Fort Caroline: Murder, Mystery and Mayhem

The first protestant prayer offered on North American soil occurred on on June 30, 1564. French Huguenots, evangelical Christians who followed the teachings of John Calvin rather than Roman Catholicism, came to the southeast coast of what is now the United States and built the first fortified European settlement in the New World, calling it Fort Caroline. These French men, women and children were not professional soldiers. They were carpenters, traders, scholars, farmers, and laborers -- most of them middle to upper class -- and had come to the New World for both freedom of religion and adventure. Upon arriving