Diego de Velasco
Diego de Velasco | |
---|---|
2nd Governor of La Florida | |
In office September 17, 1574 – February 24, 1576 | |
Preceded by | Pedro Menéndez de Avilés |
Succeeded by | Hernando de Miranda |
Personal details | |
Born | 1500 |
Died | 1575 Florida |
Profession | Military official and Governor of Florida (1574 - 1576) |
Diego de Velasco (?? - 1575) was a career soldier who served as
Biography
De Velasco was the son-in-law of the first governor of Florida,
In 1571, Velasco oversaw the construction of Fort San Felipe on what is now Parris Island, South Carolina, a defensive structure built to protect the Spanish settlers of La Florida after a raid by French settlers and Native Americans allied with them.[2]
On September 17, 1574, after his father had become a general in the Nueva Armada Real (New Royal Army), Velasco was appointed temporary Governor of Florida,[3] although this was an interim appointment made upon the death of Menéndez.[4] The colony's capital was the recently founded settlement of Santa Elena in what is now South Carolina.[1]
The
According to the written testimony of Father Oré in 1576, Velasco, after asking the caciques of Guale to gather in Santa Elena, and indicating that he would not do them any harm, hanged one of them (the nephew of a cacique) as punishment for killing a Christian Indian chieftain, to fulfill a promise he had made to the wife of another chief who had converted to Christianity, she seeking vengeance for the murder of her husband, and demanding retribution. These events led to a widespread Guale rebellion and violence against the Spanish of La Florida.[note 1][6]
Thirty soldiers who fought against the natives in defense of Santa Elena were killed, causing the town to be temporarily abandoned in the late summer of 1576 and then to be burned later by the Indians, in full view of the soldiers and settlers as they were about to sail away from Port Royal Sound.[4]
Velasco was also accused of mishandling the provincial soldiers' pay, and consequently was replaced by Hernando de Miranda as governor of La Florida in 1575.
Last years
When Miranda came to La Florida in 1575, before assuming his position as governor,
Diego de Velasco died in 1575.
Personal life
Velasco married Menéndez's younger daughter, Maria Menéndez de Avilés.[8]
Notes
References
- ^ a b Reid Badger, John; Scudder, Jr., Lawrence Clayton (1985). Alabama and the Borderlands: From Prehistory To Statehood. The University of Alabama Press. Page 159.
- ^ U.S. Department of Interior.
- ^ a b Worth, John. - Spanish Florida - Governors Archived September 13, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. University of West Florida.
- ^ a b Lewis, J. D. Carolina Explorers : Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. 2007.
- ISBN 978-0-8203-1712-0.
- ^ a b Cecelia Borgen, Linda Suzanne (2007). PRELUDE TO REBELLION: DIEGO DE REBOLLEDO VS. LÚCAS MENÉNDEZ IN MID-17TH. CENTURY SPANISH FLORIDA[permanent dead link]. The University of West Florida. Consulted in 2011. Page 39.
- ^ a b c Rowland, Lawrence Sanders; Moore, Alexander; and Rogers, Jr.,George C. (1996). The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina: 1514-1861. University of South Carolina Press. Page 36.
- ISBN 978-0-8173-5411-4.