The History of Saint Augustine, Florida

by William W. Dewhurst

The vessel sent to France for supplies not having returned, the garrison were threatened with an exhaustion of their stores. During all this time the French seem to have made no effort to cultivate the ground, expecting either that they would be supplied from home or that the Indians would furnish all that was required for subsistence. Their store of presents having become exhausted, however, the Indians became very niggardly and exacting, and finally declared that they were unable to supply any sort of provisions. At this Laudonnère seized a chief of one of the tribes inhabiting the territory to the south, and demanded of the Indians a large amount of provisions as a ransom. This he did not succeed in securing, and only engendered in the Indians an unfriendly spirit, which prompted them later to give to Menendez information of the location and condition of the French forces. He finally obtained supplies from some of the tribes to the north, among which was one inhabiting the sea islands, whose ruler was a beautiful queen. Finding themselves in danger of starvation, the French set about constructing a vessel to return home. They were diligently pushing on the work of construction when there appeared off the coast an English fleet under the command of Sir John Hawkins, who put into May River for water. Laudonnère entertained the English with the best he had, even killing sheep and poultry that he had been saving to stock the country. This hospitality was reciprocated by Sir John, who, seeing their desperate condition, offered to transport the whole company to France. Though he pledged his word to land them on the shores of France before touching England, Laudonnère refused his offer, fearing, as he said, “least he should attempt somewhat in Florida in the name of his mistress.”

Sir John Hawkins, however, with a generous humanity, consented to sell to the French one of his vessels, and suffered them to assess its value. With the vessel the English admiral delivered to them a thousand rounds of ammunition, twenty barrels of flour, five barrels of beans, a hogshead of salt, with wax for candles, and, as he saw the Frenchmen were barefooted, fifty pairs of shoes. Having delivered these things to the French, Sir John sailed away bearing with him the blessings of these forsaken Frenchmen. Alas! their enjoyment of the fruits of the Englishman’s humanity was destined to be short-lived.

CHAPTER VII.

THE UNFORTUNATE EXPEDITION UNDER RIBAULT.—FOUNDING OF ST. AUGUSTINE BY MENENDEZ, 1565.—ATTACK UPON THE FRENCH SETTLEMENT ON THE ST. JOHNS RIVER.

The Huguenots in France had not forgotten their friends in Florida, though the dissensions at home had turned their attention away from all but the plottings and schemings about them. Desiring to succor and strengthen the colony, Coligni had secured a fleet of seven vessels, four being of considerable size. These he placed in command of Captain Ribault, who had taken out the first expedition. Ribault quickly recruited a company of six hundred and fifty persons, among whom were said to be many representatives of good families, about five hundred being soldiers.

The fleet sailed from Dieppe in May, 1565, and after a long but uneventful voyage reached Florida in safety.

By some means information had been sent to the Spanish Court that an expedition was fitting out for the succor of the Huguenot colony in Florida. It has been said that this knowledge emanated from those about the French sovereign, though it is by no means necessary that it must have come from such a source. The enemies of the Protestants were numerous and bitter all over France, and the recruiting and equipment of the expedition could have been no secret.

Philip II. determined not to allow any encroachment on the territory, which he claimed by the right of his subjects’ former expeditions of discovery and by gift from the Holy See. Not only was he unwilling to see Florida occupied by foreigners, but of all persons none were more objectionable than Protestants, upon whom he looked as upon those without the pale of Christianity, who only lived as enemies of God, to disseminate a wicked creed, and war upon His holy faith. The very instrument for the execution of the plans of this bigoted monarch seems to have been at hand. Don Pedro Menendez de Avilla, had acquired wealth and distinction as a naval officer. This knight was now desirous of the honor of driving the French from Florida. Menendez was of aristocratic birth, a man of great firmness of will and tenacity of purpose; a brave commander, with a superior sagacity and knowledge of human nature, and withal a most zealous and devoted Catholic. The name of Menendez has been held up to the world as the symbol of all that is malignant, heartless, and cruel. If we are to judge of men’s actions in the past by the motives that prompted them, as we are asked and expected to do in all things which happen in our own day, then by such a test the actions of Menendez must be less harshly considered. That he believed the rooting out of the Protestant colonization and their faith from the shores of the New World was God’s work, there can be no doubt. His devotion to the propagation of the Catholic religion in Florida, and the sacrifices which he made to extend and continue the teachings of that faith, prove beyond a doubt his sincerity and fervent zeal. His conciliatory measures toward the savages so entirely within his power, and his efforts to instruct the tribes all over Florida, which met with such marked success, will go far to prove that his nature was not wantonly cruel. The purpose of his expedition, the object for which he had enlisted nearly three thousand persons, transporting them into an unknown continent, and, as is said, investing of his own means nearly five million dollars, was to prevent the propagation of heretical doctrines on the shores of the New World. As Menendez expressed it, it was “to prevent the Lutherans from establishing their abominable and unreasonable sect among the Indians.” It should also be remembered that an edict of Ribault’s had been published when he undertook his expedition, “that no Catholic at the peril of his life should go in his fleet, nor any Catholic books be taken.”

Besides it is not improbable that the French prisoners, who were nearly all put to death by Menendez, were destroyed in the belief that by this course alone could his own position in his isolated location be made safe.

The little band with Laudonnère were waiting for fair winds to sail away from Florida in the ship they had purchased of the English when the fleet under Ribault arrived off the mouth of the river May, on the 29th of August, 1565. Four of the seven vessels were too large to enter the river, but the other three were brought up to the settlement, and at once began to land the supplies. Ribault now assumed the command, and all thought of departure was dismissed. This course was most acceptable to Laudonnère, who had only consented to abandon the plan of colonization from the force of his straitened circumstances and the demands of his company. He had declared that it made his heart grieve to leave “a place so pleasant that those who are melancholic would be forced to change their humor,” and to possess which they had given up home, and friends, and fortune, and undergone perils of land and water.