I love history, and always have been fascinated with history because there is so much that we can learn. There are always more than one side to an argument, and the same can be said with history. Unfortunately, the side that you will hear most about will be the recorded history of the winners. From this point forward, my goal is to include a little bit of history along with my work. This one is the first of that format.

A brief history of Matanzas Inlet, Florida

Matanzas Inlet gets it’s name from a bloody massacre that happened in 1565.  King Philip II of Spain was enraged when he learned about the French sending Rene de Laudonniére to establish a settlement near present day Jacksonville called Fort Caroline.  This fort presented a threat to the Spanish treasure fleets that sailed along Florida’s coastline and what made matters worse for devout Catholic Philip was that the settlers were Huguenots, (French Protestants). 

Despite King Philips objections, the French had sent Jean Ribault with more than 600 soldiers and settlers to resupply Fort Caroline in May 1565.  General Pedro Menéndez de Aviles was charged with expelling the French from Florida, who had also left in May.  Menéndez arrived in August and shortly after a brief sea chase with Ribault, he and his men retired to an Timucuan village called Seloy.  On September 8^th, the Spanish came ashore and established a new village calling it St. Augustine.  It got it’s name because land was first sighted on “Feast Day of St. Augustine”, August 28^th.

Jean Ribault sailed on September 10 to attack and wipe out the Spanish at St. Augustine, but a hurricane carried his ships far to the south, wrecking them on the Florida coast between present-day Daytona Beach and Cape Canaveral.  At the same time, Menéndez led a force to attack Fort Caroline and since most of the soldiers were absent the fort was overrun easily.  Menéndez killed most of the men in battle.  Some of the settlers including Laudonniére escaped to ships and fled back to France.  Menéndez spared the women and children and sent them by ship to Havana. 

Menéndez learned from the Timucuan Indians that a group of white men were on the beach a few miles south of St. Augustine.  He then marched 70 soldiers to the inlet that blocked the passage of 127 shipwrecked Frenchmen attempting to return to Fort Caroline.  Using a captured Frenchman as a translator, Menéndez described how Fort Caroline had been captured and urged the French to surrender.  Menéndez offered survival for the French if they were Catholic.  All but 16 refused, resulting in the killing of 111 of the French. 

Two weeks later more French survivors appeared at the inlet, including Jean Ribault. On October 12 Ribault and his men surrendered and met their fate. This time 134 were killed. From that time, the inlet was called ‘Matanzas’ — meaning “slaughters” in Spanish.