University of Virginia Library

22. XXI.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY.

The glowing accounts of the delights of the Floridian Eden
which were brought by our returning voyagers, were not sufficient
to persuade the garrison to forego their anxious desire to return
to France. The home-sickness under which they labored had
now reached such a height as to suffer no appeal or opposition.
Nothing but the stern decree of authority could have silenced
the discontents; and the authority lay neither in the will nor in
the numbers under the control of Laudonniere. To such a degree
of impatience had this passion for their European homes
arisen, that, when it was found that the building of the vessel for
their deportation would be delayed beyond the designated period, in
consequence of the death, in battle with the savages, of two of the
carpenters, the multitude rose in mutiny setting upon Jean de
Hais, the master-carpenter,—who had innocently declared the impossibility
of doing the work within the given time,—with such
ferocity, as to make it scarcely possible to save his life. With
this spirit prevailing among his garrison, Laudonniere was compelled
to abandon the idea, altogether, of building the ship; and
to address all his energies to the repair, for the desired purpose,
of the old brigantine, which had been brought back to La Caroline,

by the returning pirates. To work, with this object, all
parties were now set with the utmost expedition. The houses
which had been built without the fort were torn down, in order
that the timber should be converted into coal for the uses of the
forge; this being a labor much easier than that of using the axe
upon the trees of the forest. The palisade which conducted from
the fort to the river was torn down also by the soldiery, for the
same purpose, in spite of the objections of Laudonniere. It was
their policy to make their determination to depart inevitable, by
rendering the place no longer habitable. The fort, itself, it was
determined to destroy, when they were ready to sail, “lest some
new-come guest should have enjoyed and possessed it.” Our
Frenchmen were very jealous of the designs of the English queen.
They well knew that the haughty and courageous Elizabeth was
meditating a British settlement in the New World; and though,
after their own voluntary abandonment of the country, they had no
right to complain that another should occupy the waste places, yet
their jealousy was too greatly that of the dog in the manger, to
behold, with pleased eye, the possession by another of the things
which they themselves had been unable to enjoy. “In the meanwhile,”
says Laudonniere—seeking to excuse his own unwise
management and feeble policy—“In the meanwhile, there was
none of us to whome it was not an extreme griefe to leave a
country wherein wee had endured so greate travailes and necessities,
to discover that which wee must forsake through our owne
countrymen's default. For if wee had beene succoured in time
and place, and according to the promise that was made unto us,
the war which was between us and Utina had not fallen out, neither
should wee have had occasion to offend the Indians, which, with
all paines in the world, I entertained in good amitie, as well with
merchandize and apparel, as with promise of greater matters; and
with whome I so behaved myself, that although sometimes I was
constrained to take victuals in some few villages, yet I lost not
the alliance of eight kings and lords, my neighbours, which continually
succoured and ayded me with whatever they were able to
afford. Yea, this was the principal scope of all my purposes, to
winne and entertaine them, knowing how greatly their amitie might
advance our enterprise, and principally while I discovered the
commodities of the country, and sought to strengthen myself
therein. I leave it to your cogitation to think how neare it went
to our hearts to leave a place abounding in riches (as we were
thoroughly enformed thereof) in coming whereunto, and doing
service unto our prince, we lefte our owne countrey, wives, children,
parents and friends, and passed the perils of the sea, and were
therein arrived as in a plentiful treasure of all our heart's desire.”

It was while distressing himself with these cogitations that Laudonniere,
on the 3d of August, 1565, took a walk, “as was his custom
of an afternoon,” to the top of a little eminence, in the
neighborhood of the fort, which afforded a distant prospect of the
sea. Here, looking forth with yearning to that watery waste
which he was preparing to traverse, he was suddenly excited, as
he beheld four sail of approaching vessels. At first, the tidings
made the soldiers of the garrison to leap for joy. The vessels
were naturally supposed to be those of their own countrymen;
and such was the gladness inspired by this supposition, that “one
would have thought them to be out of their wittes, to see them
laugh and leap.” But, something in the behavior of the strange
ships, after a while, rendered our Frenchmen a little doubtful of
their character. Instead of boldly approaching, they were seen to
cast anchor and to send out one of their boats. A prudent fear

of the Spaniards made Laudonniere get his soldiers in readiness;
while Captain La Vasseur, with a select party, advanced to the
river side to meet the visitors. They proved to be Englishmen—
a fleet under the command of the celebrated John Hawkins; and
had on board one Martin Atinas, of Dieppe; a Frenchman, who
had been one of the colonists of Fort Charles,—one of those who,
returning to France, had been taken up at sea and carried into
England. He had guided the English admiral along the coast,
and his information had contributed to prompt the voyage of exploration
which Hawkins had in hand. But the object of the
British admiral was quite pacific, and his conduct exceedingly
generous and noble. His ostensible purpose in putting into May
River was to procure fresh water. Laudonniere permitted him to
do so. Hawkins, perceiving the distressed condition of the
Frenchmen, relieved them with liberal supplies of bread, wine and
provisions. Apprised of their desire to return to France, he, with
greater liberality and a wiser policy, offered to transport the whole
colony. But Laudonniere was still jealous of the Englishman,
and was apprehensive that, while he carried off the one colony, he
would instantly plant another in its place. He declined the
generous offer, but bargained with him for one of his vessels, for
which Laudonniere chiefly paid by the furniture of the fortress,
—the cannon, &c.,—viz.: “two bastards, two mynions, one
thousand of iron (balls), and one thousand (pounds) of powder.”
These items included only a portion of the purchase consideration,
in earnest of the treaty. Moved with pity at the wretched condition
of the Frenchmen, the generous Englishman offered supplies
for which he accepted Laudonniere's bills. These the subsequent
misfortunes of the latter never permitted him to satisfy.
In this way our colonists procured “twenty barrels of meale, six
pipes of beanes, one hogshead of salt, and a hundred (cwt.?) of
waxe to make candles. Moreover, forasmuch as hee saw my souldiers
goe barefoote, hee offered me besides fifty paires of shoes,
which I accepted.” “He did more than this,” says Laudonniere.
“He bestowed upon myselfe a great jarre of oyle, a jarre of
vinegar, a barell of olives, a great quantitie of rice, and a barell
of white biscuit. Besides, he gave divers presents to the principal
officers of my company according to their qualities: so that, I
may say, that we received as many courtesies of the Generall as
was possible to receive of any man living.”

Here, we are fortunately in possession of the narrative of Hawkins
himself, and his report of the encounter with our Frenchmen. It
affords a good commentary upon the bad management of Laudonniere,
and the worthless character of his followers; the sturdy
Englishmen seeing, at a glance, where all the evils of the colony
lay. He describes their first settlement as gathered from their
own lips; their numbers, the period they had remained in the
country, their frequent want, and the modes resorted to for escaping
famine. His details comprise all the facts of our history, as
already given. Of their discontents and rebels, he speaks as of a
class, “who would not take the paines so much as to fishe in the
river before their doores, but would have all things put in their
mouthes. They did rebell against the Captaine, taking away first
his armour, and afterwards imprisoning him, &c.” The narrative
of Hawkins gives the subsequent history of the rebels, their
piracy, capture and fate. He mentions one particular, which we
do not gather from Laudonniere, showing the sagacity of the
Floridian warriors. Finding that the Frenchmen, in battle, were
protected by their coats of mail, or escaupil, and the bucklers in
familiar use at the time, they directed their arrows at the faces

and the legs of their enemies, which were the parts in which they
were mostly wounded. At the close of this war, according to our
Englishmen, Laudonniere had not forty soldiers left unhurt.
After detailing the supplies accorded to the colonists from his
stores, he adds, “notwithstanding the great want that the Frenchmen
had, the ground doth yield victuals sufficient, if they would
have taken paines to get the same; but they being souldiers, desired
to live by the sweat of other men's browes.” Here speaks
the jealous scorn of the sailor. “The ground yieldeth naturally
great store of grapes, for in the time the Frenchmen were there
they made twenty hogsheads of wine.” Our poor Huguenots
could seek gold and manufacture wine, but could not raise provisions.
They were of too haughty a stomach to toil for any but
the luxuries of life. “Also,” says Hawkins, “it (the earth)
yieldeth roots passing good, deere marvellous store, with divers
other beastes and fowle serviceable to man. These be things
wherewith a man may live, having corne or maize wherewith to
make bread, for maize maketh good savory bread, and cakes as
fine as flowre; also, it maketh good meale, beaten and sodden
with water, and nourishable, which the Frenchmen did use to drink
of in the morning, and it assuageth their thirst, so that they have
no need to drink all the day after. And this maize was the
greatest lack they had, because they had no labourers to sowe the
same; and therefore, to them that should inhabit the land, it
were requisite to have labourers to till and sowe the ground; for
they, having victuals of their owne, whereby they neither spoil nor
rob the inhabitants, may live not only quietly with them, who
naturally are more desirous of peace than of warre, but also shall
have abundance of victuals proffered them for nothing, &c.”
The testimony of Hawkins is as conclusive in behalf of the Floridians
as it is unfavorable to our Frenchmen. He speaks in the
highest terms of the qualities and resources of the country, as
abounding in commodities unknown to men, and equal to those of
any region in the world. He tells us of the gold procured by the
Huguenot colonists, one mass of two pounds weight being taken
by them from the Indians, without equivalent. The latter he describes
as having some estimation of the precious metals; “for it
is wrought flat and graven, which they wear about their necks,
&c.” The Frenchmen eat snakes in the sight of our Englishmen,
to their “no little admiration;” and affirm the same to be
a delicate meat. Laudonniere tells Hawkins some curious snake
stories, which could not well be improved upon, even in the
“Hunter's Camp,” on a “Lying Saturday.” “I heard a miracle
of one of these adders,”—snakes a yard and a half long,—“upon
the which a faulcon (hawk) seizing, the sayd adder did claspe her
taile about her; which, the French captaine seeing, came to the
rescue of the faulcon, and took her,—slaying the adder.” There
is no improbability in this story; but we shall be slow to give our
testimony in behalf of that which follows: “And the Captaine of
the Frenchmen saw also a serpent with three heads and foure
feet, of the bignesse of a great spaniel, which, for want of a harquebuse,
he durst not attempt to slay.” Laudonniere had evidently
some appreciation of the marvellous; but only four feet to
three heads was a monstrous disproportion. The account which
Hawkins gives of the abundance of fish in the neighborhood of
the garrison, is no exaggeration, and only adds to the surprise
that we feel at the wretched indolence and imbecility of the
colonists, who, with this resource “at their doores,” depended for
their supply upon the Floridians.

Hawkins's account of the coast and characteristics of Florida

is copious and full of interest, but belongs not to this narrative.
He left the Huguenots, on the 28th July, 1565, making all preparations
to follow in his wake; and on the fifteenth of August
Laudonniere was prepared to depart also. The biscuit was made
for the voyage, the goods and chattels of the soldiers were taken
on board, and most of the water;—nothing delayed their sailing
but head-winds;—when the whole proceeding was arrested by the
sudden appearance of Ribault, with the long-promised supplies
from France. The approach of Ribault was exceedingly cautious;
so circumspect, indeed, that fears were entertained by the garrison
that his ships were those of the Spaniards. The guns of the
fortress were already trained to bear upon them when the strangers
discovered themselves. The reasons for their mysterious deportment,
as subsequently given, arose from certain false reports which
had reached France, of the conduct of Laudonniere. He had
been described, by letters from some of his malcontents in the
colony, as affecting a sort of regal state—as preparing to shake
off his dependence upon the mother-country—and setting up for
himself, as the sovereign lord of the Floridas. Poor Laudonniere!
living on vipers, crude berries and bitter roots, mocked by the
savages on one hand, fettered and flouted by his own runagates
and rebels on the other,—defied in his authority, and starving in
all his state, was in no mood to affect royalty upon the River
May. He was, no doubt, a vain and ostentatious person; but,
whatever may have been his absurdities and vanities, at first, they
had been sufficiently schooled by his necessities, we should think,
to cure him of any such idle affectations. He had been subdued
and humbled by defeat,—the failure of his plans, and the evident
contempt into which he had sunk among his people. Yet of all
this, the King of France and Monsieur de Coligny could have
known nothing; and when we recollect that the colony was made up
of Huguenots only, a people of whose fidelity the former might reasonably
doubt, the suspicions of the Catholic monarch may not be
supposed entirely unreasonable. At all events, Ribault was sent to
supersede the usurping commander, and bore imperative orders for
his recall. The armament confided to Ribault consisted of seven
vessels, and a military force corresponding with such a fleet. We are
also made aware that, on this occasion, the force which he commanded
was no longer made up of Huguenots exclusively, as in the previous
armament. A large sprinkling of Catholic soldiers accompanied
the expedition, and the temporary peace throughout the
realm enabled a great number of gentlemen and officers to employ
themselves in the search after adventure in the New World.
They accordingly swelled the forces of Ribault, and showed conclusively
that the colonial establishment in Florida had grown
into some importance at home. That Laudonniere should become
a prince there, was calculated to exaggerate the greatness of the
principality; and the jealousy of the French monarch, in all probability,
for the first time, awakened his sympathy for the settlement.
The same accounts which had borne the tidings of
Laudonniere's ambition, may have exaggerated the resources and
discoveries of the country; and possibly some specimens of gold
—the mass of two pounds described by Hawkins—had dazzled
the eyes and excited the avarice of court and people. Enough
that Laudonniere was to be sent home for trial, and that Ribault
was to succeed him in the government.

The approach of Ribault with his fleet was exceedingly slow.
Head-winds and storms baffled his progress, and as he reached the
coast of Florida he loitered along its bays and rivers, seeking to
obtain from the Indians all possible tidings of the colony, before

venturing upon an encounter with the supposed usurper of the
sovereignty of the country. When, at length, he drew nigh to
La Caroline, so suspiciously did he approach, that he drew upon
him the fire of Laudonniere's men, and, but for the distance, and
the seasonable outcry which was made by his followers, announcing
who they were, a conflict might have ensued between the parties.
To the great relief of Ribault, Laudonniere received him with
submission. The former apprised him frankly of the reports in
France to his discredit, and delivered him the letters of Coligny
to the same effect. Laudonniere soon succeeded in convincing
his successor that he had been greatly slandered—that he was
entirely innocent of royalty, and almost of state, of any kind—
that, however unfortunate he may have been—however incompetent
to the duties he had undertaken, he was certainly not
guilty of the extreme follies, the presumption, or the cruelty,
which constituted the several points in the indictment urged
against him. Ribault strove to persuade him to remain in
the colony, and to leave his justification to himself. But this
Laudonniere declined to do, resolving to return to France;—a
resolution which, as we shall see hereafter, was only delayed too
long,—to the further increase of the misfortunes of our captain.
Meanwhile he fell sick of a fever, and the authority passed into
the hands of Jean Ribault, whose return was welcomed by crowds
of Indian chiefs, who came to the fortress to inquire after the
newly-arrived strangers. They soon recognised the chief by
whose hands the stone pillar had been reared, which stood conspicuous
at the entrance of the river. He was easily distinguished,
by many of them, by reason of the massy beard which he
wore. They embraced him with signs of a greater cordiality than
they were disposed to show to his immediate predecessor. The
Kings Homoloa, Seravahi, Alimacani, Malica, and Casti, were
among the first to recall the ties of their former friendship, and to
brighten the ancient chain of union, by fresh pledges. They
brought to Ribault, among other gifts, large pieces of gold, which,
in their language, is called “sieroa pira,” literally “red metal,”
—which, upon being assayed by the refiner, proved to be “perfect
golde.” They renewed their offers to conduct him to the Mountains
of Apalachia, where this precious metal was to be had for the
gathering. Ribault was not more inaccessible to this attractive
showing than Laudonniere had been; but before he could project
the desired enterprise, in search of the mountains which held such
glorious possessions, new events were in progress, involving such
dangers as superseded the hopes of gain among the adventurers,
by necessities which made them doubtful of their safety The
Spaniards, of whom they had long been apprehensive, were at
length discovered upon the coast.