Apalachee

FROM THE DOCUMENTS

from the documents Testimony of Manuel Solana the younger, son of the deputy governor of Apalachee , given in San Augustı́n, 1705: The witness [testified that he] did not go along . . . to fight the battle of Ayubale, but that if things went well he was to carry munitions, and that [along the way] he encountered some retreating Indians and Spaniards and [learned that the enemy] had killed Father Fray Juan de Parga . . . and thrown him in a canebrake . . . and that Juan Solana—a brother of the witness—went to his aid and . . . was killed. Royal cédula from the King of Spain, May 7, 1700: Don Patricio Hinachuba, the principal [chief] of the entire province [of Apalachee], and Don Andres, [chief] of the village of San Luı́s, . . . have written to me . . . of the continuous affronts, vexations, and annoyances which they receive from the [Spanish] families . . . in that province . . . [who oblige] them to work for them without giving them food or otherwise compensating for their labor, by which they are obliged to withdraw to the woods where they do not hear Mass, . . . some even passing to [the English]. Manuel Solana, deputy governor of Apalachee, reporting his defeat in the battle of Patale, July 9, 1704: I proposed . . . to the Indians [that we fall upon the enemy], and they replied to me that if the Spaniards would fight afoot as they do, they would go, but if the Spaniards went on horses, they did not want to go. I told them we would all go afoot. . . . Francisco Corcoles y Martinez, governor at San Augustı́n, in a letter to the King of Spain, 1708: Nothing . . . has sufficed to prevent the enemy from continuing his constant killings and hostilities. . . . Altogether those they have carried off to sell as slaves must number more than ten or twelve thousand persons. Nathaniel Johnson, governor of South Carolina, in a report to England, 1708 (paraphrased): The number of inhabitants in this province of [South Carolina] . . . are computed to be 9,580 souls, of which there are 2,260 free men and women; 120 white servants; 4,100 Negro slaves; and 1,400 Indian slaves. Commissioners of the Indian Trade, South Carolina, in instructions to a trader, 1716: You are to mark all skins . . . and slaves bought by you C H, to which end we send you a brand. Francis LeJau, Anglican minister in South Carolina, in a letter to England, 1715: I take upon me to acquaint [you] of a very dismal piece of news, an Indian war lately broke out in this province. Dismal in all respects. The province is in danger of being lost. John Lawson, a surveyor in Carolina, in his book about the province, 1709: These [Indians] have abundance of storks and cranes in their [meadows ]. They take them before they can fly, and breed ’em as tame and familiar as a dung-hill fowl. They had a tame crane at one of these cabins that was scarce less than six foot in height. . . . Colonel George Chicken in his journal of the campaign into the Cherokee country, 1716: The head warriors were in a great passion and said if they made peace with the other Indians they should have no way in getting of slaves to buy ammunition and clothing and that they were resolved to get ready for war. Francis Le Jau in a letter to England, 1716: As for our Indian war . . . it is affirmed that 2000 Cherokees are marched against the main body of the Creek Indians. . . . God send them good success. 398 ...