Picking up where  the Fort Caroline Narratives  left off.

An archaeologists account of the discovery of the mission site Santa Catalina de Guale, its excavation and the artifacts they found there. Including several interesting photos.

AN EARLY FLORIDA ADVENTURE STORY

This one is a hair raising account of a 1595 shipwreck written by a Spaniard, Fray Andres de San Miguel.  He was bound for Spain aboard the ship “Our Lady of Mercy”, out of Havana. It foundered in the Gulf Stream with a broken rudder.  The remaining crew fashioned a makeshift lifeboat and drifted for several days until washing  ashore on probably either Little St Simons Island or Wolf Island. They were rescued by some local Guale Indians, who gave them maize cakes, acorn cakes and some water and a smoldering log. Then they were taken to Asao  (an indian settlement located on or very near the Fort King George site in modern- day Darien) , then  later on to San Pedro ( on Cumberland Island ) and eventually on  to St Augustine, Havana and Spain. There is a lot of original material here about the indians he encountered on the way back home , and on life in early St Augustine.  An eyebrow raising note:  Frey Andres mentions that he was shown the ruins of Ft .Caroline, then called Mateo, from the river, (probably  the St Marys or Cumberland river) as they were leaving San Pedro . San Pedro must have been very close to what is now the Dungeness ruins.

Father Ore’ was born in Peru but visited St Augustine and surrounding mission territory a few years after the Guale rebellion of 1597 (Juanillo’s revolt) His account was published in Spain around 1617. It is a brief  history of Spanish, English and the Catholic Church’s involvement in Spanish Florida up to that point. He recounts early explorations before the arrival of Pedro Menendez , the founder  of St Augustine, and subsequent explorations, settlements and missions along the coast as far north as the Chesapeake (Jacan ), as well as rebellions by the indians and the martyrdom of some of the religious.

A more in depth study of the  Spanish colonial support system Mainly concerned with Spanish Florida, From translated documents,  the author examines the relationships between the various native groups with St Augustine, and with the Catholic church.

Murder and Martyrdom is the story the deaths of five  Franciscan friars and the capture and ransom of another in Guale territory. The  Friars were clubbed to death  at the Guale Mission on  St .Catherines ‘Island,  and  at Tolomato,  located up around  Harris   Neck,   at  Tupiqui,  farther  inland  near Pine Harbor,  and  at  Asao,  near  modern-day  Darien.  The  book  is  full  of  information,  supported  with  maps  charts,  and translated  Spanish  documents.   

The Struggle for the Georgia Coast  is  the fruit of a long effort  by  Archaeologist  John Worth.  During  the  dispute  between  the English and Spanish  over  the  territory  between  Santa Elena (Parris  Island)  and  St  Augustine,  the  Englishman  James Edward Oglethorpe began colonizing and fortifying the coast,. The Spanish  King  Philip  V  ordered  governor Montiano,  in St  Augustine,  to gather  documentary  proof of  Spain’s  rightful  claim to  the  territory.  The  result  was a large  package  of  documents that  were   pulled  from  the  archives  at  St Augustine,  and  sent  to  Spain,  where  it all  languished  for a couple  of  centuries.  This is a  trove  of  information ,   which  included  royal  cedulas ,   maps,  tables,  census, registrys  and  correspondence.  John  Worth  translated  it  and puts  it all into  perspective. A more general introduction to the Spanish mission system within the ambit of St Augustine, along with descriptions of some of the  archaeologist’s and history scholar’s projects and  techniques. Many illustrations included.  According to Milanich, “Wally’s Leg”,  a creek that branches off the Macay river near the Frederica  river junction, is simply an English spelling of “Guale”.