THE ATTACK ON FORT CAROLINE--1565.
The troops, having heard mass, marched out in order, preceded by twenty
Biscayans and Asturians having as their captain Martin de Ochoa, a
leader of great fidelity and bravery, furnished with axes to open a road
where they could not get along. At this moment there arrived two
Indians, who said that they had been at the fort six days before, and
who "seemed like angels" to the soldiers, sent to guide their march.
Halting for refreshment and rest wherever suitable places could be
found, and the Adelantado always with the vanguard, in four days they
reached the vicinity of the fort, and came up within less than a quarter
of a league of it, concealed by a grove of pine trees. It rained
heavily, and a severe storm prevailed. The place where they had halted
was a very bad one, and very marshy; but he decided to stop there, and
went back to seek the rearguard, lest they might lose the way.
About ten at night the last of the troops arrived, very wet indeed, for
there had been much rain during the four days; they had passed marshes
with the water rising to their waists, and every night there was so
great a flood that they were in great danger of losing their powder,
their match-fire, and their biscuit; and they became desperate, cursing
those who had brought them there, and themselves for coming.
Menendez pretended not to hear their complaints, not daring to call a
council as to proceeding or returning, for both officers and soldiers
went forward very inquietly. Remaining firm in his own resolve, two
hours before dawn he called together the Master of the Camp and the
Captains to whom he said that during the whole night he had sought of
God and his most Holy Mother that they would favor him and instruct him
what he should do most advantageous for their holy service; and he was
persuaded that they had all done the same. "But now, Gentlemen," he
proceeded, "we must make some determination, finding ourselves
exhausted, lost, without ammunition or provisions, and without the hope
of relief."
Some answered very promptly, "Why should they waste their time in giving
reasons? for, unless they returned quickly to St. Augustine, they would
be reduced to eating palmettos;[4] and the longer they delayed, the
greater trouble they would have."
The Adelantado said to them that what they said seemed very reasonable,
but he would ask of them to hear some reasons to the contrary, without
being offended. He then proceeded--after having smoothed down their
somewhat ruffled dispositions, considerably disturbed by their first
experience in encountering the hardships of such a march--to show them
that the danger of retreat was then greater than an advance would be, as
they would lose alike the respect of their friends and foes. That if, on
the contrary, they attacked the fort, whether they succeeded in taking
it or not, they would gain honor and reputation.
Stimulated by the speech of their General, they demanded to be led to
the attack, and the arrangements for the assault were at once made.
Their French prisoner was placed in the advance; but the darkness of the
night and the severity of the storm rendered it impossible to proceed,
and they halted in a marsh, with the water up to their knees, to await
daylight.
At dawn the Frenchman recognized the country, and the place were they
were, and where stood the fort; upon which the Adelantado ordered them
to march, enjoining upon all, at the peril of their lives, to follow
him; and coming to a small hill, the Frenchman said that behind that
stood the fort, about three bow-shots distant, but lower down, near the
river. The General put the Frenchman into the custody of Castaneda. He
went up a little higher, and saw the river and one of the houses, but he
was not able to discover the fort, although it was adjoining them; and
he returned to Castaneda, with whom now stood the Master of the Camp and
Ochoa, and said to them that he wished to go lower down, near to the
houses which stood behind the hill, to see the fortress and the
garrison, for, as the sun was now up, they could not attack the fort
without a reconnoisance. This the Master of the Camp would not permit
him to do, saying this duty appertained to him; and he went alone with
Ochoa near to the houses, from whence they discovered the fort; and
returning with their information, they came to two paths, and leaving
the one by which they came, took the other. The Master of the Camp
discovered his error, coming to a fallen tree, and turned his face to
inform Ochoa, who was following him; and as they turned to seek the
right path, he stopped in advance, and the sentinel discovered them, who
imagined them to be French; but examining them he perceived they were
unknown to him. He hailed, "Who goes there?" Ochoa answered,
"Frenchmen." The sentinel was confirmed in his supposition that they
were his own people, and approached them; Ochoa did the same; but seeing
they were not French, the sentinel retreated. Ochoa closed with him, and
with his drawn sword gave him a cut over the head, but did not hurt him
much, as the sentinel fended off the blow with his sword; and the Master
of the Camp coming up at this moment, gave him a thrust, from which he
fell backwards, making a loud outcry. The Master of the Camp, putting
his sword to his breast, threatened him with instant death unless he
kept silence. They tied him thereupon, and took him to the General, who,
hearing the noise, thought the Master of the Camp was being killed, and
meeting with the Sergeant-major, Francisco de Recalde, Diego de Maya,
and Andres Lopez Patino, with their standards and soldiers, without
being able to restrain himself, he cried out, "Santiago! Upon them! Help
of God, Victory! The French are destroyed. The Master of the Camp is in
their fort, and has taken it." Upon which, all rushed forward in the
path without order, the General remaining behind, repeating what he had
said many times: himself believing it to be certain that the Master of
the Camp had taken with him a considerable force, and had captured the
fort.
* * * * *
So great was the joy of the soldiers, and such their speed, that they
soon came up with the Master of the Camp and Ochoa, who was hastening to
receive the reward of carrying the good news to the General of the
capture of the sentinel. But the Master of the Camp, seeing the spirit
which animated the soldiers, killed the sentinel, and cried out with a
loud voice to those who were pressing forward, "Comrades! do as I do.
God is with us;" and turned, running towards the fort, and meeting two
Frenchmen on the way, he killed one of them, and Andres Lopez Patino the
other. Those in the environs of the fort, seeing this tragedy enacted,
set up loud outcries; and in order to know the cause of the alarm, one
of the Frenchmen within opened the postern of the principal gate, which
he had no sooner done than it was observed by the Master of the Camp;
and throwing himself upon him, he killed him, and entered the gate,
followed by the most active of his followers.
The French, awakened by the clamor, some dressed, others in their
night-clothes, rushed to the doors of their houses to see what had
happened; but they were all killed, except sixty of the more wary, who
escaped by leaping the walls.
Immediately the standards of the Sergeant-major and of Diego Mayo were
brought in, and set up by Rodrigo Troche and Pedro Valdes Herrera, with
two cavaliers, at the same moment. These being hoisted, the trumpets
proclaimed the victory, and the bands of soldiers who had entered opened
the gates and sought the quarters, leaving no Frenchman alive.
The Adelantado hearing the cries, left Castaneda in his place to collect
the people who had not come up, who were at least half the force, and
went himself to see if they were in any danger. He arrived at the fort
running; and as he perceived that the soldiers gave no quarter to any of
the French, he shouted, "That at the penalty of their lives they should
neither wound nor kill any woman, cripple, or child under fifteen years
of age." By which seventy persons were saved; _the rest were all
killed_!
Renato de Laudonniere, the Commander of the fort, escaped with his
servant and some twenty or thirty others, to a vessel lying in the
river.
Such is the Spanish chronicle, contained in Barcia, of the capture of
Fort Caroline. Its details in the main correspond with the account of
Laudonniere, and of Nicolas Challeux, the author of the letter printed
at Lyons, in France, under date of August, 1566, by Jean Saugrain. In
some important particulars, however, the historians disagree. It has
been already seen that Menendez is represented as having given orders to
spare all the women, maimed persons, and all children under fifteen
years of age. The French relations of the event, on the contrary, allege
that an indiscriminate slaughter took place, and that all were massacred
without respect to age, sex, or condition; but as this statement is
principally made upon the authority of a terrified and flying soldier,
it is alike due to the probabilities of the case, and more agreeable to
the hopes of humanity, to lessen somewhat the horrors of a scene which
has need of all the palliation that can be drawn from the slightest
evidences of compassion on the part of that stern and bigoted leader.
The Spanish statement is further confirmed by other writers, who speak
of a vessel being dispatched by Menendez subsequently to carry the
survivors to Spain.