Page 27 - Guest Advantage Magazine - September 2015

Pedro Menendez De Aviles
(1519-1574)
Spanish mariner who founded St. Augustine, Florida in 1565.
In 1565, Menendez was commissioned by King Philip II to equip an expedition to establish a colony in Florida. There were two objectives in the mission; the first
was to establish fortified enclaves along the coastline that would protect Spanish treasure fleets returning to Spain by way of the Bahamas, and the second was to eliminate French Huguenot settlements in the Florida region.
Menendez set sail from Spain on July 29, 1565 and on August 28 he entered
a harbor on the coast of Florida. Our nation’s oldest city, St. Augustine, was founded 11 days later. He then attacked the French garrison at Fort Caroline at the mouth of the St. Johns River. The Spanish slaughtered everyone in the fort, including survivors from a French force that had set out earlier to attack him at sea but were shipwrecked in a hurricane.
Menendez returned to Spain in 1567, was appointed Governor of Cuba in 1568 and perfected the convoy-escort strategy to protect the Spanish treasure ships from pirates and corsairs. In 1568 and 1570 he returned to America and sent exploratory parties up the Chesapeake Bay and the Rappahnnock River.
Shortly before his death in 1574 he was recalled to Spain and was appointed Captain General of the Armada that was to invade England.
Sir Francis Drake
(1540-1596)
English admiral and explorer, the founder of the English naval tradition.
Drake inherited strong protestant views from his father which made his fight with Spain a matter of conscience as well as of material gain. The Drakes were related to the wealthy Hawkins at Plymouth.
After an unpublicized voyage across the Atlantic, Drake was placed in his first command in the squadron of John Hawkins, which was active in the slave trade between Africa and the Spanish colonies in the West Indies. This voyage of 1566 to 1567 ended in disaster when the Spanish attacked English ships at San Juan de Ulua on the eastern coast of Mexico. Hawkins, as treasurer of the navy, and Drake, as a privateer, sought revenge for this event.
Drake first drew the attention of the rest of the world to England as a rising sea power when he sailed around the world in the early 1580’s. The queen knighted him as the first captain to have circumnavigated the globe. (Magellan’s claim was disputed since he had died during the voyage of his ship the Vittoria from 1519-1522.)
The year 1585 marked the beginning of open war with Spain. Drake was appointed to command an amphibious expedition to the West Indies. By this point in his career, Drake has mastered tactics of combined operations enabling him to capture Santo Domingo, Cartegena and St. Augustine, Florida. He also removed the settlers under Ralph Lane at Roanoke, Virginia at their own request. This ended Sir Walter Raleigh’s first American colony. Drake returned to England in 1586.
Osceola
(1800-1838)
Native American who became an influential Seminole leader.
Shortly after the Creek Wars (1813 1814), Osceola and other Creeks retreated to Florida and banded with the Seminoles. During his twenties, Osceola became known as a successful hunter and a courageous war hero. He was awarded recognition that was normally reserved only for the Chiefs.
In April of 1835, after one of many battles with the U.S. Troops, Osceola
was briefly captured. Upon his escape he began to organize his warriors in an effort to stop an attempt by government troops to relocate his people to a reservation west of the Mississippi River. This marked the beginning of the second Seminole war.
By December of that same year Osceola had ambushed and killed Wiley Thompson, the U.S. Indian agent. From the Everglades, Osceola engaged in guerrilla warfare tactics always avoiding a direct pitched battle.
In October 1837, Osceola and his warriors were captured while under a flag of truce. General Thomas S. Jessup deceived Osceola and imprisoned him in St. Augustine’s fort. Osceola died (Jan. 30, 1838) at Fort Moultrie, S.C.
Public outrage at Jessup’s trickery tarnished the army’s image. With respect for Osceola, several towns and counties in various states were named in his honor.
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