In the early sixteenth century there flourished a valiant Spaniard of
noble birth, a grandee of Aragon, who had taken part in the conquest
of Grenada, Don Juan Ponce de Leon. He had accompanied Columbus on one
of his American voyages, and in 1510 was appointed Governor of Puerto
Rico. The bold Don Juan had become somewhat worn by a life of
dangerous buccaneering and romantic adventure, and being rather
advanced in years he was losing the attractiveness which had long
added charms to his gallantries. From the Indians of Puerto Rico he
heard of an island off to the northwestward, which they called Bimini,
and he listened with wonder and constantly increasing interest to the
tales they told of an extraordinary and miraculous spring which it
contained that would restore youth to the aged and health to the
decrepit--the "Fountain of Perpetual Youth." They described it as
being in a region of surpassing beauty, and said there were found
abundant gold and many slaves in this land of promise. The rugged old
warrior was fired with the prospect of restored youth, and soon
secured from the king a grant of Bimini. In March, 1513, he sailed
with a large expedition from Puerto Rico, discovered some of the
Bahama Islands, coasted along the mainland to latitude 30° 8' north,
and on Easter Sunday, April 8th, landed a short distance south of St.
John's River and took possession, calling the country Florida, from
"Pasqua Florida," the Spanish name for the day. He did not find the
magic spring, however, but he did discover a fairy scene, a land
filled with a profusion of fruits and flowers. Though he subsequently
diligently searched for it, he unfortunately never found the
miraculous fountain. He explored the Gulf Coast, and returned to the
quest again in 1521, when he got into quarrels with the Indians, was
mortally wounded in a combat, and went back to Cuba to die.
Another Spanish grandee, fired with zeal for gold and conquest,
appeared upon the scene somewhat later in the sixteenth century.
Ferdinand de Soto, a native of Jerez, whose only heritage was his
sword and shield, had accompanied various expeditions to Darien and
Nicaragua, and in 1532 joined Pizarro in the conquest of Peru, where
he acquired great wealth, with which he returned to Spain. Soon after,
being anxious for more adventure, he was appointed Governor of Cuba
and Florida, and given a commission to explore and settle the Spanish
possessions in the latter country, then including the whole northern
coast of the Gulf of Mexico. In May, 1539, he sailed from Havana with
a large fleet and six hundred men, coasted around Florida and landed
at Tampa Bay on the Gulf side, where his explorations ashore began in
July. Fabulous stories had been told him of the wealth of the country
by those who had been there, and De Soto's plan was to go everywhere
in search of gold. He captured Indians for guides, and found a
Spaniard, Juan Ortiz, whom they had taken captive several years
before, but who was now living with them as a friend, knew their
language and became interpreter. Then De Soto, by his aid, began a
most difficult exploration, advancing through thick woods, north and
east, amid tangled undergrowth, over bogs and marshes, crossing rivers
and lakes, fighting the Indians who resented his cruelties, for he
made them his slaves and bearers of burdens, tortured and killed them
if they resisted. But he found no gold, though he pushed steadily
onward, and turning westward in the quest, his numbers growing
smaller and the survivors weaker under the weight of their privations.
He travelled a long distance, crossing Northern Florida and Georgia
into the Carolinas, and probably to Tennessee, descending the Alabama
River, and having a battle with the Indians near Mobile Bay in
October, 1540; then turning again northward, crossing the Mississippi
River, which he discovered in May, 1541, near the Chickasaw Bluffs,
exploring it nearly to the mouth of the Missouri, and then turning
southward he sailed down the river, and finally died of fever near the
mouth of Red River in May, 1542. During the three years' wanderings
nearly half his force had perished in battle, or of privation and
disease. The Indians were in awe of him and believed him immortal, and
a panic therefore seized his surviving followers, who feared
annihilation if the savages discovered that De Soto was dead. So they
quietly buried him at night, from a boat in midstream, sinking the
corpse in the great Father of Waters. Discouraged and almost hopeless,
his followers managed to build some small vessels, and the next year
arrived safely in Mexico.
Neither of these expeditions succeeded in colonizing Florida, but they
left a feeling of hatred among the Indians, caused by the Spanish
cruelties, which always afterwards existed. In 1564 some French
Huguenots, led by René de Loudonnière, attempted making a settlement
at the mouth of St. John's River, and built Fort Caroline there. News
of this reached Spain, and in 1565 another colonization expedition was
sent out under Don Pedro Menendez d'Aviles, which set sail from Cadiz,
and on St. Augustine's Day, August 28th, landed not far from where
Ponce de Leon had made his first invasion, and founded a colony which
he named St. Augustine, in honor of his day of arrival. As soon as
Menendez was established on shore he attacked the Huguenots at St.
John's River, and hanged such of them as had escaped being killed in
the battle, declaring that he did this because they were Protestants.
Some of them who had been away from the fort at the time were
afterwards shipwrecked near St. Augustine, and these he also captured
and put to death. The French Fort Caroline was then garrisoned by the
Spaniards, its name changed to Fort San Mateo, and they also fortified
with redoubts both sides of the river entrance. The story of the
atrocities of Menendez was received with indignation in France, but
the King, controlled by intrigue, dared do nothing, such was his fear
of the power of Spain.
Full vengeance was afterwards taken, however. Dominique de Gourgues, a
French gentleman of Mont-de-Marsan, who hated the Spaniards with a
mortal hatred, took up the quarrel, sold his inheritance, borrowed
money, and equipped a small expedition of three vessels and one
hundred and eighty men. He concealed his real object, and sailing for
some time through the tropical seas, finally came to Cuba, when he
first made known his purpose to his followers. He landed at St. Mary's
River, opening communication with the Indians, and a joint attack upon
the Spaniards to the southward was arranged. In May, 1568, the fort
and redoubts at St. John's River were stormed and taken, a few
Spaniards being captured alive, all the rest having been slain in the
combat. Gourgues was shown nearby the trees whereon Menendez had
hanged the French prisoners when he first took the fort, having placed
over them the inscription "Not as Frenchmen, but as Lutherans." He
hanged his Spanish prisoners on the same trees, and over them was also
nailed an inscription, burned with a hot iron on a tablet of pine,
"Not as Spaniards, but as Traitors, Robbers and Murderers." Gourgues'
mission of vengeance was fulfilled. His Indian allies demolished the
fort and the redoubts at the mouth of the river. He then sailed home
with his expedition, landing at Rochelle on the day of Pentecost,
where the Huguenots greeted him with all honor, and whilst he was
scorned at court and lived for some years in obscurity, Queen
Elizabeth showed him great favor; and as he was going overland to join
the army of Portugal to once more fight his enemies, the Spaniards, he
fell ill at Tours and died. The French made no more attempts at
settlement in Florida, and the Spaniards afterwards possessed it,
though frequently being at war with the English. Spain finally ceded
the "Land of Flowers" to the United States, which took final
possession in 1821.