The Spanish continue to occupy the fort…
1568 CE
The Spanish continue to occupy the fort on the site of the massacre of the French colonists until April 1568, when Dominique de Gourgues leads a French force against it.
De Gourgues, a member of the old and powerful family of Gourgue, one of the most important families of the French city of Bordeaux, had learned to fight early on, being captured by the Spaniards when still very young and used as a galley slave.
Having sold everything he had and borrowing money from his brother Antoine in order to recruit a crew and charter three boats, de Gourgue had sailed to Cuba with two hundred men, never telling them the goal of their trip.
Once in Cuba, he had made his intentions clear and his crew approved his choice of revenge.
De Gourgues then moved to attack the fort, enlisting the aid of Fort Caroline's old allies, the Saturiwa, a Timucua people from the area.
The fort soon surrenders to de Gourgues' forces.
The French and Saturiwa kill the Spanish prisoners in retribution for the other massacres of Protestants.
De Gourgue burns the fort and returns to France afterwards.
The Spanish soon reoccupy the site and rebuild the fort only to permanently abandon it the next year.
The exact location of the settlement is not known.
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