narvaez, after a month’s rest at Appalache, divided his command into
three companies, and ordered them to scour the country.
These companies returning, after an unsuccessful search for gold or
food, the Spaniards continued their march toward the north and west,
carrying with them in chains the Indian chief captured at Appalache.
This plan of securing the chief of an Indian nation or tribe, and
forcing him to march with the troops as a guide and hostage, seems to
have been adopted by each of the Spanish commanders, and always with
disastrous results. The sight of an Indian chief in chains aroused a
feeling of outraged friendship wherever they passed, and gave a
premonition of the servile fate that would be assigned to their race
whenever the Spaniards obtained the dominion. This captive urged on the
Indians to harass and persistently follow up the marching army,
influencing even tribes that were inimical to himself.
The march of Narvaez through the western part of Florida continued until
fall, with an unvarying succession of attacks and skirmishes at every
halt, and often pitched battles at the towns that lay in his path.
Little progress was made on their journey, owing to the uncertainty of
their course, the unproductive and difficult nature of the country
traversed, and the unremitting attacks and obstacles opposed by the wily
Indians, who were ever on the watch to pick off man or beast, and
prevent the collection of supplies.
Disheartened at the continued losses sustained by his army, and
despairing of ever reaching by land the Spanish settlements in Mexico,
Narvaez, having reached the banks of a large river, determined to follow
it to its mouth, and take to the sea.
Slowly they moved down the river, and arrived at its mouth in a sadly
distressed condition. Despair lent them an energy that was fanned to a
burning zeal by the hopes of being able to reach their friends and
salvation on the shores of the same waters before their view. A smith in
their party declared that he could build a forge, and with bellows made
of hides, and the charcoal they could supply abundantly, he forged from
their swords and accoutrements bolts and nails for building boats.
Diligently they worked, incited by the memory of all their hardships and
perils, and the joyous hope of safe delivery. Such was their energy and
determination, that in six weeks they constructed from the material at
hand, five large boats capable of holding fifty men each. For cordage
they twisted ropes from the manes and tails of their horses, together
with the fiber of plants; their sails were made from their clothing, and
from the hides of their horses they made sacks to hold water.
With these frail and clumsily constructed crafts, open boats loaded
almost to the water’s edge, and without a navigator in the party, or
provisions for a single week did this little army of desperate men set
out on the open sea. Narvaez commanded one boat. The others were under
the command of his captains, one of whom, Cabeça de Vaca, has preserved
to us the account of this fatal expedition.
De Vaca gives a long and minute account of their voyage, and the
hardships and misfortunes they underwent until they were all
shipwrecked, and out of the two hundred and forty who started on the
return only fifteen were alive. Narvaez himself was blown off from the
shore while almost alone in his boat and never again heard of. Only
these four are known certainly to have been saved, Cabeça de Vaca, the
treasurer of the expedition, Captain Alonzo Castillo, Captain Andreas
Orantes, and a negro or Turk, named Estevanico.
These managed to preserve their lives, and attain an influence among the
Indians by pretending to a knowledge of physic, and a supernatural
origin. Their method of practice was unique, and as universal in its
application to every form of disease as that of the celebrated Dr.
Sangrado. It consisted in marking the patient with the sign of the
cross, repeating over him a paternoster or Ave Maria, and then calling
upon him to assure his comrades that he was entirely healed. The fee for
this skillful treatment was the customary reward among the Indians for
the services of the Medicine Man, the transfer of all the worldly
possessions of the patient to the physician in exchange for restored
health. The Indians thus despoiled by Cabeça de Vaca and his companions
begged them not to be distressed about it, assuring them that they held
the loss of their goods as naught in comparison with the pleasure of
having beheld the children of the sun, who had the power to heal the
sick and take away life. They declared they should hide nothing from
them, because everything was known to these divinities. So great was the
terror which their presence inspired, that for the first few days upon
their arrival in any new place, the inhabitants never stood before them
without trembling, and did not dare to speak nor lift up their eyes. De
Vaca says: “We kept up much state and gravity with them, and in order to
maintain this we spoke but seldom to them. The negro who was with us
talked often to them, informed himself of the roads we wished to take,
of the villages we should come upon, and of other things which we
desired to know. Although we knew six languages we could not in all
parts make use of them, as we found more than a thousand different
languages. If we had had an interpreter so that we could have made
ourselves perfectly understood we should have left them all
Christians.”[1]
Thus did Cabeça de Vaca and his companions for nearly six years pursue
their journey among the Indians. During all this long period they never
once abandoned their hope and design of reaching Mexico. Finally after
many other strange adventures De Vaca arrived at the Spanish settlements
in Mexico, and was received by his countrymen with the greatest
consideration and rejoicing.
Having been sent over to Spain, he presented to the crown a narrative of
the unfortunate expedition of Narvaez, representing that the country
contained great wealth that he alone was able to secure, and begging
that he be made the governor. In this he was disappointed, however, but
was placated by the government of La Plata, in South America. The
narrative of De Vaca has been received by historians and antiquarians as
in the main veracious, though describing some wonderful customs and
people. It is the earliest account of Florida which we possess, having
been published in 1555, and is of inestimable value.
Among the sailors in the ill-starred expedition of Narvaez was one Juan
Ortiz, who has attained a celebrity on account of his connection with
the later expedition of De Soto. Ortiz was among those who returned to
Cuba at the beginning of the expedition. It is said that the wife of
Narvaez, by a great reward, induced him to accept the command of a small
vessel which she fitted out to go in search of her husband. Ortiz,
having returned to the shores of Florida, was decoyed by the Indians to
put himself in their power, and was then seized and brought before the
chief named Hiriga, or Hirrihigua, who, feeling inflamed at the
treatment he had received at the hands of Narvaez, ordered the captive
to be stretched out on a pile and burned to death. Then history relates
an episode similar to that of Captain John Smith and Pocahontas, only
more romantic. In this case not only did the beautiful Indian maiden
supplicate an angry father, and clothe the quality of mercy in such
attractive garb as to melt the flinty heart of a stern old savage; but,
having procured the release of Ortiz from his imminent peril, she, with
her equally noble and heroic affianced husband, sacrificed their love on
the altar of humanity. Ortiz having been set to watch a burying-ground,
allowed a wolf to drag off the body of a lately-buried chief, and though
he pursued and killed the wolf, he was again sentenced to death to
appease the outraged spirit. In despair of saving a life that was so
justly forfeited, the daughter of the chief sent Ortiz to her lover, a
neighboring chief named Macaco, who protected him for a period of twelve
years until the arrival of De Soto. He thus incurred the enmity of
Hiriga, who refused to consent to the alliance with his daughter unless
the white man was sacrificed to placate the wrath of the spirit he had
failed to protect. Unfortunately history has failed to preserve the name
of this remarkable girl, and still more unfortunate is it that there is
no reason to believe that after the arrival of De Soto, any return was
made the chief’s daughter, which would show an appreciation by the white
men of conduct so worthy of the highest encomiums and reward.