Diego de Velasco

Diego Fernandez de Velasco (?? - 1595) was a career soldier who served as interim Lieutenant Governor of Spanish Florida between 1574 and 1576 as well as Governor of Nueva Vizcaya, Corregidor of Zacatecas, and Alguacil Mayor of Mexico City.

In 1571, Velasco oversaw the construction of Fort San Felipe on what is now Parris Island, South Carolina, a defensive structure built to protect the Spanish settlers of La Florida after a raid by French settlers and Native Americans allied with them.

On September 17, 1574, after his father had become a general in the Nueva Armada Real (New Royal Army), Velasco was appointed temporary Governor of Florida, although this was an interim appointment made upon the death of Menéndez. The colony's capital was the recently founded settlement of Santa Elena in what is now South Carolina.

According to the written testimony of Father Oré in 1576, Velasco, after asking the caciques of Guale to gather in Santa Elena, and indicating that he would not do them any harm, hanged one of them (the nephew of a cacique) as punishment for killing a Christian Indian chieftain, to fulfill a promise he had made to the wife of another chief who had converted to Christianity, she seeking vengeance for the murder of her husband, and demanding retribution. These events led to a widespread Guale rebellion and violence against the Spanish of La Florida.#tag:ref|These events caused a rebellion in Guale in 1597.

Thirty soldiers who fought against the natives in defense of Santa Elena were killed, causing the town to be temporarily abandoned in the late summer of 1576 and then to be burned later by the Indians, in full view of the soldiers and settlers as they were about to sail away from Port Royal Sound. Miranda imprisoned him

Personal life Velasco married Menéndez's younger daughter, Maria Menéndez de Avilés.