Q: The last we heard of the French settlement in Florida was when Sir John Hawkins returned from his latest West Indian voyage in 1565. He told us that your group was poorly off, hungry and mutinous, but that he refreshed your food coffers and left a ship behind for your use. I’m so glad that Sir John was able to help out fellow Protestant adventurers. But tell us, what brings you back to Europe? Readers have been anxiously awaiting further news of this story.
Jacques Le Moyne: Well, it is sad news indeed that I bear. Our colony is lost.
Jacques Le Moyne: Well, it is sad news indeed that I bear. Our colony is lost.
Q: Oh, no! These are terrible tidings! What happened?
JLM: Well, our tale of woe began even before Hawkins sailed away. We had been left alone for months, and the Indians began to refuse us food, robbing us blind when we tried to barter with the little we still had—axes, knives, mirrors and combs were all they would take in exchange for a small supply of corn and beans. Everyone was sick to death of having to struggle every day just to survive. Some men deserted, and others mutinied. They even imprisoned capitaine Laudonnière in his own fort! When we spotted Sir John’s ships, everyone rejoiced. Finally, we had food, supplies, and a well-built ship at our disposal. The decision was almost unanimous after he made sail for England—we, too, would sail back for France. This was not what we had bargained for.
JLM: Well, our tale of woe began even before Hawkins sailed away. We had been left alone for months, and the Indians began to refuse us food, robbing us blind when we tried to barter with the little we still had—axes, knives, mirrors and combs were all they would take in exchange for a small supply of corn and beans. Everyone was sick to death of having to struggle every day just to survive. Some men deserted, and others mutinied. They even imprisoned capitaine Laudonnière in his own fort! When we spotted Sir John’s ships, everyone rejoiced. Finally, we had food, supplies, and a well-built ship at our disposal. The decision was almost unanimous after he made sail for England—we, too, would sail back for France. This was not what we had bargained for.
Q: I can’t imagine the hardship! But did you intend to leave for good?
JLM: No, we had captured some Indian youths, and were planning to bring them back to France with us so they might help us communicate and make stronger alliances with the Timucuan chieftains once we returned. But capitaine Ribault returned with his fleet by the end of the month, and we were once again happy to stay in a land where even if we had to struggle to survive, we were sheltered from the ugliness of war with our Catholic countrymen. But Ribault’s return meant that we suffered a fate worse than death at sea. Our settlement was snatched from us by our old Spanish rivals, our men massacred in a cruel attack led by Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Aviles, the same man who destroyed Charlesfort in the Carolina land (praise God they escaped with their lives).
JLM: No, we had captured some Indian youths, and were planning to bring them back to France with us so they might help us communicate and make stronger alliances with the Timucuan chieftains once we returned. But capitaine Ribault returned with his fleet by the end of the month, and we were once again happy to stay in a land where even if we had to struggle to survive, we were sheltered from the ugliness of war with our Catholic countrymen. But Ribault’s return meant that we suffered a fate worse than death at sea. Our settlement was snatched from us by our old Spanish rivals, our men massacred in a cruel attack led by Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Aviles, the same man who destroyed Charlesfort in the Carolina land (praise God they escaped with their lives).
Q: I heard about those soldiers left behind at Charlesfort! Didn’t they wrestle with alligators crossing the river to find food with the Indians, and then abandon their posts and try to return to France in a rowboat? I heard they resorted to cannibalism during the trans-Atlantic voyage—is it true? JLM: Well, yes, but… ahem… let me tell you more about that butcher Menéndez. We heard from Ribault’s spies at court that the King of Spain had ordered Menéndez to sail with his guardacosta to Florida to wipe us out. So when we heard that he had set up camp with the Seloy Indians to the south, capitaine Ribault sailed down the coast with 600 of our bravest men, but they were shipwrecked by a great storm, and that evil man Menéndez marched with his men overland through the driving rain, raiding the fort at dawn. Only about 50 of us escaped—myself, capitaine Laudonnière, and some others—but more than 100 colonists were killed, and the women and children captured. To add to the outrage, when the half-starved hurricane survivors returned to the fort and surrendered, Menéndez ordered them executed (all except those who claimed to be Catholic)! He said that he had orders not to leave any heretic alive to challenge the Spanish King’s claim to those western lands.
Q: What despicable villainy! Those Spanish will be the lords of all of us if good Protestant princes cannot challenge them in these rich lands! What is your advice on how to repair the damage?
JLM: Well, thanks to God’s providence not all is lost—I still have my maps and my drawings, which will prove to anyone who can see that there is still much to be gained in America. The Indians told us of a land to the north flowing with gold, a mountainous region they call Apalatchi. I made a map to lead us there the next time, and a drawing of how they draw the gold from riverbeds. Would you like to see?
JLM: Well, thanks to God’s providence not all is lost—I still have my maps and my drawings, which will prove to anyone who can see that there is still much to be gained in America. The Indians told us of a land to the north flowing with gold, a mountainous region they call Apalatchi. I made a map to lead us there the next time, and a drawing of how they draw the gold from riverbeds. Would you like to see?
JLM: (continues) I have high hopes for our next voyage. We have already learned much from les savauges of Florida and are beginning to better learn their Timucua tongue—we have even made some friends among them. Capitaine Laudonnière became friends with one chief of the Saturina, and with Chief Outina, helping them to attack their arch-enemy the Potano Indians. Is this not the way that Cortés finally felled the great Montezuma, through friendship with his enemies? Perhaps we shall best the Spanish yet—it was the Utina who told us of the golden mountains of Apalatchi to the north.
Q: But can those savages, as you yourself call them, be trusted? We have heard many tales of their devil worship and barbaric customs.
JLM: You speak true—before their battles, as is custom, they consult with fearsome and ugly sorcerers, who twist and turn as if possessed by the Devil himself. Their customs are most fearsome, as they demonstrated to us by bashing in the heads of each Indian woman’s first-born child, as they say to be a sacrifice to their leader, who is revered as if a god. It's enough to make a Christian’s blood run cold.
Q: But can those savages, as you yourself call them, be trusted? We have heard many tales of their devil worship and barbaric customs.
JLM: You speak true—before their battles, as is custom, they consult with fearsome and ugly sorcerers, who twist and turn as if possessed by the Devil himself. Their customs are most fearsome, as they demonstrated to us by bashing in the heads of each Indian woman’s first-born child, as they say to be a sacrifice to their leader, who is revered as if a god. It's enough to make a Christian’s blood run cold.
Q: I would say. Is there any Christian who could survive among them?
JLM: Well, actually, there was one Frenchman who somehow managed to make his way into the Indian’s good graces, learning the language to a certain point, even marrying the daughter of a chief! This man, Pierre Gambiè, made a fortune trading with his new relatives. He was a scoundrel, I say, hardly a Christian. But they, too, saw that he was very greedy and one day his own guides killed him, probably stealing his trade goods for themselves.
But you know, now that I think about it, he was on to something. It’s not enough to sit in our forts and condemn the Indians—if we really want to profit from our colonies, more men would do well to follow Gambiè’s example and marry Indian women. It seems the only way to make our dreams of trade come to fruition. Perhaps then, too, we can begin to understand the inner workings of the Indian mind. I’ll suggest it to some of my friends, who are trying to gather support for an expedition to search for a passage to China, following some rivers to the north, far away from the reach of the Spanish fleets.
Q: Thank you for your time, and godspeed!
JLM: Well, actually, there was one Frenchman who somehow managed to make his way into the Indian’s good graces, learning the language to a certain point, even marrying the daughter of a chief! This man, Pierre Gambiè, made a fortune trading with his new relatives. He was a scoundrel, I say, hardly a Christian. But they, too, saw that he was very greedy and one day his own guides killed him, probably stealing his trade goods for themselves.
But you know, now that I think about it, he was on to something. It’s not enough to sit in our forts and condemn the Indians—if we really want to profit from our colonies, more men would do well to follow Gambiè’s example and marry Indian women. It seems the only way to make our dreams of trade come to fruition. Perhaps then, too, we can begin to understand the inner workings of the Indian mind. I’ll suggest it to some of my friends, who are trying to gather support for an expedition to search for a passage to China, following some rivers to the north, far away from the reach of the Spanish fleets. Q: Thank you for your time, and godspeed!
Sources:
- "Le Moyne Engravings." In Exploring Florida: A Social Studies Resource for Students and Teachers. Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida, 2001. http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/photos/native/lemoyne/lemoyne.htm>
- Milanich, Jerald T. Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1995. Pp. 143-63.
- Worth, John E. The Timucuan Chiefdoms of Spanish Florida. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1998. Available on Google Books, http://books.google.com/books?id=kpJXNqqceacC>
National Humanities Center. "American Beginnings, 1492-1690: Illustrating the New World II." Toolbox Library: Primary Resources in U.S. History and Literature, 2006. http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/exploration/text4/text4read.htm>
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