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Shipwreck and Massacre of Ribaut and his Followers. Ribaut's unfortunate vessels, which had encountered the gale the night after leaving port, were driven down the coast at the mercy of the storm, which increased in violence, and, after ineffectual efforts to keep out to sea, they were driven ashore between Matanzas and Mosquito Inlet. Such is the character of the shelvy beach on the eastern coast of Florida that but little danger to life attends a shipwreck there. The low and sandy shore is devoid of rocks, and vessels are oft times driven high upon the land, and, at the fall of the tide, one may pass almost dry-shod from the stranded ship. But one person was lost from Ribaut' s vessels, a Captain La Grange, who had opposed the expedition, and only at the last moment consented to share the perils of which he was the first victim. Of the occurrence of this fatal expedition of Ribaut we have no account from his own party, except that given by Le Moyne, as having been related to him by a sailor, a native of Dieppe, who escaped the massacre, having been left for dead. There are two detailed Spanish accounts extant, emanating from chaplains attached to Menendez's colony. The information of the disaster that had befallen Ribaut's vessels was brought to St. Augustine by the Indians, who gave Menendez to understand, by signs, that a large number of persons were at an inlet, four leagues distant, which they were unable to cross. Menendez at once set out with a party of his men, and, arriving the same evening at Matanzas Inlet, he saw in the morning, on the opposite side of the inlet, quite a number of men with standards, one of whom swam across to Menendez and told him they were a portion of the French forces under Ribaut, whose vessels had all been wrecked, twenty leagues distant from each other, along the coast below. The first question of Menendez was, "Are they Catholics or Lutherans?" The reply was, " They are all of the New Sect," a fact known, of course, to Menendez; but the question was intended to justify the course he intended to pursue towards them. He allowed the man to return to his comrades, with a guarantee of protection for his captain and four or five of his followers, should they choose to cross over. The captain and four men came across, and held an interview with Menendez. The Spanish chaplain, De Solis, gives a minute account of the conversation, and says that the French captain informed Menendez that he was the commander of one of the vessels which had been wrecked ; that he desired a boat to cross this river and one four leagues farther on, at St. Augustine, in order to reach the fort, twenty leagues beyond. To this Menendez replied at length, informing him of the capture of Fort Caroline and the slaughter of the garrison. The captain then desired to be furnished with a pilot and vessels to carry them to France, as there was no war existing between their respective sovereigns, who were friends and brothers. Menendez thereupon replied that this was true, and as Catholics or friends he would favor them, and feel that he was serving both kings in doing so ; but as for those of the new sect, he considered them enemies, and would wage war upon them with fire and sword, and this he intended to do to all such as should come into those seas or countries where he governed as viceroy and captain-general for his sovereign; that he had come to plant the Holy Evangelist in this land, in order that the savages might be enlightened and brought to the knowledge of the Holy Catholic Faith of Christ our Lord, as declared by the Roman Church ("la Iglesia Romana''), and that if they desired to surrender their standards and arms, and yield themselves to his mercy, they could do so, ''in order that he might do to them what should be directed him by the grace of God." (1) This is the precise language attributed to Menendez by De Solis; and as in the course of his narrative he refers to charges of cruelty made at the time, and as he was writing an apology for the acts of his brother-in-law, it is not to be doubted that he would give such a statement of the transactions as would be most favorable to Menendez. The language attributed to Menendez by De Solis was certainly evasive, and by his allusion to their trusting to his mercy, and his intention of following divine guidance, the French were naturally deceived, as it seems very evident he intended they should be, into yielding themselves as prisoners into his hands. The French captain returned to his men, and reported the result of his conference with the Spanish leader. Among Ribaut's men were many of wealth and noble birth, who were willing to pay as much as fifty thousand ducats as a ransom for their lives; and the offer was made to Menendez, but he refused, in an evasive manner, to accept it. The French finally agreed to surrender their standards and all their arms, and cast themselves upon the clemency of Menendez. They were brought over ten at a time, and when the first party reached the shore, Menendez said to them, "As I have but a few men, and you are numerous, it will be easy for you to revenge yourselves upon us for the destruction of your fort and people : it is necessary, therefore, that you should march, with your hands tied behind you, four leagues from here, to my camp." To this the French assented, and they were marched behind a clump of trees, where they could not be seen by their comrades, and their hands were strongly secured behind them; the same course being pursued with each succeeding party that came over, to the number, it is said, of two hundred and eight persons. Upon being questioned, eight of their number declared themselves to be Catholics, and were sent in a boat to St. Augustine; the others were ordered to march in that direction by land, probably along the beach of Anastasia Island; and orders were given by Menendez to the officers in charge of them, that when they reached a designated spot in the path, the prisoners should be killed. (2) The order was carried out, and Menendez and his men returned to St. Augustine the same night. The next day Menendez was informed by the same Indians who had brought the first report that a much larger party of Christians were at the same place. Menendez supposed that this must be Ribaut himself, and, taking one hundred and fifty soldiers with him, marched to the spot, where he saw, on the opposite bank, a considerable force, with standards displayed, who had constructed a raft for the purpose of crossing, but found much difficulty in managing it on account of the strength of the tide. One of the party had been allowed to swim over and obtain a boat, in which the sergeant-major crossed. Menendez informed this officer that he had destroyed the French fort and all its garrison, as well as a portion of those who had been shipwrecked, and caused the bodies of those slain on the previous day to be pointed out to him. He directed the sergeant-major to guarantee Ribaut safe conduct, if he chose to come over and confer with him. Ribaut accordingly crossed with eight of his officers, held a long conference with the Spanish general, and was handsomely entertained by him. Menendez repeated to Ribaut the story of the capture of Fort Caroline, and he was allowed to converse with one of the garrison who accompanied Menendez. He, too, was shown the bodies of his cruelly murdered men. To Ribaut' s offer of a very large amount for the ransom of himself and party, Menendez turned a deaf ear, and would give no assurance as to the treatment he would receive. Ribaut returned to consult with his officers and men, and the next morning they gave themselves up as prisoners, to the number of one hundred and fifty, with all their arms, standards, etc. Two hundred of his party refused to surrender, and withdrew during the night. Ribaut and his comrades were carried across in parties of ten, as upon the former occasion, and the same pretense was urged to induce them to have their hands tied behind them. Ribaut himself, with the philosophy of a stoic and the firmness of a Christian, when he saw the fate that awaited him, began to sing the psalm Domine, memento mei, and, that finished, he said, ''From earth we came, and to the earth we must return; that twenty years of life, more or less, did not matter, and the Adelantado might do unto them what he wished." One would suppose that the noble. Christian, and serene deportment of Ribaut would have touched the chivalry of Menendez' s nature, and that the spectacle of a gentleman, his equal in rank, reduced by shipwreck to suffering and helplessness, appealing to his generosity for aid and to his humanity for life, helpless, powerless, and prostrate, would have called forth some spark of sympathy from a heart yet sore under the loss of a son whom he believed to have been cast, like Ribaiit, upon a savage coast, and who doubtless, like him, was bound by the chains of his enemies. But, alas! Menendez's was a nature full of deadly hatred, and it was now roused almost to a frenzy towards the unfortunate Frenchman. His apologist closes the drama with these words : E' mandando el Adelantado los matasen (and the Adelantado directed them to be killed). The entire number, one hundred and fifty, were massacred at the same spot and in the same manner as their comrades who had gone before them. The account given by the Dieppe sailor of the death of Ribaut is somewhat different. He says that, after the shipwreck, Ribaut sent a boat to the river May, and upon its arrival they discovered the Spanish flag floating over Fort Caroline. The messenger immediately returned and informed Ribaut, who was overwhelmed with distress at the intelligence, and sent a second time, directing his messenger to communicate with the Spaniards and find out what had become of the French garrison. Meeting some Spaniards, they were informed by them that the Spanish general, a most humane man, had sent all of the French garrison in a large vessel to France, well provisioned and equipped, and that he would treat Ribaut and his followers with like humanity. Upon this intelligence, Ribaut himself, distrustful of the Spanish clemency, called a council of his officers. Being on the verge of starvation, and hopeless of relief from any quarter, a majority were in favor of yielding themselves up to Menendez, and an envoy, one La Caille, was sent to obtain terms. He was taken before the Spanish commander, who pledged his faith by the most solemn assurances, by religious invocations and sacred oaths in the presence of his followers, and promised, without fraud, faithfully, and as a true man, that he would spare the lives of Ribaut and of all his people. La Caille returned with these assurances, which some received with great joy, while to others they carried but little hope. Yet all consented, in their desperation, to surrender, and came to the river, which was near the fort. Ribaut and Ottigny alone were taken into the fort. Here appearances soon indicated the fate that awaited them. Ribaut demanded an audience with Menendez, and Ottigny indignantly required a pledge of safety. To Ribaut no reply was given, and Ottigny received only contemptuous laughter. Ribaut again demanded to see Menendez, when a soldier asked him if he was not Ribaut, the French commander. He replied, ''Yes." Then said the soldier, "When you issue orders to your men, do you not expect obedience?" "Certainly," replied Ribaut. "Thus," said the soldier, "do I desire to obey my commander. I have been directed to kill you." And thereupon he plunged his dagger to the heart of Ribaut, and immediately after Ottigny fell by the same hand. The rest were killed outside the fort, three musicians alone being spared.* The author of this account, whose name is not given by Le Moyne, was left for dead, but his wounds were not mortal, and he escaped during the night to the Indians, with whom he remained some months, but was finally given up to Menendez, who was doubtless not aware of his having belonged to Ribaut' s party, and sent him to Havana, and thence to Spain; but on this voyage he was released by a French vessel, and so reached France. (3) Other accounts, contemporaneous with the event, say that Ribaut was quartered and his dissevered body placed on the four angles of the fort, and that his beard was sent as a trophy to Spain - a statement indignantly denied by Spanish authorities. Besides this account, we find in De Bry a statement given in a supplicatory letter addressed to Charles IX., offered in the name of the widows, orphans, and relatives of those who were slaughtered by the Spaniards in this expedition."(4) This letter states that Menendez gave them his faith that if they would surrender they should receive no injury, but would be forwarded with vessels and provisions to enable them to return to France, but that they were tied, and led after the manner of brute beasts to the castle, where they were received with taunts and jeering mockery by the Spanish soldiers, subjected to abuse and insults, and then most cruelly massacred; that Ribaut, after being forced to witness the slaughter of his men, vainly appealing to the faith of Menendez, was struck down from behind, his body treated with the grossest indignity, his beard cut off and sent as a trophy to Spain, and his head quartered and stuck upon spears in the area of the fort. This letter, bearing date 1565, the same year in which the destruction of the Huguenot colony occurred, shows at least what were the accredited reports received in France. But these statements are denied by Spanish writers, whose representations of the course of Menendez, his pledges to Ribaut, and treatment of his body after he had been killed, are so utterly at variance that the historian has no means of deciding upon facts, and can only state the probabilities of the case, which on this point lean in favor of the Spaniards, divesting Menendez' s conduct of none of its enormity, but relieving the tragedy of some of the horrors with which the French records surround it. The atrocity of the deed struck all Europe with horror, even in that day; and the shocking story has been perpetuated over three hundred years, giving the name of Menendez a stain of infamy which time cannot wipe out. Of those who accompanied Ribaut, two hundred refused to surrender, and, withdrawing to the southward, made preparations to construct vessels with which they might leave the coast. Some twenty days afterwards a party of Indians came in, and informed Menendez that at a distance of eight days' journey southward, near Canaveral, the French were building a fort and a ship. Menendez, after getting part of the garrison from San Mateo, sent vessels by sea, and marched himself by land with three hundred men, to attack the French, who, on the approach of the Spaniards, fled to the woods. A messenger was sent out, offering them protection, and telling them that they should have the same treatment as Spaniards if they would come in. One hundred and fifty surrendered, and, it is said, received kind treatment. Twenty others sent word that they would rather be devoured by the Indians than surrender to the Spaniards."(5) The fort was destroyed, the vessel burnt, and the cannon spiked. A small garrison was left at a fort the Spaniards built and called St. Lucia. The names of Canaveral and St. Lucia are still found on the eastern coast of Florida. The Spanish forces returned to St. Augustine accompanied by their French prisoners, who were incorporated into the colony. Some of them eventually returned to France; others remained, renouncing their faith and accepting that of their captors. Let us now return to Laudonniere and the few survivors of the massacre at Fort Caroline. There were two small vessels remaining to the French, at the mouth of the river, and some eighteen or twenty of the fugitives, with Laudonniere, were received on board. On the 25th of September, these two vessels put out to sea, one commanded by Laudonniere, the other by Jean Ribaut, the son of the admiral. After a long voyage, and much suffering, Laudonniere arrived on the coast of Wales about the middle of November. He here left his vessel, and returned to France, where he was badly received by the court, and died in obscurity. The other vessel, under Captain Ribaut, had proceeded prosperously some five hundred leagues, when they fell in with a Spanish vessel, with which they had a severe encounter. The French claim the victory, having lost but one man, their cook; but they were unable to secure their prize. Pursuing their voyage, they reached Rochelle, where they were most kindly received and entertained. Thus ended the efforts of the, French to establish a colony on the southern coast of America. The Lilies of France had been trampled in the dust, and the flag of Spain waved over St. Augustine, San Mateo, and San Lucia. (6) The destruction of the Huguenots excited the utmost gratification at the court of Spain; and the conduct of Menendez was approved and commended by his Catholic Majesty, the bigoted Philip 11., (7) and even drew forth a letter of gratitude from the pontiff, Pius V. (8) The French court seem to have received the news of the destruction of their colony and the atrocious massacre of their countrymen with perfect indifference. This is believed to have arisen from the religious animosities that existed at that period, and which destroyed all sympathy between those of different faith. The sufferings of the Huguenots excited no pity in the hearts of the opposite party, to which the court of Charles IX. belonged. This must have excited great indignation among the people, and particularly among the Huguenots. The narratives of the survivors were published, and the widows and orphans of the slain sent up a memorial to the king, calling upon him for a speedy revenge upon the Spaniards for the acts of Menendez; but his Majesty made no response, and it was left to private individuals to resent the indignities to the flag and honor of France, and to avenge the wrongs of her people.
(1) " Para que il haga de ellos lo que Dios le diere de gracia." - Ensayo Cronologho, p. 86. (2) Barcia, Ensayo Cronologico. (3) De Bry, Brevis Narratio - Secunda Pars, Florida, p. 29. This sailor and another, named Pompierre, mentioned in Ensayo Cronologico, p. 135. (4) Brevis Narratio, Epis. Supp. (5) The subsequent history of these twenty is unknown. Those who desire to follow in the path of their probable adventures will find in "The Lily and the Totem" an interesting story, of which D'Erlach and his companions are the heroes. (6) Laudonniere, after his return to France, wrote an account of the attempted settlement by the French, under the title of "L'Histoire des trois Voyages des Francois en la Floride," which was published in the year 1586, by M. Basanier, to which was added a relation of a fourth voyage, by De Gourgues. (7) "0f the great success that has attended your enterprise we have the most entire satisfaction ; and as to the retribution you have visited upon the Lutheran pirates who sought to occupy the country, and to fortify themselves there in order to disseminate in it their wicked creed, and to prosecute there those wrongs and robberies which they have done, and were doing, against God's service and my own, we believe that you did it with every justification and propriety, and we consider ourselves to have been well served in your so doing." - Ensayo Cronologico, p. 115. (8) Letter of St. Pius V. to Pedro Menendez. " To our beloved son and nobleman, Pedro Menendez Aviles, Viceroy in the Province of Florida, in the Indies: Beloved son and nobleman, Grace and Benediction of our Lord be with you, Amen. - We greatly rejoice that our much-beloved, dear son in Christ, Philip, the most Catholic King, had appointed and honored you by the government of Florida, making you Adelantado of the country ; for we had received such accounts of your person, and the excellencies of your virtues, your worth and dignity were so satisfactorily spoken of, that we believed, without doubt, that you would not only fulfill faithfully, and with care and diligence, the orders and instructions which had been delivered to you by so catholic a king; but we also fully trusted that you would with discretion do all that was requisite, and see carried forward the extension of our Holy Catholic Faith, and the gaining of souls for God. I would that you should well understand that the Indians should be governed in good faith and prudently, that those who may be weak in the faith, being newly converted, be strengthened and confirmed ; and the idolaters may be converted and receive the faith of Christ, that the first may praise God, knowing the benefits of his divine mercy, and the others who are yet infidels, by the example and imitation of those who are already freed from blindness, may be led to the knowledge of the Faith. But there is no one thing that is more important for the conversion of the Indian idolaters, than to endeavor by every means that they shall not be scandalized by the vices and bad habits of those who pass from our Western shores to those parts. This is the key of this holy enterprise, in which are included all things requisite. Well understand, most noble man, that I declare to you that a great opportunity is offered to you in the carrying out and management of these matters, which shall redound on the one hand to the service of God, and on the other to the increase of the dignity of your king, esteemed of men, as well as loved and rewarded by God. Wherefore, we give you our Paternal and Apostolic Benediction, We seek and charge you to give entire faith to our brother, the Archbishop of Rossini, who in our name will signify our wishes in more ample words. "Given in Rome, at St. Peter's, with the ring of the Fisherman,
the 1st of August, 1569; the 3d year of our Pontificate." Table of Contents |
