release him once his party had safely reached Uzachile. Subsequently some subordinate chiefs, asserting that Uzachile sought an alliance with De Soto, led the Spanish into an ambush. After a battle, De Soto executed Aguacaleycuen and other hostages and moved into Uzachile's territory, which he found already evacuated. In 1564 the French settlers of Fort Caroline heard of a powerful chief in this area named Onatheaqua. Though details are limited, this Onatheaqua may have ruled the Northern Utina chiefdom led earlier by Aguacaleycuen. The French understood his chiefdom to be near that of Chief Houstaqua, whose name is probably a variant of "Yustaga", and to the east of the Apalachee. However, they believed he lived near high mountains (the Appalachian Mountains, which early Europeans believed extended to Apalachee territory). The French believed Onatheaqua to be very wealthy and to have controlled access to the mountains and the strange and valuable things located there. Mission era The Northern Utina received a number of Spanish emissaries following the 1565 establishment of St. Augustine, but they consistently rejected all Spanish overtures for several decades. Then in 1597, as part of a renewed wave of missionary effort, the Spanish sent the Timucua Christian leader Juan de Junco to the Northern Utina cacique mayor (head chief), probably at the town of Ayacuto at the Figs Springs site. Alone among the other missionaries sent out that year, Juan was successful, and convinced the chief to send emissaries to St. Augustine to negotiate peace. The Northern Utina rendered obedience to the Spanish crown, and the Spanish dispatched a friar to the main village of Ayacuto, where the important Mission San Martín de Timucua was established in 1608. Over the next eight years at least three more missions were established in Northern Utina territory: Santa Fé de Toloca, Santa Cruz de Tarihica, and San Juan de Guacara. The profile of the Northern Utina increased substantially as smaller provinces were merged into Timucua Province, and San Martín became the principal mission and town for an increasingly wide area. However, they suffered considerable demographic decline from the epidemics that spread through Florida through the 17th century. Under the principal chief of Ayacuto Lúcas Menéndez, the Northern Utina were at the forefront of the Timucua Rebellion of 1665, in which they, together with the Yustaga and Potano, revolted against the Spanish colonial government. After the Spanish put down the rebellion the