THE NOTABLE REVENGE OF DOMINIC DE GOURGUES--RETURN OF MENENDEZ--INDIAN
MISSION--1568.
While Menendez thus remained at the Spanish court urging the completion
of his business, seeking compensation for the great expenditures which
he had made in the king's service, and vindicating himself from the
accusations which had been preferred against him,--the revenge, the
distant murmurs of which had already reached his ears, fell upon the
Spaniards on the St. Johns.
Dominic de Gourgues, one of those soldiers of fortune who then abounded
throughout Europe, took upon himself the expression of the indignation
with which the French nation viewed the slaughter of their countrymen.
From motives of policy, or from feelings still less creditable, the
French court ignored the event; but it rankled nevertheless in the
national heart, and many a secret vow of revenge was breathed, the low
whispers of which reached even the confines of the Spanish court.
Conscience, and the knowledge that the sentiment of the age was against
him, made Menendez from the moment of his success exceedingly anxious
lest well-merited retribution should fall upon his own colony. He
guarded against it in every way in his power; he strengthened all his
posts; he erected for the protection of San Matteo, formerly Fort
Caroline, two small forts on either side of the entrance of the river,
at the points now known as Batten Island and Mayport Mills. He placed
large garrisons at each post, and had made such arrangements against
surprise or open attack upon his forts, that Father Mendoza boasted
that, "half of all France could not take them."
De Gourgues, with three vessels and about two hundred and fifty chosen
men, animated with like feelings with himself, appeared in April, 1568,
off the mouth of the St. Johns. The Spanish fort received his vessels
with a salute, supposing them to be under the flag of Spain. De Gourgues
returned the salute, thus confirming their error. He then entered the
St. Marys, called the Somme, and was met by a large concourse of
Indians, friendly to the French and bitterly hostile to the Spaniards,
at the head of whom was the stern and uncompromising Satouriara. Their
plans were quickly formed, and immediately carried into execution. Their
place of rendezvous was the Fort George Inlet, called by them the
Sarabay; and they traversed that island at low tide, fell suddenly upon
the fort at Batten Island on the north side of the river, completely
surprising it. The force occupying the Spanish forts amounted to four
hundred men, one hundred and twenty of whom occupied the two forts at
the mouth of the river, and the remainder Fort Caroline. The French with
their Indian allies approached the fort on the north side of the river
at day-break. Having waded the intervening marsh and creek, to the great
damage of their feet and legs by reason of the oyster banks, they
arrived within two hundred yards of the post, when they were discovered
by the sentinel upon the platform of the fort; who immediately cried,
"to arms," and discharged twice at the French a culverin which had been
taken at Fort Caroline. Before he could load it a third time the brave
Olatocara leaped upon him, and killed him with a pike. Gourgues then
charging in, the garrison, by this time alarmed, rushed out, armed
hastily and seeking escape; another part of Gourgues' force coming up,
inclosed the Spaniards between them, and all but fifteen of the garrison
perished on the spot; the others were taken prisoners, only to be
reserved for the summary vengeance which the French leader meditated.
The Spanish garrison in the other fort kept up in the mean time a brisk
cannonade, which incommoded the assailants, who however soon managed to
point the pieces of the fort they had taken; and under the cover of this
fire the French crossed to the other fort, their Indian allies in great
numbers swimming with them. The garrison of sixty men, panic-struck,
made no attempt at resistance, but fled, endeavoring to reach the main
fort; being intercepted by the Indians in one direction, and by the
French in another, but few made good their escape. These, arriving at
Fort Caroline, carried an exaggerated account of the number of their
assailants.
De Gourgues at once pushed forward to attack Fort Caroline, while its
defenders were terrified at the suddenness of his attack, and the
supposed strength of his force. Upon his arrival near the fort, the
Spanish commander sent out a detachment of sixty men, to make a
reconnoisance. De Gourgues skillfully interposed a body of his own men
with a large number of the Indians between the reconnoitering party and
the fort, and then with his main force charged upon them in front: when
the Spaniards, turning to seek the shelter of the fort, were met by the
force in their rear, and were all either killed or taken prisoners.
Seeing this misfortune, the Spanish commander despaired of being able to
hold the fortress, and determined to make a timely retreat to St.
Augustine. In attempting this, most of his followers fell into the hands
of the Indians, and were slain upon the spot; the commandant with a few
others alone escaped.
De Gourgues, now completely successful in making retaliation for the
fate of his countrymen on the same spot where they suffered, on the same
tree which had borne the bodies of the Huguenots caused his prisoners to
be suspended; and as Menendez had on the former occasion erected a
tablet that they had been punished "not as Frenchmen but as Lutherans,"
so De Gourgues in like manner erected an inscription that he had done
this to them "_not as to Spaniards, nor as to outcasts, but as to
traitors, thieves and murderers_."[20]
After inducing the Indians to destroy the forts, and to raze them to the
ground, he set sail for France, arriving safely without further
adventure.
His conduct was at the time disavowed and censured by the French court;
and the Spanish ambassador had the assurance, in the name of that master
who had publicly declared his approval of the conduct of Menendez, to
demand the surrender of De Gourgues to his vengeance. The brave captain,
however the crown might seem to disapprove, was secretly sustained and
protected by many distinguished persons official and private, and by the
mass of the people; to whom his boldness, spirit, and signal success
were grateful. Some years afterwards he was restored to the favor of his
sovereign, and appointed admiral of the fleet.
That De Gourgues deserves censure, cannot be denied; but there will
always exist an admiration for his courage and intrepid valor, with a
sympathy for the bitter provocations under which he acted, both personal
and national; a sympathy not shared with Menendez, who visited his wrath
upon the religious opinions of men, while De Gourgues was the
unauthorized avenger of undoubted crime and inhumanity. Both acted in
violation of the pure spirit of that Christianity which they alike
professed to revere, under the same form.
While these scenes were enacting on the St. Johns, Menendez was on his
way to his colonies, where he first heard of the descent of De Gourgues,
then on his way back to France. The Adelantado upon his arrival found
his troops hungry and naked, and their relations with the Indians worse
than ever. Having made such arrangements as were in his power, he
returned to Havana, to further his plans for introducing Christianity
among the Indians; to which, to his credit be it said, he devoted the
greater share of his time and attention. Father Rogel applied himself to
learning their language, with great success; and an institution was
established in Havana especially for their instruction. In the Ensayo
Cronologica, there is set forth in full, a rescript addressed by Pope
Pius V., to Menendez, conveying to him the acknowledgements of his
Holiness for the zeal and loyalty he had exhibited, and his labors in
carrying the faith to the Indians, and urging him strongly to see to it
that his Indian converts should not be scandalized by the vicious lives
of their white brethren who claimed to be Christians.
A small party of Spaniards, as has already been mentioned, accompanied
by a priest, De Quiros, had been left upon the Chesapeake, and under the
auspices of a young converted chief, who had been some time with the
Spaniards in Havana and Florida, anticipated a more easy access to the
Indian tribes in that region. Another priest, with ten associates, went
the following year; when, after they had sent away their vessel, they
discovered that their predecessor had been murdered, through the
treachery of the renegade apostate; and they themselves shortly fell
victims to his perfidy. Menendez dispatched a third vessel there; when
the fate of the two former parties was ascertained, and he went in
person to chastise the murderers; he succeeded in capturing six or
seven, who, it is said, (rather improbably I think), confessed
themselves to have been implicated in the massacre. Menendez, in his
summary and sailor-like way, ordered their execution at the yard-arm of
his vessel. The Cronicle says that they were first converted and
baptized, by the zeal of Father Rogel, before the sentence was carried
into execution. A long period elapsed before any further efforts were
made in this quarter to establish a colony; and it was then accomplished
by the English. In consequence of these temporary establishments,
however, the Spanish crown, for a long period, claimed the whole of the
intervening country, as lying within its Province of Florida.
The annals of the city during the remainder of the life of Menendez,
present only the usual vicissitudes of new settlements,--the
alternations of supply and want, occasional disaffections, and petty
annoyances.
Menendez was the recipient from his court of new honors from time to
time, and had been appointed the grand admiral of the Spanish Armada;
when, in September, 1574, he was suddenly carried off by a fever, at the
age of fifty-five. It is a singular coincidence that De Gourgues, five
years afterwards, was carried off in a similar manner, just after his
appointment as admiral of the French fleet. A splendid monument in the
church of San Nicolas, at Aviles, was erected to the memory of Menendez,
with the following inscription:
"HERE LIES BURIED THE ILLUSTRIOUS CAVALIER, PEDRO MENENDEZ DE
AVILES, A NATIVE OF THIS CITY, ADELANTADO OF THE PROVINCES 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 55TH YEAR OF HIS
AGE."