By Bob Davidsson
The long, mainly uncharted history of the Santaluces (Guacata) tribe of western Palm Beach and Martin counties, with its dual Okeechobee basin and marine coastal culture, ended with a brief journal entry written by a Dutch-born surveyor-cartographer employed by the British East Florida colony.
In his "A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida," published in 1775, Bernard Romans reported an incident involving his pilot-guide several years prior to his 1769-70 expedition to the St. Lucie River. The Spanish fisherman was captured by lake Indians and taken to "Mayacco" (Lake Okeechobee).
The Dutch geographer wrote, "This man told me he had been formerly taken by 'savages' and by them carried as a prisoner, in a canoe, by way of this river (i.e. Santa Lucia, St. Lucie) to their settlements on the banks of the lake."
The fisherman was soon released by the lake tribe. With this passage, the recorded history of the Santaluces (Guacata) comes to an end. Romans concluded, "In my opinion, this tract (St. Lucie River) is scarcely ever invaded by hostile savages."
The "Mayacco" village described by Romans' guide was likely the same one mentioned in 1743 by Spanish Jesuit missionaries Joseph Maria Monaco and Guiseppe Savara Alana during their unsuccessful attempt to establish a mission at Biscayne Bay.
In his census of South Florida Indians, Father Alana wrote, "They all are remnants of three nations, Keys, Carlos (Calusa) and Bocaratone. We learned that from another three tribes in addition to these, the Maymies, 'Santaluzos' and Mayaca, which have united and are four days journey on the mainland, it will be possible to add another hundred souls or a few more."
"These diminutive nations fight among themselves at every opportunity," Father Alana observed, "and they are shrinking as is indicated by the memory of the much greater number that were just 20 years ago."
"So that if they continue on in their barbarous style," he wrote, "they will disappear within a few years either because of the skirmishes or because of the rum that they drink until they burst, or because of the children whom they kill, or because of those who smallpox carries off in absence of remedies, or because of those who perish in the hands of the Uchises (Indian slave raiders)."
Father Alana accurately predicted the demise of these last remnants of Florida's native tribes in his journal. When the first Spanish colonial period ended in Florida, Spain transported the remaining mission Indians by ship to Cuba in 1763.
The Beginnings
The true name of the tribe that once extended from the southeastern shore of Lake Okeechobee eastward to the St. Lucie River and Inlet is not known in their own language. "Guacata" was the name of one of their main villages in the 16th century. The place name was applied to the entire tribe during the early period of Spanish exploration and colonization.
The alternate tribal name of "Santaluces" was widely used by Spanish officials beginning in the 17th century, with continued use even after the tribe's extinction in the 1700s. Santa Lucia was a Spanish outpost briefly established south of the St. Lucie Inlet in 1565-66. The tribe, inlet and river inherited the name from this failed military colony on its southern border.
The ancestors of the Guacata Indians, like their Jeaga neighbors to the southeast, were part of the "East Okeechobee" culture that utilized both Atlantic coastal marine and interior freshwater resources. Archaeologists have identified 49 possible midden sites in Martin County, including five major mound concentrations, representing village complexes.
Former village sites identified within the St. Lucie estuary are Rocky Point near the St. Lucie Inlet, the Hutchinson Island complex north of the inlet, the Peck Lake and Joseph Reed Shell Rises south of the inlet, and Mount Elizabeth along the St. Lucie River.
Several interior village complexes also were occupied until the late Spanish colonial period by the Guacata tribe. Mound sites are located near Indiantown and Barley Barber in western Martin County, and include the Whitebelt sites, Pahokee Ridge, Bryant site, Big Gopher, and the largest mound complex in southeast Florida - Big Mound City - all within Palm Beach County.
The East Okeechobee period, 750 B.C. until the tribe's demise about 1750, is the timeline when the Guacata Indians occupied the eastern and southern shores of Lake Okeechobee, with villages extending to the St. Lucie estuary. The neighboring Jeaga tribe was centered at the Jupiter Inlet, with village sites also located on Jupiter Island, the Loxahatchee River to the west and along the 20-mile length of Lake Worth to the south.
The western neighbors of the Guacata were the Maymi Indians, a tribe often identified with the Calusa Mound Building culture along the west shore of Lake Okeechobee, as far south as Belle Glade, and the Caloosahatchee River. The tribe had close geographical and cultural ties with the more powerful Calusa Indians of the Gulf Coast throughout its history.
Village mound complexes were used as burial sites, as ceremonial centers, and elevated towns to escape flooding due to heavy seasonal rains and hurricanes. Archaeologists believe many of the mounds used by the Guacata tribe and their ancestors date back to the late Archaic era (2,500 - 750 B.C.) with continued habitation into the Spanish colonial period.
Big Mound City, for example, located today in the Corbett Wildlife Management Area, covered 14 acres and contains 23 mounds. It was inhabited between 500 B.C. and about 1650 by the Guacata. The unique cultural site is protected today on the National Register of Historic Places.
First Encounters
Almost all we know about the Guacata Indians and their culture, during the period of Spanish exploration in the 16th century, comes from a single source - the "Memoir of Hernando D'Escalante Fontaneda" - written in 1575 and published two years later.
Fontaneda's ship foundered along the coast of Florida in 1549. He was captured by the Calusa Indians at age 13, and lived with the tribe for 17 years until he was rescued in 1566. At the time of his captivity, the Calusa were the dominant tribal nation in South Florida, with trade goods and tribute received from tribes from Cape Canaveral to the Florida Keys.
Fontaneda, who was familiar with the Okeechobee basin Indians, wrote, "They (the Calusa) are masters of a large district of this country, as far as a town called 'Guacata,' on the lake of Mayaimi (Okeechobee), which is called Mayaimi because it is very large."
"Around it are many little villages," Fontaneda recalled, "which I will speak about hereafter. On this lake, which lies in the midst of the country, are many towns, of 30 or 40 inhabitants each; and as many more places there are in which people are not so numerous."
In his description of the topography, he wrote, "These Indians occupy a very rocky and a very marshy country. They have no product of mines or thing that we have in this part of the world (Spain). The men go naked, and the women in a shawl made of a kind of palm leaf, split and woven."
In addition to the town of Guacata, Fontaneda counted 24 villages near Lake Okeechobee, of which four he remembered by name in his "Memoir". He wrote, "Besides, there are others inland on the lake of Mayaimi; and another town, and the first is Cutespa; another Tavagueme; another Tomsobe; another Enempa; and another 20 towns there are, of which I do not remember the names."
Fontaneda described in great detail the diet of the Lake Okeechobee Indians. During his captivity, he shared their food and had first hand knowledge of what members of this hunter-gatherer culture ate.
"They have bread of roots," he wrote, "which is their common food the greater part of the time; and because of the lake, which rises in some seasons so high that the roots cannot be reached in consequence of the water, they are for some time without eating this bread."
"Fish is plenty and very good," he continues. "There is another root, like the truffle over here, which is sweet; and there are many different roots of many kinds; but when there is hunting, either deer or birds, they prefer to eat meat or fowl."
"The Indians also eat lagartos (alligators)," he wrote of their diet, "and snakes, animals like rats, which live in the lake, freshwater tortoises, and many more disgusting reptiles which, if we were to continue enumerating, we would never be through."
Fontaneda learned four native languages while captive, including the Calusa dialect. He could not speak the language common to the Atlantic coastal tribes, such as the Ais or Jeaga, which indicate the linguistic and cultural differences of the Calusa. Pedro Vizcaino (the "Biscayan") was a captive of the Ais Indians mentioned by Fontaneda in his "Memoir".
Fontaneda wrote, "He (Vizcaino) understands well the language of the Ais, and the languages of other places mentioned (Guacata and Jeaga), which are spoken as far as Mayaca an Mayajuaca, places to the north (near Cape Canaveral)."
During the 16th century, shipwrecks provided an unexpected source of wealth to the coastal tribes of South Florida. Fontaneda explained in his "Memoir" how salvaged cargo was divided between the Calusa and other tribes who were junior partners in their alliance.
"I desire to speak of the riches found by the Indians of Ais, which perhaps were as much as a million dollars, or over in bars of silver, in gold, and articles of jewelry made by the hands of Mexican Indians," he wrote. "These things Carlos (the Calusa chief) divided with the caciques of Ais, Jeaga, Guacata, Mayajuaco and Mayaca, and he took what pleased him, or the best part."
Fontaneda was rescued from his captivity in 1566 by Pedro Menendez de Aviles, the new adelantado or proprietary governor of Florida. He served the governor as an interpreter in Florida until 1569, when he returned to Spain and wrote his "Memoir.
The Santaluces
Menendez attempted to establish a military outpost among the Ais Indians in the autumn of 1565. After he sailed to Cuba for supplies, about 100 soldiers deserted the camp and marched south to the St. Lucie River. They became stranded between the St. Lucie and Indian rivers until two Spanish ships rescued and transported them to a new colony site north of the Jupiter Inlet.
The new outpost - Santa Lucia - only lasted four months. The garrison mutinied a second time in March 1566 and sailed away in a supply ship. While the outpost vanished, the name for the region remained. The Guacata Indians that harassed the Santa Lucia garrison from the north became known as the "Santaluces" tribe in future Spanish records.
By the early 17th century, the foreign policy of the Calusa Indians changed from one of regional dominance and expansion, to a closed isolationist society. Two factors contributing to this policy shift were a sharp decline in population due to introduced European diseases, and distrust of the Spanish after a failed attempt to colonized their country in 1566-69.
The Ais nation benefited from this policy reversal by becoming the senior partner of an alliance of southeastern Florida tribes extending from Cape Canaveral to the Jupiter Inlet. It would continue until the outbreak of Queen Anne's War in 1702. The Santaluces were part of this coalition with the Ais through common bonds of inter-marriage, a shared dialect and coastal trade.
The Santaluces became involved in Spanish colonial governance during the administration of Gov. Pedro de Ybarra (1603-09). The St. Lucie River was considered the southern border of the "Province of Ais," officially proclaimed by Adelantado Menendez back in 1565. In fact, the only residents of the Spanish province were Ais and Santaluces Indians.
Governor Ybarra began his term in October 1603 with the goal of improving relations with the coastal tribes of southeastern Florida. Increased trade would improve the economy of the impoverished City of St. Augustine, dependent on annual subsidy (situado) from Spain. The recovery of shipwrecked crews and cargos along the coast would be an added benefit of a peace policy.
His negotiations with Capitan Grande, the cacique of Ais, his mandador (sub-chief) Chico of the Surruque tribe, and Don Luis, chief of the allied Santaluces Indians, required patience and diplomacy. However, his policy bore fruit in 1605 when Capitan Grande led a delegation of 20 coastal Indian leaders to St. Augustine for peace negotiations.
A jubilant Governor Ybarra reported, "Since then the caciques come and go as they please, and our soldiers do the same, by the sea as well as by land, with greatest security."
His statement proved overly optimistic, but relations with the coastal tribes slowly improved. In late 1605, a Captain Fernandez led an expedition to Lake Okeechobee using the Province of Ais as his departure point. Unfortunately, there are no records detailing the outcome of this journey or the reception received from Santaluces villages near the lake.
The one member of the Santaluces tribe mentioned by name in colonial records during the early 1600s is its cacique (chieftain), called "Don Luis" by the Spanish. In 1607, he traveled to St. Augustine, in company with Capitan Chico, the Ais "Little Captain" or mandador. They observed the Easter Holy Week observances in the city.
Governor Ybarra offered religious instruction to coastal chiefs and warriors visiting the city, personally leading the chieftains to the Franciscan friary (convento) in 1605. There were only a few conversions to the Catholic faith, and no Spanish missions were established in lands controlled by the Ais and Santaluces tribes.
The governor did successfully use his influence with Don Luis to mediate an end to a dispute which had led to conflict between the Santaluces and Jeaga tribes in 1609. By the end of Ybarra's term, Spanish trade and rescue missions were allowed to enter the Province of Ais without fear of attack.
However, conditions along the southern frontier remained tense. A letter from Franciscan missionaries to Spain in 1618 stated the Indians of Santa Lucia and Jeaga were "rebellious" against the Spanish. Indian trade with foreign vessels was an ongoing concern of Spain.
Following reports that the galleon "Nuestra Senora de Atocha" grounded in southeast Florida, Gov. Juan de Salinas (1618-24) wrote, "About the month of September (1622) some remains of ships were found on this coast that indicated shipwreck and loss of same. And soon thereafter I had word from Indians of the coast of 'Jega' and Santa Lucia that many others had come to grief on their coast."
"This caused me notable concern and grief because of its being time for the 'Galleons' and 'Fleet' (annual Galleones and Flota treasure convoys) to be coming through the channel," he reported. "I sent the sergeant-major, Gabira, to the point of Canaveral with 40 soldiers so that he might search along these (coasts) and collect whatever he might find."
Unaware the "Atocha" sank in the Florida Keys, Governor Salinas led a second expedition in person. In his 1623 report to the king, he wrote, "It appeared to me appropriate that I should make this investigation in person as well. I did so. I reached as far as Santa Lucia, which is the farthest I was able to go, hunting all over of them without finding anything of importance, or anything else other than broken chests of rotting tobacco and three shallops (canoes)."
It was a shipwreck in 1696 that would add valuable information about the Santaluces Indians and their neighbors. The "Reformation" foundered on the coast of Jupiter Island. The vessel's passenger list included Jamaican merchant Jonathan Dickinson and his family, en route to establish a new business venture in Philadelphia.
The castaways were captured by the Jeaga Indians and taken to their village of Hobe at Jupiter Inlet. After the Jeaga divided the ship's cargo with the visiting cacique of the Ais Indians, Dickinson and his party were allowed to leave Hobe and begin the long journey north to St. Augustine.
In his journal, published as "God's Protecting Providence..." in 1699, Dickinson said the Santaluces village of "St. a Lucea was a town that lay about a degree to the northward" of Hobe. The Jeaga told him the town would be "about two or three days journey," and upon arrival expect "to have our throats and scalps cut and be shot, burnt and eaten."
Despite the dire warning, the English castaways decided to walk to "St. a Lucea" under the false assumption that "this place having a Spanish name supposed to have found it under the government of that nation, whence we might expect relief."
They encountered a peaceful Santaluces village on the north shore of the St. Lucie Inlet. Dickinson described the residence of the Santaluces cacique as "40-foot long, and 25-foot wide, covered with palmetto leaves both tops and sides." He wrote it contained a "barbecue" for cooking and a range of benches for leaders of the tribe to sit. The chieftain sat on a bench located at the upper end of the building's interior.
While held at the village of "St. a Lucea," Dickinson observed, and provides us today, with a rare look at the ceremonial diplomatic protocol used by the coastal tribes during the late 17th century. The event was a delegation of Ais Indians sent to the Santaluces town to negotiate the release of the English captives.
"About the tenth hour we observed the Indians (Santaluces) to be on a sudden motion," he observed, "most of the principal of themselves to their houses; the Casseekey went to dressing his head and painting himself, and so did the rest."
"When they had done," Dickinson wrote, "they came to the Casseekey's house and seated themselves in order. In a small time after came an Indian with some small attendance (Ais Indian delegation) into the house, making a ceremonious motion, and seating himself by the Casseekey, persons that came with him seated themselves amongst the others."
Dickinson's journal states, "After some small pause, the Casseekey began a discourse which held nigh an hour. After which the strange Indian and his companions (Ais) went forth to the waterside, unto their canoe lying in the sound, and returned with such presents as they brought, delivering them to the Casseekey, and those sitting giving applause."
After receiving the ransom, the Santaluces chieftain allowed the English castaways to leave the village. They were escorted to the main Village of Ais (Jece) near Vero Beach, where they endured another month of captivity until a Spanish patrol secured their release. Dickinson learned there were 10 native towns between the St. Lucie Inlet and St. Augustine.
While at the Village of Ais, Dickinson observed in addition to distributing loot from shipwrecked vessels, the coastal tribes shared resources from their environment. He wrote, "This week we observed that great baskets of dried berries were brought in from drivers towns and delivered to the king, which supposed to be a tribute to the king, who is chief of all towns from St. Lucie to the northward of this town of Jece."
Road to Oblivion
Dickinson's journal provides a final look at the Santaluces Indians before their destruction. Less than seven years later, the tribe was shattered by slave raids led by the British and their Yemassee Indian allies during Queen Anne's War. The architect of these incursions was Captain Thomas Nairne, Indian Agent for the South Carolina colony.
Nairne led a mixed force of English and Yemassee warriors to South Florida in 1702-03, attacking villages and carrying off inhabitants as slaves for the markets in Charleston. The raids into Florida continued throughout 11 years of colonial warfare, with Yemassee and Yuchi Indians often launching war parties independent of their British allies.
In an appeal to the king of Spain written Jan. 14, 1708, Gov. Francisco de Corcoles y Martinez (1706-16) wrote, "Nothing of all this has sufficed to prevent the enemy from continuing his constant killings and hostilities, which since the siege (of St. Augustine) they are doing, departing from Indian villages bordering the Carolinas, being aided by the English with guns. ammunition, cutlasses and pistols, and even accompanied by some English, who urge, incite and encourage them to these assaults, until they have desolated the entire mainland, and the coast to the south, and Carlos (the Calusa)."
An "Indios de la Costa" (Indians of the Coast) mission was established near St. Augustine as a refuge from the raids. A few members of the Santaluces tribe may have joined 137 other coastal Indians living at the Costa mission in 1711. A final Spanish census in 1759 revealed only "nine Costa in one household" remaining in the Nombre de Dios mission. They were transported to Cuba in 1763.
As stated at the beginning of this history, a few lake Indians, Santaluces and Maymies, merged with refugees from the Mayaca tribe who migrated south from the St. Johns River after their missions were destroyed in a second raid by Captain Nairne and his Indian allies. Their village of Mayacco may have been near the current community of Port Mayaca in Martin County.
Soon this last village disappeared too. Perhaps a few surviving Santaluces joined the newly formed Seminole tribe, although there are no documents that support this view. The road to extinction is a one-way street, and the Santaluces (Guacata) tribe met its dead end in history as the result of a colonial war not of their making.
2015. (c.)
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