Nassau and Duval County

Nassau County

Amelia Island was once occupied by ancient Floridians. Their high shell middens and dwelling mounds make the highest elevation in the area, which was where the Spanish built Fort San Carlos in 1815, and later the town of Fernandina. 46 ancient sites were surveyed on Amelia Island in the late 19th century. Ancient Floridians lived here from archaic times to 1702 when the English destroyed the settlements. The Spanish and Indians did live together at a local town known as Santa Maria. It is believed that some of these Indians moved to the Alachua area after conflict from the English in Georgia.

The Timuquan chiefs of Clacatora and Satouriona had their villages in Nassau County, and became friends of the Frenchmen from Fort Caroline.

In the early 1700's the Uchee (or Euchee, Yuchi, ect.) Indians settled on the St. Marys River.

Starting just before the War of 1812, Americans from Georgia occupied and took over the town of Fernandina in an attempt to take Florida from Spain. They failed in their attempt, and had to negotiate peace with the Spanish in 1815. The Americans launched raids against the Seminoles in the Alachua area from here.

Fort Clinch was established on Amelia Island in February 1842. Too late to play a major role in the Second Seminole War, destined to be occupied by the union 20 years later during the Civil War.

HISTORICAL QUOTE: CREEK INDIANS WITH GENERAL OGLETHORPE

In March 1743, General John Oglethorpe from Georgia led a large militia force into Florida to lay siege to the Spanish at St. Augustine. His party included many Upper and Lower Creeks. One of the soldiers wrote some interesting observations on the Creeks:

On dress and appearance: "They paint their faces and bodies, with black, red, or other colours, in a truly diabolic manner; or, to speak more rationally, much like the former uncultivated inhabitants of Britain, whom Tacitus mentions. Their dress is a skin or blanket, tied, or loosely cast, over their shoulders; a shirt which they never wash, and which is consequently greasy and black to the last degree; a flap, before and behind, to cover their privities, of red or blue bays, hanging by a girdle of the same; boots about their legs, of bays also; and what they call Morgissons, or pumps of deer or buffalo skin, upon their feet. Their arms, and ammunition, a common trading-gun; a pouch with shot and powder; a Tomohawk, or diminutive of a hatchet, by their side; a scalping-knife, pistol, &c."

Preparing for battle: "Before they go to war, they undergo the ceremony of Physicking, which is done very privately in the recesses of some hoary wood, remote from the eyes of any white person; and generally employs a day or two: Then performing the ceremony of their War-Dance, they are ready to begin their work. These two last mention'd ceremonies seem to be a mixture of the religious and the political. Their medicine is a kind of red paste, &c., but what made, the Lord above knows."

When Oglethorpe retreated from St. Augustine, the Indians boarded the same ship and created an amusing incident: "The rude manners of the Indians on board, who without ceremony took up the cabin and all the conveniencies, for lodging, and their arms, and lumber, were somewhat irksome, especially considering their nastiness; however, as his excellency himself was pleased with lying roughly on the deck, all the voyage, nobody else had the least reason to complain."

From "A Relation, or Journal, of a late Expedition to the Gates of St. Augustine, on Florida" by Edward Kimber, 1744.

PLACES TO VISIT:

Amelia Island Museum of History, Fernandina Beach:

I have not yet visit this place, but it is said to contain exhibits on the Timucuan Indians.

Duval County

The ancient Timuquan town of Ossachite was in this area. Another site was the Grand Site, made up of shell rings. The Mission of San Juan del Puerto Archaeological Site was part of the Spanish mission chain that was destroyed by the English in 1702. Franciscan missionaries converted the Timucuan and Guale Indians in the area.

During Florida's English period, many plantations were established in the area and helped start the community of Cow Ford, what later became the modern city of Jacksonville.

PLACES TO VISIT:

Fort Caroline National Memorial
Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve

Main Gate at Fort Caroline.

In 1562 French Huguenots tried to establish a foothold here at the mouth of the St. Johns River and built Charles Fort. The French traded with the Timucuan Indians under Chief Saturiba, and the painter LeMoy recorded much about their way of life. Much of what we know about the Timucuans comes from these drawings. While Jean Ribault, the founder of Fort Caroline, was away getting supplies in France, the French crew faced starvation and mutiny, and abandoned the fort. Because of war and political troubles in Europe, help from France did not arrive until 1564. By that time Spain had found out about the French, in territory that had been claimed by Spain.

Rene Goulaine de Laudonniere took an exhibition back to Florida in 1564 and reestablished Fort Caroline. The French were restless and more interested in attacking Spanish ships than establishing a stable colony. Again the French faced starvation and mutiny. The Spaniards had enough of the French being on their territory, so Pedro Menendez de Aviles was sent to take care of things. Meanwhile, Ribault returned to Fort Caroline with supplies to reinforce the colony.

Menendez reached Florida and established St. Augustine on September 8, 1565. What happened next was a series of disasters for the French that convinced the Spanish that it was the will of God. Ribault went to St. Augustine to attack the Spanish, but found out the French ships could not enter the shallow harbor. While waiting for higher tides, a violent storm appeared, and the French ships were scattered and wrecked on shore as far south as Cape Canaveral. While the French were gathering on shore down south, Menendez took a force up to Fort Caroline and destroyed the fort. A few survivors who escaped the Spanish were able to make their way back to France.

Returning to St. Augustine, Menendez found the French troops from the wrecked ships coming from the south. He forced them to surrender, and did what is one of the most infamous acts in Florida history. Since Menendez did not have supplies to feed several hundred more people, and since they were Protestant heretics and not Catholics, the French were put to the sword. The foul act gave the name to Matanzas Inlet south of St. Augustine, meaning "Place of Slaughter." A few of the French were spared and sent as slaves to Cuba. About two dozen others who did not surrender lived the rest of their lives among the coastal Indians further south around Canaveral National Seashore.

Two years later a French exhibition returned and had its revenge on Fort San Mateo, the Spanish outpost that sat on the ruins of Fort Caroline. But that was all the revenge the French would do, because they no longer challenged the Spanish in Florida.

Kingsley Plantation:

Postcard of the Kingsley Plantation. (1960's)
From State of Florida Archives

In the early 1800's, Spain started to give generous grants to individuals who would settle the land. Maybe the Spanish knew their influence was on the decline, and the days would be short for Spanish rule to remain in Florida. At least they would try to make a profit with what was left.

Zephaniah Kingsley was one of the plantation owners who moved into Spanish Florida and received a large land grant. You can visit the remains of one of his later plantations on Fort George Island. Kingsley's main wife was Anna Jai Kingsley, an African princess purchased from slave traders in Havana, and eventually freed after five years with Kingsley. Anna managed the plantation and business when Zephaniah Kingsley was often away on business. She became a wealthy plantation owner herself. It was not unusual in Spanish Florida to have mixed racial marriages and slave owners who were themselves black.

Kingsley had a house in Fernandina, and supported the United States gaining Florida during the War of 1812. Several excursions of American invaders came into Florida from 1812 to 1815, known as the "Patriot War." Kingsley hosted a "victory party" for Georgia Colonel Daniel Newnan after Newnan's failed attempt to destroy the Seminoles in Florida. (Newnan's force barely made it back alive.)

Kingsley's support of the Patriots cost him heavily. The Seminoles burned his Laurel Grove Plantation on the St. Johns River. Kingsley's wife Anna had to hide from the patriot forces because she was afraid that the Georgians would try to enslave her. For the rest of his life, Kingsley would be in court seeking damages from the Government for the Patriot affair.

Once Florida became a US territory, more restrictive laws were passed against freed slaves. The Kingsleys were eventually forced to move to Haiti in 1837. Zephaniah Kingsley died a few years later, but Anna eventually returned to Florida in 1860 to live with family on the St. Johns. She evacuated with the Union during the war, but returned when it was over, and lived until 1870.

Museum of Science and History, Jacksonville:

Contains an exhibit taking you through 12,000 years of history of the area.

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