Ex-Governor Moore had presented to the Carolina…
January 1704 CE
Ex-Governor Moore had presented to the Carolina assembly and his replacement, Nathaniel Johnson, a plan for an expedition against the Spanish towns in Apalachee Province.
He had promised that, unlike the St. Augustine expedition, the colony would not have to pay for anything; he expects its costs to be recovered by the taking of loot and slaves.
The Carolina assembly on September 7, 1703, had approved the plan, asking Moore to go "to the Assistance of the Cowetaws and other our friendly Indians, and to attacque the Appalaches." (Crane, Verner W (1956) [1929]. The Southern Frontier, 1670–1732. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.)
After recruiting fifty colonists, he had traveled to the upper waters of the Ocmulgee River, where he had recruited one thousand Creeks to join the expedition against their traditional enemies.
Moore's force arrives on January 25, 1704, at Ayubale, near present Tallahassee, one of the larger mission towns in Apalachee.
While most of the Creeks raid the surrounding villages, Moore takes most of the whites and fifteeen Creeks into Ayubale itself around 7:00 am.
The only resistance is organized by Father Angel Miranda, who retreats into the town's church compound, which is surrounded by a mud wall.
With twenty-six men he successfully holds the English at bay for nine hours, and only surrenders himself, his men, and fifty-eight women and children after they run out of arrows.
According to one Spanish account, Miranda threw himself and his followers on Moore's mercy.
He was, according to this account (but apparently not others; see following text) then summarily slain in cold blood by Moore's native allies, and some of his followers were then tortured and killed.
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