CHAPTER I
Settlement
It all began at a little bay on the east coast of Florida during September of 1565. Two large galleons rode at anchor outside the harbor entrance, while three smaller craft with sails furled and pennants flying from each masthead were moored within. The ships were a part of the fleet of Don Pedro Menéndez. They brought an expedition from Spain to establish settlements in Florida and drive out the French Huguenots, who had a fort near the mouth of the St. Johns River in this Spanish-claimed territory. The French colony, named Fort Caroline, lay only some thirty-five miles up the coast from the point where the Spanish ships were anchored. There on this very same day Jean Ribault, who had just arrived from France with reinforcements, was preparing to attack the Spaniards before they could finish landing and fortify their position.
During the late forenoon, Menéndez and a group of his officers transferred from the larger of the two galleons offshore to a smaller boat alongside. Aided by a strong incoming tide, the boat entered the inlet and advanced across the bay toward the mainland, heading for a little creek that wound among the marshes to higher ground. As it neared this point, the roar of cannon and the blare of trumpets startled huge flocks of marsh birds into noisy flight.
On shore curious Indians looked out upon the scene with mingled fear and wonder. A Spanish detachment, which previously had disembarked, was drawn up along the bank to greet the landing party. From their ranks a robe-clad priest emerged holding aloft a cross and singing in a clear voice the Latin words of the Te Deum Laudamus.
“On Saturday, the 8th [of September],” relates the priest, Francisco López de Mendoza, Chaplain of the Spanish fleet, “the General landed with many banners spread, to the sound of trumpets and salutes of artillery. As I had gone ashore the evening before, I took the Cross and went to meet him, singing the hymn Te Deum Laudamus. The General, followed by all who accompanied him, marched up to the Cross, knelt and kissed it. A large number of Indians watched these proceedings and imitated all they saw done. The General then took formal possession of the country in the name of his Majesty, and all the captains took the oath of allegiance to him as their leader and Governor.”
Beneath the gnarled oaks festooned with moss the Spanish knelt before a rustic altar to celebrate the first parish Mass on Florida soil.
Menéndez had instructed his advance landing party to select a location suitable for an entrenchment and fort. For this purpose they had taken over the Indian village of Seloy and the “great house” of its cacique, which stood close to the river bank. Around it the Spaniards were hastily digging a trench and throwing up an embankment of earth. Some cannon were already mounted behind this breastwork. Menéndez was well pleased with what had been accomplished. After holding a council with his officers he returned to his ships to hasten the unloading of the rest of his company, artillery, and supplies before the French might descend upon them.
When he had first come upon this little bay and inlet, chosen for his base, he gave it the name St. Augustine in honor of the Saint’s day (August 28th), on which his ships first sighted the Florida coast.
The Spanish Treasure Fleets
At the time of St. Augustine’s founding Spain was the most powerful nation in Europe. Sailing under her banner, Christopher Columbus in 1492 had initiated the discovery of strange new lands across the sea. Other intrepid explorers followed—Spanish, French, English, Dutch, and Portuguese—searching for the coveted sea-route to the Indies. The vast extent and wealth of the New World began to unfold.