A School History of the United States. John Bach McMaster
ship and went to sea, where an English vessel found them in a starving condition, and took them to London.
In 1564 a second party, under Laudonnière (lo-do-ne-ar'), landed at the St. Johns River in Florida, and built a fort called Fort Caroline in honor of Charles IX. of France. But the King of Spain, hearing that the French were trespassing, sent an expedition under Menendez (ma-nen'-deth), who founded St. Augustine in 1565. There Ribault, who had returned and joined Laudonnière, attempted to attack the Spaniards. But a hurricane scattered his ships, and while it was still raging, Menendez fell suddenly on Fort Caroline and massacred men, women, and children. A few days later, falling in with Ribault and his men, who had been driven ashore south of St. Augustine, Menendez massacred 150 more.[1] For this foul deed a Frenchman named Gourgues (goorg) exacted a fearful penalty. With three small ships and 200 men, he sailed to the St. Johns River, took and destroyed the fort which the Spaniards had built on the site of Fort Caroline, and put to death every human being within it.
[Footnote 1: The story of the French in Florida is finely told in Parkman's Pioneers of France in the New World; also J. Sparks's Life of Ribault; Baird's Huguenot Emigration.]
[Illustration: Gateway at St. Augustine[2]]
[Footnote 2: Remaining from the Spanish occupation of Florida.]
SUMMARY
1. From 1492 to 1513 the Europeans who came to America explored the coasts of North and South America, but did not go inland.
2. In 1513 exploration of the interior of the two continents began. Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama, 1513, and Cortes conquered Mexico, 1519–21.
3. In 1528 Narvaez made the first serious attempt to enter the Mississippi valley. He died, and some of his followers, under Cabeza de Vaca, crossed the continent.
4. When the Spanish governor of Mexico heard their story, he sent Fray Marcos to find the "Seven Cities of Cibola"; and began the exploration of the southwestern part of the United States.
5. In 1539–1541 De Soto and his band explored the southeastern part of the United States from Florida to the Mississippi River.
6. By 1582 two Spanish settlements had been made in the United States—St. Augustine, 1565, and Santa Fé, 1582.
EUROPE FINDS AMERICA.
DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATIONS, 1492–1600.
ATLANTIC COAST.
1492. Columbus. Islands off the coast. 1493. Columbus. Islands off the coast. 1497. John Cabot. North America. Labrador. 1498. John and Sebastian Cabot. Labrador to Cape Cod. Pinzon and Solis. Florida to Chesapeake Bay. 1500. Cabral. Discovers Brazil. 1501. Vespucius. Explores Brazilian coast. 1500–1502. Cortereals. Explore coast North America. 1513. Ponce de Leon. Discovers and names Florida.
GULF COAST.
1498. Pinzon and Solis. Explore Gulf of Mexico and
coast of Florida.
1519. Pineda. Sails from Florida to Mexico.
1528. Narvaez. Florida to Texas.
1543. Followers of De Soto sail from Mississippi River
to Mexico.
THE INTERIOR.
1519–21. Cortes. Conquers Mexico.
1534–36. De Vaca. From the Sabine River to the Gulf
of California.
1539. Fray Marcos. Search for the Seven Cities. Wanders
over New Mexico.
1540–42. Coronado, Gila River, Rio Grande, Colorado
River.
1539–41. De Soto. Wanders over Florida, Georgia, and
Alabama, and reaches the Mississippi River.
1582–1600. Spaniards in the valleys of the Gila and Rio
Grande.
PACIFIC COAST.
1513. Balboa. Discovers the Pacific Ocean.
1520. Magellan. Sails around South America into the
Pacific.
1578–1580. Drake. Sails around South America and
up the Pacific coast to Oregon. (See p. 26.)
CHAPTER III
ENGLISH, DUTCH, AND SWEDES ON THE SEABOARD
%15. The English Claim to the Seaboard.%—After the Spaniards had thus explored the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and what is now Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, the English attempted to take possession of the Atlantic coast. The voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot in 1497 and 1498 were not followed up in the same way that Spain followed up those of Columbus, and for nearly eighty years the flag of England was not displayed in any of our waters.[1] At last, in 1576, Sir Martin Frobisher set out to find a northwest passage to Asia. Of course he failed; but in that and two later voyages he cruised about the shores of our continent and gave his name to Frobisher's Bay.[2] Next came Sir Francis Drake, the greatest seaman of his age. He left England in 1577, crossed the Atlantic, sailed down the South American coast, passed through the Strait of Magellan, and turning northward coasted along South America, Mexico, and California, in search of a northeast passage to the Atlantic. When he had gone as far north as Oregon the weather grew so cold that his men began to murmur, and putting his ship about, he sailed southward along our Pacific coast in search of a harbor, which in June, 1579, he found near the present city of San Francisco. There he landed, and putting up a post nailed to it a brass plate on which was the name of Queen Elizabeth, and took possession of the country.[3] Despairing of finding a short passage to England, Drake finally crossed the Pacific and reached home by way of the Cape of Good Hope. He had sailed around the globe.[4]
[Footnote 1: For Cabot's voyages read Fiske's Discovery of America, Vol. II., pp. 2–15.]
[Footnote 2: See map of 1515.]
[Footnote 3: The white cliffs reminded Drake strongly of the cliffs of Dover, and as one of the old names of England was Albion (the country of the white cliffs), he called the land New Albion.]
[Footnote 4: For Drake read E.T. Payne's Voyages of Elizabethan Seamen.]
%16. Gilbert and Ralegh attempt to found a Colony.%—While Drake was making his voyage, another gallant seaman, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, was given (by Queen Elizabeth) any new land he might discover in America. His first attempt (1579) was a failure, and while on his way home from a landing on Newfoundland (1583), his ship, with all on board, went down in a storm at sea. The next year (1584) his half-brother, Sir Walter Ralegh, one of the most accomplished men of his day and a great favorite with Queen Elizabeth, obtained permission from the Queen to make a settlement on any part of the coast of America not already occupied by a Christian power; and he at once sent out an expedition. The explorers landed on Roanoke Island, off the coast of what is now North Carolina, and came home with such a glowing description of the "good land" they had found that the Virgin Queen called it "Virginia," in honor of herself, and Ralegh determined to colonize it.[1]
[Footnote 1: For Ralegh read E. Gosse's Raleigh (in English Worthies Series); Louise Creighton's Sir W. Ralegh (Historical Biographies Series).]
%17. Roanoke Colony; the Potato and Tobacco.%—In 1585, accordingly, 108