Did you know there was a French settlement in Florida?

In June 1564 Rene de Laudonniere and a group of 300  (which included Hugeunot colonists as well as sailors) came to northern Florida and sailed about 5 miles inland on what they called the May—a river you might know better as the present day St. John’s and here was founded the colony of La Caroline and given the times and location the needed fort to protect it.

The problem for the French however was that the area had been previously claimed by Spain, who far out weighted any threat from the local Indians—the settlement lasted a little over a year (15 months)  With luck and more Pedro Menendez de Aviles, the governor of Florida and his men, finally captured the colony on September 20, 1565.

The survivors were separated by sex—the women and children were all spared but were to spend a life of slavery.  The men were questioned as to their religion (Catholic vs. Huguenot), two claimed to be Catholic—the rest were ask to renounce their religion which they refused to do and they were hanged and left to rot as they died.  By the time of the murders it is said that there were 400 men that were in the colony that were hanged,

The Spanish eventually refitted the fort and renamed it San Mateo (St. Matthew)  While back in France Captain Dominique de Gourgues (who was a Catholic by the way) raised a fleet and on August 22, 1567 he set sail from France to avenge his countrymen and his country’s honor.  When they reached the new world and landed they formed an alliance with the local Indians–the Timucua who had also suffered under the Spanish.  They attached the fort on the morning of April 24, 1568.  When they finally realized the size of the force attaching and after the death of a group of 60 of their best men were slaughter as they left the fort to scout it., many of the Spanish deserted but only 16 made it back to St. Augustine—and those that remained in the fort were captured, where hanged on the same trees as the original French colonist had ended their lives.

Visit Historical St. Augustine:  https://www.visitstaugustine.com/

You can visit a recreated Fort today near where the original was:–check it out here:  https://www.nps.gov/timu/learn/historyculture/foca.htm

He jests at scars that never felt a wound   

Romeo and Juliet

The best interviews like the best biographies should sing the strangeness and variety of the human race.

Lynn Barber

The Holocaust Encyclopedia says of him:  “Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian known for his opposition to National Socialism. His ties to the July 20, 1944, conspiracy to overthrow the Nazi regime led to his execution in 1945. His theological writings are regarded as classics throughout the Christian world.”  Go to this site for a fuller account:   https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/dietrich-bonhoefferHe was arrested for embezzling money by the Gestapo, who soon found that the money was being used to help rescue Jews and to help keep pastors at the church he belonged to (Confessing Church) out of the Army—it took months for them to actually discover the full scope of his activties.

Another site for more details  the Jewish Virtual Library  https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/dietrich-bonhoeffer   

Today there is even a statue (unveiled  July 1998 above the west entrance) of Bonhoeffer among 10 done to remember 10 modern martyrs) in London’s Westminister Abbey—in fact he actually moved to England in 1933 and was pastor of two London area German speaking parishes until he return to Germany a few years late.

Check out that story here:  https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/dietrich-bonhoeffer

There’s a DVD about him         which you can buy several places on line

and his book   is available too

and if you google him there are more items by and about him..

.and now you know.

Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.

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And two of the most famous both served on the same ship under Calico Jack Rackham     

“Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.” —

Emily Dickinson