Pedro Menendez received the title of Governor by right of conquest, and Captain-General and Commander of the Fleet by conference of his Majesty for faithful, valorous service--Don Martin Menendez receives the title of perpetual Governor by right of inheritance--Important papers burned at Simancas--Manuel De Mendoza reports to his Majesty as to the designs of the English enemy--Discovery of the South Sea--Condition of this Garrison and other Provinces--Implores aid in completing fortifications--Report to his Majesty by Francisco De La Guerra y Vega concerning an Englishman taken prisoner in the Province of Guale--One of a crew sent out from a settlement of English at St. Elena--This man who was second in authority was confined in prison on soldiers’ rations--An effort made to break up the English settlement, which was unsuccessful.
Letters to the King from the Governor Pablo Ita Salazer--Oath of office administered in the tower of the old Fort which is rapidly going into ruins--The Garrison needing supplies and ammunition--No warehouses, and owing to the distance and frequency of storms delaying supplies, the people are forced to hunt in the woods for roots to appease their hunger--The Fort in danger from pirates--Ammunition and guards exposed to the fatalities of the weather--Pleads for more money to complete the Castle--Its great importance--A pentagonal shape recommended--The Viceroy of Spain fails to send the ten thousand dollars--One hundred men needed to guard the Castle--Great danger from pirates--Two hundred leagues from Havana and five hundred from New Spain.
An effort made to dislodge the English from Santa Elena--Governor ordered to complete the Castle and defense of the Garrison--Yucatan families--Master weavers asked for to settle in Florida--Appalache considered the best Province for settlement--Supplies sent from New Spain--Barracks to be made in the Fort for the soldiers--Money sent to finish the new Castle, also supplies for the soldiers--The neighbors to assist in building the new Castle--Repairs on the bulwarks of Guale--Increase of troops for St. Augustine--A fortress ordered built at Appalache.
Letter from Pablo Ita Salazer to his Majesty--Indians of the Province of Guale declare themselves friendly to the English, and make war upon the Spaniards of the Island of St. Catherine--They surprise the six sentinels, killing all but one who escaped and gave warning--The people gather in the convent of a Friar and defend themselves from day light until four o’clock, when aid reaches them from the Garrison of St. Augustine, whereupon the enemy retires--The natives of the Island greatly alarmed--Disquieting news of the intentions of the enemy upon this Garrison--Implores aid from the King quickly, that the English may be ejected from the land--Don Juan Marquez Cabrera, Governor and Captain-General of Florida--Gives account to his Majesty of hostilities in the Provinces--Two Fleets, French and English, going and coming from Havana--Seize Fort Matanzas and, after plundering, burn it to the ground--Is now being rebuilt--Great depredations committed up and down the coast by the enemy--Pushing the work on the Castle--Grieved over its slow progress, owing to lack of workmen--Begs to be allowed to retire because of age and long service--To Charles II, our principal Casique, the King--From the people of the territory of Habalache--The King to the Governor and Captain-General of Florida--Concerning ten negroes from St. George, who asked for the water of baptism--A Sergeant-Major from St. George comes to claim them--Because they have become Christians the Spanish King decides to buy them--After receiving a receipt they are to be set at liberty, each one given a document to that effect--The King reprimands Don Diego Quiroga for not attending to these matters--Orders a full account to be sent as soon as it is accomplished.