Mission San Luis de Apalachee
Encyclopedia
Mission San Luis de Apalachee (also known as San Luis de Talimali) was a Spanish
Franciscan
mission built in 1633 in the Florida Panhandle
, two miles west of the present-day Florida Capitol Building in Tallahassee
, Florida
. It was located in the descendent settlement of Anhaica
(also as Anhayca Apalache or Inihayca) capital of Apalachee Province
. The mission was part of Spain's effort to colonize
the region, and convert the Timucuan and Apalachee
Indians
to Christianity
. The mission lasted until 1704, when it was evacuated and destroyed to prevent its use by an approaching militia
of Creek Indians
and South Carolinians
.
The site where the mission stood was added to the U.S.
National Register of Historic Places
on October 15, 1966.
were the most advanced native peoples in Florida http://www.missionsanluis.org/research/history2.cfm surpassing the Timucua
, Potano
, Tocobaga
, and Calusa
. The Apalachee were part of the Mississippian culture
of mound builders and had well-established administrative and religious systems.
is the first recorded European presence in Apalachee setting up camp south of Anhaica near present day St. Marks
. In 1539, Hernando de Soto
wintered at Anhaica (in present-day Tallahassee) celebrating the first Christmas
in the North America
. In 1607, some Apalachee Indians requested friar
s and the first ones visited in 1608. In 1612 the Apalachees made a formal request for a mission but the Spanish did not oblige. In 1625 Apalachees began to send food supplies overland to St. Augustine
, the major point of Spanish control over shipping and defense of La Florida. The Spanish, however, needed the densely populated and extremely fertile Apalachee Province to provide labor and provisions for St. Augustine.
In 1633, Pedro Muñoz and Francisco Martínez launched a formal mission effort in Apalachee Province. In 1638 the first of 3 or 4 soldiers came to Apalachee Province to explore for ports and purchase foodstuffs for the governor. No evidence has been discovered indicating a fort or garrison was built then.
In 1656, Spanish authorities decided to establish their western capital on one of the region’s highest hilltops for strategic purposes. San Luis was described by Spanish military authorities as extending for miles and being completely indefensible. inhabitants of old San Luis moved to the present site at the request of the Spaniards. The garrison was expanded to 12 and San Luis's chief promised to build a substantial blockhouse for them. Under pressure from other Apalachee, San Luis's chief said that 6 soldiers would suffice. Although the governor planned for further expansion of the garrison
and building a regular fort, Apalachee opposition to the project stalled it for well over a generation. The blockhouse
at San Luis was described in 1675 as a "fortified country house." From 1656 to 1680 the size of the garrison varied between 12, 19, and 25 men.
The Apalachee men and women were excellent agriculturists and provided much of the food for San Luis as well as for export to such places as St. Augustine and Havana.
In 1675, Claudio Luis de Florencia, the first deputy governor arrived. Luis de Florencia lived with his extended family at old San Luis. Nothing is known about the nature of his residence. By 1675 more than 1,400 Spaniards and Apalachee lived under the jurisdiction of San Luis. There were very few Spanish women creating a situation where the Spanish soldiers frequently married Indian women as a means to Christianize the native population and make them more "civilized." While the size of most other Apalachee missions declined sharply over the years, the population of San Luis increased.
The buildings at San Luis included Spanish and Apalachee residential areas, the Franciscan
Church and Spanish fort, as well as the native Council House
which was one of the largest historic Indian structures in the southeastern United States at the time holding 2,000-3,000 people.
In the early 1680s, the blockhouse was pulled down and replaced with a temporary makeshift barracks
. The garrison was then expanded to 40 men, and sometimes even more for special expeditions.
In 1688, San Marcos de Apalache at St. Marks
was also built from lumber cut at San Luis, but it was left to rot when the skilled laborers were diverted to construct a fort in Apalachicola country in 1689. This fort was staffed by 20 soldiers and 20 Apalachee warriors.
From 1695–1697 San Luis's new blockhouse was built. In mid-April of 1696, the governor reported that it was completed except for one-third of the roof. Work was then suspended because of the spring planting.
In 1698, San Luis Apalachees were seriously alienated when Spaniards commandeered some of their houses and land; Spaniards also took lumber intended for church repairs and forced Indians to build houses for them.
In October of 1702, an attempt to turn the blockhouse into a proper fort began after the defeat of a Spanish-Apalachee force
on the Flint River. The fort would have a palisade and parapets, as well as a dry moat. It was apparently completed in 1703 despite the impact of a severe epidemic. At the end of July 1704, following a devastating series of raids
by English and Creek
raiders, the diminished Spanish garrison destroyed the fort and withdrew to St. Augustine.
Beginning in 1996, Renker Eich Parks Architects, of St. Petersburg, Florida, with Herchel Sheperd, FAIA, undertook designing the reconstruction of many of the buildings in the mission using archeological and historical evidence to conjecture the architecture of the buildings to how they would originally have been built. The buildings that have since been reconstructed include the Church, the Convento, the Council House, the Chief's House, the Fort and Blockhouse, and a typical Spanish House as well as many minor features around the site.
Habsburg Spain
Habsburg Spain refers to the history of Spain over the 16th and 17th centuries , when Spain was ruled by the major branch of the Habsburg dynasty...
Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
mission built in 1633 in the Florida Panhandle
Florida Panhandle
The Florida Panhandle, an informal, unofficial term for the northwestern part of Florida, is a strip of land roughly 200 miles long and 50 to 100 miles wide , lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia also on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is...
, two miles west of the present-day Florida Capitol Building in Tallahassee
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. It was located in the descendent settlement of Anhaica
Anhaica
.Anhaica was an Apalachee Indian town and capital of Apalachee Province located near Myers Park in the present-day city of Tallahassee, Florida. Anhaica's population was approximately 30,000. The province had an estimated population of around 60,000...
(also as Anhayca Apalache or Inihayca) capital of Apalachee Province
Apalachee Province
Apalachee Province was the area in the Panhandle of the present-day U.S. state of Florida inhabited by the Native American peoples known as the Apalachee at the time of European contact. The southernmost extent of the Mississippian culture, the Apalachee lived in what is now Leon County, Wakulla...
. The mission was part of Spain's effort to colonize
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
the region, and convert the Timucuan and Apalachee
Apalachee
The Apalachee are a Native American people who historically lived in the Florida Panhandle, and now live primarily in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Their historical territory was known to the Spanish colonists as the Apalachee Province...
Indians
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. The mission lasted until 1704, when it was evacuated and destroyed to prevent its use by an approaching militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
of Creek Indians
Creek people
The Muscogee , also known as the Creek or Creeks, are a Native American people traditionally from the southeastern United States. Mvskoke is their name in traditional spelling. The modern Muscogee live primarily in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida...
and South Carolinians
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
.
The site where the mission stood was added to the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on October 15, 1966.
History
Apalachee Province was one of the most powerful and wealthy chiefdoms or provinces in Florida and the ApalacheeApalachee
The Apalachee are a Native American people who historically lived in the Florida Panhandle, and now live primarily in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Their historical territory was known to the Spanish colonists as the Apalachee Province...
were the most advanced native peoples in Florida http://www.missionsanluis.org/research/history2.cfm surpassing the Timucua
Timucua
The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The various groups of Timucua spoke several dialects of the...
, Potano
Potano
The Potano tribe lived in north-central Florida at the time of first European contact. Their territory included what is now Alachua County, the northern half of Marion County and the western part of Putnam County. This territory corresponds to that of the Alachua culture, which preceded the...
, Tocobaga
Tocobaga
Tocobaga was the name of a chiefdom, its chief and its principal town during the 16th century in the area of Tampa Bay. The town was at the northern end of what is now called Old Tampa Bay, an arm of Tampa Bay that extends northward between the present-day city of Tampa and Pinellas County...
, and Calusa
Calusa
The Calusa were a Native American people who lived on the coast and along the inner waterways of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region; at the time of European contact, the Calusa were the people of the Caloosahatchee culture...
. The Apalachee were part of the Mississippian culture
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
of mound builders and had well-established administrative and religious systems.
First Contact
In 1528, Pánfilo de NarváezPánfilo de Narváez
Pánfilo de Narváez was a Spanish conqueror and soldier in the Americas. He is most remembered as the leader of two expeditions, one to Mexico in 1520 to oppose Hernán Cortés, and the disastrous Narváez expedition to Florida in 1527....
is the first recorded European presence in Apalachee setting up camp south of Anhaica near present day St. Marks
St. Marks, Florida
St. Marks is a city in Wakulla County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Tallahassee, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 272 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 299 .-Geography:...
. In 1539, Hernando de Soto
Hernando de Soto (explorer)
Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who, while leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States, was the first European documented to have crossed the Mississippi River....
wintered at Anhaica (in present-day Tallahassee) celebrating the first Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
in the North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. In 1607, some Apalachee Indians requested friar
Friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.-Friars and monks:...
s and the first ones visited in 1608. In 1612 the Apalachees made a formal request for a mission but the Spanish did not oblige. In 1625 Apalachees began to send food supplies overland to St. Augustine
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
, the major point of Spanish control over shipping and defense of La Florida. The Spanish, however, needed the densely populated and extremely fertile Apalachee Province to provide labor and provisions for St. Augustine.
In 1633, Pedro Muñoz and Francisco Martínez launched a formal mission effort in Apalachee Province. In 1638 the first of 3 or 4 soldiers came to Apalachee Province to explore for ports and purchase foodstuffs for the governor. No evidence has been discovered indicating a fort or garrison was built then.
Spanish rule
From 1645 to 1651 soldiers lived at Asile Hacienda on Apalachee Province's eastern border. The soldiers and deputy governor were both removed late in 1651 and did not return until mid-1654 under a new governor.In 1656, Spanish authorities decided to establish their western capital on one of the region’s highest hilltops for strategic purposes. San Luis was described by Spanish military authorities as extending for miles and being completely indefensible. inhabitants of old San Luis moved to the present site at the request of the Spaniards. The garrison was expanded to 12 and San Luis's chief promised to build a substantial blockhouse for them. Under pressure from other Apalachee, San Luis's chief said that 6 soldiers would suffice. Although the governor planned for further expansion of the garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
and building a regular fort, Apalachee opposition to the project stalled it for well over a generation. The blockhouse
Blockhouse
In military science, a blockhouse is a small, isolated fort in the form of a single building. It serves as a defensive strong point against any enemy that does not possess siege equipment or, in modern times, artillery...
at San Luis was described in 1675 as a "fortified country house." From 1656 to 1680 the size of the garrison varied between 12, 19, and 25 men.
The Apalachee men and women were excellent agriculturists and provided much of the food for San Luis as well as for export to such places as St. Augustine and Havana.
In 1675, Claudio Luis de Florencia, the first deputy governor arrived. Luis de Florencia lived with his extended family at old San Luis. Nothing is known about the nature of his residence. By 1675 more than 1,400 Spaniards and Apalachee lived under the jurisdiction of San Luis. There were very few Spanish women creating a situation where the Spanish soldiers frequently married Indian women as a means to Christianize the native population and make them more "civilized." While the size of most other Apalachee missions declined sharply over the years, the population of San Luis increased.
Buildings
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
Church and Spanish fort, as well as the native Council House
Headquarters
Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
which was one of the largest historic Indian structures in the southeastern United States at the time holding 2,000-3,000 people.
In the early 1680s, the blockhouse was pulled down and replaced with a temporary makeshift barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
. The garrison was then expanded to 40 men, and sometimes even more for special expeditions.
In 1688, San Marcos de Apalache at St. Marks
St. Marks, Florida
St. Marks is a city in Wakulla County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Tallahassee, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 272 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 299 .-Geography:...
was also built from lumber cut at San Luis, but it was left to rot when the skilled laborers were diverted to construct a fort in Apalachicola country in 1689. This fort was staffed by 20 soldiers and 20 Apalachee warriors.
From 1695–1697 San Luis's new blockhouse was built. In mid-April of 1696, the governor reported that it was completed except for one-third of the roof. Work was then suspended because of the spring planting.
In 1698, San Luis Apalachees were seriously alienated when Spaniards commandeered some of their houses and land; Spaniards also took lumber intended for church repairs and forced Indians to build houses for them.
In October of 1702, an attempt to turn the blockhouse into a proper fort began after the defeat of a Spanish-Apalachee force
Battle of Flint River
The Battle of Flint River was a failed attack by Spanish and Apalachee Indian forces against Creek Indians in October 1702 in what is now the state of Georgia...
on the Flint River. The fort would have a palisade and parapets, as well as a dry moat. It was apparently completed in 1703 despite the impact of a severe epidemic. At the end of July 1704, following a devastating series of raids
Apalachee Massacre
The Apalachee massacre was a series of brutal raids by English colonists from the Province of Carolina and their Indian allies against a largely pacific population of Apalachee Indians in northern Spanish Florida that took place during Queen Anne's War in 1704...
by English and Creek
Creek people
The Muscogee , also known as the Creek or Creeks, are a Native American people traditionally from the southeastern United States. Mvskoke is their name in traditional spelling. The modern Muscogee live primarily in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida...
raiders, the diminished Spanish garrison destroyed the fort and withdrew to St. Augustine.
Beginning in 1996, Renker Eich Parks Architects, of St. Petersburg, Florida, with Herchel Sheperd, FAIA, undertook designing the reconstruction of many of the buildings in the mission using archeological and historical evidence to conjecture the architecture of the buildings to how they would originally have been built. The buildings that have since been reconstructed include the Church, the Convento, the Council House, the Chief's House, the Fort and Blockhouse, and a typical Spanish House as well as many minor features around the site.