DE SOTO IN FLORIDA. These disastrous attempts to conquer and obtain possession of Florida did not deter other bold spirits from efforts of a similar nature. One of the most distinguished companions of Pizarro, who had been the chief instrument in annexing to Spain the golden regions of Peru, was Ferdinand (or Hernando) de Soto, but in the conquest of Peru he took only a secondary part, the chief part having been taken by another. He, therefore, desired the chief glory of finding and conquering a country, and Charles V. was only too willing to gratify his longing. Cabeza de Vaca had arrived in Spain after his journey across the continent, and had given a glowing account of the riches of the country. He had also given the details of the hardships through which he and his companions had passed. This did not deter De Soto from his purpose, however, and he endeavored to secure the services of De Vaca for his voyage, but after they had come to terms a dispute arose over the payment of some money to De Vaca and he refused to accompany the expedition. King Charles now created De Soto Adelantado of Florida, combining 123 commander-in-chief. In April, 1538, De Soto set sail from the old country and soon reached Santiago, Cuba. After tarrying there for some time he went to Havana where his soldiers arrived in March, 1539. Here he stayed until he could provision his ships, and on May 18, 1539, with a fleet of nine vessels, carrying 600 men, a number of priests, besides sailors, more than 200 horses and a herd of swine, he finally set sail in quest of Florida. On the 30th of May he arrived at the bay of Espiritu Santo on the western coast of Florida, where he landed 300 men and pitched his camp; but at break of the next morning they were attacked by a numerous body of natives and were De Soto then obliged to retire. marched several hundred miles inland,* in 1540 passed through a num ber of Indian towns to Mavila (Mauilla or Mabila), a village enclosed by wooden walls and situated near the mouth of the Mobile River. Provoked by an outrage committed on one of their chiefs and thoroughly disgusted with the actions of the strangers, the natives brought on a severe conflict in which 2,500 of the natives (some say 6,000 and accord the offices of governor-general and ing to exaggerated Spanish accounts *This title was formerly applied in Spain to the political and military governor of a frontier province, who held general military command of the province and as a civil officer took cognizance of the civil and criminal cases arising within the territory over which he held sway. See Bernard Moses, The Establishment of Spanish Rule in America, p. 68 et seq. 11,000) and about 82 Spaniards were slain. A number of the Spaniards were severely wounded and afterward died, and in addition the com * On his route through Alabama and Georgia see Pickett, History of Alabama, vol. i., chap. i.; Jones, History of Georgia, chap. ii. pany also lost many horses. In the action the village was burned to the ground. Shortly after this disastrous engagement De Soto retreated to Chicaça, a small town in the country of the Chickasaws, where he remained until March, 1541.† At the end of this period, however, he and his party resumed the march through the Indian territory and in the latter part of April of that year (1541) after many mishaps and under the most discouraging circumstances, De Soto first beheld the Mississippi, probably not far from the thirty-fifth parallel of latitude. De Soto then crossed the river and made still further attempts to discover the wealth and magnificence which he had supposed The original source of information for this battle is the Relation of the Gentlemen of Elvas, chaps. xviii-xx. Peter J. Hamilton, in his Colonial Mobile, chap. iii., gives an excellent short account. There is great difference of opinion regarding the numbers engaged, killed and wounded. William H. Johnson, Pioneer Spaniards, pp. 257-285; Bancroft, vol. i., pp. 43-44 (last rev.). On the claims of a prior discovery of the Mississippi by Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda in 1519 see Frederick A. Ogg, The Opening of the Mississippi: A Struggle for Supremacy in the American Interior, pp. 8-21 (1904); Henry Harrisse, The Discovery of North America, p. 164 et seq.; Henry L. Reynolds, The Discovery of the Mississippi, in the Magazine of American History, vol. xxii., pp. 37-41; Walter B. Scaife, America; Its Geographical History, Supplement, in Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, extra vol. xiii.; Peter J. Hamilton, Colonial Mobile, chap. ii.; Jacob V. Brower, The Mississippi River and Its Sources, in Minnesota Historical Collections, vol. vii., pp. 16-20. The map containing the line of discovery supposed to have been followed will be found in A. J. Weise, The Discoveries of America to the Year 1525, opp. p. 278. would be found in Florida. His efforts were in vain, however, and chagrined by a conviction of total failure, he sank under disappointment and died May 21, 1542. Bancroft says: "To conceal his death, his body was wrapped in a mantle, and, in the stillness of midnight, was silently sunk into the middle of the stream. The discoverer of the Mississippi slept beneath its waters. He had crossed a large part of the continent in search of gold and found nothing so remarkable as his burial place. The remains of this vaunted expedition, numbering not more than half of those who had embarked, now floated down the Mississippi to its mouth, and in September, 1543, reached a Spanish settlement probably near the site of the present city of Tampico.† This was the last History of the United States, vol. i., p. 57 (1st ed.). The chief authority for De Soto is the Rela tion of the Invasion and Conquest of Florida by the Spaniards under the Command of Fernando de Soto. Written in Portuguese by a Gentleman of the Town of Elvas. This has appeared in sev eral different works. It was translated into English by Richard Hakluyt and a reprint edited by William B. Rye was published by the Hakluyt Society under the title The Discovery and Conquest of Florida (London, 1851). Another English version translated by Hakluyt and entitled Virginia richly valued, by the Description of the Main Land of Florida, her next Neighbor, ap. peared in Force's Tracts, vol. iv., pp. 9-132. It is also printed in B. F. French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, part ii., pp. 113-220. T. Hayes Lewis' edition of the Relation will be found in Hodge, Spanish Explorers in the Southern United States, pp. 129-272 (1907). See also E. G. Bourne, Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Soto in the Conquest of Florida (1904); Grace King, De Soto and his Men in the Land of Florida THE SPANISH IN THE WEST. attempt for many years to explore and settle Florida. Not a single site had been occupied by the Spaniards nor any settlement made, and yet Spain, under the name of Florida, claimed the entire sea-coast of America as far north as Newfoundland. Meanwhile the Spaniards in the west had not been idle. Lorenzo Ferrer de Maldonado was sent by Cortés in 1528 on a voyage of discovery along the Pacific coast and traveled northward for about 300 miles. In 1530 the Gulf of California was penetrated by Nuño Beltran de Guz man and the town of Culiacan was founded. In 1532 another expedition was sent out by Cortés, and in 1535 the Lower California peninsula was claimed for the Spanish king. About 1530 it was reported that several hundred miles north of the Aztec capital lay several large cities, the inhabitants of which lived in stone-built (1898); Lowery, The Spanish Settlements; Barnard Shipp, Hernando de Soto and Florida; Johnson, Pioneer Spaniards, pp. 289–299; Lambert A. Wilmer, The Life, Travels and Adventures of Ferdinand de Soto; F. A. Ogg, The Opening of the Mississippi, pp. 28-44; J. S. C. Abbott, Ferdinand de Soto, the Discoverer of the Mississippi (1873); Theodore Irving, The Conquest of Florida by Hernando de Soto (1851); John W. Monette, History of the Discovery and Settlement of the Valley of the Mississippi, vol. i.; Morris, Discoverers and Explorers of America, pp. 108-118; Albert J. Pickett, Invasion of the Territory of Alabama by One Thousand Spaniards under Ferdinand de Soto. The Relación del suceso de la jornado que hizo Hernando de Soto, by Luys Hernandez de Biedma, was translated by T. B. Smith and may be found in French, Historical Collections of Louisiana, part ii., pp. 97-109. VOL. I.-9 125 houses and were possessed of large quantities of gold and silver. These cities were called the "seven cities of Cibola" and search for them was immediately begun, Guzman, who was then in command of New Spain, conducting a large expedition of soldiers and Indians. The expedition resulted in nothing, and after enduring many hardships it returned. Upon his arrival at Culiacan, De Vaca had also spoken of the existence of half-civilized tribes far to the north, living in populous cities, acquainted with the arts, and possessing large quantities of gold, silver and precious stones. This excited the curiosity of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, governor of New Galicia, who immediately sent out a pioneer party under a priest, Marco de Niza, to explore the region. The report of the expedition only tended to confirm. the belief of the great wealth of the section, and in April, 1540, Coronado himself set out on a journey of exploration. Passing up the entire length of the Mexican state of Sonora, and crossing the river Gila, he penetrated the country beyond to the Little Colorado (which he called Rio del Lino) and finally came to the city of Hawaikuh-possibly the present Zuñi- one of the far-famed seven cities of Cibola. Instead of finding a splendid city, he saw a small village of about 200 houses and the people merely poor agriculturists, destitute of wealth and possessed of no treasures whatsoever. "All was quite the 66 contrary," he says, saving only the names of the cities and great houses of stone." Coronado now traveled eastward to Tiguex, which lay in the valley of the Rio del Norte, near the present Albuquerque, but upon hearing of large treasures to be found at Quivira, he set out on April 23, 1541, on a journey to the northeast. On the journey they "met with a new kind of oxen, wild and fierce, whereof the first day, they killed fourscore which sufficed the army with flesh," and after traversing mighty plains and sandy heaths, smooth and wearisome and bare of woods" for a distance of about 300 leagues, they reached the supposed land of Quivira. This lay in about 40° north latitude, extending north of what is thought to have been the Arkansas River and was thus in the present State of Kansas. Though disappointed at the condition of the region, Coronado continued his search for treasures, going " It was not until 1598 that any considerable Spanish force again attempted to invade New Mexico, but in that year, Juan de Oñate, son of the enormously wealthy owner of the silver mines of Zacatecas, organized a force of 200 soldiers, as many colonists with women and children and herds of cattle and sheep, and led this expedition into New Mexico. Taking formal possession in the king's name, the great desert plains of New Mexico and the buffalo, and also describes quite accurately the towns of the Pueblo Indians as they existed nearly 400 years ago. See also George P. Winship, The Expedition of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, 1540-1542, a translation of the narrative of that journey by Pedro de Castañeda in the 14th annual report of the United States Bureau of Ethnology (1896); Morris, Discoverers and Explorers of America, pp. 119–128; H. W. Haynes, Early Explorations of New Mexico, constituting chap. vii., of vol. ii., of Winsor's Narrative and Critical History; Johnson, Pioneer Spaniards, pp. 219–253. Winship's translation of Castañeda's narrative, together with other documents relating to the expedition, was reprinted, with an introduction, under the title, The Journey of Coronado, 15401542, from the City of Mexico to the Grand Cañon as far as Colorado, but was finally of the Colorado and the Buffalo Plains of Texas, compelled to abandon the enterprise and return home. On October 20, 1541, he reported to Charles V. of Spain the ill success of the expedition, saying that the region was not even fit to colonize. Had Coronado continued his travels eastward, however, for about 600 miles, he would have met De Soto, who, at about this time, was in nearly the same latitude on the highlands of the White River in western Missouri.* * Coronado's narrative of this expedition furnishes the first authentic account of the prairies, Kansas and Nebraska, as a volume of the Trail Makers series (New York, 1904). Winship's translation has also been corrected and edited by F. W. Hodge, in his Spanish Explorers in the Southern United States, pp. 275-387 (1907). See also A. F. Bandelier, Contributions to the History of the Southwestern Portion of the United States, in Papers of the Archæological Institute of America, American Series, V. (Cambridge, 1890); John G. Shea, A History of Catholic Missions among the Indian Tribes of the United States, pp. 39-44; the Relation of the Friar Marcos de Niza, and letters of the Viceroy Mendoza and Coronado to Charles V., in Hakluyt, vol. iii.; Bancroft, vol. i., p. 31 et seq.; F. W. Blackmar, Spanish Colonization in the Southwest, in Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, 8th series, no. iv.; and Ibid, Spanish Institutions of the Southwest, in ibid, extra vol. x. EXPEDITION OF JEAN RIBAUT. they marched up the Rio Grande and founded San Gabriel where the hamlet of Chamita now stands, north of Santa Fé. This was the second town in the United States. Seven years afterward, in 1605, Oñate founded Santa Fé, the "City of Holy Faith."'* Meanwhile the Huguenot leaders in France, one of the most illustrious and able of whom was Admiral Gaspar de Coligny, desired to find a home in America for their persecuted adherents. During the years 1555-58 an expedition was sent to Brazil, but this was a complete failure,† and, therefore, Coligny decided to fit out another expedition, for which he obtained the sanction of Charles IX. To command this expedition he secured the services of Jean Ribaut (or Ribault) of Dieppe, an experienced mariner and a warm adherent of the Protestant cause. Fitting out an expedition of two vessels, and accompanied by a large number of French gentlemen who were sent out as colonists, Ribaut set sail from Havre February 18, 1562. On May 1 he reached the coast of Florida, later entered a spacious inlet which he named Port Royal, and then built a fort called Charlesfort (Arx Carolana, or Fort Charles). Thirty of the colonists * William H. Johnson, Pioneer Spaniards, pp. 303-323; C. F. Lummis, Spanish Pioneers. On the work of the Spanish missionaries, see Shea, American Catholic Missions, p. 76 et seq. The details of this will be found in Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World, pp. 20–32. The South in the Building of the Nation, vol. ii., pp. 3-4. 127 were left here under the command of Albert de Pierria to found a settlement while Ribaut returned to France for supplies and more colonists. In 1563, however, the settlers in America became disheartened and disgusted and they hastily resolved to abandon the settlement and return to France. A mutiny then followed in which the commander was killed, and Nicholas Barré was chosen commander to succeed him.* In a state of semi-starvaceed him.* tion, the colonists were picked up by an English vessel and part of them landed in England and the rest in France.† Upon his return, however, Ribaut was unable to obtain the supplies he needed at once, because France was then convulsed in a civil war, but in 1564 peace was established again and Coligny renewed his efforts. René Goulaine de Laudonnière, a panion of Ribaut, was sent out in command of three ships, and on June 25 landed on the River of May, now the St. John's, where he built a fort * Ibid, p. 5. com For the details see Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World, pp. 33-47 and the authorities there given: Delaborde, Gaspard de Coligny; The True and Last Discoverie of Florida, made by Captain John Ribault, in the yeere 1562, dedicated to a great Nobleman in Fraunce, and translated into Englishe by one Thomas Hackit (Ribault's journal, the translation being contained in Hakluyt's Divers Voyages, 1582, the journal first appearing in 1563 under the title The Whole and True Discoverie of Terra Florida); the letters of Laudonnière, Ribaut's companion, contained in Basanier's L'Histoire Notable de la Floride (Paris, 1586) and in the third volume of Hakluyt; Johnson, French Pathfinders in North America, pp. 6774. |