Evening star., 1926-03-28
HUCUENOTS GIVEN
NATIONS HOMAGE
Wilbur Speaks at Exercises
Honoring First CoIonists
to Settle in America.
Bg the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
BEAUFORT. s. c.. March 27.--A
monument was dedicated at Paris
Island today TO the intrepid band Il
French HuguenotS who, under the
leadership of Jean Eibaut, founded
the first colony of white men on the
North American continent in 1862.
French and American voices were
lifted in praise of the pioneers who
sought a place to worship God accord
ing to the dictates of their own con
sciences only to be maSSaCred by
Spaniards.
Secretary Wilbur of the Navy De
partment headed the list of American
speakers Jules Henry, first secretary
OF the French embassy al Washlng-
ton, represented France. Other speak
ers included Maj. Gen. John A. Le-
ieune. commandant Of the United
States Marine Corps; Gov. Thomas q.
Mcleod of South Carolina, w. c. Mil
ler, president Of the Huguenot Society
of South Carolina, and Maj. Gen. Hi
K, Cole, commandant Of the Paris
Island Marine Training Station.
Wilbur Praises Pioneers.
Secretary Wilbur eulogiZed the set
tiers and reviewed the historical facts
relating to the settlement and the SUD-
SeQuent massacre Oh LIlG COloIl4SCo.
1T is pitiful thing" he said, that
after crossing the ocean wastes and
setting foot on this vast continent
these men should have felt compelled
to erect here this tiny refuge as one
spot upon the vast surface of the
earth where they might have such
liberty"
The scene of the unveiling was the
site where the ancient embattiements
of Fort Charles have recently been
unearthed. The memorial was reared
by congressional appropriation, while
the exercises We're under the auspices
of the Huguenot Society of South
Carolina.
In the year 1862 Fort Charles was
built where it looked out over the
harbor of Port Royal, then among the
largest harborS in the known world.
So large was this body of water con-
sidnrad bv the explorer Ribaut that he
informed his King that in it all the
nayies of the world could ride at an
chor. The first great fleet to ride
there came 900 years afterWard, when,
iusI8G2 the Federal forces took the
harbOr town and sailed thelr meet IN
the inlet to establish at Beaufort the
Departuent of the South.
/, was Nenedez, the Spanish captain,
whose name struck terror to the early
.a,tloroents of America, that captured
the tinv garrison and massacred the
cn,nutsts to a man. Thereafter for
"a vears the Spaniards used the fort
As a military and mission station.
They were driven out by the English
and subsequently the colony of Caro-
lima was established at another point
on the unexplored coast.
Reviewing the historical facts re-
lating to the settlement, Secretary
Wilbur today told how the Spaniards
were congratulated by their king for
the massacre. Quoting the exact
words of Phillip of Spain, the Secre-
tary commented:
with this brutal epitaph we might
close this pitiful chapter in American
history, but after nearly 400 years we
are here to dedicate memorial to
their valor and to record that the
spirit which they here manifested sur
vived in others who also fled to the
continent to secure liberty, and today
we hear joyful witness that nowhere
on this continent from Point Barrow
to Cape Horn, from the Atlantic to
the Pacific is it necessary for earnest,
honest, Godsfearing folks to imprison
themselves within fortif1cations in
order that they may worship their God
according to the dictates of their own
<onsciences."