The Listening Grove · This Country of Ours
Chapter 8: How the French Founded a Colony in Florida
A Charlotte Mason read-aloud lesson. Press play, with the lesson.
What is This Country of Ours Chapter 8, How the French Founded a Colony in Florida, about?Parent review
This Country of Ours Chapter 8, How the French Founded a Colony in Florida, is France's second and larger attempt. Rene de Laudonniere brings a company to the River of May and every hand sets to work building Fort Caroline. Satouriona, the chief of that country, welcomes them and makes an alliance, and the French find themselves drawn into his wars. Then some of their own men mutiny and steal two of the ships to go hunting treasure. Food runs short, and runs shorter, until the colonists are grinding fish bones into bread. Laudonniere is preparing to give up the country altogether when an English admiral, John Hawkins, arrives and gives them a ship and supplies. They are packing to leave when sails appear on the horizon: Ribaut's fleet has come at last.
Say what you remember!
Tell what you remember from the last chapter.
What happened in This Country of Ours Chapter 7, How the Flag of France Was Planted in Florida?Have a look
In Chapter 7, How the Flag of France Was Planted in Florida, Jean Ribaut landed on the Florida coast, set up a stone pillar to claim it for France, and built a fort called Charlesfort. He left nearly thirty men and sailed home for supplies, and did not return. The men had come for gold rather than farming, and they starved, kept alive by the native chiefs. Their harsh governor was killed by his own men, and the survivors built a boat from wreckage, rigged with their shirts, and put to sea, where an English ship found them becalmed and starving.
Read the previous lesson: How the Flag of France Was Planted in Florida →Show what you know!
Use your printable Lesson Guide. Fill in the vocabulary you know, then click to check your work and learn some new words today.
What are the difficult or advanced vocabulary words in This Country of Ours Chapter 8, How the French Founded a Colony in Florida?famine, garrison, treaty, grievanceHave a look
- famine: a time when food is terribly scarce
- garrison: the troops stationed in a fort
- treaty: a written agreement between two peoples or rulers
- grievance: a cause of distress that makes people complain
Locate it on the map!
Use your printable Lesson Guide. Use an atlas and fill in the blank map if you can find the geographic location, then click to check your work.
What important geographic locations connect with This Country of Ours Chapter 8, How the French Founded a Colony in Florida?
- Find
- Florida
- France
- Spain
- Parris Island (Charlesfort)
- Find and Label
- Jacksonville (Florida)
See it on the mapHave a look
This matches the map in your Lesson Guide.
The Books come Alive!
Read or listen to Chapter 8 of This Country of Ours, the Kindred Thicket Revised Edition.
Read by Kindred Thicket from the This Country of Ours Kindred Thicket Revised Edition.
What corrections are made in Chapter 8 of This Country of Ours?Parent review
This is a Kindred Thicket Revised Edition. Factual and historical errors are corrected and dated wording is put right, and these notes tell you plainly what we changed and what we left as Marshall wrote it.
- About this sectionThroughout this section we brought Marshall’s British spellings to American English, keeping the original spelling inside quoted material.
- Kindred Thicket Revised Edition UpdatesIn This Country of Ours Chapter 8 we thoroughly examined and researched the chapter's contents. The history stands as Marshall told it, and our changes are of two kinds. This chapter gives us Satouriona, the chief who welcomed the French to that coast. In three places the narration sensationalized him and his warriors at their expense, added for effect rather than for anything the events required. We removed those words. In two further places Marshall used a word for the people of Florida that is now considered derogatory, and we replaced it. His war ceremony, his prayer to the Sun, and every event of the chapter remain exactly as Marshall wrote them.
- Teacher's Notes“on the 8th of December they set sail”The mutineers are said to have sailed on the eighth of December. No primary source confirms the date.
- “He had been with Ribaut two years before”Laudonnière is said to have served with Ribaut two years before. It is likely, but the records do not confirm it.
- “Ten chiefs and five hundred warriors, fearful in war paint and feathers, gathered at the call.”Satouriona's ten chiefs and five hundred warriors cannot be confirmed. Numbers in colonial accounts were often estimates made from a distance.
- “bringing with them twenty-four prisoners and many scalps”The warriors return with twenty-four prisoners. The French eyewitness Laudonnière, as retold by the historian Parkman, counted thirteen. Both numbers are on the record.
- “As they saw his ship come the Indians ran down to the beach”The people of this chapter were the Timucua, who lived across northern Florida.
Memory becomes Action!
Use the Response Resource* to remember and spell tricky names. Choose one way to narrate.
*Materials in the Lesson Guide.
What is the list of names, people, characters, and places that are important in Chapter 8 of This Country of Ours?Laudonnière, Ribaut, Fort Caroline, The River of May, Satouriona, The Thimagoes, John Hawkins, CharlesfortHave a look
- Laudonnière: The French leader who founded Fort Caroline.
- Ribaut: The French captain of the relief expedition.
- Fort Caroline: The French fort built on the River of May.
- The River of May: The Florida river the French settled on, now the St. Johns.
- Satouriona: A chief near Fort Caroline, ally of the French.
- The Thimagoes: An inland people, enemies of Satouriona.
- John Hawkins: An English sea captain, the fort's unlooked-for relief.
- Charlesfort: The earlier French colony on this coast.
Chapter 8 Q & A
This is a Kindred Thicket Revised Edition. Marshall’s 1917 history is beautiful but not always right, and here is what the record supports for this chapter.
Who was Satouriona?
A Timucua chief of the country around the River of May, who welcomed the French and made an alliance with them. Marshall's narration sensationalized him and his warriors in three places, added for effect rather than for anything the events required, and we removed those words. His war ceremony, his prayer to the Sun, and every event of the chapter remain as she wrote them.
Why did the alliance with Satouriona cause trouble?
Because it drew the French into his wars. An alliance costs differently on each side when only one side can sail away, and the French needed his people for food far more than he needed them.
Did the mutineers really sail on the eighth of December?
The chapter gives that date, but no primary source confirms it.
Had Laudonniere served with Ribaut before?
Marshall says he had been with Ribaut two years earlier. It is likely, but the records do not confirm it.
How large was Satouriona's war party?
Ten chiefs and five hundred warriors are named in the chapter, and those numbers cannot be confirmed.
How bad did the famine get?
Bad enough that the colonists ground fish bones into bread. They were preparing to abandon Florida altogether when John Hawkins arrived and gave them a ship and supplies.
What did Kindred Thicket change in this chapter?
The history stands as Marshall told it. Our changes were of two kinds: we removed three passages that sensationalized Satouriona and his warriors at their expense, and we replaced two uses of a word for the people of Florida that is now considered derogatory.