User:Donald Albury/San Martín de Ayacuto

San Martín de Ayucato was a Spanish mission founded in Timucua Province.

Revolt and abandonment

Many of the towns in Timucua and Yustaga provinces revolted against Spanish rule in 1656. While discontent among the Timucua over their treatment by the Spanish had been growing, the proximate cause of the revolt was ostensibly the order from Diego de Rebolledo, governor of Spanish Florida, that the chiefs and other leading men called to St. Augustine to defend the city from a possible attack were to carry three arrobas (75 pounds [34 kg]) of maize on their backs, as the common men did when called to the city in labor drafts. The chief of San Martín de Ayucato, Lucas Menéndez, paramount chief of Timucua Province, and Chief Diego of Potohiriba, paramount chief of Yustaga, led the revolt.

The Spanish gathered the men who were to travel from Apalachee, Timucua, and Yustaga provinces to St. Augustine at Ivitachuca, at that time the Spanish administrative center for Apalachee Province. After the contingents from Timucua and Yustaga provinces left for St. Augustine (the Spanish thought it prudent to keep them separate from the Apalachees), the Spanish official leading them was murdered. Chief Menéndez then ordered that all Spaniards, except for missionaries, be killed. The rebels killed four Spaniards, a Tabasco Mexican, and two African slaves. One Spaniard, the Tabasco Mexican, and the two African slaves were all employed at the La Chua ranch in Potano Province. A Spanish soldier who had accompanied the ranch's owner, Juan Menéndez Márquez, to the ranch was also killed, but Lucas Menéndez spared Juan's life because Juan's father had always treated the Timucuas fairly.

After the killings, the rebels retreated to near Machava in Yustaga Province and built a stronghold. Governor Rebolledo waited several months to respond to the revolt, apparantly more concerned by the possibility of an English attack on St. Augustine than by the revolt. In September 1656, he send a force of 60 soldiers to put down the revolt. The Spanish force travelled though Ayacuto (the San Martín mission) on the way to Ivitachuca, finding it deserted. Negotiations continued for months. The Spanish finally lured the rebel leaders into a trap, and the stronghold was abandoned. Lucas Menéndez had avoided the Spanish trap, but was eventually captured. The Spanish executed eight chiefs, including Lucas Menéndez, and two other Timucuas for their parts in the revolt. Other leaders were sentenced to forced labor.

With the execution of Lucas Menéndez, San Martín de Ayucato had no leader, and little population. In 1657, Governor Robelledo pressured Chief Lázaro of San Ildefonso de Chamile in Arapaha Province to move his people and those of two satellite villages to San Martín. In 1658, the governor ordered that the missions in Arapaha Province be dismantled and the people moved to towns, including San Martín, along the [[El Camino Real (Florida)]|trail]] connecting St. Augustine and Apalachee Province. The Spanish considered it vital to have villages along the trail to support travelors and the Porters who transported maize from Apalachee to St. Augustine. Several of the towns along the trail, including San Martín, were described in 1657 as depopulated as people had died or fled. In 1659, a new governor ordered that people from Yustaga Province be moved to San Martín to maintain the population. In 1662 it was reported that most of the people moved from Arapaha Province to towns along the trail had died or fled to the woods. There is no mention of San Martín in Spanish records after 1660.

Sources

• Hann, John H. (1996). A History of the Timucua Indians and Missions. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-1424-1.