ORDER 8: GUERRA Y VEGA TO ARGUELLES, APRIL 22, 1668 The order below was issued for two purposes, each to be carried out during the same expedition by Captain Arguelles to Guale. Initially, Arguelles was to assist in the transferral of power to a new mico in the mission village of Sapala, which was without a leader following the death of the previous mico (possibly Don Juan de Zapala, who signed the 1657 petition against Governor Rebolledo [Menendez et al., 1657]). The impetus for this action seems to lie in the fact that the two most elderly caciques, to whom belonged the position, were considered too old or sick to govern effectively, and thus Governor Guerra y Vega seems to have decided to take preemptive action in order to prevent any future problems in leadership (potentially resulting from an internal power struggle). Arguelles was instructed to emplace the oldest cacique who was capable of governing, even though he might not be the legitimate candidate according to aboriginal custom. At the same time, the order provided Captain ArgOelles with the authority to settle any other political disputes in Guale or Mocama. Beyond this initial order, Arguelles was given a second charge: the replacement of fugitive Yamassee laborers who had left St. Augustine in the middle of their assigned labors in the fields, leaving the crops in danger of failure. Interestingly, the earlier labor draft order for that year, issued in January, had departed from the normal structure with a warning against just such flight (see Order 9), suggesting that trouble with fugitives had been experienced during the 1667 draft, and possibly earlier (see Order 11). The threat of severe punishment for both the fugitives and the caciques who permitted them to return may well have provided a strong motivation for the Yamassee caciques to comply with this order. [f. 19] Commission to Captain Antonio de Arguelles so that he emplaces the cacique to govern the town of Zapala in the province of Guale, year of 1668. Don Francisco de la Guerra y de la Vega, governor and captain general in this city and presidio of St. Augustine, Florida, and its provinces for His Majesty. Inasmuch as I have had notice that the mico of the town of Zapala in the province of Guale died without leaving a legitimate heir, and because according to the custom of that province, it is the turn of the most elderly caciques of the said town to govern it, and I have been informed that today the two [caciques] who there are find themselves unable to do so, considering their great age and other infirmities, for which cause the Indians of the said [f. 19, vto.] town find themselves with great discord, from which it has resulted that many of them have fled, and in order to avoid greater damages, and what could proliferate, I have determined that in the said town of Zapala a person who is capable and meritous should be named to govern them as did the mico who died, and for this effect I name Captain Antonio de Arguelles, who is [captain] for His Majesty of one of the companies in the garrison of this post, to whom I order and command that as soon as he receives the present [order] he should leave this city and go to the province of Guale, and having arrived, he will endeavor, with all compassion and attention, to arrange the discords which [f.20] there might be among its Indians, and install a person to govern them, and this [person] should be one of the three most elderly caciques, the one who is most capable for the said government, although he might be the youngest, and supposing that none of the three caciques is appropriate, he will install in the said post another person from the said town, the one who is most suitable,(38) NOTE 38. The replacement installed by Arguelles may have been Phelipe, who was cacique of Sapala in 1677 (Arguelles, 1678), and who remained cacique until at least 1695 (Document 9; Pueyo, 1695). and he will perform all the remaining ceremonies which are customary in similar cases, requiring and admonishing all the caciques, principals, and remaining Indians of the said town that they should have and hold him as their [f.20, vto.] governor, and obey and respect him, as they did with the mico who died, until such time as I order something else, and in all the rest which might happen in this particular [case], he will act as the situation dictates, for all of which I give him authority and commission in form [of law], and likewise I give it so that in case there are whatever other dissensions in the said province of Guale, or in that of Mocama, he can adjust and arrange them, endeavoring that all might remain with all peace and tranquility, for the much that His Majesty (God preserve him) charges the good treatment [f.21] of the natives of these provinces. And the said Captain Antonio de Arguelles will give the Yamase caciques, pagans who find themselves in the said province of Guale, and in that of Mocama, to understand by the best way he can, how a quantity of Indians of the said nation have fled from the fields of this presidio, leaving them abandoned, for which cause today some of the fields are found impossible to cultivate, from which follows grave damage in harm to this presidio, and to the infantry who serve His Majesty in it, and attending to this particular [case], and to the common good and conservation of this post, the said Captain Antonio [f.2 1, vto.] de Arguelles will make the said caciques give him another quantity of Indians, as many as those who have fled of those who came for the cultivation of the said fields, and he will assure them on my part that I will have them treated well, and paid for their labor punctually. And I order and command all the micos, caciques, principals, and remaining Indians of the towns through which the said Captain Antonio de Arguelles passes to give him all the support and aid which he asks of them, thus being suitable to the service of His Majesty. And the copy of this order will be taken in the governmental secretary's office [f.22] of these provinces, which for the said purpose I ordered it dispatched signed by my hand, sealed with the seal of my arms, and endorsed by the undersigned, my secretary. Given in the city of St. Augustine, Florida, on the twenty-second of April, sixteen sixty-eight, Don Francisco de la Guerra y de la Vega. By order of the governor and captain general, my lord, Miguel Alonso de Ojeda, secretary. The copy of this order by the senor governor and captain general remains in the governmental secretary's office, and the original was turned over to the aforementioned for its execution. Of this I swear, Juan Moreno y Segobia, public and governmental notary. Agrees with the order previously inserted, according to how the copy appears in one of the books in the archive [f.22, vto.] of government at my charge, to which I refer. And by virtue of that commanded verbally by the senor Colonel Don Manuel de Montiano, governor and captain general of this post and its provinces, I give the present in Florida on the eleventh of August, seventeen thirty-nine. In true testimony, Francisco de Castilla Governmental Notary