Esteban de las Alas

Esteban de las Alas (died 1577) was a Spanish sailor who served as interim governor of La Florida from October 1567 to August 1570, in absence of official governor Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. He was also governor of Fort San Felipe, in Santa Elena, Florida, in 1566 and 1567.

Early years

He was the son of Rodrigo de las Alas and María de León, the first records of his presence in América date from 1561. In 1563 he was present as General in the Fleet of New Spain, which allowed him to obtain large amounts of gold and silver, which he brought to Spain and shared between the Crown and other people. As friend and companion of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, he accompanied him on the conquest of Florida commanding one of the squads, funded in part by its own funds, in 1565. Thus, he was appointed general of the ships and troops of the Cantabrian Sea. He sold most of his property and helped with loans, and managed to gather more than 6,000 ducats, allowing him to acquire three ships and equip them with provisions, arms and ammunition. After leaving for the Americas from Gijon, Asturias (Spain), May 25, at the crossing from Canary Islands to the Caribbean, the ship was separated from the rest of the fleet by a storm and ended up taking refuge in Yaguana, Hispaniola, along with 200 men in two ships in disrepair. From there he went to Cuba, but along the way he was captured by a group of Portuguese boat smugglers. In early January 1566, he arrived in Havana and met with Menendez Aviles and Pedro Menendez Marquez, who had already given him up for dead.

After the reunion with Pedro Menendez, he became part of his "Estado Mayor", as his bookkeeper. In addition, he explored South Florida and contacted the Calusa tribe. Later he worked in the exploration of North Florida (reaching the current Georgia and South Carolina), looking for French Huguenots. There he contacted the indigenous tribes of the Guales and Oristas, through whose friendship the Spanish could raise Fort San Felipe in the domains of the chief the Orista tribe, at the tip of Santa Elena, leading to his being named governor of the fort.

Government of Fort San Felipe

During his rule of Fort San Felipe, Alas had to face a mutiny: When Esteban de las Alas finished building the fort and reached a ship full of supplies, lack of food caused sixty soldiers to riot. The soldiers seized and tied up Esteban de las Alas and its officers, escaping in the boat with all provisions to Havana. When De las Alas freed himself, he found that only twenty-five men were at his side.

In early July, a month after these events, Captain Juan Pardo came to Santa Elena with two boats that contained three hundred soldiers and many provisions which were necessary to the garrison of San Felipe, which until then had lived in the generosity of the Amerindians.

Government of Florida

After the trip, de Pedro Menéndez went to Spain in 1567 to inform the king and bring new reinforcements, Alas was appointed governor and Commander-in-chief of Florida in October, 1566. While in office, he had to face both moral issues and mutinies of soldiers (a group of soldiers of St. Augustine moved by lack of food, delays in paying wages and the Amerindian war, hatched a plot to kill Esteban De las Alas and flee the region, but Alas discovered the plot before it was executed and he jailed those involved, hanged the main culprits, which together with the fact that De las Alas had advanced the soldiers pay, calmed the soldiers), and waged battles against the Indians and the French in Fort San Mateo. Although De Alas troops defeated the Amerindian and expelled them from the fort, De las Alas sent a captain with 50 soldiers that would strengthen that position and to repair the Fort. However, the Fort ended up being sacked by the French with great ease, as they were helped by Amerindian warriors of Saturiwa (one of the most powerful Amerindian Chiefs of North of Florida, which is where Fort San Mateo was situated), and only met with resistance from the captain and seven Spanish soldiers (of the 120 that were in the fort). The Spanish prisoners were hanged and two Fort's houses were razed, while the Fort San Mateo suffered serious damage. Esteban de las Alas promised to build another fort on the island of Alimaconi and repair San Mateo when supplies arrived.

Afterwards, Pedro Menendez returned, he ordered Alas to take action to bring new soldiers and settlers to Florida, which would take place on April 25. When they arrived at the then Spanish province 273 new soldiers and settlers were distributed among the main forts of the colony. In addition, he was reappointed governor of San Felipe, where he governs 193 people (mostly farmers and their wives).

However, there was a major problem for survival in Florida. European cereals are not acclimated in these swampy lands, and livestock could not prosper due to mass slaughter of horses and cows by Indians. The survival of the Spanish presence in the area depended on supplies from abroad. The prolonged absence of the Governor of Florida and the failure of the supply and payment of payroll fittings caused people to become impoverished.

Esteban de las Alas, who remained as governor of La Florida by delegation of Menendez de Avilés, decides to take the only possible solution: evacuate part of the colony so that those who remain are more likely to survive. He reduced the amount of people stationed at Saint Augustine, San Mateo, San Pedro (on the southeast coast of Georgia) and San Felipe, putting fifty soldiers for each Fort. In the latter of them two dozen farmers and their families were also allowed to remain. Instead, the Forts Ays and Carlos (South Florida) were abandoned.

In August 1570, he was recalled as governor of Florida and on August 13 of that year he began his return to Spain, with 120 Spaniards remaining in the ship Espiritu Santo (Holy Spirit), arriving at the port of Cadiz, Spain on October 22. This motivates the proceedings of Casa de Contratación of Seville to find out the causes of this trip. Alas was acquitted of charges.

Return to the Spanish Army and last years

In 1577, the King appointed him general of the Armada Real (royal army) with the goal to go to Centroamérica to find gold for the Spanish Crown and clearing the coast of pirates. In April this year, near Isla Margarita, Alas found two French pirate boats. To entertain the pirates and preventing them from escaping before reinforcement arrived, he started to repeatedly bombard them to prevent their escape. By nightfall, three ships of the fleet arrived, who began to pursue the pirates. Meanwhile, De las Alas stayed behind to pick up the other ships of its navy and bring them to Cartagena de Indias and then to Nombre de Dios, Panama, where he was to pick up real gold for transport to Spain.

On December 30, 1572 he was appointed under the auspices of Pedro Menendez, captain of the galleon «Santiago el menor», belonging to the fleet of Admiral Diego Florez. On board this galleon, Alas made the routes of Venezuela and the Isla de Margarita and Santa Marta, Colombia, transporting valuable goods and dealing with many pirates and privateers. Eventually, Alas held several administrative positions in several American cities, but ended up being accused of fraud by the failure of an expedition to the Strait of Magellan in 1581, which was withdrawn from service.

In the last years of his life he held the position of supplier and factor in the Navy. He died in Nombre de Dios, Panamá, in 1577.

He married Ana María de Valdés, and they had four children: Esteban de las Alas el Mozo, Ana Catalina de Miranda, María de Valdés and Rodrigo de las Alas.