The Huguenots Occupy Florida
Admiral Gaspard Coligny, leader of the French Protestants, or Huguenots, dreamed of establishing colonies in the New World that might rival Spain’s in riches and importance. An attempted settlement in Brazil in 1555 was destroyed by the Portuguese. In 1562 he sent out a small expedition under an able Huguenot navigator, Jean Ribault. These Frenchmen, after exploring a portion of the north Florida and lower Carolina coast and setting up columns claiming the land for France, built a small fort near Port Royal, South Carolina, which was soon abandoned by the small garrison left there.
During the next two years fighting broke out in France between the Catholics and Huguenots, preventing further colonizing activity. When peace was restored Coligny sent out a second and larger expedition in 1564, consisting of three vessels, under René de Laudonnière, who had accompanied Ribault on the first voyage. These colonists chose as a site for their settlement a point near the mouth of the St. Johns River in present-day Florida. There they built a fort, named Fort Caroline in honor of their boy king, Charles IX.
René de Laudonnière.
After searching the area in vain for evidences of gold and silver, the Frenchmen ran short of provisions and were forced to subsist mainly on food bartered or seized from the Indians. Meanwhile, some of their number mutinied and sailed away to attack Spanish shipping in the Caribbean. The rest were on the point of returning to France when Sir John Hawkins, an English freebooter, happened by and sold them one of his ships and needed supplies. They were again about to embark for France, when sails appeared off the river’s mouth. They were the ships of Jean Ribault bringing strong reinforcements.
Admiral Gaspard de Coligny.
When Philip II of Spain and his advisors learned of these French Huguenot activities in Florida, they were greatly alarmed. The French fort, if allowed to remain so close to the route of the treasure fleets, would constantly expose them to attack. Manrique de Rojas was dispatched from Cuba to investigate. During May of 1564 he sailed up the Florida coast looking for signs of a French settlement, but found only one of the columns left by Ribault, the abandoned fort and a French boy at Port Royal. Laudonnière did not arrive on the coast until late June of that year.
