In an effort to gather intelligence, on March 28, 1598, Governor Méndez reached a secret agreement with the cacique Escamacu, whose territory bordered Guale’s northern frontier. In exchange for Spanish goods and favor, Escamacu vowed to launch his own punitive expeditions into Guale territory, and inflict as much damage on the “rebels” as he could. Escamacu also promised to gather intelligence to help the Spanish governor determine whether any of the friars had survived the 1597 attacks.
Two months later, Governor Méndez traveled north to meet in person with Escamacu, who presented the governor with a number of scalps, which he claimed to have taken from Guale rebels he had killed. Escamacu also confirmed that one of the friars, Fray Francisco de Ávila, was still alive and that he was being held captive in the village of Tulufina. With that news, Governor Méndez quickly set off for Guale territory to negotiate the friar’s ransom. This time, he succeeded in making contact with a number of Indians from Tolomato, including several unnamed caciques. In exchange for the friar’s safe release, the Indians issued a series of demands, including the return of several young Guale boys who had been taken to St. Augustine three years earlier. Governor Méndez accepted the terms and sent orders to St. Augustine to deliver the ransom goods to him at Tolomato, along with the young Guale boys.
What happens next is poorly documented and therefore difficult to piece together. According to the governor, after receiving the goods that had been demanded, the Guale still refused to surrender the friar. In response, Méndez threatened to gather his entire military force and launch a vicious campaign against them, vowing to put them all to the sword, raze their villages and fields, and pursue the survivors deep into the interior. According to the governor, the threat worked. Within the hour, he later reported, Fray Ávila was released. Not only that, but the governor managed to keep possession of the young Indian boys that the Guale had demanded as part of the exchange. Moreover, Méndez had also succeeded in capturing seven more Indian boys, including a young Guale named Lucas, the son of Tupiqui’s cacique, don Felipe.
With the friar rescued and several new captives to interrogate, the governor returned to St. Augustine. He immediately sought permission from St. Augustine’s Franciscan superior to question Fray Francisco de Ávila. Surely the lone friar to have survived the 1597 attacks would be able to shed light on the events that had occurred 10 months earlier. Yet despite the fact that Fray Ávila’s superior granted the friar permission to testify, Ávila refused. Within months of his release, the friar had left Florida for Cuba. Shortly thereafter, Fray Ávila returned to Spain. More than nine months had passed since Governor Méndez first learned of the assault on the Franciscan missions. Yet St. Augustine’s governor still knew virtually nothing about what had happened or who was responsible. With his frustration mounting, St. Augustine’s governor turned to his new captives, the seven young Guale boys he had somehow taken during the negotiations for Fray Ávila’s release. If the governor wanted to understand what had happened in the mission villages, and who was responsible for the friars’ deaths, he would have to gather the information from his new prisoners.
In July of 1598, Governor Méndez proceeded to interrogate the seven young Guale boys. The testimonies are brief and contradictory, yet they provide some remarkable clues into the nature of the uprising and therefore merit careful scrutiny. It is worth noting that only two of the seven witnesses implicated don Juanillo for his role in the uprising, and neither of them testified that don Juanillo alone had issued the orders to kill the friars. Instead, both witnesses identified don Juanillo as one of several different leaders who had ordered and had carried out the attacks. Ultimately, six of the witnesses implicated their fellow captive, Lucas, for his alleged participation in the murder of Fray Blas Rodríguez. Under the threat of torture, Lucas ultimately confessed to having been present when one of the friars was killed. Following his confession, Lucas was found guilty of murder. In late July, he was hanged in St. Augustine—the only Indian officially charged and punished for participating in the uprising.
