Letter: Mass murders after surrender not documented

Raphael Cosme
St Augustine, FL

Dear Editor:

Recently a local St Augustine newsletter published a story titled “Matanzas”, quoting the account of a reference found at the National Humanities Center.

According to this account, during an event that took place at the Matanzas Inlet, Pedro Menendez de Aviles murdered in mass every Frenchman who surrendered to him because of their religious beliefs and to impress King Felipe II of Spain.

Every good writer and historian base their accounts on facts. Nowhere in the writings of Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, Spain’s Archives, the West Indies Archives, or any other notes through the first 200 years since Menendez founded St Augustine, are there accounts of him killing people – after the surrender.

There is no physical evidence of French mass graves or artifacts at the site marked by the National Park Services. What I believe is that during the 16th Century one of the finest engravers of the time, Jacques le Moyne, made his own interpretation about Ribault losing the war in Spanish territories.

During that time, the best way to communicate every event was through engravings like the one from Le Moyne on the Huguenot Aggression against Catholics at Sea “Horribles cruates des Huguenots” 1563-1567.

Most of the Le Moyne drawings show how the Spanish empire collapsed in the conquest of the New World and it is obvious that, as a Frenchman, he wanted to impress the King of France and French comrades.

The Matanzas event was simply another victory of Menendez’s forces against Ribault’s forces.  Survivors were sent to St. Augustine and the Caribbean awaiting deportation back to France.

It is time to stop nonfactual stories that hurt the reputation of Adelantado Menendez who introduced the beautiful Spanish culture to the New World for all generations.