In one of those hidden chapters in Florida history that you won’t find in the brochure, in 1565, the Spanish hunted down and slaughtered 242 French citizens on our Florida soil.
It is a tale of mass murder—possibly on the largest scale that has ever occurred in La Florida up to that time—and of money, power, politics and greed.
Our story takes place over 450 years ago…
If the French or English should come to settle Florida it would be the greatest inconvenience…
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés
Pedro Menéndez de Aviles, Mass Murderer
Today, Menéndez is acknowledged as the founder of St. Augustine, FL; the oldest European settlement in modern day USA. Yet, his name is unfamiliar to many Floridians and virtually unknown to the rest of the USA. Few St. Augustine places bear his name. Nobody on this side of the Atlantic talks about him. It’s as if he has been airbrushed from history. Why is this?
At the age of 14, Menéndez ran away from home (and his 18 siblings) to learn seamanship. He spent his early years sailing the Bay of Biscan, where he made a name for himself as a hunter and killer of pirates.
As T.D. Allman puts it in his book, Finding Florida:
Menéndez made such a name for himself that he was barely thirty when the Hapsburg emperor Charles V commissioned him to rid the seas all the way to the Canary Islands of threats to Spanish shipping. This Menéndez did so efficiently that he next was put in charge of Spain’s transatlantic traffic.
So now, Menéndez, unafraid to kill, is patrolling the Atlantic shipping lanes, playing Sherriff. Also, Menéndez is deeply prejudiced against Spain’s rivals because, not only are they not Spanish, but—the greatest sin—they are not catholic. Many of his rivals out at sea are following the heretical teachings of that rabble-rouser, Martin Luther, who in 1517 nailed Ninety-Five Theses to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral and started a religious revolution that challenged the power of the Catholic Church.
The Massacre At Fort Caroline (Present Day Jacksonville)
In 1565, the Spanish had already sent and lost a lot of men in expeditions to Florida. As King Phillip II, of Spain, put it, “Florida’s shoreline was too low and sandy, her countryside too poor in resources, and her harbors too barred and shallow to permit practicable settlement.”
Further expeditions to the “accursed lands” of Florida were banned, that is, until…news was received that France had established a Florida colony and was just about to resupply it.
Suddenly, it became vital that a Spanish expedition set sail at once to stop this atrocity. Not only was Florida supposedly in the Spanish domain, but the French had a nasty practice of, instead of mass murdering their religious dissidents inquisition-style, of letting them go to other lands to start colonies. A Protestant colony in Florida??? Oh, heck no!!!
Back to T.D. Allman:
“In his haste to smite the French Menéndez tore across the Atlantic, riding a fierce storm west toward the Antilles. Three of his ships vanished; hundreds drowned.* To save his own life Menéndez ordered bronze cannons thrown overboard from his flagship, the San Pelayo. In his eagerness to kill Frenchmen he forsook efforts to save his own son’s life. A year earlier Juan Menéndez had disappeared while on a voyage to the Americas; Menéndez initially intended to mount a search for him. Now his son’s fate was forgotten. Frantic to reach Florida before the French supply fleet did, Menéndez bypassed Spanish Havana, where he could have repaired his storm-damaged ships while taking on new victuals and men. On the afternoon of September 4, 1565, this risky course of action produced its desired result. In a notable feat of dead reckoning, celestial navigation and intuitive empathy with his prospective victims, Menéndez sailed right into the broad estuary of the St. Johns River. There, near the future site of Jacksonville, was the French settlement, Fort Caroline.”
Menéndez made good time; still, when he arrived he was beholden with the sight of the French resupply fleet already in position, protecting Fort Caroline. A stalemate ensued as night fell. Menéndez decided, as the wind died, to let his ships drift in to tangle with the French ships and that he would attack at daybreak. Throughout the night the Spanish and French yelled insults at each other. When Menéndez was about to give the order to his boarding parties to attack, the French ships raised their sails, caught the growing breeze and slipped past Menéndez and his ships.
Menéndez decided that he would attack Fort Caroline instead of pursue the French ships, but found that three French ships were left behind and blocked the estuary, and a French force was organized on the shore to battle any Spaniard that slipped past the French ships. Menéndez retreated.
Menéndez sailed south down the coast, looking for a fit place for anchorage, which he found at present day St. Augustine Inlet. He decided to build his own settlement, San Agustín, at the former Timucua village of Seloy, or as we call the settlement today: St. Augustine.
As his flagship was too big and bulky to be effective, Menéndez sent it to Havana. This he did in the nick of time because the French fleet showed up; however, their ships also were too big to approach the settlement, so they pushed south in pursuit of the flagship.
Now, the Hand of God intervened.
A hurricane appeared on the scene to wreak havoc; however, Menéndez sensed his opportunity. The hurricane would make it impossible for the French ships to turn around to defend Fort Caroline and the French would never expect a land-based sneak attack from the rear. Through the hurricane force gale, Menéndez and his men marched north from St. Augustine to Fort Caroline, through muck, mud and endless insects. They marched for three days, covering 30 miles through the unknown territory.
Catching the French unaware, on dawn of September 20, 1565, the massacre ensued. Menéndez and his men slaughtered 132 French men at Fort Caroline for the glory of God and Spain. He captured 50 women and children and about 45 Frenchmen were able to row and swim to two of their ships and escape for home. The fort was taken and the French were expelled. Menéndez secured total victory over Fort Caroline.
And, as luck would have it, this would only be Menéndez’s first Florida massacre.
The Massacre Of The French Survivors
While Menéndez and his men were sneaking north to bludgeon to death the unsuspecting Frenchmen of Fort Caroline, the hurricane was also wreaking havoc on the southbound French ships that were in pursuit of Menéndez’s flagship.
Menéndez’s flagship made it to safety, but the French fleet, commanded by Jean Ribault, did not. The hurricane destroyed their ships and scattered their men along the Atlantic Florida Coast. They marched north.
On September 29, 1565, Menéndez and the Spanish met with the French survivors. Menéndez convinced the French that Fort Caroline had been taken and that if the French surrendered they would, on Menéndez’s honorable word as a gentleman, be well-cared for.
The French surrendered and Menéndez promptly ordered they be tied up, marched to a kill zone and then stabbed, cut and bludgeoned them to death. The French commander, Jean Ribault, was among the victims. The only survivors were a few Catholic French and some musicians. The massacre occurred at what is today known as Matanzas Inlet. Translated, it is Slaughter Inlet. A stark reminder of the first time Europeans massacred other Europeans in Florida.
