Captain Don Juan Saturnino de Abaurrea, reformado of this presidio, and a prisoner in the royal fort, as is most suitable to my rights, I appear before Your Lordship in the most proper form for which there is occasion in my favor(40) NOTE 40. The following document was handwritten by Captain Saturnino de Abaurrea in his prison cell at the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, and it served as his last opportunity to disculpate himself of the charges brought against him by the governor, or at least to ameliorate his punishment. While some of the material within his defense repeated his earlier verbal confession, more details were provided on specific points, and a plea was made to the governor to consider various mitigating circumstances. in the criminal case which, in the office of royal justice, has been brought against me about having failed in the defense, guard, and custody of the province of Guale, where I found myself as lieutenant at the time that the enemy infested it with the entrance in its villages, and also about not having put in a safe place the prisoners and sloop which entered at peace, and who were imprisoned in the town of Obadalquini, from which a charge results against me by the declarations of the summary, which appears by the autos of the said case by means of my being notified by the auto of guilt and charge for having failed the obligations at my charge, which I obtained, conceding me the limit of six consecutive days for my rebuttal, conforming to which, according to the tenor and context of the said general and subsequent autos, I say that as is on record by my confession, at the time and when I had notice that six vessels found themselves upon this port, and that two of them had placed people on land at the port of Santa Maria, I found myself with a scant number of soldiers in the town of Sapala, capital [cavezera] of the said province, and the site of its presidio,(41) NOTE 41. This passage refers to the fact that the provincial garrison was located in the mission of Sapala at that time (and had been since the retreat from Santa Catalina in May 1680). attending to the removal of the said [town], the large part of [the people] of which found themselves on the mainland with their property, fearful since the preceding enemy,(42) NOTE 42. Early in the summer of 1683, the notorious French pirate known as Agramon had descended upon Guale, sacking missions San Juan and San Phelipe (see Bushnell 1994, and the Overview). and this without canoes in which to be able to descend to scour the province and give news of the designs or movements of the enemy, or for the opposition, resistance, and defense, due to those which I could have used being away, as will be on record from what Captain Francisco de Fuentes carried to the village of Santa Maria at the time that he found himself there, loaded with the utensils [trastos](43) NOTE 43. The term trastos refers to domestic items such as furniture or utensils (such as pots). of the natives of the said town who were moving themselves, and some mediocre [canoes] which were to be found on the mainland for the needs of the women and men who found themselves withdrawn. Having had notice of the said enemy having entered the town of Asajo, one day's journey from the said [town],(44) NOTE 44. Asajo was the nearest mission south of Sapala, located some 6-7 leagues away. The mission of Sapala was the next likely target for the pirates heading northward. suspecting that they might obtain notice of the few people with which I found myself, like those who were serving [f.2 1, vto.] on the said mainland, finding myself with not one defense, and not having more than up to eight Indians, and these, together with the said infantry insisting that we should not await the enemy in the said town, but rather that we should cross to the mainland to join with the remaining people and defend ourselves as we could, in which consideration, not finding myself with sufficient forces for the defense, I ordered that they should embark the ornaments and property of the church, and with them and the people with whom I found myself I crossed to the mainland for the expressed reasons and grounds, where I remained until the missionary of Asajo gave me news of a sloop with eleven persons having entered in the village of Obadalquini, at which notice I immediately placed myself on the journey, where I encountered news from the cacique of Obadalquini of a sloop with the said eleven persons having entered in that port at peace in order to reinforce themselves with provisions and equip themselves with what was necessary. I arrived at the said town on Saturday at dawn, where I found the said prisoners and sloop, which the said cacique turned over to me, and having the said sloop in custody at the landing in the said [town], considering its little security, by being located in the mouth of a Bar, and the enemy on those coasts being able to discover it while passing, I determined to secure it, sending it to the mainland, for which effect I named Ensign Felipe de Santiago, with the necessary equipment and three of the said prisoners, who said they were Christians, so that they might assist in taking the said sloop, and likewise to leave them secured in the place where the people of the said village found themselves withdrawn. When I imagined that the said ensign was on his way, he returned at the end of three quarters of an hour and told me that he could not take [the sloop] by not being [high] tide now, and that the said cacique had told him that if they took it, they could not arrive at a time when the missionary of the said doctrina, who was going on the same occasion, could say mass, and thus he should leave it off, and on the next day he would return for him. The said cacique having already gone to the mainland with the equipment with which to be able to withdraw [the sloop], he remained prepared for the following day [f.22], by not having been able to do more, as I express. I having been with all vigilance in guarding the said prisoners and in that of the said sloop, and in the watch of the Bar, early in the morning on Sunday, finding myself in the council house of the said village, one of the sentinels of the Bar advised me that a launch was entering, at which notice I went to the said Bar, taking in my company the said Ensign Felipe de Santiago, and by actions which I took, I could not discover anything, and at the end of a long time that I was occupied in this, I returned to the said council house not having found out anything new, and then at dawn one of the sentinels informed me that a vessel was entering through the Bar of the said port, at which I came forth to the landing with all speed, and at the time I arrived, the said vessel anchored, and recognizing it to be certain that they would place people on land next, without giving me occasion to be able to free the said sloop, by being close to it, and likewise to the said prisoners, I sent the order to the soldiers and Indians who found themselves in the said council house that they should kill the said prisoners, now that they could not be saved due to the shortness of time which the case promised, in which supposition, returning to the council house, I found that they had not complied with the said order to kill them, by the said soldiers and Indians saying that they did not wish to do so, at which, seeing that I could not place it in execution, nor withdraw them either, I left them and retreated with the people that I had to the Point of Olaya, on the said Island, where I remained until at the end of two days notice arrived that Ensign Bernardo de Medina had arrived on the mainland with six soldiers. Having crossed and joined with the said [ensign], I returned to the said Island with twenty-seven armed Indians and ten soldiers, and setting out for the said town, I arrived in view of it at the dawn watch [quarto de el alba](45) NOTE 45. The quarto de el alba is a military reference to the last quarter of the night watch preceding sunrise. The sun set on the preceding Tuesday evening just before 7 p.m., with dawn arriving on Wednesday, October 25, at just after 7 a.m., placing Saturnino de Abaurrea's arrival perhaps around 3 a.m. in the morning. and sent three spies to reconnoiter whether the said enemy was to be found in it, and upon returning they said that there was no sign of them, and that the said sloop was there, and that they had it secured at the stern of the said ship. Seeing that the day was coming, I wanting to pass to the said town, the people that I took told me [f.22, vto.] that I should not do so, because they might be waiting in ambush, as they were sleeping in the open, and by cutting us off, something bad could happen to us. Considering this, I detained myself until the daylight, and to see the position of the said enemy. Setting out, the said Indians who carried firearms told me that they did not have more than one charge of powder with which to fire, and the spies likewise having brought notice how the enemies found themselves fortified behind the wall of the convent, and that they did not wish to fight because they had nothing to defend but their lives, and as the village gave them nothing, they should burn it when they had secured their wives, children, and posessions, for which reason, I, not being able to get them to follow me, I retreated in consideration of the fact that without the help of the said Indians, I could not do any damage to the said enemy when they found themselves having made a fort in a place which is [a fort] in itself, because the infantry were no more than ten men, and with those, and one can imagine the effect I could have made, and even more finding myself without munitions, because although it is true that I had them in the said presidio [of Sapala], not preparing for the contingency, I did not take more than that necessary for the infantry who accompanied me, being credible what the said Ensign Felipe de Santiago declares, that finding me in the said presidio, he urged me to come forth to encounter the enemy at the town of Asajo, as he expresses in his declaration with other reasons, when he will not prove or assure [?] not having withdrawn the said sloop and three prisoners when I ordered him to, for which reason it was not secured, nor could I have done more in this case than to order it, when it was necessary for me to keep custody of the remaining prisoners until having a reply from Your Lordship regarding the resolution which was to be taken, and what was to be done with them, because although it is true that it was unavoidable after seeing the said vessel not to kill the said prisoners, it was not without the understanding that it ought not be done, but rather being obligated from not being able to free them, because in reason I should not have done so when they had entered in the said port under the assurance of the peace which they obtained with us, passing in transit on their voyage and finding themselves without any sustenance or equipment with which to be able to proceed, as is manifest, and being seen and recognized not to be bringing even one offensive or defensive weapon, not necessarily being, when it was not clear to me, that they were enemies in the protection ofthose who found themselves on those coasts, in which presumption I gave notice of the form which was to be observed, without being the master nor having action to perform anything, in understanding that the resolution which had to be was for me to order that they be given sustenance and the rest of what they needed for the prosecution of their journey, as I have seen done in this presidio, and has been done in the present time with those who have entered in transit to relieve themselves. Bearing this in mind, being the time of all these occurrences, the guilt should not be attributed to me for the contingencies of one day, and for that which was not my responsibility, when there was not time to determine or perform anything else, because now that the preceding-not being able to have freed the said sloop for the lack of the tide, equipment, and the rest of the reasons-had happened, in the last instance of the entrance of the said ship [bajel] in the same form, there was an even greater impossibility, since it was anchored in the same place, and being so near one could not set fire to it or perform any other action, and consequently afterwards, having advanced to the said convent where the said enemies found themselves fortified, due to their strength and force of people, as well as finding myself with only ten soldiers, because the twenty-seven Indians were now divided, and I could not expect any help, since as is on record from the declarations of the summary, my statement has been confirmed that they told me they did not wish to fight when they did not have anything to defend but their lives, and they did not wish to risk them, what results against me in the declaration of the said Ensign Felipe de Santiago not being nor needing to be of any harm to me when it is not compatible that [a person] subject to such reasons should advance against a superior [enemy] when there were no grounds to do so, if everyone urged me not to await the enemy in the said presidio [of Sapala], if I passed to the mainland from which I did not leave for the said province due to the lack of canoes and the scarcity of infantry, because the natives are of no help when they all find themselves withdrawn in the woods, and if it is not the fervor of the infantry, they were not going to accompany me, because to defend and go to the rescue of as many ports as there are in the said province, it is necessary to have enough people and time to do so, and when I lack one and another [of these things], it is not admirable to address the formal point of what happened, for all of which, in attention to all of the verifications and foundations alleged and expressed on my behalf, and all the rest which could have been favored me by the unobserved and unexpected occurrence of the entrance of the said ship and freeing of the said prisoners in the time as short as that of one day in which everything happened, and also by the unfavorable declarations not being able to do me harm, by being from [opposing] sides, consisting in the same lack, being precisely for his own defense to charge me with his defects by means of imploring and being aided by all the favor of the law which I have or could have in my favor. I ask and implore that Your Lordship be pleased to substantiate and determine this case with the attention which is merited by the impossibility which I found myself of being able to attend to the movements of the enemy in the said province, by being in the process of attending to the removal of the town of Sapala, and finding myself due to this reason without a canoe with which to do so or a force of people to put up a defense or secure the prisoners and sloop in the shortness of the time and in the opportunity which I lacked to withdraw the said sloop with the contingent, unforseen, and unexpected case of the entrance of the said ship, and also with the infantry not having fulfilled nor observed the order which I gave to kill them, finding myself obliged to do so [withdraw], and lacking any other remedy, and in the same manner not having advanced to the said enemy through my having lacked the said Indians, like all the rest of the reasons expressed and alleged, admitting in part that if I deserve some punishment [it is for] the retreat and departure which I had to achieve, since to the letter of my obligations, the said demonstration seems to be enough, as consequently to attend to the harm which resulted upon me from the pressure in which I found myself due to my needs; upon doing so [the above] with the attention which I hope, Your Lordship will be able to act with the justification which I need, which is what is suitable and done in my favor. Juan Satumino de Abaurrea Since this petition was presented, place it with the autos and bring them so as to see and provide justice. The senor Captain and Sergeant Major Don Juan Marquez Cabrera, governor and captain general of this city and presidio of St. Augustine, Florida, and its provinces for His Majesty, provided this,(46) NOTE 46. Solana certified here that Governor Marquez Cabrera had written the above note after receiving Saturnino de Abaurrea's letter of defense. and made his paraph on it on the fifteenth of January, sixteen eighty-five. Before me, Alonso Solana Public and Governmental Notary [f.25]