Spanish Florida: Juanillo's Revolt of 1597

Different Colonial powers came to North America for different reasons.  As we have seen, the beaver trade was the draw for the French, Dutch and English.  For Spanish adventurers, rumors of untold wealth in the Americas brought them across the sea, as did the idea to convert the Natives to Christianity.  Although some priests may have thought they were doing a good work, the result was anything but.  New European arrivals exposed Native to diseases to which they were not immune, broke down Native society by prohibiting tribal rituals and practices, and made some Natives dependent on the mission system for sustenance they would have otherwise provided for themselves.  Spanish missionaries and settlers took advantage of the Natives as a labor source and some did not scruple to involve themselves in internal tribal affairs.  A little bit of all the above led to a revolt by a Guale leader whom the Spanish called Juanillo, in 1597.

The Guale were an early Florida tribe of the Mississippian Culture, living in what is now coastal Georgia and the Sea Islands in what was then considered part of Spanish Florida.  Like other Mississippian peoples, culture within the Guale was matrilineal.  Juanillo, his Native name is not recorded, came from an elite family.  He was already a leader of the Tolomato, a division of his people, and in line to become chief of the Guale who, like other tribes, were a loose confederation of towns and villages.  As would be expected of a high-ranking Mississippian male, he had two wives.  This practice alone brought him into conflict with the Spanish missionaries, who had outlawed polygamy.  They had outlawed other tribal practices, including the observance of any Native religion or religious rituals.  Juanillo saw nothing wrong with his people behaving and believing as they had for generations and continued to encourage their traditional ways.  The missionaries insisted that Guale leaders choose someone else to succeed to the paramount chiefdom. 

Fed up and furious, Juanillo led an attack on mission Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de Tolomato and killed a Franciscan Friar.  He called on Natives from surrounding tribes to rise up and resist the Spanish.  Other missions were attacked and five more missionaries killed.  News of the rebellion reached the Spanish presidio at St. Augustine where the Governor quickly organized a relief party to put down the rebellion.  Unable to catch Juanillo or any of the other ringleaders, the Governor set about a scorched earth policy among their villages, destroying their crops.  Finally, a band of Natives who were allied with the Spanish trapped Juanillo in the stockade town of Yfusinique, killing him and several other ranking Guale warriors. 

The unrest simmered for several more years until 1600, when a delegation of Guale leaders came to ST. Augustine to swear allegiance to the Spanish King.  The Governor accepted on condition that they cease and suppress any uprising against the Spanish.  This approach had little success and it was only under a later governor, who allowed the Guale to practice their traditional way of life that some peace was restored.