Born in
Dieppe, France, Le Moyne was an artist who accompanied the
French expedition of
Jean Ribault and
René Laudonnière in from 1562, when they arrived at the
St. Johns River, to
1564, when they founded
Fort Caroline. Painting in the Calvinist style, he is mostly known for his artistic depictions of the landscape, flora, fauna, and, most importantly, the inhabitants of the
New World encountered by the French and Spanish. His drawings of the cultures commonly referred to as the
Timucua (known through their reproduction by the Dutch publisher
Theodor de Bry) are largely regarded as some of the most accessible data about the cultures of the Southeastern Coastal
United States, however, many of these depictions and maps are currently being questioned by historians and archaeologists as to their authenticity. During this expedition he became known as a cartographer and an illustrator as he painted landscapes and reliefs of the land they crossed.
Ribault explored the mouth of the
St. Johns River in
Florida and erected a stone monument there before leading the party north and establishing a settlement on
Parris Island, South Carolina. He then sailed back to France for supplies while Laudonnière took charge of the colony. Finding conditions unfavorable on Parris Island Laudonnière and the others eventually moved back to Florida where they founded
Fort Caroline on the St. Johns Bluff in what is now
Jacksonville.
A year later, the settlers engaged in a conflict with the Spanish colony of
St. Augustine thirty miles to the south. The Spanish, under the leadership of
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, stormed the colony and killed most of the Huguenots, though Laudonnière and Le Moyne escaped and were eventually rescued to
England.
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