Don Luis

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Don Luis (b. 1543? - 1646 ?) was a Native American who was the son of an Algonquian chief in an area which eventually became Virginia in the United States. He may have become the father of Wahunsonacock (better known as Chief Powhatan) or, even less likely, may be the same individual later known as Opechancanough who became the Chief of the Powhatan Confederacy between the 1620s and 1640s, and a fierce opponent of the European settlers.

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[edit] Native Americans

For thousands years before the arrival of Spanish and English settlers in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Native Americans in the area now known as Virginia were semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes. then opecancanough died. In the second half of the 16th century, the Algonquian-speaking Powhatan Confederacy included most natives in the area which became southeastern Virginia, although there were some other small unaffiliated tribes in the area.

[edit] Spanish exploration

Early in the 16th century, Spanish explorers discovered the Chesapeake Bay while in search of the fabled (and non-existent) Northwest Passage to India. They gave the land now known as Virginia the name "Ajacan."

After several failed attempts at colonization of the portion of the New World now known as the United States, the Spanish succeeded in 1565 with the establishment of St. Augustine, the first city in the United States. Small settlements spread northward along the eastern coast into Georgia and the Carolinas. The northern-most post was Santa Elena (today Port Royal, South Carolina).

[edit] a 17-year old Native American boy

Spanish exploration northward in the area of the Chesapeake Bay continued into the late 16th century. During one such trip in 1560, the 17-year old son of an Algonquian chief of the Native Americans in the village of Chiskiack on the Virginia Peninsula (in an area now part of the lands of the U.S. Naval Weapons Station Yorktown) agreed to go with the Spanish to learn their culture. The Spanish called him Paquiquino (little Francis) at first. He was brought to Mexico and was instructed in the Catholic religion and later baptized "Don Luis", in honor of Luis de Velasco, his sponsor, who was the Viceroy of New Spain. The youth was then transported to Madrid, Spain, and had an audience with the Emperor. He received a thorough Jesuit education. Don Luis later returned to the New World.

[edit] Ajacan Mission on Virginia's Lower Peninsula

In 1570, Father Juan Bautista de Segura, Jesuit vice provincial of Havana, wanted to establish a mission in Ajacan without a military garrison, which was unusual. One of the chief stumbling blocks to converting the Natives to Christianity at other locations had been the often deplorable conduct of the colonial soldiers. On garrison duty, not challenged by the prospect of fighting, they were apt to seek an outlet for their boredom in drunkenness, thievery, bullying and sexual license. Despite concerns about the plan's feasibility, Father Segura eventually obtained permission from his superiors for the founding of the new Ajacan Mission, which was to be called "St. Mary's Mission."

In August 1570, Father Segura, Father Luis de Quiros, former head of the Jesuit college among the Moors in Spain, and six Jesuit brothers set forth from their base in Havana to establish their new mission in Ajacan. A young Spanish boy, Alonso Olmos, called Aloncito, also accompanied the priests to serve Mass. They were also accompanied by Don Luis as their guide and translator. On September 10, the party of 10 landed in the region now known as the Virginia Peninsula.

[edit] Exact location: still unknown

It is possible the location they chose was at Queen's Creek on the north side of the Lower Peninsula, near the York River. More recent findings suggest that St. Mary's Mission may have been in the village of Axacam on the New Kent side of Diascund Creek near its confluence with the Chickahominy River.

In either case, Don Luis soon set about attempting to locate his native village of Kiskiack which he had not seen in ten years. There, a small wooden hut was constructed with an adjoining room where Mass could be celebrated. Soon after the ship bringing them had departed, Don Luis left the Jesuits, supposedly to seek his uncle and supplies.

[edit] Abandonment, massacre

As time went by, first days, and then months, the small band of Jesuits realized that they had been abandoned. To their added misfortune, it was a time when the mid-Atlantic region was enduring a long period of famine. The food they brought with them was in short supply. Immediately there was a dependence on the Indians for food.

They successfully traded with some natives for food, but it was increasingly in short supply as the winter months set in. Around February of 1571, Don Luis returned with other natives and stole all their clothing and supplies. The natives killed both of the priests and all six brothers. Only the young servant boy was spared, perhaps because he was not a Jesuit. Escaping the carnage, the young boy made his way to a rival native chief who lived close to the main coast on the Chesapeake Bay. There he waited until the relief expedition arrived in 1572.

[edit] Survivor, retaliation, aftermath

More than a year after the massacre at the Ajacan Mission, a Spanish supply ship found and rescued Alonso, upon which he gave the only survivor's account. Subsequently, Florida's Governor, Pedro Menendez de Aviles, traveled to Ajacan to punish the culprits. The native-convert Don Luis proved ever elusive and was never discovered. However, eight other Indians accused of murdering the missionaries were promptly hanged by the Spaniards.

The disastrous attempt at establishing a mission in Virginia spelled the end of Spanish ventures to colonize the area. Following the death of Father Segura and his companions in the Ajacan Mission venture, the Jesuits were recalled from St. Augustine and sent on to Mexico where the harvest, temporal and spiritual, seemed much more promising.

The story of native-convert Don Luis may end at this point. However, perhaps it doesn't. No one knows for sure.

[edit] Possible link between Don Luis and Opechancanough

At the time of the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown in 1607, a fierce Native American warrior named Opechancanough was the half-brother of Wahunsonacock, the Chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, The name Opechancanough meant "He whose Soul is White" in the Algonquin language.

It is speculated by some historians, but not known with certainty, that the same Native American youth who had also been known as "Don Luis" was either the father of Wahunsonacock or may even have been Opechancanough. What is known is that Opechancanough was violently opposed to the European settlers. A period of relative peace between the Powhatans and the settlers ended not long after the death of his brother, Wahunsonacock, when Opechancanough became the new chief.

Beginning with the Indian massacre of 1622, Chief Opechancanough gave up on diplomacy with the English settlers of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia and tried to force them to abandon the region both then and again in 1644, when he was captured. Opechancanough was later killed by a soldier assigned to guard him. At the time, he was said to be about 90 years old.

The timing makes the possibility that Opechancanough and the Don Luis who sabotaged the Jesuit Ajacan Mission in 1571 were one and the same at least feasible.

[edit] Modern times

Descendants of the Powhatan Confederacy live on in Virginia in many places, including two reservations in King William County. The Richmond Diocese of the Catholic Church has designated St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in New Kent County as the new Shrine of the Jesuit Martyrs.

[edit] Sources

  • Martinez, Bartolomé. “Relation,” The Spanish Jesuit Mission in Virginia, 1570-1572. Clifford M. Lewis and Albert J. Loomie, eds. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1953.
  • Rountree, Helen C. Powhatan Foreign Relations: 1500-1722. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. 1993.
  • Taylor, Alan. American Colonies. New York: Viking, 2001.
  • Letter of Juan Rogel to Francis Borgia 1572 This Virtual Jamestown letter from Juan Rogel describes the rescue of a young boy, the sole survivor of the Indian massacre at Ajacàn. The account details the massacre as related by the boy. The letter also describes the revenge taken by the Spanish forces for the massacre of the settlement.

[edit] See also