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Page 8
On Saturday, the 8th, the general landed with many banners spread, to
the sound of trumpets and salutes of artillery. As I had gone ashore
the evening before, I took a cross and went to meet him, singing the
hymn _Te Deum laudamus_. The general marched up to the cross, followed
by all who accompanied him, and there they all kneeled and embraced
the cross. A large number of Indians watched these proceedings and
imitated all they saw done. The same day the general took formal
possession of the country in the name of his Majesty, and all the
captains took the oath of allegiance to him, as their general and
governor of the country....
Our general was very bold in all military matters, and a great enemy
of the French. He immediately assembled his captains and planned an
expedition to attack the French settlement and fort on the river with
five hundred men; and, in spite of the opinion of a majority of them,
and of my judgment and of another priest, he ordered his plan to be
carried out. Accordingly, on Monday, September 17, he set out with
five hundred men, well provided with fire-arms and pikes, each soldier
carrying with him a sack of bread and supply of wine for the journey.
They also took with them two Indian chiefs, who were the implacable
enemies of the French, to serve as guides....
I have previously stated that our brave captain-general set out on the
17th of September with five hundred arquebusiers and pikemen, under
the guidance of two Indian chiefs, who showed them the route to the
enemy's fort. They marched the whole distance until Tuesday evening,
the 17th of September, 1565, when they arrived within a quarter of a
league of the enemy's fort (Carolin), where they remained all night up
to their waists in water. When daylight came, Captains Lopez, Patino,
and Martin Ochoa had already been to examine the fort, but, when they
went to attack the fort, a greater part of the soldiers were so
confused they scarcely knew what they were about.
On Thursday morning our good captain-general, accompanied by his
son-in-law, Don Pedro de Valdes, and Captain Patino, went to inspect
the fort. He showed so much vivacity that he did not seem to have
suffered by any of the hardships to which he had been exposed, and,
seeing him march off so brisk, the others took courage, and without
exception followed his example. It appears the enemy did not perceive
their approach until the very moment of the attack, as it was very
early in the morning and had rained in torrents. The greater part of
the soldiers of the fort were still in bed. Some arose in their
shirts, and others, quite naked, begged for quarter; but, in spite of
that, more than one hundred and forty were killed. A great Lutheran
cosmographer and magician was found among the dead. The rest,
numbering about three hundred, scaled the walls, and either took
refuge in the forest or on their ships floating in the river, laden
with treasures, so that in an hour's time the fort was in our
possession, without our having lost a single man, or even had one
wounded. There were six vessels on the river at the time. They took
one brig, and an unfinished galley and another vessel, which had been
just discharged of a load of rich merchandise, and sunk. These vessels
were placed at the entrance to the bar to blockade the harbor, as they
expected we would come by sea. Another, laden with wine and
merchandise, was near the port. She refused to surrender, and spread
her sails, when they fired on her from the fort, and sunk her in a
spot where neither the vessel nor cargo will be lost.
The taking of this fort gained us many valuable objects, namely, two
hundred pikes, a hundred and twenty helmets, a quantity of arquebuses
and shields, a quantity of clothing, linen, fine cloths, two hundred
tons of flour, a good many barrels of biscuit, two hundred bushels of
wheat, three horses, four asses, and two she-asses, hogs, tallow,
books, furnace, flour-mill, and many other things of little value. But
the greatest advantage of this victory is certainly the triumph which
our Lord has granted us, and which will be the means of the holy
Gospel being introduced into this country, a thing necessary to
prevent the loss of many souls....
When we had reached the sea, we went about three leagues along the
coast in search of our comrades. It was about ten o'clock at night
when we met them, and there was a mutual rejoicing at having found
each other. Not far off we saw the camp fires of our enemies, and our
general ordered two of our soldiers to go and reconnoiter them,
concealing themselves in the bushes, and to observe well the ground
where they were encamped, so as to know what could be done. About two
o'clock the men returned, saying that the enemy was on the other side
of the river, and that we could not get at them. Immediately the
general ordered two soldiers and four sailors to return to where we
bad left the boats, and bring them down the river, so that we might
pass over to where the enemy was. Then he marched his troops forward
to the river, and we arrived before daylight. We concealed ourselves
in a hollow between the sandhills, with the Indians who were with us;
and, when it became light, we saw a great many of the enemy go down to
the river to get shell-fish for food. Soon after we saw a flag
hoisted, as a war-signal.
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