Two petitions, one by a cacique and the other by the daughter of a cacica, illustrate the close relationships that developed in the 16th century across caste lines. ...The second petition, or set of petitions, was by the mestiza Catalina de Valdes, widow of a soldier (Valdes, 1606; 1612; (1616)). She identified herself as granddaughter of Maria Ruiz del Castillo, "an india principal, cacica de Escamacu," who "brought other Indians to the obedience of the General [Pedro Menendez Marquez] and was his interpreter." Catalina's mother and aunt, sisters, being raised in the General's house "as companions to the General's sister, were baptized in St. Augustine and took his name," her mother becoming Catalina Melendez and her aunt, Maria Melendez. She herself, Catalina menor, was the "hija natural," or acknowledged daughter, of the unmarried soldier Juan de Valdes and the "India of Escamacu." When the English enemy captured the fort, said Catalina, referring to Drake's invasion of 1586, she was very small and fell into enemy hands. Perhaps she was the small child whom the English discovered in the abandoned town of St. Augustine. Catalina's mother, in order to see her, "for they would not let her have her, came and went unnoticed" across enemy lines, "dressed like an india," that is, in nonSpanish attire. Enabled by this disguise to observe enemy activities, "she gave information to the General, who had retired to the woods, and soldiers went with her in perfect safety to reconnoiter the entrances." As a result, "one night the soldier Juan Ramirez de Contreras entered [the city] and killed the enemy's sergeant major," who had stolen Contreras's horse. After Catalina's mother died, the General married her mother's sister Maria to a soldier named Molina, and when Molina died, to Juan Jimenez, whom he named rations notary. When Catalina's father died, leaving her an orphan, the General married her to the military carpenter Graviel [sic] Hernandez, who served in Santa Elena and St. Augustine for 20 years and advanced to the rank of captain. Her husband' s death, she said, had left her poor and "burdened with many children."She wanted an ayuda de costa or renta of the kind given to "other personas naturales," or native-born persons. Once the spiritual conquest of Florida got under way, sexual liaisons of the kind that produced Catalina became less common. In an effort to reduce the sum total of sin, the Franciscans did what they could to keep cacicas, like all Indian women, secluded from Spanish men. (Bushnell SS)