Chapter 3

Moving along in the opening part of the 400 year war, the decimation of the American Indian Tribes was primarily due to slow but steady migration away from the encroaching European Settlers as well as several outbreaks of disease due to exposure to the sicknesses of the travelers from the Old World. Actual conflict casualties were at a minimum with incidents more the result of miscalculation or accidental confrontation. At least in respect to those areas north of the Rio Grande River and south of the Canadian border, conflict was not a major cause of the falling Indian population. The same is not true for the Central and South American regions which were scenes of bloody conflict between the Spanish and Portuguese seekers of gold and fortune and the followers of an ancient way of life that in many respects surpassed the European civilization in both design and complexity. Those areas are outside the scope of this revelation of events so we will not enter into discussion.

One of the key ingredients of European exploration and settlement of the region known later as "The Lower 48" was the extensive efforts of Spain to colonize and convert those areas under The American Indian Tribal control to territory of the Spanish empire. This effort was quite different than the cruel methods and genocidal actions taken by Spain in the Central American, South American and Island territories. Spain allowed the Catholic Church to take the forefront in their exploration and colonization projects in Florida, Texas and eventually California. Those were the primary states that were affected by the Spanish Catholic Church missions and actually occurred at different times in the earlier part of the 400 year war. When punitive actions were taken against the American Indian Tribes in the mission complexes it usually was at the instigation of the civil government in charge of the area. That is not to say that in many cases the priests and brothers of the various orders were not complicit in such excesses. In many instances, the Church approved of the methods providing they did not conflict with their primary goal of conversion.

In general terms, we can describe the Florida missions as beginning in the very early 1500s and continuing until Spain turned over control of the Florida missions to England in 1763. That was a period of some 260 years and the ebb and flow of the conversion efforts were often related to how the Indian Tribes were treated by the Spanish settlers and the scope of their interference in local Indian matters not in their jurisdiction.

The Texas missions were started almost a full century later and were viable right up to the time of eventual statehood in the closing chapters of this conflict. We will look at them in part 3 of this story.

The California missions were not initiated until after the turn of the eighteenth century. They will also be discussed in part 3 of this story because much has been said of the exploitation of the American Indian Tribes in California by the Fathers who established the missions up the entire "El Camino Real" or the Street of Kings. Regardless of the facts of whether or not the missions were to the benefit or detriment of the American Indian Tribes, the simple truth is the missions made exploration and development of the Pacific Coast much easier because of their many improvements to road systems and communication systems from the Mexican border to the Canadian lands in the north.

FLORIDA SPANISH MISSIONS

Even though the initial explorations of Florida started in the beginning of the sixteenth century, the actual missionary work and efforts to convert the "heathen" did not start until nearly 1550.

There were many attempts made various orders under guidance from the Vatican but the perspective from a historical viewpoint is that most, if not all, of the early attempts were complete failures costing the lives of many religious field workers with little of any of the attributes needed to cope with a hostile native population.

The Spanish governmental authorities were most likely fully aware that the efforts were doomed to failure because they had already "poisoned the waters" with their heavy-handed and ignominious treatment of the American Indian Tribes in the lower "48". Conceivably, the persons in authority familiar with the ongoing "Inquisition" in Europe and the methods employed by Spanish explorers in Central and South America viewed in comparison, they regarded their treatment of the American Indian Tribes as "benign" despite the cruel abuse heaped on the native populations in the three main areas of missionary efforts; Florida, Texas and California.

Specifically in that region now known as Florida, their missionary efforts were many and widespread. A capsule timeline of the missionary work highlights the following:

At the beginning of the Sixteenth Century, the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon began his Floridian explorations with the primary intent to exploit the native populations for their mineral possessions and in a foolish search for the "Fountain of Youth" which was a will of the wisp fairy tale intended to take full advantage of naïve human nature.

The estimated population of what is known as Florida was about a quarter of a million native Indians inhabiting mostly the coastal regions with an emphasis in fishing and boat transportation and a semi-nomadic lifestyle. The Indian tribes indigenous to this area were unusually hostile and suspicious of encroachment on their territory which made settlement a difficult proposition. The unintended consequence of transmitted European diseases drastically reduced the indigenous population swiftly causing more opposition by the leaders of the native Indians.

It was not until the middle of the century that the Spanish started their missionary efforts. They had already determined the American Indian Tribes in the area had no hidden stores of wealth or gold to send back to the homeland. An attempt to establish missions in the Tampa Bay area and the Charlotte Harbor on the West Coast was a dismal failure.

An attempt by a group of Jesuits to establish a mission in Saint Augustine on the East Coast failed in 1566 with extensive loss of life.

Later in 1568, a larger group of Jesuits arrived in Saint Augustine but were also rebuffed by the native religious leaders who did not trust the Jesuits and were fearful of a threat to their position of power.

The Spanish Jesuits decided to abandon all attempts at missionary work in Florida in late 1572.

In 1573, the Franciscans entered the field of missionary work in Florida and established sever missions that were viable. However a few years later, they withdrew from Florida due to differences with the Spanish Colonial authority.

A decade later, in 1584, the Franciscans returned to Florida in an attempt to establish a mission at Saint Augustine just south of current day Jacksonville. The first attempt by the Franciscans failed but they made further attempts and eventually succeeded in establish a long-lasting mission.

Toward the end of the sixteenth century, in 1595, the Franciscan's efforts paid off with several successful missions firmly established. The missionaries wrote several informative documentaries about life amongst the Indians and recorded the language of the existing tribes for posterity.

It was the Apalachee tribe consisting of over 50,000 American Indians at that time that asked the Spanish authorities to send priests to their people. They were in over 100 communities at the time and represented approximately 50% of the declining Indian population in Florida.

The Apalachee tribe was derived from a people that inhabited the Mississippi Valley and were far less warlike then their main competition, the Calusa tribe that was centered primarily in south Florida. The Franciscans moved their main mission with the Apalachee from Santa Catalina to Amelia Island on the East Coast to the north of current day Jacksonville. In comparison to the warlike tribes of the Creeks to the north in current day Georgia and the Calusa down in south Florida, the area was reputedly a quiet, peaceful existence and the settlement prospered like an oasis in sea of violence. It was the evolvement of the Apalachee from normal American Indian attitudes of confrontational violence into a more docile and agricultural populace that probably sealed their doom to almost total extinction by the end of the 400 year war. A number of them were assimilated into the "Creek Nation" and others were sold into slavery further north or down into the sugar islands for labor on the plantations.

In 1697, the Franciscans tried again to contact and assist the Calusa. The result was negative with the friars being chased from the region and retreating all the way to the "Sugar" islands offshore.

The existing Spanish missions in Florida were peaceful for the remainder of the Spanish influence in Florida and even witnessed the return of the Jesuits in 1743 to the area around Miami. However, at that time the once warlike Calusa were severely decimated due to disease and encroachment from the Creek Indians from the north who often took the Calusa prisoner and removed them as slaves away from the Florida area. A large number of the Calusa and the Boca Raton tribes were also shipped by slavers to the "sugar" islands as cheap labor for the landowners with plantations.

Soon after in 1763, Florida was transferred from Spain to England and the Spanish missionary efforts in Florida came to a close. The population of the American Indian Tribes in Florida at that time was estimated to be less than 60,000. This decline in population continued until the entire region was close to empty of American Indian Tribes. Of course, later the Seminole tribe came into existence and incorporated remnants of the decimated prior tribes as well as escaped slaves from the north looking for an area to roam which would be difficult for military authorities to patrol with any degree of success. The Seminoles were successful in almost every battle against the white soldiers and spurned all offers of treaty due to total lack of trust in the "white man's word".