North East Florida has seen its share of hurricanes. Luckily, the region has, for the most part,
escaped much of the devastation that these storms have caused in other parts of
the state. Due to its unique “indented”
shoreline, most Atlantic hurricanes have bounced off the shore further south,
avoiding landfall in North East Florida, and then collided with land again in
the Carolinas.
Most Gulf of Mexico storms either track
due North or are considerably weakened by the time they arrive in this part of
the State.
It is reasonable to assume that the region had seen
hurricanes for many millenniums before the first one was recorded. The indigenous people that lived in Florida before the
arrival of European settlers were much attuned to nature. It is likely that they regarded hurricanes as
part of the natural cycle – or perhaps warnings from the Gods. Many early
explorers and colonizers did not have previous experience with the severe
storms to guide their actions, sometimes leading to disastrous results.
The first recorded hurricane in North East Florida would
change the course of history for Florida and
perhaps the entire United
States of America.
Jean Ribault landed near
St. Augustine and began sailing up the
coast. He came across the mouth of the
St. Johns River where he built a stone monument and claimed all of
Florida for
France. From there, he and his crew continued north
to
South Carolina
where they built a fort. They hoped that
this would be a base from which to explore and colonize the new world.
The fledging fort needed supplies, so Ribault returned to France leaving
the fort under the command of Captain Albert de la Pierria. Upon his return to France, Ribault found the country
in a state of upheaval as religious wars between Catholics and Protestants had
taken hold. Unable to raise money in
France, and certain that he would not be helped by the Catholic government of Spain, Ribault went to England to ask
for help, where he was promptly jailed for attempting to establish a French Colony
in a Spanish territory and for suspicion of being a spy. Although it was not clear what specific law
was broken or on whose behalf he was supposedly spying, Ribault was confined to
a London
prison.
While Ribault was imprisoned, the fort that he left behind
was in trouble. The men were near
starvation due to lack of supplies.
Local natives regularly attacked the settlement. Tensions rose, and Captain de la Pierra was
killed in a mutiny. Stores and homes
were looted and burned. Leaderless, all
but one of Ribault’s remaining men decided to return to Europe. They constructed a crude open boat and set
sail across the Atlantic Ocean. With no navigation tools to guide them, the
journey was dangerous and arduous. With
food running out, the crew eventually turned to cannibalism, killing and eating
one of their own. Most perished, but a
few survived as they were rescued by a British ship.
In 1564 with Jean Ribault still in an English prison, Rene
Goulaine de Laudonnier, Ribault’s second in command during the first
expedition, was tapped to lead France’s
return to Florida. He led a fleet of three ships carrying about
three hundred colonists. Most were not
soldiers, but ordinary people from all walks of life hoping to build a colony
in the New World. Almost all were Protestant Huguenots escaping
the violence of the French Wars of Religion.
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| Rene Goulaine de Laudonnier |
In June of that year, the flotilla reached the St. Johns River.
Sailing up the river they established an encampment on the bank near
what today is the City of Jacksonville.
To protect the new colony they built a triangle-shaped fort which they named Fort Caroline. At first, the fledgling settlement
prospered. The expedition was well
financed, they brought a lot of supplies with them from France, and the settlers had
valuable and diverse skills.
Laudonniere established good relations with a local Timucua native tribe called the Saturiwa, named after its chief. The tribe not only allowed the French to
construct the fort in their territory, but actually assisted with its
construction. The French and the
Saturiwas traded goods and were friendly towards each other. This changed when Laudonniere refused Chief
Saturiwas’ request for the French to help in an assault against their rival
tribe, the Utina.
Read More About the Events that Shaped Northeast Florida History
The colony had been relying on trade with the natives and
without it quickly began to run short on food and other supplies. The settlers lost faith in the leadership of
Rene Goulaine de Laudonnier. At least
two different mutinies occurred over the next several months. Some people stole boats and set out to find
greener pastures or became pirates, looting Spanish ships in the Caribbean. Some of
the deserters were captured by the Spanish and revealed to them the exact
location of the French Settlement. The rest of the settlers simply wanted to go
home and Laudonniere agreed. They began
preparation to abandon the fort and return to France.
As they were making preparations for departure
reinforcements arrived. Jean Ribault had
been released from prison in England
and returned to France. There, the King authorized him to rescue Fort Caroline
and sent him to Florida
with about 500 soldiers and 100 settlers.
Upon arrival at Fort
Caroline, Ribault
relieved Laudonnier of his command.
Laudonnier made plans to return to France. Soon, Ribault and most of his men would be
dead.
Meanwhile, King Philip II of Spain
heard about France’s
determination to colonize North East Florida and he was not pleased. Spain
had invested considerable blood and treasure to colonize Central and South
America as well as Florida. Spanish ships laden with precious cargo
regularly sailed from South America to Spain
and needed all of Florida
to be safe and welcoming to its ships.
Simply put, the French had to go.
Philip II ordered Pedro Menendez de Aviles, a loyal and
accomplished naval officer, to immediately set sale for Florida.
His mission was to attack Fort
Caroline and eradicate
the French from the peninsula. Menendez
and his flotilla of 11 ships with 2000 soldiers arrived in Northeast Florida
in 1565.
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| Pedro Menendez de Aviles |
Upon arriving at the mouth of the Saint Johns River,
Menendez found that the French had blockaded it making their journey to Fort Caroline
impossible. Only 800 of his crew had
survived the Atlantic crossing. He
decided to regroup to plan his attack and sailed a short distance further south,
taking refuge in a small harbor. They
began to build a crude fortification and Menendez named the settlement St. Augustine. For good measure he claimed all of Florida for Spain.
Reports of the Spanish fleet were communicated to Ribault
and he suspected, correctly, exactly why they were there and what their
intentions were for Fort
Caroline. Not wanting to give the Spaniards time to
fortify St. Augustine
and regroup, he decided to take the offensive and attack. He had to move quickly and had two
choices: he could march over land or he
could sail the short distance and attack from the sea.
More Stories from Northeast Florida History
Mother Nature had plans of her own. A storm began to brew over the ocean. Ribault’s men who had experience with such
storms warned Ribault that it was a serious hurricane. His Timucua friends, who were very adept at
predicting storms, agreed. It would be
dangerous to sail in this weather.
Ribault is anxious to attack and ignores the warnings. He gathers his best fighters and sets sail
for St. Augustine.
Ribault’s ships had barely made it to St. Augustine when the storm hit. As predicted by his officers and allies, it
was by all accounts a serious hurricane.
Rain and high winds disabled the fleet.
Unable to maneuver, the French ships were pushed south by the
storm. It is believed that they ran
ashore somewhere around present day Cape Canaveral
but the three ships have never been found.
Watching from shore, Pedro Menendez sees the three French
ships being carried south. He
immediately realizes that Fort
Caroline must be
vulnerable and marches his men north to attack.
They easily overwhelmed and captured the fort. Although wounded, Rene Goulaine de
Laudonnier, along with about fifty men managed to escape during the chaos and
eventually returned to France. The rest of the French inhabitants were brutally
killed with only a few women and children spared. Menendez renamed the settlement San Mateo.
With San Mateo (previously Fort Caroline)
secured, Menendez heads south to find the French ships that had been thrown off
course. He locates the shipwrecked
soldiers who survived the ordeal and their leader, Jean Ribault, a bit south of
St. Augustine
at what is now Matanzas Inlet. Captured,
the French soldiers begged for mercy.
The Spanish would have none of it and slaughtered all 350 men – along
with Jean Ribault. Matanzas is a Spanish word that means
“slaughtered.”
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| Matanzas Inlet Historic Marker |
Had it not been for the intervention of that hurricane, Florida may have gone on
to be a French colony rather than a Spanish one. The French were never again able to establish
a permanent settlement in Florida. For his part, Menendez was appointed the
Spanish Governor of Florida. Menendez went on to establish a series of
forts all along the Florida
coast to assure that the peninsula would remain under Spanish control.
When word reached France, the citizens were
outraged. However, the king at the time,
Charles IX, disliked the Huguenots so much that he was indifferent to the
slaughter, even though the people murdered were his subjects. Watching with great concern, one French man
decided to take revenge on his own.
Dominique De Gourgues joined the military at a very young
age, where he fought in the Italian wars.
He was captured by the Spanish and made to work a galley slave, chained
to the oar of a ship. He was eventually rescued;
he never forgot or forgave the cruelty that he suffered under his Spanish
captors. When he learned about the fate
of his fellow Frenchmen in Florida De Gourgues began to plot his retribution.
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| Dominique De Gourgues |
Dominique De Gourgues sold everything that he owned and
borrowed everything that he could to finance his voyage of retaliation. He was able to finance three ships and
recruit about one hundred and eighty sailors and fighters. His stated mission was to participate in the
slave trade, which was then legal. He kept
his real mission to himself until the flotilla arrived in Cuba in August
of 1567.
In Cuba,
De Gourgues revealed the true purpose of the journey to his men. Speaking with force and eloquence he reminded
them of the brutality of the Spanish and the stain that had been inflicted by
them on the people of France. “We must avenge the insult to our county,” he
implored them. “I will always be at your
head. I will bear the brunt of the
danger. Will you refuse to follow me?” All of his men heartily agreed and they soon
set out to confront their enemy.
The three ships sailed through the night and anchored at the
mouth of the St. Marys River (the current border between Georgia and Florida.)
To their dismay, they saw hundreds of Timucua warriors on the river
bank, painted and primed for battle. The
Indians, by this time, were in open warfare with the Spanish. They mistook the French ships for Spanish and
were determined not to allow them on shore.
Luckily for the French, they had on board a trumpeter who
had spent much time in Florida
and knew the natives well. He got into a
small boat and headed for shore. Once
the warriors recognized him, their attitude changed completely. The Indians were so delighted that they
danced along the shore. De Gourgues and
his men were welcomed with great pomp and ceremony. The next morning a meeting was held between
the French and Timucua leaders in which they agreed to act together against
their mutual enemy, the Spaniards.
Three days later they were ready to attack. When darkness fell, the Indian warriors set
out on foot, covered in war paint and armed with arrows, spears, and
knives. The three ships sailed
southward.
They came up on Fort
Caroline (renamed San Mateo by the Spanish) at dawn and saw
that the fort appeared incomplete. It
was guarded by two bunk houses. The
Spanish were completely unaware of their presence as they had just risen from
their beds. The French waded across a
swamp, surprising and overwhelming the first bunk house. At least sixty Spanish soldiers were killed
in the attack. Then, they quickly moved
on and dealt the same fate to those guarding the second bunk house. The French set up cannons on top of the
second bunk house and aimed them at Fort
Caroline.
“Yonder are the thieves who have stolen this land from our
King!” De Gourgues cried. “Yonder are
the murderers who have massacred our French!
On! On! Let us avenge our King! Let us show that we are Frenchmen!”
By this time, the Spaniards inside the fort realized that they
were under attack. About fifty men
slipped away on foot, presumably heading for the safety of St. Augustine. Many of them were slain by Indians waiting in
the woods. Those remaining were not as
lucky as the few who safely escaped.
Although they tried to defend the fort, they found themselves surrounded
by not only the French, but by the Indians that approached through the
forest. Many were savagely slaughtered. But De Gourgues ordered many to be taken
alive because he had other plans for them.
The Spanish captives were marched to the same grove of trees
where Pedro Menendez had hanged his French captives two years earlier. The plaque placed at the site by Menendez
which read “Not as to Frenchmen, but as to Lutherans” still remained. De Gourgues ordered the prisoners hung from
the same branches and replaced the plaque with one of his own, inscribed “Not
as to Spaniards, but as to traitors, robbers, and murderers.”
Dominique De Gourgues’ mission was accomplished. He would have liked to take St. Augustine, but he determined that it was
too well fortified. That would have to
wait for another day. And so, De
Gourgues and his men boarded their three ships and set sail for home. Along the way, for good measure, they
captured three Spanish merchant ships, took their bounty of various treasures,
and threw all of the ships crew overboard to drown in the Atlantic
Ocean.
Although De Gourgues was treated as a hero by his fellow French
citizens when he returned, the politics of the time were not in his favor. Spain was demanding that he pay
with his life for the slaughter of its countrymen. His own King was indifferent to the plight of
the Huguenots and not happy about his unauthorized adventure. Concerned for his safety Dominique De
Gourgues withdrew from the public eye and lived in obscurity for the rest of
his life. He died in 1593.
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National Park Service Fort Caroline National Memorial
Suggested Further Reading (ad):
South of the St. Marys River - Stories from the History of Northeast Florida -
Laudonniere & Fort Caroline: History and Documents
Hidden History of St. Augustine
The Enterprise of Florida: Pedro Menendez de Aviles and the Spanish Conquest of 1565-1568
