FATE OF RIBAULT AND HIS FOLLOWERS--BLOODY MASSACRE AT MATANZAS--1565.
The first detachment of the French whom Menendez met and so utterly
destroyed, constituted the complement of a single vessel, which had been
thrown ashore at a more northerly point than the others. All these
vessels were wrecked between Mosquito Inlet and Matanzas.
Of the fate of the main detachment, under Ribault in person, we have the
following account, as related by the same apologist, the chaplain De
Solis:
"On the next day following the return of the Adelantado at St.
Augustine, the same Indians who came before returned, and said that 'a
great many more Christians were at the same part of the river as the
others had been.' The Adelantado concluded that it must be Jean Ribault,
the General of the Lutherans at sea and on land, whom they called the
Viceroy of this country for the king of France. He immediately went,
with one hundred and fifty men in good order, and reached the place
where he had lodged the first time, at about midnight; and at dawn he
pushed forward to the river, with his men drawn out, and when it was
daylight, he saw, two bow-shots from the other bank of the river, many
persons, and a raft made to cross over the people, at the place where
the Adelantado stood. But immediately, when the French saw the
Adelantado and his people, they took arms, and displayed a royal
standard and two standards of companies, sounding fifes and drums, in
very good order, and showing a front of battle to the Adelantado; who,
having ordered his men to sit down and take their breakfast, so that
they made no demonstration of any change, he himself walked up and down
the shore, with his admiral and two other captains, paying no attention
to the movement and demonstration of battle of the French; so that they
observing this, halted and the fifes and the drums ceased, while with a
bugle note they unfurled the white flag of peace, which was returned by
the Adelantado. A Frenchman placed himself upon the raft, and cried with
a loud voice that he wished to cross over, but that owing to the force
of the current he could not bring the raft over, and desired an Indian
canoe which was there to be sent over. The Adelantado said he could swim
over for it, under pledge of his word. A French sailor immediately came
over, but the General would not permit him to speak with him, but
directed him to take the canoe, and go and tell his captain, that
inasmuch as he called for a conference, if he desired anything he should
send over some one to communicate with him. The same sailor immediately
came with a gentleman, who said he was the sergeant major of Jean
Ribault, Viceroy and Captain General of this land for the king of
France, and that he had sent him to say, that they had been wrecked with
their fleet in a great storm, and that he had with him three hundred and
fifty French; that they wished to go to a fort which they held, twenty
leagues from there; that they wished the favor of boats, to pass this
river, and the other, four leagues further on, and that he desired to
know if they were Spaniards, and under what leader they served.
"The Adelantado answered him, that they were Spaniards, and that the
captain under whom they served was the person now addressing him, and
was called Pedro Menendez. That he should tell his General that the fort
which he held twenty leagues from there had been taken by him, and he
had destroyed all the French, and the rest who had come with the fleet,
because they were badly governed; and then, passing thence to where the
dead bodies of the Frenchmen whom he had killed still lay unburied,
pointed them out to him and said, therefore he could not permit them to
pass the river to their fort.
"The sergeant, with an unmoved countenance, and without any appearance
of uneasiness on account of what the Adelantado had said, replied, that
if he would have the goodness to send a gentleman of his party, to say
to the French general, that they might negotiate with safety, the people
were much exhausted, and the general would come over in a boat which was
there. The Adelantado replied, 'Farewell, comrade, and bear the answer
which they shall give you; and if your general desires to come and treat
with me, I give my word that he shall come and return securely, with
four or six of his people whom he may select for his advisors, that he
may do whatever he may conclude to be best.'
"The French gentleman then departed with this message. Within half an
hour he returned to accept the assurance the Adelantado had given, and
to obtain the boat; which the Adelantado was unwilling to let him have,
but said he could use the canoe, which was safe, and the strait was
narrow; and he again went back with this message.
"Immediately Jean Ribault came over, whom the Adelantado received very
well, with other eight gentleman, who had come with him. They were all
gentlemen of rank and position. He gave them a collation, and would have
given them food if they had desired. Jean Ribault with much humility,
thanked him for his kind reception, and said that to raise their
spirits, much depressed by the sad news of the death of their comrades,
they would partake only of the wine and condiments, and did not wish
anything else to eat. Then after eating, Jean Ribault said, 'that he saw
that those his companions were dead, and that he could not be mistaken
if he desired to be.' Then the Adelantado directed the soldiers to bring
each one whatever he had taken from the fort; and he saw so many things
that he knew for certain that it was taken: although he knew this
before, yet he could not wholly believe it, because among his men there
was a Frenchman by name of Barbero, of those whom the Adelantado had
ordered to be destroyed with the rest, and was left for dead with the
others, having with the first thrust he received fallen down and made as
though he were dead, and when they left there he had passed over by
swimming, to Ribault; and this Barbero held it for certain that the
Adelantado had deceived them in saying that the fort was taken, it not
being so; and thus until now he had supposed. The Adelantado said that
in order with more certainty to believe this and satisfy himself, he
might converse apart with the two Frenchmen who were present, to satisfy
him better; which he did.
"Immediately Jean Ribault came towards the Adelantado and said, 'it was
certain that all which he had told him was true; but that what had
happened to him, might have happened to the Adelantado; and since their
kings were brothers, and such great friends, the Adelantado should act
towards him as a friend, and give him ships and provisions, that he
might return to France.'
"The Adelantado replied in the same manner that he had done to the other
Frenchmen, as to what he would do; and that taking it or leaving it,
Jean Ribault could obtain nothing further from the Adelantado. Jean
Ribault then said that he would go and give an account of matters to
his people, for he had among them many of noble blood; and would return
or send an answer as to what he would do.
"Three hours afterwards, Jean Ribault returned in the canoe, and said,
'that there were different opinions among his people; that while some
were willing to yield themselves to his clemency, others were not.' The
Adelantado replied 'that it mattered but little to him whether they all
came, or a part, or none at all; that they should do as it pleased them,
and he would act with the same liberty.' Jean Ribault said to him, 'that
the half of the people who were willing to yield themselves to his
clemency, would pay him a ransom of more than 100,000 ducats; and the
other half were able to pay more, for there were among them persons of
wealth and large incomes, who had desired to establish estates in this
country.' The Adelantado answered him, 'It would grieve me much to lose
so great and rich a ransom, under the necessity I am under for such aid,
to carry forward the conquest and settlement of this land, in the name
of my king, as is my duty, and to plant here the Holy Evangel.' Jean
Ribault considered from this, that with the amount they could all give,
he might be induced to spare his own life and that of all the others who
were with him, and that they might be able to pay more than 200,000
ducats; and he said to the Adelantado, 'that he would return with his
answer to his people; that as it was late, he would take it as a favor
if he would be willing to wait until the following day, when, he would
bring their reply as to what they would conclude to do.' The Adelantado
said, 'Yes, that he would wait.' Jean Ribault then went back to his
people, it being already sunset. In the morning, he returned with the
canoe, and surrendered to the Adelantado two royal standards--the one
that of the king of France, the other that of the Admiral
(Coligny),--and the standards of the company, and a sword, dagger, and
helmet, gilded very beautifully; and also a shield, a pistol, and a
commission given him under the high admiral of France, to assure to him
his title and possessions.
"He then said to him, 'that but one hundred and fifty of the three
hundred and fifty whom he had with him were willing to yield to his
clemency, and that the others had withdrawn during the night; and that
they might take the boat and bring those who were willing to come over,
and their arms.' The Adelantado immediately directed the captain, Diego
Flores Valdes, Admiral of the fleet, that he should bring them over as
he had done the others, ten by ten; and the Adelantado, taking Jean
Ribault behind the sand hills, among the bushes where the others had
their hands tied behind them, he said to these and all the others as he
had done before, that they had four leagues to go after night, and that
he could not permit them to go unbound; and after they were all tied, he
asked if they were Catholics or Lutherans, or if any of them desired to
make confession.
"Jean Ribault replied, 'that all who were there were of the new
religion,' and he then began to repeat the psalm, '_Domine! Memento!
Mei_;' and having finished, he said, 'that from dust they came and to
dust they must return, and that in twenty years, more or less, he must
render his final account; that the Adelantado might do with them as he
chose.' The Adelantado then ordered all to be killed, in the same order
and at the same mark, as had been done to the others. He spared only the
fifers, drummers, and trumpeters, and four others who said that they
were Catholics, in all, sixteen persons." "_Todos los demas fueron
degallados_,"--"all the rest were slaughtered," is the sententious
summary lay which Padre de Solis announced the close of the sad career
of the gray-haired veteran, the brave soldier, the Admiral Jean Ribault,
and his companions.[12]
At some point on the thickly-wooded shores of the Island of Anastasio,
or beneath the shifting mounds of sand which mark its shores, may still
lie the bones of some of the three hundred and fifty who, spared from
destruction by the tempest, and escaping the perils of the sea and of
the savage, fell victims to the vindictive rancor and blind rage of one
than whom history recalls none more cruel, or less humane. But while
their bones, scattered on earth and sea, unhonored and unburied, were
lost to human sight, the tale of their destruction and sad fate,
scattered in like manner over the whole world, has raised to their
memory through sympathy with their fate, a memorial which will endure as
long as the pages of history.
The Adelantado returned that night to St. Augustine, where, says his
apologist, some persons censured him for his cruelty. Others commended
what he had done, as the act of a good general, and said that even if
they had been Catholics, he could not have done more justly than he had
done for them; for with the few provisions that the Adelantado had,
either the one or the other people would have had to perish with hunger,
and the French would have destroyed our people: they were the most
numerous.[13]
We have still to trace the fate of the body of two hundred, who retired
from Ribault after his final determination to surrender to the tender
mercies of Menendez. As we are already aware, it comprised the elite of
his force, men of standing and rank, and whose spirits had retained
energy to combat against the natural discouragements of their position;
and they adopted the nobler resolve of selling their lives, at least
with their swords in their hands.
De Solis proceeds to give the following further account of them:--
"Twenty days subsequently to the destruction of these, some Indians came
to the Adelantado, and informed him by signs, that eight days' journey
from here to the southward, near the Bahama Channel, at Canaveral, a
large number of people, brethren of those whom the General had caused to
be killed, were building a fort and a vessel. The Adelantado at once
came to the conclusion, that the French had retired to the place where
their vessels were wrecked, and where their artillery and munitions, and
provisions were, in order to build a vessel and return to France to
procure succor. The General thereupon dispatched from St. Augustine to
St. Matteo, ten of his soldiers, conveying intelligence of what had
taken place, and directing that they should send to him one hundred and
fifty of the soldiers there, with the thirty-five others who remained
when he returned to St. Augustine, after taking the fort. The master of
the camp immediately dispatched them, under command of Captains Juan
Velez de Medrano and Andrez Lopez Patrio; and they arrived at St.
Augustine on October 23d. On the 25th, after having heard mass, the
Adelantado departed for the coast, with three hundred men, and three
small vessels to go by sea with the arms and provisions; and the vessels
were to go along and progress equally with the troops; and each night
when the troops halted, the vessels also anchored by them, for it was a
clear and sandy coast.
"The Adelantado carried in the three vessels provisions for forty days
for three hundred men, and one day's ration was to last for two days;
and he promised to do everything for the general good of all, although
they might have to undergo many dangers and privations; that he had
great hope that he would have the goodness and mercy of God to aid him
in carrying through safely this so holy and pious an undertaking. He
then took leave of them, leaving most of them in tears, for he was much
loved, feared, and respected by all.[14]
"The Adelantado, after a wearisome journey, marching on foot himself the
whole distance, arrived in the neighborhood of the French camp on All
Saints Day, at daylight, guided by the Indians by land, and the three
vessels under the command of Captain Diego de Maya. As soon as the
French descried the Spaniards, they fled to their fort, without any
remaining. The Adelantado sent them a trumpeter, offering them their
lives, that they should return and should receive the same treatment as
the Spaniards. One hundred and fifty came to the Adelantado; and their
leader, with twenty others, sent to say that they would sooner be
devoured by the Indians, than surrender themselves to the Spaniards. The
Adelantado received those who surrendered, very well, and having set
fire to the fort, which was of wood, burned the vessel which they were
building, and buried the artillery, for the vessels could not carry
them."
De Solis here closes his account of the matter; but from other accounts
we learn that the Adelantado kept his faith on this occasion with them,
and that some entered his service, some were converted to his faith, and
others returned to France; and thus ended the Huguenot attempt to
colonize the shores of Florida.
There are several other accounts of the fate of Ribault and his
followers, drawn from the narratives of survivors of the expedition,
which, without varying the general order of events, fill in sundry
details of the massacres. The main point of difference is, as to the
pledges or assurances given by Menendez. The French accounts say that he
pledged his faith to them that their lives should be spared.[15] It will
be seen that the Spanish account denies that he did so, but makes him
use language subject to misconstruction, and calculated to deceive them
into the hope and expectation of safety. I do not see that in a
Christian or even moral view there is much difference between an open
breach of faith and the breach of an implied faith, particularly when it
was only by this deception that the surrender could have been
accomplished. Nor could Menendez have had a very delicate sense of the
value of the word of a soldier, a Christian, and a gentleman, when, as
his apologist admits, he did directly use the language of falsehood, to
induce them to submit to the degradation of having their hands tied.
Nor, considered in its broader aspects is it a matter of any consequence
whether he gave his word or no; nor does it lessen the enormity of his
conduct, had they submitted themselves in the most unreserved manner to
his discretion. France and Spain were at peace; no act of hostility had
been committed by the French toward the Spaniards; and Ribault asked
only to be allowed to pass on. In violation alike of the laws of war and
the law of humanity, he first induced them to surrender, to abide what
God, whose holy name he invoked, should put into his heart to do, and
then cajoling them into allowing their hands to be tied, he ordered them
to be killed, in their bonds as they stood, defenseless, helpless,
wrecked, and famished men. It would have been a base blot upon human
nature, had he thus served the most savage tribe of nations, standing on
that far shore, brought into the common sympathy of want and suffering.
The act seems one of monstrous atrocity, when committed against the
people of a sister nation.