Raymond Torres

History 506:50 – Archaeology

Professor Richard Veit
November 11, 2010
Laboring in the Fields of the Lord by Jerald T. Milanich

When you think of Spanish Missions in United States, you automatically head to

California because that is where the public awareness believes it exists. History has been

detailed from a view leading to the Eastern Colonies to the Western expansion. Very

little is known about the history of Spanish Colonization of Northern Mexico, missions

on the Mexican frontier and the consequences of the Spanish colonization for native

peoples especially if the Spanish colonization happens to have occurred in Florida.

“Laboring in the Fields of the Lord: Spanish Missions and Southwestern Indians”

authored by Jerald Milanich brings us an interesting and easy reading book that leads us

to a path of knowledge where he introduces us to the Indians of La Florida, especially

those called the Apalachee, Timucua and Guale.

In his prefaces, Milanich starts us with a good background journey to La Florida

where numerous Spanish Missions existed and how they were lost through time.

Unfortunately, none of the La Florida colonial missions exists today but through

historical documents and archaeological excavations, Milanich will give us knowledge of

the mission system, its impact on the Indians who lived on this mission village and the

activities of the Franciscan friars who served the missions.

So Milanich sets the stage in the first four chapters of his book, by characterizing

the landscape of La Florida with a discussion of the societies and cultures of the natives

people that the Spanish encountered and how it lead to the early efforts of colonization
ending with the settlement of Saint Augustine in 1565. In his characterization, Milanich

talks about the how the Spanish missions were established, the impact it had when it was

finally built and its fate. Therefore, focusing on three major groups: the Guales, the

Timucaus, and the Apalachees, Milanich details the impact upon the native groups when

they are exposed to European diseases, Spanish policies and international competition, as

they occupy areas from coastal South Carolina and Georgia to the Florida panhandle.

Franciscan missionaries established an extensive chain of missions while Spanish

entrepreneurs established ranches and farms. Small farms grew around the major

military garrison.

Although, Spanish missions were first established for the purpose of religious

conversion and instruction in the Catholic faith, the mission system actually served as the

primary means of integrating Indians into the political and economic structure of

Florida's colonial system. Missions were normally built where the local chief lived, as a

small compound with the larger Indian community which is usually has a number of

small villages. This mission compound included a church and a single building where

one friar would reside so they can serve a much larger group of Indians when they did

their rounds.

Interesting, Milanchi reveals to us that although Franciscan friars were

responsible for the religious affairs, they were politically subordinate to the governing

Indian chiefs. The Indian chiefs maintained rule over their local communities by gaining

respect and acknowledgement in the eye of their subordinate through acquisition of

Spanish clothing and other trade goods. Although the chiefs were subordinate to the
Spanish crown and church, Indian chiefs found it to be a huge benefit to be part of the

mission systems and often requested the construction of other mission establishments.

In the second half of the book, Milanich reviews the spread of Indian-Spanish

alliances after 1595 in terms of towns under indoctrination. Using maps, Milanich shows

the locations of missions established in Guale, Mocama and Agua Dulce and Apalachee.

Also he describes the mission regime and labor draft imposed on those "born under the

bell", which was very interesting.

One of the consequences for being subordinate to the Spanish crown within the

mission system was the enactment of the “Repartimiento” which was a mandatory wage

labor. “Repartimiento” required a specified number of single male Indians to go to St.

Augustine each year and work in the Spanish cornfields or build and maintain Spanish

fortifications. Chiefs selected which single male Indian were to be the workers each year

and these workers were paid in inexpensive trade goods for each day of labor. Most of

these workers often caught and spread diseases during their terms of service and died.

Some would die as results of being overworked and from exhaustion. The impact that

Milanichi reveals to us on this wage labor, is that since many single male Indians were

dying, it led to an imbalance in the mission village.

As a result from the imbalance within the Indian communities, Milanchi discusses

the decline and fate of the mission communities in his last two chapters. With the impact

of single male Indians dying during their term of working in St. Augustine, it lead to the

decline of Indian population which made it susceptible other factors such as slave raids

by the English and Indian raids. These devastated the mission communities and forced
them to be abandoned of all coastal missions and retreat to St. Augustine. South

Carolinas and Georgia Missions were already closed before the retreat to St. Augustine.

The amount of information Milanich has put into this book was very impressive,

and I admit that I found it very interesting. It was not filled with technical information or

archaeological information where it was boring or difficult to understand but easy to read.

Also, Milanichi put maps and illustrations to make it clearer for the reader to identify its

location and culture. It was well written for the general public as well as historians.
 Work Cited

Milanich, Gerald. Laboring in the Fields of the Lord: Spanish Missions and Southeastern
Indians. University Press of Florida. 1999.