De Soto NATIONAL MEMORIAL Florida Spanish scouts found the lost Juan Ortiz, But the Adelantado pushed onward. If no who had come to Florida with Narvaez and richer land were found, they could always had been saved by a native princess from return. death at the stake. For 10 years Ortiz had Some were lame and sick by the time they De Soto been a slave of the Indians, and, while he reached a region called Xuala in what is now had seen no riches, he had heard wonderful western South Carolina, but here they saw reports of the interior land. De Soto as­ "more indications of gold mines than in NATIONAL MEMORIAL signed 100 men to guard the camp and sent all the country they had traversed." Up into the ships back to Cuba for supplies. The what is now North Carolina, then across the march through 4,000 miles of unknown land Smokies into Tennessee they went. Mul­ Commemorates De Soto's landing in Florida, 1539, and his exploration of began on July 15, 1539. berries, nuts, maize, and turkeys the natives the southern portion of what is now the United States gave willingly, as the army pressed south­ ward toward "Coosa" in central Alabama, Into the Wilderness still searching for treasure. HE DE SOTO Expedition, a typical mored to be "the richest land of any which DE SOTO led 600 or more disciplined instance of organized Spanish ex­ until then had been discovered." veterans who averaged—and sometimes dou­ The Tragedy of Mabila The Landing in Florida. From Smith's Narratives. Tploration, was the first European bled—a steady 10 miles a day on the march. penetration into what is now southern United Hernando de Soto Counting the Indian carriers drafted as they POWERFUL Tascalusa, lord of the Mobile States. Crossing 4,000 miles of wilderness, went along, the expedition must often have Indians, hid his anger when the Spaniards A River "Larger than the Danube" terrorize the populous country and keep the the explorers earned for Spain a broad knowl­ DON HERNANDO DE SOTO, Knight of numbered up to 1,000 people. About 200 seized him, and agreed to furnish 400 car­ Indians from uniting against him, De Soto edge of the interior lands and peoples and Santiago, "a gentleman by all four descents" horses mounted the lancers. There were riers as soon as they reached the town of THE expedition almost ended in the spring ordered the destruction of the Anilco village recorded priceless information on native (i. e., by all four grandparents), was a typ­ about 300 crossbowmen and harquebusiers "Mabila." But warriors—not carriers—sur­ of 1541, when the Chickasaw Indians made in what is now Louisiana. The fighting was American life of the 1500s. rounded De Soto in Mabila. The Spaniards ical conquistador. Born in Spain about (see man on cover), a dozen priests, a phy­ a surprise dawn attack on the northern Mis­ left to his lieutenants, for De Soto, called by 1500, he achieved wealth and a brilliant sician, and workmen to build boats and fought free and in a fierce day-long battle sissippi camp. Fortunately, the Indians his men "one of the best lances who have career in Nicaragua and Peru. Charles V bridges or repair weapons and rivet the burned the Indian town and slaughtered The Conquistadores {The Conquerors) mistook stampeding horses for cavalry and passed to the New World," was burning with appointed him Governor of Cuba and Ade- slave chains. 3,000 Indians. De Soto suffered crippling fever. A few days later, on May 21, 1542, losses in this battle: 20 men killed, including withdrew; yet a dozen Spaniards lost their COLUMBUS had given Spain an early claim lantado (Leader) to "conquer, pacify, and As they pushed northward, heat and Hernando de Soto died. populate" the northern continent. a brother-in-law and a nephew; a number of lives, and 50 horses were killed. Clothing, to the New World and its wealth, and her hunger plagued them; hidden natives rained Not all mourned his passing, for he was a warrior nobles penetrated the new-found con­ On April 7, 1538, trumpets sounded and arrows upon them. De Soto followed the horses killed; most of the expedition's sup­ saddles, and weapons were burned. Shaking stern man. Yet, skill and courage demanded tinents with amazing rapidity. Hardy and cannon thundered as the flotilla left San practice of seizing village chieftains and plies and property destroyed; "and the with cold, the men covered themselves with courageous men, loyal to King and Church, Lucar, Spain, with about 700 volunteers forcing them to supply food, carriers, and wounded comprised all the men of most grass mats, while they fashioned new saddles respect, and his concern for his men won they had built some 200 permanent towns in aboard. The winds were favorable, and De guides. Once beyond Ocale (in what is now worth and honor in the army." and lances. devotion. Secretly, they buried their knight within the village walls, telling the Indians the Americas long before Jamestown, Va., was Soto's bride was at his side. Florida), Indians gathered to rescue their De Soto had planned to meet supply On May 8, 1541, De Soto saw "the great ships on the coast and send the pearls of that the "Child of the Sun" had ascended settled in 1607. chief, but the Spaniards moved first, driving River," so wide that "if a man stood still While Cortes was still having difficulty the warriors into nearby lakes. Cofitachequi to Havana. But the pearls were to his father. When the natives saw the Landing in Florida on the other side, it could not be discerned with the Aztecs, Spanish explorers were mov­ De Soto continued onward. Then from lost at Mabila. Some of his disillusioned loosened earth and whispered, the Spaniards men, naked under their rusty mail, planned whether he were a man or no." Beyond the ing out from the West Indies. In 1513, IN HAVANA, on May 18, 1539, De Soto winter quarters in the hostile Apalachee dug up the body, weighted it in an oaken to sail with the ships. To prevent this, De Mississippi lay the rumored wealth of Pacaha Ponce de Leon discovered Florida; by 1519, bade farewell to his Dcrna Isabel and set sail farmlands (now northern Florida, near casket, and sank it in the dark bosom of the Soto again turned his face from the coast. Province, so the artisans built barges and the the Gulf coast was charted; by 1525, navi­ for Florida. On May 30, the army landed on Apalachee Bay), he summoned the men left Father of Waters, as the Indians called the gators had probed Atlantic shores from Cape- army crossed for the inarch into Arkansas to the west coast. The exact site of the land­ at the landing site, while to Havana he sent Mississippi. Horn to Newfoundland. In 1526, Ayllon ing has not been positively identified but a present of 20 Indian women for Dona the mouth of the St. Francis. Finding no set ashore a short-lived colony, believed to probably lies within the area between Tampa Isabel. Meanwhile, his scouts discovered De Soto's signature. gold, they turned west, then south, to winter have been at or near South Carolina's Pee Dec- Bay and Estero Bay. A few ruined pearls lay Pensacola Bay; others saw the bleached bones on the west bank of the Ouachita River, near River. Two years later Narvaez landed on in the dust at the deserted Indian village of Narvaez' horses at Apalachee Bay. what is now Camden, Ark. Here, the inter­ Return to Civilization Florida's west coast. His sole survivors were where they camped, and the Spaniards believed preter Juan Ortiz died, a great loss. the resourceful Cabeza de Vara and a trio of themselves at the threshold of fortune. So LUIS DE MOSCOSO, DE SOTO'S ap­ companions. Still the vast North American Narvaez thought when he chanced upon a Search {or Treasure Continued pointed successor, after a futile try to reach interior lay mysterious and untouched, ru­ single golden ornament! Mexico through what is now Texas, led the IN the spring of 1540, they marched toward The Death of De Soto tired band again to the Mississippi, where the Savannah River, where the comely they spent the winter building seven little chieftainess of Cofitachequi, an Indian vil­ EVEN De Soto was discouraged. He went ships. Before the fleet sailed downstream The National Park System, of which this area is a unit, is dedicated to conserving the scenic, lage, bestowed her pearl necklace upon on July 2, 1543, most of the remaining 50 scientific, and historic heritage of the United States for the benefit and enjoyment of its people. back to the Mississippi, planning to settle Don Hernando. Another 200 pounds of at a seaport and refit for a westward advance, horses, which had been used in battle, were pearls were dug from the burial mounds. but the scouts found no news of the sea. To slaughtered for meat. De Soto NATIONAL View from Shaw's Point across the month of Manatee River to Tampa Bay. The De Soto Trail marker atop the Indian mound was tin veiled under auspices of the National Society of Colonial MEMORIAL Dames of America on May 30, 1939. the 400th anniversary of De Soto's landing Running a gauntlet of arrows, the ships Bay, 5 miles west of Bradenton, Fla. The found the gulf 19 days later. On September memorial commemorates De Soto's landing in 10, some 300 Spaniards and 100 Indians Florida and the expedition that from 1539 reached Mexico's Panuco River.