Conquistadors at Saltville In 1567
Presented to: The Wise County Historical Society Mountain Empire Community College Wise, Virginia Saturday 6 October 2018
Jim Glanville [email protected] www.holstonia.net
1 The 2004 Issue of The Smithfield Review
Contained my first ever history article:
“Conquistadors at Saltville in 1567? A Review of the Archeological and Documentary Evidence.”
I concluded the answer was yes.
Today, I update the story.
2 Talk Overview
Since I published that 2004 article about the conquistadors being at Saltvill e i n 1567 th e foll owi ng d evel opments h ave occurred :
a. The story has become main stream Virginia history b. Extensive ongoing studies at the Berry site at Morganton, NC, abundantly confirm it as the conquistadors’ base of Fort San Juan c. There is now evidence for a buried conquistador 25 miles from Saltville d. I have published my hybrid map of 16th century Virginia e. Modern historians have begun to study Yuchi history f. I have concluded that the Spanish definitely met the Yuchi Indians in 1567
3 Some Recent Scholarship
Essay collection 2012 Single author synthesis, Essay collection, Beck, Robin Beck 2013 Rodning, and Moore, 2016 Plus recent articles.
4 Key Dates and Events
Two Spanish expeditions reached the future SW Virginia in the Sixteenth Century
1. Expedition of Hernando de Soto, 1539-1543 2. In 1540, Two of de Soto’s men entered the future Lee County 3. Expeditions of Juan Pardo and his sergeant Hernando Moyano, 1566-1568 4. Hernando Moyano reached today’s Saltville in 1567
5 About the Berry Site
• Anornamentltal pltlant and tree nursery 5-6 miles north of Morganton, NC • Owned by the late James and Pat Berry, the aunt and uncle of archeologist Robin Beck • Circa 1986 the then teenaged Beck found artifacts that he took to David Moore, an archeologist at nearby Warren Wilson College. Moore identified them as 16th-century Spanish material •32years later, Berry is the now exceedinggyly well documented site of the American Indian village of Joara and the Spanish Fort San Juan. It is waggishly dubbed the “First Lost Colony”
Berry Site = Fort San Juan = Joara = Xuala
6 The Berry Site, Morganton, NC, 2004
Joara/Fort San Juan — Found 1994 (hinted 1986) Author’s picture. Excavators: Robin Beck, David Moore, Chris Rodning
7 The Berry Site, Morganton, NC, 2008
8 The Berry Site Morganton, NC, 2013
Rob Beck and daughter Soledad Author and Beck’s brother-in-law-picture.
9 David Moore at the Berry Site, 2004
Berry Site, Morganton, NC, July 2004. Author’s picture.
10 Chris Rodning at the Berry Site, 2004
Morganton, NC, July 2004. Author’s picture.
11 Robin Beck & a Newly Excavated American Indian Pipe Bowl at Berry in 2004
Berry Site, Morganton, NC, July 2004. Author’s picture..
12 The Berry Site Excavators 2013
Robin Beck David Moore Chris Rodning
University of Michigan picture, summer 2013
13 The Key Role of the Berry Site
• It is situated on a part of the de Soto route (1540) that overlaps a part of the Pardo route (1567), and thereby it: 1. Solved the puzzle of finding the de Soto route 2. Created a link between the documentary Spanish history and modern American archeology
14 The De Soto “Industry”
1939 1993 1994 1997 There are dozens of books and hundreds of academic articles/papers about the De Soto expedition
Landed in 1539 in Tampa Bay with 620 men and 220 horses and traveled for three years causing chaos and slaughter before he died on the Mississippi River.
15 The So-Called De Soto Map
Attributed to Alonso Santa Cruz, cartographer to the Spanish king. Hand drawn in Seville between 1544 and 1561. First ever map to show inland features (mountains, rivers, towns) in the American Southeast
16 De Soto’s Route, 1540-1543
Herb Roe’s 2008 map for Wikipedia based on Charles Hudson’s map in Knights of Spain Warriors of the Sun, 1997, page 148.
17 De Soto Passed South of Virginia
Indian Town De Soto in 1540 Chelaque Reached on 14 May Guaquili There May 17-19 Joara Arrived May 21 Guas ili Dtd31MDeparted 31 May Canasoga Passed by June 1. Chiaha There June 4-24 Coste There July 2-9 Note the Chiscas and Joara (the Berry site)
Detail from Herb Roe’s 2008 map for Wikipedia based on Charles Hudson’s map in Knights of Spain Warriors of the Sun, 1997, page 148.
18 Indians on the de Soto Route, 1539-1542
Note region of the Chiscas colored blue at the top
Herb Roe, Wikipedia map 2008. “De Soto Route, Leg 2.”
19 De Soto’s Men in Future Virginia in 1540
• In the spring of 1540 two of de Soto’s men went north searching for gold • These were the first Europeans to set foot on the real estate of the future state of Virginia
20 Here, the First European Foot Touched (the future) Virginia Soil
Where Mulberry Road, TN, becomes Flanary Bridge Road, VA, (Virginia Route 758)
Author, 2007
Near Phoebe Butt
Google map, modified 2014
21 De Soto’s Marauders in Lee County in 1540
This visit took place while De Soto was based at Chiaha
Conjectural, written & published by me.
22 The Spanish Follow Up to de Soto
• Spain took two decades to follow up on the De Soto expedition into the Carolinas • Spain did it with “The Enterprise of Florida ” • St. Augustine was founded in 1565 as a coastal base to protect the Spanish treasure fleets from attacks by the French and English
23 The Enterprise of Florida, 1565-1568
Was: • A joint venture between King Philip II and PdPedro MédMenéndez de Av ilés • Created a settlement at St. Augustine in 1565 • Led in 1567 to the the first European exploration of Virginia (in the west, not on the Chesapeake Bay)
24 The Enterprise of Florida, 1565 -1568
St. Augustine — the first permanent European settlement in North America
Book published 1976
25 Pedro Menéndez de Avilés First Governor of Florida (and Virginia)
Cover of Albert Manucy’s 1965 book.
A map from this book showing sixteenth century Spanish North America is shown on the next slide
26 Sixteenth Century Spanish North America
Saltville is between the D and A in LA FLORIDA
“Joada” is the Berry Site at Morganton Albert Manucy, 1965. Detail
27 The Enterprise of Florida, Lyon’s Map
Eugene Lyon (1976)
Shown simplified and modified in following slides.
28 Eugene Lyon’s 1976 map (simplified and modified)
Fort Joada is at Morganton, NC
Santa Elena was the second capital of Virginia!
29 1492 to 1567 is Only 75 Years!
Map modified Eugene Lyon, 1976
30 The De Soto and Pardo Routes Overlap Near Virginia
Map of the overlap of routes Author’s sketch.
31 Juan Pardo beyond the Blue Ridge in 1566 in Florida, later Virginia, later Tennessee
John Berkey, artist: National Geographic Magazine, March 1988. Modified by the author.
32 The Misconception Map
Author’ s sketch In 1566, Spanish geographic notions allowed for Mexico City in the vicinity of Knoxville. An overland route from Mexico to the Carolina coast would obviate the dangerous journey of the annual Spanish treasure fleet on the Gulf Stream through the Florida-Cuba (Bahama) channel.
33 Spanish Geographic Misconceptions, 1565
I based my sketch map on this original
From Frs. Lewis and Loomie, The Spanish Jesuit Mission in Virginia . Published 1953
34 Pardo Expeditions Documented in 1990
Smithsonian Press, 1990. By Charles Reissued 2006. Unchanged, but with Hudson with Pardo documents added, new Hudson forward and translated and edited by Paul Hoffman Beck-Moore-Rodning afterword. Archeology and documentary history finally merged
35 500 Years of Florida History
Paul Hoffman, LSU picture.
Hoffman’s article “The Historiography of 16th-C La Florida” in volume 91 of the FHC (published in March 2013) mentions Saltville and footnotes my 2004 Smithfield Review article.
We’ll come back later to the map on the cover
36 My Small Claim to Fame in Florida History
PlPaul HffHoffman. “The His tor iograp hyof Sixteenth-Century La Florida” Florida Historical Quarterly, 91: 308-348, 2012. Special Issue: 500 Years of Florida History
37 The Pardo Route
From the 2010 National Science Foundation Berry Site report
38 The Berry Site (Joara) and Moyano’s Attack
The Berry archeological site (aka Joara) at Morganton, North Carolina, has solidified over the past 2½ decades as the location of Fort San Juan, a key seventeenth century Spanish inland outpost. In the summer of 1567, Alferez (Ensign) Hernando Moyano, acting independently of Juan Pardo, led a force north from Fort San Juan and attacked Maniatique (Saltville) in Virginia The Yuchi woman Luisa Menéndez from Saltville married a Spanish soldier 40 years before Pocahontas
39 A Parallel Image from Theodor de Bry, 1594
“Southern history begins with an act of ethnic cleansing.” Amy T. Bushnell, 2002.
Theodor de Bry. The Great Voyages, part IV. Frankfort-on-Main, 1594.
40 Luisa Menéndez First Caçiqua of Virginia
• Married a Spanish soldier (Ribas) circa 1568 and moved to St. Augustine • Gave recorded testimony in 1600 in St. Augustine • Told she was from a place where salt was made “using fire” (today’s Saltville and by boiling brine) • Was married forty years before Pocahontas • La-we-sa means “dreams of good or powerful things” [Yuchi scholar Woktela’s back translation of her Spanish name into Yuchi]
Robin Beck literally put Saltville on the Spanish map of America in 1997
41 Robin Beck’s Map, 1997
Thefirstmapto place Maniatique (Sa ltv ille ) inpresent- day Virginia
42 Robin Beck’s Map, 1997 Annotated, colored, and corrected
43 Brett Riggs/John Worth 2012 Map
From an essay titled "Eni gma tic OiOrigi ns: On the Yuchi of the Contact Era,” by John Worth, “pp. 33-42 in Yuchi Indian Histories Before the Removal Era.J.B. Jackson, ed., 2012: Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2012. Map p.38.
Yuchi historian Woktela tells that Chisca is the Yuchi word for rabbit. Chisca likely a Yuchi clan. Yuchi history is finally getting serious study
44 Spanish Archival Documents
Domingo de León. Petition to the King, 1584.
The arrow shows the line- where Maniatique is named. Seen enlarged below:+++++
University of Florida Library
45 Hernando Moyano’s Attack on Saltville in 1567
• Juan Pardo had left Hernando Moyano, with 20 men at Fort San Juan). Moyano received a threat from a “Chisca chief” to come and eat Moyano and his dog. • Moyano preemptively marched north with Indian allies and attacked Indian towns. He found no gold. • In his pension petition, seventeen years later, Domingo de León described the attack on Maniatique. • American Indian Luisa Menendez from Maniatique married Juan Ribas and 30 years later at St. Augustine twice testified about her birthplace where salt was made by a “method using fire.”
46 Newspaper Evidence Found in 2013
•Twopreviously unknown newspaper articles • Bristol News, December 24 and 31, 1869 • Both quickly found on line at Library of Congress (Digi ti zati on is great aid instudidying history) • First article describes the excavation of a Spanish soldier • Second article suggested he was from the De Soto expedition
I had thought for a while that I was through with conquistadors. These newspaper articles got me restarted.
47 Clips from the 24 December 1869 article
48 The 24 December 1869 Article is an Amateur Archeological Report
• 500-word letter of “Special Correspondence” • Written by T. C. King. A Bristol business man • He and a hunting party excavated a mound • Deepest of several bodies was “European” • Buried with “the decayed implements of war” • Buried with a coin • Cross on one side of the coin • “Espa” on the other side
49 Where is the Burial? T. C. King’s Description of the LifhMdLocation of the Mound
• In Sullivan County, near the residence of Mr. F. Wright on Jacob’s Creek • In a deep and gloomy gorge with beetling walls of granite, “adown which” for many centuries “forked lightnings” have played
On modern maps, Jacob’s Creek is shown with both “Big” and “Little” Branches. Their lower courses were inundated in 1950 with the filling of South Holston Lake
50 South Holston Lake. Looking Northwest
Burial site?
View from Holston High Knob on the Appalachian Trail. Credit Wikipedia Commons
51 Location of the Buried Soldier on a Modern Map
Green shows National Forest
52 What to Make of the Newspaper Evidence?
•The buri alis nearea the Fort San Juanto Salt vill e Route • It seems quite improbable that human remains could survive 402 years (Paul Hoffman is very skeptical) • Nonetheless the newspaper report is what it is — and it seems unlikely to have been a clever hoax • Frankly, I do not know what to make of it • Its most practical value for me is that it caused me to start looking at 16th century maps • I chose to study one of the most iconic and important maps of the American Southeast …
Jim Glanville, “Conquistadors at Saltville in 1567 Revisited.” The Smithfield Review, 18: 97-134, 2014
53 Abraham Ortelius 1527-1598 Flemish Publisher
Abraham Ortelius. Portrait by “Biography” of Ortelius’ first Peter Paul Rubens, 1633 [sic] printed world atlas (2003)
54 Abraham Ortelius’ World Atlas — 1570-1619
The first ever printed world atlas. Produced in Antwerp. It went through multiple editions spanning 50 years
55 Ortelius’ Triptych Map of the Americas
This page appeared in 1584 in the third edition of Ortelius’ atlas. The La Florida map came from Spanish sources and reflects knowledge from the 1539-1541 DeSoto expedition.
56 The Chaves-Ortelius 1584 Map
"The map [that] provided the foundation cartography for the region (P. Burden); "… a mother map of the first importance,“; (W. Cumming) and , "… an historical document of major significance [which] provided Europeans with their first detailed but distorted image of the present southeastern interior of the United States" (R. Ehrenberg). We saw this map earlier on the cover of “500 years of Florida History.”
57 Putting Maniatique on the Map!
From the Cruz map? Hieron Chiaves map of 1584, Wikipedia Commons, modified.
58 Then I Had!
• I know about the misconception map • I had been saying for years that the Spanish thought the Zacatecas silver mines were near Knoxville • So adjust the map!
59 Corner Adjustment of the Chaves-Ortelius 1584 Map
Coordinates on map Corners adjusted
The large errors in the coordinates on the Chaves-Ortelius map are perhaps attributed to copying errors.
60 Taking a Segment of the Chaves-Ortelius Map
• Chaves-Ortelius is really twomapsinone • Top portion is 4° of latitude wide and came from de Soto’s reports • Bottom portion is 20° of latitude wide and came from sailors’ reports
Stripping out the white-outlined segment solves the disconformity problem and focuses on Virginia. There are eight American Indian towns in the segment.
61 “Stretching” the Segment
→
Stretching is required to make the N-S scale match the E-W scale. Knowing the locations of Xuala, some other American Indian towns, and the location of the dead conquistador, the amount of stretching could be judged.
62 Makinggy the Hybrid map
• Measured the stretched map in pixels (2400 × 1856) • Made a comparable Google Map • Made old-fashioned transparencies • Added modern towns and features and state lines • Calculated and tabulated all the the 16th century and 21st century latitude/longitude coordinates
63 My Hybrid Map
64 The Hybrid Map Serves to Test the Documentary against the Archeological Evidence
1. The positions of the American Indian towns on the CCveshaves-Ort elius ma p ar e th e docu me ntary ev ide nce 2. The archeological evidence is the modern placement of those town sites on the ground 3. The test is to compare them
65 Recall The De Soto Chronology near Saltville
Town De Soto 1540 Chaves' Name Hudson's Name
Chalaqua Chelaque Reached on 14 May Xuaquile Guaquili There May 17-19 Xuala Joara Arrived May 21 Guaxuli Guasili Departed 31 May Canaragay Canasoga Passed by June 1. Chiacha Chiaha There June 4-24 Coste Coste There July 2-9 Ulibahaly Ulibihali There Aug 31-Sept 2
Hudson in Knights of Spain cites the modern, archeological sites for each of these places.
The Chaves-Ortelius map uses De Soto evidence but NOT Pardo evidence.
66 Comparison: The Hybrid Map Towns Test Documentary versus Archeological evidence
American Degrees Modern Location Degrees Error in Indian Town Lat/Long (archeology or Lat/Long miles (on map) ethnohistory) Chalaqua 34.98 -80.95 York, SC 34.98 -81.27 16 Xuaquile 35.25 -81.61 Hickory, NC 35.76 -81.36 38 Xuala 35.84 -81.62 Berry Site 35.82 -81.74 7 Guaxuli 35.82 -82.15 Embreeville, TN 36.18 -82.45 30 Canaragay 36.15 -82.44 Hot Springs, NC 35.90 -82.83 28 Chiacha 36.28 -82.94 Dandridge, TN 36.02 -83.42 33 Coste 36. 06 -83. 54 Bussell Island, TN 35. 78 -84. 26 45 Ulibahaly 35.28 -83.02 Rome, GA? 34.27 -85.17 139
Average error (excluding Ulibahaly & Xuala) = 32 miles
67 Some Map-Related Conclusions
16-C Virginia was the “Fighting 9th” CD
• No Jamestown, Williamsburg, or Richmond • Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was the first governor of Virginia
68 Specific Conclusions
• Fort San Juan has become extremely well documented • Saltville’s location is in the third edition of the first-ever printed world atlas (so is Wise County’s) • Analysis of the Chaves-Ortelius map shows Chaves knew about the De Soto expedition but not the Pardo expedition — Maniatique is missing •16th century Spaniards had a pretty good map making ability but only mixed knowledge of North American geography • The location of the buried conquistador (if real) adds support for Moyano’s 1567 Saltville attack • The hybrid map suggests a remarkable agreement between the Spanish documents and modern archeology
69 Broad Concl usion
Virginia Was Spanish Florida before it was Virginia
70 Acknowledgments
The late Lawrence Richardson Ms. Amy Bryant Fuller & Ms. Wilma Smith Chief Lee Vest Professor Paul Hoffman Newman Library at VT My map collector friends Ms. Deena Flinchum, my wife
71 End
72