EDITOR’S NOTE: The state celebrates Viva La Florida this year. This is the sixth of several articles on the Spanish Missions in Florida.
After failing on his first attack in 1702, Carolinian James Moore led a second strike on Spanish Florida in 1704, this one swift and deadly.
Fifty men and 1,000 Indians joined Moore in his raids on the missions of Apalache Province. They burnt churches and missions, slashed and decapitated the friars and any others with whom they clashed. If they caught any Spaniards, they sent them naked back to St. Augustine.
The raiders impaled the Christian natives on stakes and captured hundreds of others, along with 4,000 women and children. In particular, they assaulted women whose husbands were away working on the crops or helping at other mission sites.
Those who surrendered their religious articles were given the chance to move to and live on a buffer zone between Carolina and Florida.
Moore also wiped out the ranches just getting started on the interior grasslands of North Central Florida.
By seeking safety in the thick woods or in the confines of Fort San Marcos, the Indians had no other defense against the raiders.
Survivors fled to Cuba and other outposts of the Spanish and the French.
English authorities at Charleston continued to reward Indians allied with them who carried out attacks in East Florida against Native Americans. They promised considerable rewards for Yamassee and Apalachee scalps.
Ivitachuco on the east side of the Timucua Province was the only village that survived the holocaust. Don Patricio Hinachuba, the cacique of this village, was held in respect by the raiders. But the mission’s Indians fled eastward to St. Augustine, with others headed west to Pensacola and Mobile.
Massacre at Ayubale
Col. Moore’s major offensive took place on Jan. 25-26, 1704. When he launched his attack against Ayubale, the Golden Age of the Florida missions had long since passed. La Conception de Ayubale was one of the largest mission towns of Apalachee that remained. Over 400 Apalachee warriors, 30 Spanish Cavalry, 50 English traders and 1,000 Creek warriors clashed in this battle. In the fighting, more than 200 warriors were killed and many civilians were taken as prisoners. San Luis in what’s now Tallahassee sent Spaniards to help those at the mission.
During the battle, Father Angel Miranda and 26 men retreated to the town’s compound and held off the English for nine hours. When Miranda’s munitions ran out they surrendered and were slain in cold blood. Miranda was held for ransom, which was never paid. Many civilians were taken prisoners. The captives were burnt at the stake.
According to “The Spanish Missions of Florida” by the WPA, Father John de Villalba went with others to the ruined town. “A scene of unparalleled horror met them on every side. The dead, burned, pierced by stakes, scalped, and mutilated, were everywhere. Father Mendoza was found with his beads and partly melted crucifix sunk into his flesh, while Father Miranda and others had completely disappeared.”
Some of them reached a new low in torture. They slashed young children then stuck lighted pine splinters into their wounds while they died.
Ayubale was located 5 miles northwest of Hampton Springs in Taylor County or 25 miles due east of St. Marks.
Threat of War
By 1706, conditions had grown so bad with Indian slavery, Moore recommended reforms be made in Indian trade or the colony would undergo a war, according to James W. Covington in The Florida Anthropologist, March-June, 1967. In 1707, the assembly passed laws providing for a system of licensing and regulations, establishment for a board of commissioners and appointment of agents to visit Indian towns.
The following year they introduced rules for the reception and treatment of Indian prisoners. A captain was charged with purchasing all Indians over the age of 12. They were then sold to the public receiver. Indians could be classified as slaves only if they were taken in warfare.
A few years later, the public storekeeper at Charleston became the person authorized to purchase Indian slaves from friendly Indians. The male slaves could be sold in single lots after 24 hours’ notice. But the women with children were sold in public auctions.
Covington stated that Indian slaves had little value as workers on the Carolina plantations. He wrote that “The Indians could not work at a good pace in the fields and accordingly were valued at half the price of Negro slaves,” which were now being brought into this country. He added that “each exported Indian slave could be bought for 75 gallons of rum in Barbados.”
Those desiring to help the Indians made them wards or apprentices. Some earned educations. Spanish prestige steadily declined until all substantial Indian support was irretrievably lost. From 1650-1730, at least 50,000 Native Americans were exported from Charleston by the English.
Next week: San Luis’ abandonment.