Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 2 (of 8): Spanish Explorations and Settlements in America from the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century
History
Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 2 (of 8): Spanish Explorations and Settlements in America from the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century
America -- Discovery and exploration; America -- History; United States -- History
Gourgues carried off the artillery of the fort and redoubts; but before
he could transport the rest of his booty to the vessels, a train left
by the Spaniards in the fort was accidentally fired by an Indian who
was cooking fish; the magazine blew up, with all in it. Gourgues hanged
the prisoners who fell into his hands at San Mateo, and descending the
river, hanged thirty more at the mouth, setting up an inscription: “Not
as to Spaniards, but as to Traitors, Robbers, and Murderers.” Returning
to his vessels, he hoisted sail on the 3d of May, and early in June
entered the harbor of La Rochelle. His loss, which is not explained, is
said to have been his smallest vessel, five gentlemen and some soldiers
killed.[896]
[Illustration: WYTFLIET, 1597.
[Cf. the “Florida et Apalche” in Acosta, German edition, Cologne, 1598
(also in 1605); that of Hieronymus Chaves, given in Ortelius, 1592; and
later the maps of the French cartographer Sanson, showing the coast
from Texas to Carolina.—ED.]]
When Gourgues made his descent, Menendez was already at sea, having
sailed from San Lucar on the 13th of March, with abundant supplies and
reinforcements, as well as additional missionaries for the Indians,
under Father John Baptist Segura as vice-provincial. After relieving
his posts in Florida and placing a hundred and fifty men at San Mateo,
he proceeded to Cuba, of which he had been appointed governor. To
strengthen his colony, he solicited permission to colonize the Rio
Pánuco; but the authorities in Mexico opposed his project, and it
failed. The Mississippi, then known as the Espiritu Santo, was supposed
to flow from the neighborhood of Santa Elena, and was depended on as
a means of communication.[897] The next year the _adelantado_ sent
a hundred and ninety-three persons to San Felipe, and eighty to St.
Augustine. Father Rogel then began missions among the Indians around
Port Royal; Father Sedeño and Brother Baez began similar labors on
Guale (now Amelia) Island, the latter soon compiling a grammar and
catechism in the language of the Indians. Others attempted to bring the
intractable chief Carlos and his tribe within the Christian fold. Rogel
drew Indians to his mission at Orista; he put up houses and a church,
and endeavored to induce them to cultivate the ground. But their
natural fickleness would not submit to control; they soon abandoned
the place, and the missionary returned to Fort San Felipe. A school
for Indian boys was opened in Havana, and youths from the tribes of
the coast were sent there in the hope of making them the nucleus of
an Indian civilization. In 1570 Menendez, carrying out his project of
occupying Chesapeake Bay, sent Father Segura with several other Jesuits
to establish a mission at Axacan, the country of the Indian known as
Don Luis Velasco, who accompanied missionaries, promising to do all
in his power to secure for them a welcome from his tribe. The vessel
evidently ascended the Potomac and landed the mission party, who then
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