THE FIRST FORT by Beverly Enwall

This story follows the actual history of William Ruffin, a 16-year-old Huguenot, the youngest of those French Huguenots who, fleeing the Catholic persecutions, had set out for the New World in hopes of finding enough gold to buy the French King's favor. They arrived in 1562 near present day Charleston, South Carolina, and William was among the twenty-seven men who stayed on at the hastily built fort while the others returned to Europe for supplies, promising to return before the winter storms. Meanwhile at the small fort William must deal with the Indians, the growing hatreds in the fort, and the threat from the Catholic Spaniards who patrol the coast and are building a real fort in St. Augustine to protect their holdings and the Catholic faith in the New World. Based on the French and Spanish chronicles written at the time.