A previous work, "The Conspiracy of Pontiac," was
written in similar circumstances.
The writer means, if possible, to carry the present design to its
completion. Such a completion, however, will by no means be essential as
regards the individual volumes of the series, since each will form a
separate and independent work. The present work, it will be seen,
contains two distinct and completed narratives. Some progress has been
made in others.
Boston. January 1,1865.
Part One
HUGOENOTS IN FLORIDA
PREFATORY NOTE TO THE
HUGUENOTS IN FLORIDA.
The story of New France opens with a tragedy. The political and
religious enmities which were soon to bathe Europe in blood broke out
with an intense and concentrated fury in the distant wilds of Florida.
It was under equivocal auspices that Coligny and his partisans essayed
to build up a Calvinist France in America, and the attempt was met by
all the forces of national rivalry, personal interest, and religious
hate.
This striking passage of our early history is remarkable for the
fullness and precision of the authorities that illustrate it. The
incidents of the Huguenot occupation of Florida are recorded by eight
eye-witnesses. Their evidence is marked by an unusual accord in respect
to essential facts, as well as by a minuteness of statement which
vividly pictures the events described.
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