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Charlesfort, Parris
Island, South Carolina
Architect Richard Thornton is a member of an alliance of Creek, Choctaw and
Seminole scholars, who over the past seven years have been intensely studying
the heritage of the Muskogean peoples. Much of their activities have involved
re-examination of the archives of the early Spanish, English and French
exploration of the Southeastern United States. We have asked Richard to provide
AccessGenealogy with some of his work. As we add to these articles we will
also be providing a question and answer section for the reader to ask questions
of Richard.
It was the
first French settlement in the New World!
The U.S. Marine Base at Parris Island, SC had a
well-deserved reputation for turning boys and girls into
men and women. What is little known among the general
public, however, is that this tradition goes back to
1562. Had not a hurricane struck northern Florida in
1565 (at just the wrong time for the French and the
right time for the Spanish) it is quite likely that all
of North America would be composed of French-speaking
nations this day.
Since the 1980s, archaeologists with the South Carolina
Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology have been
excavating several important sites on Parris Island,
with the full cooperation of the U.S. Marine Corps. The
Marine Corp operates the Parris Island Museum, which is
open to the general public. The museum contains exhibits
that explain the Marines’ activities on the island since
1895, plus others that describe the French, Spanish and
English colonists, who settled the island. The sites of
the French fort, Spanish forts and Spanish town of Santa
Elena together have been designated a National Historic
Landmark.
Why Parris Island?
We go back a little earlier in history in Europe. The
Guttenberg printing process had spawned an intellectual
and religious revolution in Europe. The Protestant
Reformation had started in Moravia and Hungary, the
spread westward and northward into Germany, the Low
Countries, Scandinavia, France, England and Scotland.
The religious turmoil was quickly politicized by
nobility and leaders of cities. Some saw the new
religious ideas as a threat to the status quo. Others
saw them as an opportunity to disperse power to the
cities and minor nobility. Suppression of the followers
of Luther in Germany quickly turned into wars between
member states of the Holy Roman Empire.
In France, the Protestant ideas appealed most to the
emerging middle class and nobility living in southern
and northeastern provinces. Those at the top of
hierarchy and in general, people living near Paris,
preferred that the church stay the way it was. Until
official suppression and wars broke out, the majority of
French Protestants merely wanted to reform the church
from within, not create a new church.
After being crowned king of France in 1560, Charles IX
desperately tried to end the fratricide occurring in his
nation between the Catholic and Protestant forces. He
was nominally Roman Catholic, but thought that diplomacy
and compromise could bring peace to his realm. Some of
his most talented generals, admirals and businessmen
were Protestant. France needed the skills of its
Protestant middle class to compete on the emerging world
market of mercantilism. France did NOT need to become
another Germany and be torn apart by civil war.
During the reign of his father Henri II, France had
seemed at the verge of becoming Protestant. Then the
Spanish Empire entered into the fray. Its battle
hardened soldiers pushed the Protestants into southern
and northeastern France. England and the United
Provinces (Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg) entered
France on behalf of the Protestants. France devolved
into chaos. The primary means of discouraging membership
in Protestant congregations used by the Spanish and
their French allies, was either killing Huguenots with
their swords on the streets or else burning them at the
stake in public ceremonies. In the eyes of Roman
Catholic Church one of the most serious crimes was the
printing and selling of Bibles. Medieval French laws
only allowed the clergy and upper nobility to own and
read Bibles. Bible publishers were typically burned at
the stake in town squares along with their Bibles.
The publicized killing of Huguenots worked. Thousands of
French Protestants would return to the Catholic Church
after each round of atrocities. Of course, this approach
also caused the surviving Huguenots to form armies and
to actively seek a separate church for their believers
and political reforms in their governments.
After Charles IX successfully negotiated a truce between
the factions in 1561, one of his most trusted advisors,
Protestant Admiral Gaspard de Coligny directed one his
most trusted naval captains, Jean Ribault, to establish
colonies in the New World for France, and in particular,
for French Huguenots. The plan of the Huguenots was to
relocate French citizens to the New World from regions
of France that were suffering from Spanish and
pro-Catholic attacks. They envisioned France as a
confederacy like Switzerland. Some provinces would be
Catholic. Some would be Protestant; while others would
be tolerant of both.
Ribault’s ship first landed near modern-day
Jacksonville, FL in February of 1562. When the weather
warmed he sailed north to Port Royal Sound. Ribault
viewed Port Royale as the future capital of Florida
Francaise or Nouvelle France. It had an outstanding
harbor that was immediately west of where the Gulf
Stream shifts to flow toward Europe. French seamen and
soldiers built a small fort on an island in the harbor,
which was name Charlesfort in honor of the king. Ribault
left 28 men to garrison the fort, while he returned to
France to lead a mass exodus of Huguenots to the New
World.
Ribault was arrested and imprisoned in England. while
buying supplies for the new French colony. England,
itself, was in turmoil because Protestant Queen
Elizabeth had just replaced, Catholic Queen Mary. There
were numerous plots to assassinate Elizabeth or make
loyal Protestants appear to be against the Queen. This
is probably what happened to Ribault.
Meanwhile the 28 men of Charlesfort were starving. Like
every other colonization effort of the era, Ribault had
failed to include professional fishermen and farmers to
supply food for the garrison. Port Royal Sound abounded
in aquatic wildlife, but the men did not know how to
obtain sufficient quantities of seafood. Their first
structure, shown in the attached computer images,
burned. When the hungry Frenchmen tried to trade or
steal food from nearby Native American tribes, their
neighbors became hostile. They also mutinied and killed
the fort’s commander, Captain Albert, because of his
harsh discipline.
The main building of the fort was eventually
reconstructed, but lacking supplies or hope of
reinforcement from Ribault the garrison built an open
boat. They had been on the island and the only Europeans
living in North America for one year. The garrison did
include skilled carpenters, fortunately. Without a
compass, all but one member of the garrison sailed
across the Atlantic until being rescued by an English
vessel near Ireland. Prior to being rescued, they had
resorted to cannibalism in order to survive.
Later in 1563, a Spanish fleet discovered the fort and
the one remaining member of the garrison. The fort was
burned. Ribault was finally freed from an English prison
in 1564, then immediately returned with fleet carrying
supplies and many new colonists. After finding
Charelsfort destroyed, he decided to establish a new
colony on the May (St. Johns) River in what is now the
State of Florida. The Spanish established the Colony of
Santa Elena on Parris Island in 1565. That colony will
be discussed in a future article.
The Fort
The computer-generated virtual reality images of
Charlesfort accompany this article are the first ever
drawings of the structure. They were created by the
author from a painting made by Jacques Le Moyne, an
artist who accompanied Jean Rebault on his second
expedition; information in the nomination of the site as
a National Historic Landmark; and from reports published
by the SC Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. The
images will be included in a book the author is writing
on the architecture of the early French, Spanish and
English colonies in Canada and the United States.
Numerous books and web sites label Le Moyne’s sketch of
the construction of Fort Carolina as being that of
Charlesfort. However, the physical environments of the
two forts were quite different.
Charlesfort only had adequate space for perhaps three more buildings.
Twenty-eight men were assigned to temporarily garrison the fort. Copyrighted VR
images by Richard Thornton architect
France did not have a national flag until the French
Revolution. Beginning in 1562, the Huguenots started using their own flag in
battles. French colonies during the 1600s and 1700s typically flew a white
banner with three fleur-de-lis. Jacques Le Moyne's painting of Fort Caroline
shows a royal blue banner with gold fleur-de-lis. Even though it is known that
Jean Ribault flew both the king's royal standard and the Huguenot flag from his
ships, the author elected to show only the royal standard flying over
Charlesfort.
Charlesfort only had adequate space for perhaps three more buildings.
Twenty-eight men were assigned to temporarily garrison the fort. Copyrighted VR
images by Richard Thornton architect
Charlesfort was a triangular infantry fort that was quite
similar to what was being erected as temporary fortifications in the religious
wars of Germany and France. Its walls were composed of heavy wood planks that
were reinforced by “wishbone-shaped” wooden braces that allowed the walls to
bend when struck by cannon balls, but not fall over. On each corner of the fort
were diamond-shaped bastions, which were raised earthen platforms for the
mounting of light artillery. Measuring from the center points of the bastions,
the sides of fort were roughly 200 feet long. Archaeologists have found a
shallow 2.5 feet deep by 7.5 feet wide trench in front of the walls of the fort.
The fort had a very simple plan that was intended to resist attacks by small
ships or military units. Copyrighted VR images by Richard Thornton architect
The fortification is currently believed to have contained
only one significant structure; a wood-framed 14 feet by 40 feet garrison house,
constructed out of waddle & daub. A similar structure was built at Ribault’s
Fort Carolina on the St. John’s River. It was portrayed in de Bry’s painting had
a thatched roof and small windows.
SCAIA archaeologists found two pits on the east side of the garrison house,
which they labeled wells. It is more likely that one pit was a well, while the
other was an outhouse. The French were renowned for their architecture and
engineering. They certainly would not have overlooked the sanitary needs of the
garrison. The painting by Le Moyne shows the triangular Fort Caroline having a
bee-hive shaped cooking oven or pottery kiln just outside the gate. Although
archaeologists have not identified such a structure yet for Charlesfort, it
probably did exist and was in a similar location to the one at Fort Caroline.
The green island in the harbor is the location of Parris Island and Beauford,
SC.
The Spanish built a fortification on top of Charlesfort later
in that decade. It was named Fuerza San Filipe. The author has obtained a
Spanish officer’s plans for the fort. They will be converted into a virtual
reality model and presented to the Examiner readership when ready.
Defense of fort The fort had a simple gate on its south wall that would be
little protection against a large attacking force. Copyrighted VR images by
Richard Thornton architect
Notes About this Material
Source: Richard Thornton, an alliance of Muskogean scholars, professors and
professionals. Copyright Richard Thornton, Blairsville, GA, 2010. Used here with
permission.
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