Deadly Virtue: Fort Caroline and the Early Protestant Roots of American Whiteness

283 Pages·2019·21.622 MB·English

by  Heather Martel

Deadly Virtue
University Press of Florida
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
New College of Florida, Sarasota
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola

Deadly Virtue
Fort Caroline and the Early Protestant Roots
of American Whiteness
•
Heather Martel
University Press of Florida
Gainesville · Tallahassee · Tampa · Boca Raton
Pensacola · Orlando · Miami · Jacksonville · Ft. Myers · Sarasota
Copyright 2019 by Heather Martel
All rights reserved
Published in the United States of America. Printed on acid-free paper.
This book may be available in an electronic edition.
24 23 22 21 20 19 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Martel, Heather, author.
Title: Deadly virtue : Fort Caroline and the early Protestant roots of
American whiteness / Heather Martel.
Description: Gainesville, FL : University Press of Florida, [2019] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019004288 | ISBN 9780813066189 (cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Protestantism—United States—History—16th century. |
Religion and science—United States—History—16th century. |
Whites—Florida—Relations with Indians. | Indians—First contact with
Europeans. | French—Florida—History—16th century. |
Calvinists—Florida—History—16th century. | France—Colonies.
Classification: LCC BR520 .M37 2019 | DDC 975.9/01—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019004288
The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State University System
of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast
University, Florida International University, Florida State University, New College of Florida,
University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, University of
South Florida, and University of West Florida.
University Press of Florida
2046 NE Waldo Road
Suite 2100
Gainesville, FL 32609
http://upress.ufl.edu
Contents
List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Introduction: Deadly Virtue . . . . . . . 1
1. Friendship . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2. Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3. Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4. Gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
5. Sexuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
6. Idolatry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
7. Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Conclusion: Race . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . 213
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Figures
1.1. Natives worship the column erected by the commander 17
2.1. The king and queen taking a walk 35
2.2. Floridians deliberating on important affairs 55
2.3. Mode of treating the sick in Florida 59
3.1. Trophies and ceremonies after a victory in Florida 62
4.1. Floridians crossing over to an island 86
4.2. Solemnities at the reception of the queen by the king 94
4.3. Display with which a queen elect is brought to the king 96
4.4. Chief applied to by women whose husbands have died 99
4.5. Chief lady of Secota in Virginia 100
4.6. Employments of the hermaphrodites in Florida 105
4.7. Floridians depositing their crops in the public granary 106
4.8. Their sitting at meat in Virginia 113
5.1. How Outina’s men treat the slain of the enemy 115
5.2. Tattoos of the chiefs in Virginia 123
5.3. Outina gains a victory over his enemy Potavou in Florida 126
5.4. Firstborn children sacrificed to the chief 139
6.1. Solemnities at consecrating the skin of a stag to the sun 141
6.2. Ceremonies performed by Saturiwa against the enemy 150
6.3. Outina consults a sorcerer in Florida 153
6.4. Spaniards killed with molten gold 157
7.1. Mode of tilling and planting in Florida 169
7.2. Women mourning for their deceased husbands 190

Introduction
Deadly Virtue
Florida, land of flowers. In the mid-sixteenth century, French Prot-
estants attempted to colonize this lush region and its Indigenous people
through an eroticized diplomacy based in their ideals of love, friendship,
identity, and power. In 1564, they built a stronghold that they named Fort
Caroline, where they attempted to form lasting relationships with the
people indigenous to the wide river mouth and the inland mountains of
present-day Georgia and Florida. At the outset, these Protestants ideal-
ized colonialism as a romantic friendship between French and Indigenous
people in which the Christians’ god would help them recognize and re-
deem an elect from among Indigenous people, creating one transcultural
empire under the control of “true” Christians. French Calvinists, called
“Huguenots,” or ghosts, by hostile countrymen and women, envisioned
a Protestant empire under an Indigenous king rich and powerful enough
to defend against the monarchies of Europe.1 The failure of this strategy
would inform later Protestant colonialism in North America, as well as
the construction of American whiteness.
Sixteenth-century Protestant letters, engravings, and travel narratives
tell a tale of romantic imaginings in Florida that laid the groundwork for
a more violent, separatist form of colonialism. According to the narra-
tives of these would-be colonizers, the Indigenous people of the region
welcomed the French with love. As one young Frenchman recalled, the
people there greeted their Protestant visitors in 1564, “crying out ‘AMY
THYPOLA PASSON’ which means Brother and Friend like the fingers
of one hand.”2 Mon ami, “Brother and Friend”—such greetings promised
success for the small Protestant enterprise, which would depend on love