A depiction of La Salle's Texas settlement from Carlos Castañeda's Our Catholic Heritage in Texas (volume l) bearing the misnomer "Fort Saint Louis." How Historical Myths Are Born . And Why They Seldom Die* BY DONALD E. CHIPMAN AND ROBERT S. WEDDLE* Introduction HEN CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS MADE HIS FIRST LANDFALL ON the fringe of North America, he believed he had reached the WEast Indies. He therefore called the strange people he met "Indians," a name that came to be applied to all American indigenes. In similar manner, inappropriate names—or names misapplied—have risen all across the Americas. When one of these historical errors arises, it takes on a life of its own, though not without a healthy boost from us historians. Historians, of course, come in all stripes, and so do the myths they espouse. Somedmes the most egregious of them may result from the purest intentions. But there is no denying that others are born of impure motives, of which the most prevalent perhaps is chauvinism—bending his- tory out of shape by falsely linking some major historic episode to one's native province. Mostly, however, such miscues arise from the urgency to provide answers—an explanation, a name, or an opinion—before the facts at hand justify it. For example, consider the various identities posited for the river shown on the famous "Pineda" map sketch (ca. 1519) as El Rio del Espíritu Santo. Was it the Mississippi as it has been long thought to be, or some other stream, perhaps as far east as Florida or as far west as Texas? Still * Donald E. Chipman is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of North Texas; Robert S. Weddie is an independent scholar in Bonham, Texas. Both authors are Fellows of the Texas State Histori- cal As.sociation (TSHA), and both have been knighted in the Order of Isabel la Católica by King Juan Carlos I for their work on Spain in America. The introduction is by Weddle and the first three essays are by Chipman; the following three and the afterword are by Weddle. The authors wish to thank Ryan R. Schumacher, Associate Editor of the Southwestern Historical Quarterly (SHQ), and Randolph B. "Mike" Campbell, Editor of the SHQ_and Chief Historian of the TSHA, for their assistance with this article. VOL. CXVI, N0.3 SOUTHWESTERN HISTORICAL QUARTERLY JANUARY 2013 2 28 Southwestern Historical Quarterly January others have thought it to be Galveston Bay, or Mobile Bay, or perhaps Sabine Pass.' A popular pastime for historians, amateur and professional alike, seems to be tracing the route of historical expeditions, two of which are among the essays appearing herein: those of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and Luis Moscoso Alvarado. If all attempts to follow these two explorers were laid out on a single Texas map, it would appear that they traversed half of the state's 254 counties. Yet none of us historians can be held completely blameless, because no one can read all the material available on any given topic. Accordingly, none of us is immune from what seems at the time like a profound decla- ration, only to be blindsided by someone who has found that one missing piece we overlooked. Furthermore, "new" material becomes available all the time. And just when we think we might have it all, here comes a new article or book with a raft of new data; so it behooves everyone who asserts anythingYiith supreme confidence to develop a taste for crow. Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in Texas There is a mistaken and somewhat persistent belief that the Spanish explorer, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, after landing on or near Galveston Island in early November 1528, traveled a trans-Texas route in reaching the environs of present-day El Paso. Advocates of this route interpretation maintain that Cabeza de Vaca and three companions, together known to history as the Four Ragged Castaways, did not enter the interior of Mexico at any time prior to their crossing the Rio Grande in spring 1535.^ First impressions in the United States of Cabeza de Vaca's journey came from Buckingham Smith (1851 and 1873), Hubert H. Bancroft (1884), and Adolph Bandelier (1890)—all based on their reading of Cabeza de Vaca's published Relación {Account) of his experiences in North America. None suggested a coastal route interpretation or a crossing of the lower Rio Grande.^ ' Jean Delanglez, El Rio del Espíritu Santo: An Essay on the Cartography of the Gulf Coast and the Adjacent Territory during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (New York: The United States Catholic Historical Society, 1945), 132-145; Peter J. Hamilton, "Was Mobile Bay the Bay of Espiritu Santo?" Transactions: iSç^-igo^, vol. 4 (Montgomery; Alabama Historical Society, 1904), 73-79; Paul Hoffman, "Discovery and Early Cartography of the Northern Culf Coast," in Charting Louisiana: Five Hundred Years of Maps, eds. Alfred E. Lemmon, John T. Magill, and Jason E. Wiese (New Orleans; The Historic New Orleans Collection, 2003), 10-11. See Robert S. Weddle, Spanish Sea: The Gulf of Mexico in North American Discovery, 1^00—168^ (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1985), 105, for positive identification of Rio del E.spiritu Santo as the Mississippi. -' To accord with other usage of the Spanish word "Rio" in this article, such as in "Rio Panuco" or "Rio de las Palmas," this article uses an accent in "Rio Grande," although it is usually omitted in English usage. ' Buckingham Smith (trans.). The Narrative of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (Washington, D.C.; [George W. Riggs], 1851); Buckingham Smith (trans.), Relation of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca ([Albany, N.Y.: J. Munsell for H. C. Murphy]; 1871); Hubert H. Bancroft, History of North Mexican States and Texas (2 vols.; 2015 How Historical Myths Are Born . And Why They Seldom Die 229 Then, beginning in January 1898 and concluding in January 1919, five route interpretations for Cabeza de Vaca in Texas were published in tbe Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association. (The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association has been known as the Southwestern Historical Quarterly since 1912.) Three of the five articles lent support to a trans- Texas pathway for the Castaways. In all, the articles totaled an impressive 319 pages of text and notes. Perhaps the most bizarre is a three-part essay by Judge Bethel Coopwood, but to Coopwood's credit he was the first to propose a route for Cabeza de Vaca that followed the inner Texas coast en route to Mexico.'' Harbert Davenport and Joseph K Wells authored the last of the five articles. Their route interpretation for Cabeza de Vaca started southwest of Galveston Island and continued along an inner coastal route past Corpus Christi Bay to a crossing of the lower Rio Crande in the vicin- ity of modern-day Reynosa, Tamaulipas.' The authors set forth the most scholarly basis for the route of Cabeza de Vaca and his companions, and it might well have remained the prevailing view to this day. However, his- torians and non-historians over the next several decades traced a route from near Galveston Island to the Guadalupe River and then projected a westward route entirely within Texas. Much of the long-range impetus for a trans-Texas route interpretation came primarily from Robert T. Hill and Carlos E. Castañeda, both writing in the early to mid-i93os. Hill, without question a distinguished geologist, was incensed by the publication of Morris Bishop's The Odyssey of Cabeza de Vaca in 1933. Bishop, a professor of Romance Languages at Cornell University, was much impressed by Cabeza de Vaca and his travels in North and South America. The Cornell professor wrote a breezy narrative about Cabeza de Vaca, spiced with imaginary dialogue, and he made no attempt to advance a new route interpretation. Instead, Bishop accepted the con- clusions of Davenport and Wells set forth some fourteen years earlier.^ When Hill realized that a significant portion of Cabeza de Vaca's travels San Francisco: History Co., 1884-1889); A. F. Bandelier, Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition: Contributions to the History of the Southwestern Portion of the United States (Cambridge, Mass.: John Wilson & Son, 1890) ^ See especially Bethel Coopwood, 'The Route of Cabeza de Vaca," Quarterly of the Texas State HisUmcal Association (hereafter cited as QTSHA) 3 (October 1899): 108—140; (January 1900): 177-208; (April 1900): 177-264, map between 192 and 193; 4 (July 1900): 1—32; see also Brownie Ponton and Bates H. McFarland, "Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: A Preliminary Report on His Wanderings in Texas," QTSHA 1 (January 1898): 166-186; O. W. Williams, "Route of Cabeza de Vaca in Texa.s," QTSHA 3 (July 1S99): 54-64; and James N. Baskett, "A Study of tlie Route of Cabeza de Vaca," QTSHA 10 (January 1907); 246—279; (April 1907): 308-340. ' Harbert Davenport and Joseph K. Wells, 'The First Europeans in Texas, 1528-1536," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 22 (October 1918): 111-142, 22 (January 1919): 205—259. '' Morris Bishop, The Odyssey of Cabeza de Vaca (New York: Century Co., 1933). See map between 32 and 33, and acknowledgments wherein Bishop praised Davenport and Wells for their reconstruction of Cabeza de Vaca's route in North America, which "may serve as a model of shrewd and thorough study of 230 Southwestern Historical Quarterly January had been moved from Texas to Mexico, it proved intolerable for him. For some years he had become convinced that all previous route interpreta- tions for Cabeza de Vaca had been wrong. Why? Because "I personally was familiar with geographic and geologic features .