RETURN OF MENENDEZ.--ATTEMPT TO CHRISTIANIZE THE INDIANS.--ATTACK
UPON ST. AUGUSTINE BY SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.--MURDER OF THE FRIARS.
While these events were transpiring Menendez had completed his
equipment, and sailed with a fresh supply of men and means for his
colonies in Florida. His first information of the disaster which had
overtaken his posts on the St. Johns was received after he arrived at
St. Augustine. So humiliating a disaster as the capture of three of his
forts well fortified and garrisoned with four hundred trained men, was
the occasion of no little mortification and vexation to this gallant
knight, especially since the victors were the avengers of the former
colonists, and the forces that accomplished the affair were so greatly
outnumbered by his soldiers, who were also well defended by strong
forts. To add to the discouragement the condition of the colony at St.
Augustine was found to be most distressing. The garrison was nearly
naked, the colonists half starved, and the attacks of the Indians
growing more frequent and reckless as the weakness and despondency of
the Spaniards became more apparent. The intrepid and indomitable spirit
of Menendez did not bend under these obstacles and reverses which would
have crushed a nature of ordinary mold. His extraordinary and
comprehensive genius opened a way, in the midst of almost superhuman
difficulties, for the maintenance of his colony and the extension of
the Catholic faith, the objects to which his life was now devoted.
Perceiving the insecurity of the garrisons at a distance from each other
and the principal post, he wisely concluded to preserve his forces
entire at St. Augustine, and thus maintain the colony and a base of
operations. The spread of the Catholic faith he determined to secure by
inducing the different tribes of Indians to receive and support one or
more missionaries or teachers. At the earnest solicitation of Menendez
large numbers of priests, friars, and brothers of the various religious
orders of the Catholic Church had been sent to Florida by the King of
Spain. Mission-houses were built all over the country from the Florida
capes on the south to the Chesapeake on the north and the Mississippi on
the west, to which these teachers, being mostly Franciscans, were sent.
By the mildness of their manners, the promises of future joys and
rewards which their teachings declared, and the interest excited by the
introduction of the arts of civilized life, they gained a powerful
ascendency over the native tribes, that promised at one period the
conversion of the whole North American Indian race to the religion and
customs of their Christian teachers. This would have been an achievement
that would have amply compensated for all the efforts, treasure, and
lives expended by the Europeans in the conquest of the New World. In
fact it would have been a wonderful revolution that might well have been
considered a miraculous dispensation of Providence.
It is due to the grandly comprehensive conception of Menendez that there
was initiated this plan of mission stations through the Floridas, which
so nearly accomplished this happy result. That the ultimate success of
the efforts to Christianize the Indians was not attained was probably
owing to the political changes that occurred in Europe in the
eighteenth century. In both France and Spain the Jesuits fell into
disgrace, and the most rigorous measures of suppression and banishment
were adopted against them. The Jesuit missions in Florida shared the
fate of their order in the Old World, and thus was the encouraging
prospect of Christianizing the Indians swept away forever.
Under Menendez and his immediate successors whom he named and who
followed his counsels were founded those missionary establishments,
whose ruins have been at a late period a subject of curious
investigation throughout Middle Florida. Romans (“History of Florida,”
New York, 1775) states that in his time there was an old bell of one of
these mission houses lying in the fields near Alachua. Hon. Wilkinson
Call, United States Senator from Florida, who is somewhat of an
antiquarian, has informed the writer that near his birthplace in Leon
County are to be found the ruins of another of these Spanish missions.
The early inhabitants of the region being filled with superstition and a
belief that the ruins were the remains of an establishment of the
buccaneers, threw the bell into a neighboring pond, from which it has
been rescued within a late period.
Menendez, finding that the interests of the colony were neglected at the
Spanish Court, and that the maintenance of the colony was daily
impoverishing himself, resolved to return permanently to Spain, where he
hoped that his influence would be able to accomplish more benefit to the
undertaking in Florida than could be expected to accrue from his
presence in the territory. Leaving the province under the command of his
nephew, Don Pedro Menendez, he sailed for Spain in 1572. Upon his
arrival all the honors of the court were lavished upon him, and his
counsels were eagerly sought in the various affairs of state. He was
not destined to enjoy his honors long, nor to reap new laurels in the
European wars of the Spanish crown. In the midst of his glory his career
was suddenly ended by his death from a fever, in 1574. His rank and
memory are perpetuated in the Church of St. Nicholas, at Avilès, by a
monument, on which is inscribed the following epitaph:
“Here lies buried the illustrious Captain Pedro Menendez de Avilès, a
native of this City, Adelantado of the Province of Florida, Knight
Commander of Santa Cruz, of the Order of Santiago, and Captain General
of the Oceanic Seas, and of the Armada which his Royal Highness
collected at Santander in the year 1574, where he died on the 17th of
September, of that year, in the fifty-fifth year of his age.”
Following out the instructions of Menendez, De las Alas, now governor of
Florida, assembled a council from the different missions in the province
for the purpose of considering methods of extending the Catholic faith.
In pursuance of the advice of this council embassies were sent to all
the tribes of Indians for several hundred miles around St. Augustine.
Spanish garrisons and many Spanish monks to teach the Indians had
already been received into the towns east of the Appalachicola River. In
1583 the Chickasaws, Tocoposcas, Apacas, Tamaicas, Apiscas and Alabamas,
received the missionaries. At this period the Catholic faith was
recognized as far west as the Mississippi, and as far north as the
mountains of Georgia.
The Franciscans and Dominicans had been the first to represent the monks
in the New World. Afterward came the Fathers of Mercy, the Augustines,
and the Jesuits.
Although Florida was included in the diocese of the Bishop of Cuba, it
was decided to establish a convent of the Order of St. Francis at St.
Augustine. I find the name originally given this convent was the
“Conception of Our Lady,” though it is generally referred to as St.
Helena.
This name St. Helena was applied to all the establishments throughout
the province, of which the great Franciscan house at St. Augustine was
to be the center.
Sailing in September, 1585, there arrived soon after in the West Indies
a fleet of twenty-six vessels which had been fitted out by private
persons in England to cruise against the Spanish commerce, and placed
under the command of Sir Francis Drake, with the vice-admirals Frobisher
and Knolles. After sacking St. Jago, raising a contribution of
twenty-five thousand ducats on St. Domingo, and doing great injury to
the Spanish shipping in the Caribbean Seas, they steered for Florida on
their homeward voyage. Passing up the coast when abreast Anastatia
Island, on the 8th of May, 1586, they sighted a tower or look-out
station on the shore. Satisfied that it was some Spanish station the
admiral ordered the boats manned and landed a body of troops on the
island. Advancing toward the look-out, they perceived across the bay a
fort, and further up a town built of wood.
In defiance of King Philip’s order prohibiting foreigners, on pain of
death, from setting foot in the province of Florida, the admiral sent
General Carlisle, of the land forces, with a small body of soldiers to
enter the town.
The sentinel on the island had probably retreated to the fort, as the
Spaniards, without parley, opened fire upon the English boat as soon as
it came within range of their guns. Perceiving that the Spaniards
intended to oppose his landing, and having too small a force to make an
attack upon the fort, General Carlisle withdrew to the vessels which
were anchored off the bar. That evening a small boat was observed
approaching the fleet from across the bay. As the boat came near, the
music of a fife was heard, and the breeze bore to the ears of the
English the familiar notes of the Prince of Orange’s march. The fifer
proved to be a French musician who had been captured, probably with
Ribault’s men, and who had taken advantage of the panic which the
presence of the English fleet was then causing, to make his escape. He
reported that the fort had been abandoned, and offered to conduct the
English to the town. In the morning Sir Francis crossed the bay, and
finding the fort deserted, as the Frenchman had reported, he took
possession of the same and hoisted the English flag. The fort at that
time was called San Juan de Pinos, and was but a rude structure built of
logs and earth, and without a ditch. The palisades were built of cabbage
palmettoes driven in the ground. The platforms were constructed by
laying the bodies of pine trees horizontally on each other, and filling
an intervening space with earth well rammed. Upon these platforms were
mounted fourteen brass cannon, of what caliber is not mentioned.
The garrison numbered one hundred and fifty soldiers. Their retreat had
been so precipitous that they neglected to remove the paymaster’s funds,
and a chest containing ten thousand dollars in silver fell into the
hands of the English. It is to be hoped that this unsoldierly conduct
met with exemplary correction at the hands of the _corregidors_, after
the British sailed away.
“Whether the massive, iron-bound mahogany chest still (1858) preserved
in the old fort is the same which fell into the hands of Drake, is a
question for antiquarians to decide; its ancient appearance might well
justify the supposition.”[9]
The next day the English marched toward the town; but it is said that
they were unable to proceed by land, owing to heavy rains having lately
fallen, and therefore returned to the fort and embarked in boats.
Proceeding up the sound, as the boats approached the town, the Spaniards
made a show of resistance; but, on the first discharge from the British
marines, they fled into the country, leaving the town at the mercy of
the invader. After pillaging the town and destroying the gardens, Sir
Francis Drake made no further delay, but continued on his voyage to
England. The Spanish account says he burned the town in revenge for the
killing of his sergeant-major. The place and this attack were considered
of so much importance, that after the arrival of Sir Francis in England,
an engraving of “Drake’s descent upon St. Augustine” was made, which
“represents an octagonal fort between two streams; at the distance of
half a mile, another stream; beyond that the town with a look-out and
two religious houses, one of which is a church and the other probably
the house of the Franciscans, who had shortly before established a house
of their order there. The town contains three squares lengthwise and
four in width, with gardens on the west side.
“Some doubt has been thrown on the actual site of the first settlement
by this account; but I think it probably stood considerably to the south
of the present public square, between the barracks and the
powder-house. Perhaps Maria Sanchez (Santa Maria) Creek may have then
communicated with the bay near its present head, in wet weather and at
high tides isolating the fort from the town. The present north ditch may
have been the bed of a tide creek, and thus would correspond to the
appearance presented by the sketch. It is well known that the north end
of the city has been built at a much later period than the southern, and
that the now vacant space below the barracks was once occupied with
buildings. Buildings and fields are shown on Anastatia Island, opposite
the town. The relative position of the town, with reference to the
entrance of the harbor, is correctly shown on the plan, and there seems
no sufficient ground to doubt the identity of the present town with the
ancient locality.”[10]
I have thought that the first town may have been built on the more
western of the two peninsulas lying between Santa Maria Creek and St.
Sebastian River. This would correspond with the plan published by Drake,
and if we assume that the town, being built of wood, was entirely
destroyed by Drake, and afterward rebuilt on its present site, the
statement of Romans finds confirmation, that the first site, having been
found ineligible, the location was changed to its present situation. At
the time of Drake’s invasion the town was said to be rapidly growing,
and to have contained a church, a hall for the judges of Residencia, and
other public buildings.
The Spanish governor (Don Pedro Menendez, a nephew of the founder) set
himself diligently to work to rebuild the town. In the prosecution of
this work, a considerable pecuniary assistance was received from Spain
and Cuba, and it is probable that the first stone buildings were
erected about this period.
Much attention was at this time devoted to the temporal and spiritual
welfare of the Indians. Father Rogel, who had come to Florida with the
Adelantado Pedro Menendez, had learned the Indian language, and at least
one of the Indians had been taken to Spain, and instructed in the
Spanish language and the tenets of the Church. The Indians were
considered desirable neighbors, and were encouraged to dwell near the
castle, and even within the city. On a map drawn as early as 1638 the
spot now occupied by the old Catholic cemetery near the head of Tolomato
Street is marked “Hermitage of our Lady of Guadalupe, with the territory
occupied by the Indians of the town Tolomato.” Large numbers of
Franciscan missionaries continued to arrive at St. Augustine, and
adventurous monks, who had pined in their convents in the Old World for
more work to do, found room for their energies in Florida, as the
adventurous soldiers had done before them.
Early in the seventeenth century one of these Franciscans wrote a book
called “La Doctrina Cristiana” in the Yemassee dialect. This volume,
which is said to have been the first book written in the language of any
of the North American Indians, has received an extended notice at the
hands of Buckingham Smith, Esq. The labors of the missionaries were not
without difficulties and discouragements, nor free from dangers. Toward
the close of the sixteenth and at the beginning of the seventeenth
century there were several of the worthy fathers who sacrificed their
lives in noble efforts to instruct the Indians.
Padre Martinez, accompanied by two other learned and pious priests,
arrived off the coast in a small vessel from Spain. Father Martinez,
being blown ashore while reconnoitering the coast in a small boat, was
murdered by the Indians of Fort George Island. His companions taking
alarm at the fate of their brother returned at once to Cuba.
In 1598 a most cruel and unprovoked assault was made by the Indians upon
two pious fathers within sight of the castle at St. Augustine. Besides
the Indian village near the gates there was another Indian town about a
quarter of a mile north of the castle, situated on the creek called Cano
de la Leche. The Spaniards called the place Nombre de Dios, and until
after the English possession of Florida (1763-1784) there stood a stone
chapel on the spot called “Nostra Senora de la Leche.” This chapel was
used by the English as a hospital, and fell into disuse and neglect
after the Indian tribes ceased to reside peacefully in the vicinity of
the town. As it was neither safe nor convenient for the inhabitants of
the city to worship there, the vestments which had been given to the
chapel by the King of Spain were removed. The crucifix taken from it is
yet preserved in the cathedral at St. Augustine. The ground on which
this chapel stood is still owned by the Catholic Church, and a new
chapel was built in 1874 by Bishop Verot on the ruins of the old church;
but the severe gale of 1878 unroofed this, and at present only two of
the coquina walls are standing. The location is immediately adjoining on
the east the grounds of General Dent’s cottage and young orange grove on
the right, as you go out of the city gates by the shell road. The name
of the Indian village here located was called Topiqui.
Father Pedro de Corpa had established a chapel and mission at Tolomato,
and Father Bias Rodriguez another at Topiqui. Among the pupils at
Tolomato was the son of the chief of Guale, a province embraced by what
is now called Amelia Island. This young chief was too full of animal
spirits and the wild Indian nature to readily adopt habits required by
the Franciscans. Having repeatedly offended against the proprieties of
the mission, Father Corpa was compelled to publicly censure his conduct.
The high spirit of the young chief rebelled at this reproof, and he at
once withdrew from the mission. The good priest anticipated no evil and
sought no protection. Not so the young chief. His heart was full of
bitterness. Gathering a band of warriors from his own nation, he
returned to St. Augustine determined on revenge. Approaching Tolomato in
the dusk of evening, he burst into the chapel, and murdered Father Corpa
at the altar. The Indians then cut off the worthy father’s head and set
it upon a pole, while his body was cast into the woods and never found.
The young chief urged that an end should be made of all the missionaries
in the province, saying that the friars had heaped upon the Indians
injuries, and robbed them of their liberty and customs, while promising
them all manner of good things, of which none were as yet received; and
thus they were compelled to labor and be deprived of all the pleasures
which their ancestors enjoyed, in the hopes of receiving heaven.
The Indians of Tolomato were grieved at the death of their teacher, and
urged the young chief to fly from the punishment which the Spanish
governor would surely inflict. He replied that the Spaniards desired to
make them all slaves, and that the penalty for the death of one priest
was as severe as for the destruction of the whole body. Thus urged, they
followed their leader to the village of Topiqui, where they seized
Father Rodriguez, and informing him of the death of Father Corpa,
declared that the same fate awaited him. In vain did the pious friar
reason, in vain did he supplicate them not to commit so foolish a sin.
The arguments and tears of the priest were of no avail. Finding the
Indians determined to take his life, he begged the privilege of saying a
last mass. “The permission was given, and there for the last time the
worthy father put on his robes, which might well be termed his robes of
sacrifice. The wild and savage crowd, thirsting for his blood, reclined
upon the floor, and looked on in sullen silence, awaiting the conclusion
of the rites. The priest alone, standing before the altar, proceeded
with this most sad and solemn mass, then cast his eyes to heaven and
knelt in private supplication, where the next moment he fell under the
blows of his cruel foes, bespattering the altar at which he ministered
with his own life’s blood. His crushed remains were thrown into the
fields, that they might serve for the fowls of the air or the beasts of
the forests; but not one would approach them except a dog, which,
rushing forward to lay hold upon the body, fell dead upon the spot, says
the ancient chronicle; and an old Christian Indian, recognizing it, gave
it sepulture in the forest.”[11]
Other missions also were destroyed by this mad band of savages, but the
zeal of the Franciscans was unabated, and they continued for several
years to make many converts among the Indians.
In 1611 the prelate St. Francisco Marroz, “custodio from the convent of
St. Francisco of the Havanna, together with the St. Helena,” Fr. Miguel
de Annon, and Fr. Pedro de Chocas, fell martyrs by the hands of the
Indians, who are said to have pillaged the town after having driven the
inhabitants to seek protection under the guns of the fort or stockade.
The now-apparent danger of a total destruction of the settlement by the
Indians, who had begun to learn their own strength and the weakness of
the Spaniards, opened the eyes of the governor to the necessity of more
effective defense of the town. The plan of defense, embracing the castle
and lines of stockades at both ends of the town with stone bastions, was
initiated in the early part of the seventeenth century, though not
completed for many years.
In 1640 many Apalachian Indians were brought to St. Augustine, and
compelled to labor on the fort and at other works of defense. These
Indians were nominally hostages for the allegiance of a very numerous
tribe who lived in Middle Florida, and had made numerous ravages on the
Spanish missions between 1635 and 1638. Finding peaceful measures of no
avail, the Spaniards marched against them, and, after several victories,
brought away a large number of captives. These were kept steadily at
work until 1702, when they were released through the efforts of the
Franciscan friars. This remission, however, was granted by the Spanish
crown only during the peaceful conduct of their tribe, and until their
services should again be required. It does not appear that the
Apalachians ever again labored on the fort.
[1655-1737.]