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The heir to the Guale chiefdom led a rebellion against the Franciscans
Source: Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors #121
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After this field [Guale] had been abandoned by the Society of Jesus it was entered by the Franciscans. According to Barcia, missions were opened in Guale by them in 1594, but unpublished documents seem to set a still earlier date. One of these would place the beginning of the work as far back as 1587. In 1597 there were five missionaries in this province and the work seemed to be of the utmost promise, when a rebellion broke out against the innovators, the mission stations were burned, and all but one of the friars killed. The following account contained in Barcia's Florida is from clerical sources: "The friars of San Francisco busied themselves for two years in preaching to the Indians of Florida, separated into various provinces. In the town of Tolemaro or Tolemato lived the friar Pedro de Corpa, a notable preacher, and deputy of that doctrina, against whom rose the elder son and heir of the chief of the island of Guale, who was exceedingly vexed at the reproaches which Father Corpa made to him, hecause although a Christian, he lived worse than a Gentile, and he fled from the town because he was not able to endure them. He returned to it within a few days, at the end of September [1597], bringing many Indian warriors, with bows and arrows, their heads ornamented with great plumes, and entering in the night, in profound silence, they went to the house where the father lived; they broke down the feeble doors, found him on his knees, and killed him with an axe. This unheard-of atrocity was proclaimed in the town; and although some showed signs of regret, most, who were as little disturbed, apparently, as the son of the chief, joined him, and he said to them the day following: "Although the friar is dead he would not have been if he had not prevented us from living as before we were Christians: let us return to our ancient customs, and let us prepare to defend ourselves against the punishment which the governor of Florida will attempt to inflict upon us, and if this happens it will be as rigorous for this friar alone as if we had finished all; because he will pursue us in the same manner on account of the friar whom we have killed as for all." Those who followed him in the newly executed deed approved; and they said that it could not be doubted that he would want to take vengeance for one as he would take it for all. Then the barbarian continued: "Since the punishment on account of one is not going to be greater than for all, let us restore the literty of which these friars have robbed us, with promises of benefits which we have not seen, in hope of which they wish that those of us who call ourselves Christians experience at once the losses and discomforts: they take from us women, leaving us only one and that in perpetuity, prohibiting us from changing her; they obstruct our dances, banquets, feasts, celebrations, fires, and ware, so that by failing to use them we lose the ancient valor and dexterity inherited from our ancestors; they persecute our old people calling them witches; even our labor disturbs them, since they want to command us to avoid it on some days, and be prepared to execute all that they say, although they are not satisfied; they always reprimand us, injure us, oppress us, preach to us, call us bad Christians, and deprive us of all happiness, which our ancestors enjoyed, with the hope that they will give us heaven. These are deceptions in order to subject us, in holding us disposed after their manner; already what can we expect, except to be slaves? If now we kill all of them, we will remove such a heavy yoke immediately, and our valor will make the governor treat us well, if it happens that he does not come out badly." The multitude was convinced by his speech; and as a sign of their victory, they cut off Father Corpa's head, and they put it in the port1 (Note: This word, puerto, may be a misprint of puerta. gate.) on a lance, as a trophy of their victory, and the body they threw into a forest, where it was never found. They passed to the town of Topiqui, where lived Fr. Blas Rodriguez (Torquemada gives him the appelation of de Montes), they went in suddenly, telling him they came to kill him. Fr. Bias asked them to let him say mass first, and they suspended their ferocity for that brief time; but as soon as he had finished saying it, they gave him so many blows, that they finished him, and they threw his body outside, so that the birds and beasts might eat it, but none came to it except a dog, which ventured to touch it, and fell dead. An old Christian Indian took it up and gave it burial in the woods. From there they went to the town of Assopo, in the island of Guale, where were Fr. Miguel de Aufion, and Fr. Antonio Badajoz; they knew beforehand of their coming, and seeing that flight was impossible, Fr. Miguel began to say mass, and administered the sacrament to Fr. Antonio, and both began to pray. Four hours afterward the Indians entered, killed friar Antonio instantly with a club (macana); and afterward gave friar Miguel two blows with it, and, leaving the bodies in the same place, some Christain Indians buried them at the foot of a very high cross, which the same friar Miguel had set up in the country. The Indians, continuing their cruelty, set out with great speed for the town of Asao where lived friar Francisco de Velascola. native of ( 'astro-Urdiales, a very poor and humble monk, but with such forcefulness that he caused the Indians great fear: he was at that time in the city of St. Agustine. Great was the disappointment of the Indians, because it appeared to thorn that they had done nothing if they left the friar Francisco alive. They learned in the town the day when he would return to it. went to the place where he was to disembark, and some awaited him hidden in a clump of rushes, near the bank. Friar Francisco arrived in a canoe, and, dissimulating, they surrounded him and took him by the shoulders, giving him many blows, with clubs (imicnnas) and axes, until his soul was restored to God. They passed to the town of Uspo. where lived friar Franciso Davila, (Note: This name is given farther on as de Avila or Avila) who as soon as he heard the noise at the doors was able under cover of night to go out into the country; the Indians followed him, and although he had hidden himself in some rushes, by the light of the moon they pierced his shoulders with three arrows; and wishing to continue until they had finished him, an Indian interposed, in order to possess himself of his poor clothing, which he had to do in order that they might leave him, who took him bare and well bound, and he was carried to a town of infidel Indians to serve as a slave. These cruelties did not fail to receive the punishment of God; for many of those who were concerned in these martyrdoms hung themselves with their bowstrings, and others died wretchedly; and upon that province God sent a great famine of which many perished, as will be related. The good success of these Indians caused others to unite with them, and they undertook to attack the island of San Pedro with more than 40 canoes, in order to put an end to the monks who were there, and destroy the chief, who was their enemy. They embarked, provided with bows, arrows, and clubs; and, considering the victory theirs, they discovered, near the island, a brigantine. which was in the harbor where they were to disembark, and they assumed that it had many people and began to debate about returning. The brigantine had arrived within sight of the island 30 days before with succor of bread and other things, which the monks needed; but they had not been able to reach the port, although those who came in it tried it many times, nor to pass beyond, on account of a bar (cafio) which formed itself from the mainland (?) a thing which had never happened before in that sea. It carried only one soldier, and the other people were sailors, and even less than the number needed for navigation. Finding the Indian rebels in this confusion the chief of the island went out to defend himself with a great number of canoes. (Note: It appears from unpublished Spanish documents that he sent two canocs apainst two which the enemy had dispatched in advance.) He attacked them with great resolution; and although they tried to defend themselves. their attempt was in vain, they fled, and those who were unable to jumped ashore; and the chief, collecting some of his enemies' canoes, returned triumphantly to his island, and the friars gave him many presents, with which he remained as satisfied as with his victory'. Of the others who had sprung to land none escaped, because they had no canoes in which they might return; some hung themselves with their bowstrings, and others died of hunger in the woods. Nor were those exempt who escaped, because the governor of Florida, learning of the atrocities of the Indians, went forth to punish the evildoers; but he was only able to burn the cornfields, because the aggressors retired to the marshes, and the high lands prevented him from punishing them, except with the famine which followed immediately the burning of the harvests. of which many Indians died. . . . The Indians kept the friar Francisco de Avila in strict confinement, ill-treating him much; afterwards they left him more liberty in order to bring water and wood, and watch the fields. They turned him over to the boys so that they might shoot arrows at him; and although the wounds were small, they drained him of blood, because he was not able to stop the blood; this apostolic man suffering these outrages with great patience and serenity. . . . Wearied of the sufferings of Father Avila the Indians determined to burn him alive. They tied him to a post. and put much wood under him. When about to burn him, there came to the chief one of the principal Indian women, whose son the Spaniards held captive in the city of St. Agustine without her having been able to find any way to rescue him although she had tried it. This moved her to beg the chief earnestly that he should give friar Francisco to her to exchange him for her son. Other Indians, who desired to see him free, begged the same thing; and although it cost them much urging to appease the hatred of the chief for the father, he granted what the Indian woman asked, giving him to her so badly treated, that he arrived at St. Agustine in such a condition that they did not recognize him: he had endured such great and such continuous labors. He accomplished the exchange, and the people of the city expressed a great deal of sympathy for friar Francisco. God wished to give a greater punishment to the Indians of Florida, who killed the missionaries so unjustly; and, refusing water to the earth. upon the burning of the crops. there began such a great famine in Florida that the conspirators died miserably themselves, confessing the cause of their misfortune to have been the barbarity, which they exercised against the Franciscan monks. Davila was liberated in 1599, and Barcia speaks as if the famine occurred the year following. A letter containing an account of this uprising and accompanied by testimony taken from several witnesses is preserved among the Spanish archives and a copy of this is in the Lowery collection. While less dramatic, naturally, than the narrative given, it differs in no essential particulars. The governor's punitive expedition was in 1597 or very early in 1598. He burned the principal Guale towns, including their granaries, and quickly reduced the greater part of the people to submission. In a letter of date 1600 he says: "No harm, not even death, that I have inflicted upon them has had as much weight in bringing them to obedience as the act of depriving them of their means of subsistence." In the same letter he has some additional information regarding the causes of the war which do not appear in the communications of the missionaries. He states that it was Don Juanillo's turn to be head mico of Guale, but— "owing to his being a quarrelsome and warlike young man, he was deprived of that dignity by the Rev. Friars Pedro de Corpa and Blas Rodriguez, who conferred it upon Don Francisco, a man of age and of good and humble habits. And this caused the massacre of the friars, among whom were the two mentioned. Although in the depositions that I took from several Indians in regard to that massacre they all affirmed that to have been the direct cause for the commission of that crime, yet I never allowed it to be written, as I could not consent to have anything derogatory to the prieste made public, and besides I look upon the Indians as being very little truthful and to cover their treachery would invent many lies." Yet it is strange that Don Juanillo and Don Francisco were both leaders of the hostile Indians, and were irreconcilable to the last.1 The chief of Espogache was among the first to surrender and he was quickly followed by others. In a letter written April 24, 1601, Gov. de Canco states that the chief of Asao and 40 Indians had just come to tender their submission and that all had given in except the chief of Tolomato, his nephew, and two other chiefs.2 Later the same year the governor induced the chief of Asao to head an expedition against this refractory element, he being one of the chiefs of most consideration in the province. This mico solicited assistance from the chiefs of Tulufma, Guale, Espogache, Yoa, Ufalague, Talapo, Olata Potoque, Ytocuco, the chiefs of the Salchiehes, the Tama, and the Cusabo. Don Juanillo and his partisans had established themselves in a stockaded town called Yfusinique and met the first attack of their more numerous foes so valiantly that many of them were killed. The allied chiefs then decided that a general assault would be necessary, and this was successful. Don Juanillo and Don Francisco were killed and their scalps taken and with them fell great numbers of their warriors, including 24 principal men. The remainder were taken back to Tamufa, from which the expedition had started.1 (Swanton)
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