Episode 259: Hernando de Soto (Part Two)

Sailing up the wide gray Guadalaville River on a spring day in fifteen thirty six, Ernando de Soto would have first glimped Seville for the first time in years, over fifteen years since he had last seen Spain. For him, I'm sure it was a beautiful sight. Just twenty two years earlier, he had left this city as a no name page. Now he was returning, at

the age of thirty six, a hero. For not only was he the most important captain from Peru to return home since Hernando Pizzaro a year earlier, and one of the richest, carrying one thousand pounds of gold, he also happened to be arriving at a singular moment in Spanish history, when his countrymen

were triumphant. As soto ship slowly wound through the freshly panted fields of spring wheat, grapes and sartress south of the city, everything seemed to be going right for the Spanish on the throne sat an energeticiff already tired king Emperor who at thirty six dominated Europe as no one had since Charlemagne, controlling scattered territories

from Hungary to Germany to the Netherlands and Italy to Spain. In the past five years, his soldiers in conquistadors had humiliated his enemies the French in Milan and Venice, the Turks at Vienna, and conquered an immense new empire in the Indies. Within a decade, Charles's luster would dim as his machiavellian maneuverings in Europe unraveled and he plunged into a bloody, soul wrenching campaign against Christian reformers led by Martin Luther. But for the moment, the Spanish were exultant.

Sodo's friends later recalled that summer in Saville as a flurry of tournaments, gambling and partying. In between all the games, Sodo made efforts to attend to all the serious business of transitioning from one conquest to the next. All of his gold was immediately impounded by the Casa de Contraxion, Spain's effective ministry of New World conquest. This was standard operating procedure in the sixteenth century. Men had to bribe and negotiate their money back. For Sodo, this process

seems to have gone smoothly. We don't know exactly how much tax Soto paid, though it seems he was forced into giving the crown alone amount unknown. This was also common practice in the sixteenth century, as Charles the Fifth was always broke. Almost immediately after arriving in Seville, Soto informed the Casa de Contraccion that he intended to ask Charles for permission to carry out another conquest in the New World. Odds are the Casa was thrilled with the prospect of more

taxes, not to mention the bribes. Charles himself did not arrive in Seville for almost two years. The two men met in fifteen thirty seven. Interestingly, they were nearly the exact same age. Apparently the Emperor was impressed with Soto, although we have no record of the meeting. Evidence of Soto's success with the king came on April the twentieth, when Charles issued the first of

three documents providing Soto with permission to conquer a new territory. Soto originally wanted permission to conquer what is today Columbia or Guatemala instead, and somewhat shockingly, Charles granted Soto permission to invade a territory about as far away in the Indies from that location as anyone thought you could get. They called it La Florida.

How exactly this happened, we're not sure. However, it seems likely that Columbia and Guatemala had already been seized by other conquistadors, and they were just off the table. Soto was not the first to try to conquer North America. The Spanish crown had already launched three separate expedition to seize what would become the United States. All had ended in disaster. Ponce de Leon,

the Fountain of Youth Guy was the first. The most recent was Panphilo de Navarez, who was a veteran of the Cuban conquest, but that had been a decade earlier. In fifteen twenty seven, he landed in Tampa Bay,

but disappeared without a trace in June of fifteen twenty eight. Sodo signed his contract with the king on April twentieth, fifteen thirty seven, after weeks of haggling over how much tax Soda would pay and whether or not he would be named governor for life in one major concession, the King also appointed Sodo the governor of Cuba, which he planned to use as a base of operations for

his expedition. Now affairs were moving on the other side of the world in a way that was going to have dramatic consequences for Hernando de Soto in the future. During the summer of fifteen thirty six, about the time Soda was partying in Seville, far across the Ocean Sea in Mexico, Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza received a gaunt, heavily tattooed medicine man would appeared one day to the

north of the city. His name was Alvar Nunez Cabasa de Vaca, former royal treasurer of the Navarez expedition, which eight years earlier had disappeared without a trace in La Florida. Declaring Cabesa de Vaca's survival a miracle, Mendoza provided the former treasurer with clothes and housing, and the following year a ship to convey him back across the sea, where he arrived in Lisbon on August ninth, journeying soon after to Belladelidkabesa Devaca met with King Charles and handed him a

brief report on the fate of Navadres's expedition. He also conferred with the king in private reportedly telling him about certain secrets he told no one else. Of course, the very mention of secrets, combined with Kabesa Devaca's claims to have seen emeralds and gold, plunge the court into a frenzy of speculation. Fresh rumors spread throughout the empire about the fantastical riches hidden deep in the interior of La Florida. For Kabeesa Devaca, however, his homecoming was not satisfying.

Having returned to Spain hoping to get Navadres' concession to La Florida, he was not pleased to find that another person had beaten him to it for six years. It turned out, Gabasa de Vaca and his compatriots had wandered across the borderlands between what is today Mexico and the United States. It was during this period he developed a compassion for Native Americans that was unheard of among Spaniards during this period. It was also during this period that he began developing allusions of

grandeur as to the wealth of the region. For example, turquoise that Native Americans gave him he mistook for emeralds. Soto and others would give their lives chasing these illusions, and it's hard for me distress just how important the timing of this all is. Just as Soto is getting ready to move out to Laflori, someone claims to have inside knowledge of all the wealth trapped within Now

was Cabesa correct? Of course he wasn't. There are no cities of gold and emeralds hidden within the American southeast, But none of that mattered because nobody knew that there was an old Mexico before Cortez stumbled upon it. Nobody knew that there was an Inca empire before Pizarro showed up. Many Europeans, and especially de Soto, very much believed that there were more hidden wealthy empires out there for conquering. And what Cabeza de Vaca's testimony does is dumps gasoline on

an already burning fire. By the fall of fifteen thirty seven, was consumed with preparing for his expedition. This would prove to be one of the more expensive of the kunquistador eras the total price tag came in just over one hundred and thirty thousand castellanos, which was six times with the Spanish crown had spent on the most expensive expedition up to that date. Thus, Sodo's expedition was, in fifteen thirty seven, the most expensive unquistador action ever undertaken, at

least at its outset. If chroniclers are to be believed, Soda paid for it all himself out of pocket, or nearly all of it. This would have been incredibly unusual. Normally, one of the big banking houses based in or with offices in Seville fronted the cash for these expeditions and also charged enormous interest rates. Perhaps that is what Sodo sought to avoid by paying for his

expedition out of pocket. By the time he was done, Soto had purchased at least five large ships, accompanied by several small, faster caravels designed for exploring inlets and up large rivers. Sometime during the preparations, Soto named his lieutenants. These were capable men, but crucially, they were also fiercely loyal. Sodo had learned a lot watching the fallout between Almagro and Pisoto in Peru. He wanted a one, unified chain of command, with himself undisputably at

the top. Sodo undoubtedly went home briefly to see his family before setting off, but We know next to nothing about the time he spent there, and it's almost certain that both of his parents were dead by then. On April the first, fifteen thirty eight, Sodo ordered his men to muster at San Lucar, a village alongside the Guadalavia River. On Sunday, April seventh, Sodo and his men, hurt mass had a last feast of fresh food,

and boarded their ships. Soto's Amada was accompanied from San Lucar with another fleet of twenty large ships bound from Mexico. These were commanded by a different royal official. Soto, however, was in overall command. Interestingly enough, disaster struck from the moment this fleet left San Lucar the first night out by mistake, the other official ship actually went ahead of the flagship which Soto was in.

That's huge mistake in terms of naval operations. The ships became confused, someone thought they were under attack, and they opened fire on the ship that had overtaken the flagship. One of the masts was knocked to the ground by a cannonball. Soto, when he found out about it, was absolutely livid with the official who had allowed his ship to go out of line. In fact, he ordered him to be executed, only to calm down the next

day and rescind the order. Soto and his fleet stopped at the Canary Islands to resupply in late April fifteen thirty eight. Nearly every fleet stopped at the Canaries during this period. Then they began to sail due west towards Cuba. Soto's fleet took nearly twice as long as normal to cross the ocean. What people in this age still didn't totally understand was how the Gulf Stream could work as a super highway to sort of slingshot boats across the Atlantic. His men

did not sight Cuba until early fifteen thirty eight. As the ships drew closer, the men noted the cliffs that rim the southern shore of Cuba. If the navigator's calculations in terms of latitude and longitude were correct and the fleet had arrived where they were supposed to, those on board should have seen a great gap in the cliffs ahead. This was the narrow channel that leads into Santiago

Bay, a protected harbor first discovered by Columbus in fourteen ninety two. Nineteen years later, it had been conquered by Diego de le Vesquees, who began his rule over what had been a community of peaceful shell gatherers by enslaving them and killing most of them within months of his arrival. Entering this treacherous channel had always been nerve racking, particularly for a ship's pilot who had never been there before. At best, he had a crude map haphazardly marking hidden shoals.

Cautiously, the pilot, Alonzo Martine, would have lined up his ships, coming up slowly to a steep and rocky headland to the right of the harbor's entrance, and the lower ridge to the left were the rocky outcrops tumble into the sea. From a short distance out, he would have seen that the deepest part of the channel, where the water was the darkest, turn in a wide sweep to the right, indicating shallows, to the left,

where the water was a lighter shade of blue. He could not see what these shallows held, However, there was a small submerged inlet of rock, sand and coral, known today as Smith's Key. This hazard has wrecked many vessels over the centuries, and nearly added Sodo ship to the list. Thanks to a spaniard on shore, who suddenly and inexplicably waved them in the direction

of the rocks. Riding a fast horse, this man deliberately signaled to the fleet to bear left, a command that certainly confused Alonzo Martine, who saw the deep water of the channel moving to the right. Nonetheless, he obeyed the signal from the shore, ordering the flagship to come hard to port. This brought an eight hundred ton vessel swinging slowly around, and headed it directly for deadly Smith's Key. At this point, the man on shore abruptly changed

his mind even more frantically. He now signaled for the ships to turn hard to starboard. One of the men on board, Guard Alasco, who is the one who tells us the story, adds the following quote to make himself better understood. He dismounted and ran to his right, making signs with his arms and his cape, and saying, turn turn to the other side,

you will all be lost. Those on the flagship, when they understood him, turned as rapidly as possible to the left, but as hard as they tried, they could not prevent the ship from striking inst a rock end quote. The other ships of the fleet turned safely away, but the San Cristal Ball scraped bottom quote, striking so hard against a rock that all on board thought it was stove in and lost end quote. Fearing that the hull was

taking on water. Many aboard the sand crystal Ball panicked and hastily grabbed the ship's skiffs to escape. Because there was no protocol of women and children first in the sixteenth century, the strongest and the quickest scrambled to make room for themselves, though Soto, who had brought his wife and her young lady in

waiting, made sure that they got safely aboard one of the lifeboats. Fortunately, at this point, sailors searching below decks came running up to tell Soto that there was no structural damage to the ship, and then the liquid slashing around in the hold was from wine from broken casks, not seawater. But what had gone wrong here? Well, the townspeople of Santiago, the harbor that they were sailing into, were horrified when they learned that they had nearly

shipwrecked their new governor, But they were merely acting out of caution. A group of French pirates had been raiding in the region, and the people mistakenly thought Sodo's fleet was a part of that man. Sodo then presented his credentials to the city council, which immediately accepted him as governor. Sodo wanted to try to woo as many young men to joining his expedition as possible. He also started buying up huge quantities of cattle, farms, food, and manufactured

goods. This might sound like a good thing, but it actually wasn't, at least as far as the people of Cuba were concerned. Cuba was very much still a growing colony. It needed its farms and cattle to continue to survive. As far as many on the island were concerned, Sodo was leaching away an already existing colony in the hope of building a new one somewhere else. And where was the sense in that. Sodo remained in Santiago for about

four months. Now. Twenty years before, Santiago had been a major city, but since the conquest of Mexico and Peru, it had evolved into a backwater. Sodo really wanted to get moving to La Florida. But Sodo could not entirely neglect local crises, especially because he was the governor most pressing was

the situation with the French. Their King Francis the First, as we all know, remained Charles's mortal enemy, as their struggle for domination in Europe spilled over into the Americas, where pirates could stage random attacks almost with impunity. Clearly, the days were over when every ship in the Caribbean was Spanish and

friendly and no seaward defenses were necessary. The Council of the Indies had discussed this very issue with Sodo before he left, ordering him to build a stone fort in Havana to protect the gold fleets carrying crown taxes from Mexico to Spain. Shortly after touching down in Santiago, Sodo received word that the pirates chased away from Santiago in April, had just attacked Havanah and burned it to the

ground, a distressing development if true. Send Soto intended to use Havanah as his base to explore La Florida. After one of his aids confirmed the attack, Soto sent another with some men by sale to rebuild the city of Havana. Also in Santiago, Sodo lunched an effort to build the stone fortresses as required by the Council of the Indies. In addition, Sodo had to deal with what could be described as an uprising of Indians on the western portion of

the island. Certainly, the locals appreciated all these efforts, the forts and the dealing with the uprising, but Sodo's other legal decisions infuriated them. He forbade trade with the outside world, and I have to say, I really don't know why. I have looked in ten to fifteen other books to see if there's some rationalis to why he would forbade Cuba from trading with anyone, even other Spanish colonies, and I just don't see one. Regardless, the

decision absolutely crippled Cuba's economy, which was based on trade with Mexico. Plus, he forbade the importation of slaves, even as andcomienda owners were desperate for new sources of labor. Certainly, the vicinos of Cuba were grateful for Soto, who was at least trying to cope with the problems that beset Cuba at

this moment, but everything else he did made them absolutely furious. Sometime before departing Santiago for Havannah, Sodo dismatched his major General Alonsode Ayala on a long neglected mission to Peru, informing his partner Hernan Ponce de Leon but everything that had transpired since they parted three years earlier. In Peru, Sodo had more on his mind, though, than a simple up to date report. He instructed Ayala to ask Pons for an additional ten thousand ducats, desperately needed to

finance the expedition's final phase. A bold request considering Sodo hadn't communicated for over a year with his partner. He instructed Ayala to tell Ponce that as far as he was concerned, the company and the pact of brotherhood still existed, and that he would equally divide all plunder and wealth gained in La Florida with his old comrade, provided, of course, Pond send him this money. Ayala said, sale that summer, but he only got as far as Panama.

Here he was told Ponce had already left Peru that he would be arriving any day in Panama on his way to Spain. Having cashed out the company's properties while waiting for Ponce in Panama City, Ayala took care of another business item for Soda, selling all the property bequeathed to him by his wife as

a dowry. Ayala later recalled he sold what was actually Pedro of the villa's old ranch, which must have brought in a lot of money and also, I'm not gonna lie, probably a little bit of self satisfaction for Hernando Dee Soto. Somehow, however, despite the fact that there was only one town, Ayala managed to miss Ponce ne Leone as he was traveling through the Isthmus.

Later on, he would insist that this happened because he was sick, though it's hard to believe that in this one colony Ponce slipped by Sodo servant undetected, but still he did. Either way, Ayala was either really sick or more likely Ponce purposely avoided him for Soto's old partner. He was ready to just go back to Spain. He wanted to just cash in his chips. He didn't want any more frontier life. He didn't want the money from

the Florida. He figured he had enough money from Peru. I mean, this is the one rare guy who actually just cashes out at the gambling table at the New World. Now, of course, this was of course also super convenient for Ponce because he was taking back to Spain sixty to one hundred thousand pasos worth of gold and silver that he got from selling off the company's properties in Peru, half of which, according to the contract, should go

to Hernando de Soto. So his reasons for eluding Ayala in Panama probably had a lot less to do with a desire not to go on this expedition to La Florida, and a lot more to do with the fact that he didn't want to give Soto his half back in Cuba. Early that fall, Soto mustered his army, most of it would sail around to the northern coast of Cuba, where all would depart for La Florida. Soto, with one hundred and fifty cavalry, would go overland so he could take stock of the province

he would never see again. Cuba, even up to this point, had never been heavily populated, and the land that Soto now marched through to Havana was mostly swamps and grassland. It wasn't the most fun trek in the history of the world, but frankly, it was a good taste of things to come. Eventually, Soto reached Havanah, where the fleet was waiting for him. But then he got some bad news. It seems that an expedition from Mexico led by Francisco de Coronado, was marching north to explore what is today

the American Southwest. Soto, however, thought that this was one hundred percent part of La Florida. He was furious, according to one report, quote, not knowing where Coronado was going the governor and he's talking about. Soto began fearing that the two might encounter and hinder one another, and that trouble might arise between them, as had happened in Peru between Persaro and Almagro,

and in Central America during the Wars of the Captains end quote. Given what Soto had lived through already, I honestly cannot say that I blame him for feeling the way that he did. It seemed like the only way that the Spanish could lose in the New World was when they ran into each other. Every native civilization that they had encountered, every first nation's empire had simply been unable to stand up to that deadly combination of smallpox, armor and horses.

The only thing that could derail an expedition was another expedition, so stepped on the gas. Sometime in late fifteen thirty eight, he ordered one of his lieutenants to find a suitable landing spot in La Florida for his expeditionary force. The man was an accomplished geographer a navigator, so he skipped all the marshy ground in Florida's southern shore and went instead to the more hospitable Gulf. Eventually

he picked a landing spot, which most historians agree was Tampa Bay. As an asside, by the way, there is this whole cottage industry that I never knew existed amongst historians. When it comes to recreating Soto's North American Trek, no one, and I do mean no one agrees on every spot, but I'm going to do my best to give you the consensus in terms of generally where he is and when. And we're talking about a trek here. You know, that's five six years long, so it's not huge, but

he manages to cover quite a large swath of territory in that time. When the ships returned, Soda was delighted to learn that not only was there an excellent landing spot, but there was evidently much gold in Florida as well. This the advanced team had apparently learned from conversing with natives. The final account for the expedition was about six hundred officers, soldiers, tradesmen, servants,

and non Indian slaves. They also took around two hundred and forty horses, so in terms of men, Soto had about three and a half times what peace Auto had when he conquered Peru. He also had five large ships, two caravels, and two small brigantines. Finally, on the eighteenth of May fifteen thirty nine, the expedition to conquer La Florida set out. Sodo's fleet first sighted the shoreline of La Florida on made the twenty fifth, fifteen thirty

nine. Immediately, lookouts began scanning the coastline looking for a broad natural harbor, but they found was an inlet Soto called Bahia, the Espiritu Santo. Most historians agree that today is Tampa Bay, where exactly Soto's boot first met Americans soil, however, remains a matter of conjecture and hot debate. When they got closer to the shore, Soo dispatched a brigantine and scouting party that

he would personally lead to find a campsite. At this point, the fleet probably stood at anchor near a thin coastal island in Tampa Bay, which today is called Longboat Key. Soto led his brigantine out ideally define natives with whom they could confirm the existence of gold ideally nearby. They didn't find any. In fact, they got lost. Soon the Soto found himself with the sun

dropping fast below the horizon. Not wanting to get caught away from the fleet after dark, Soto ordered the rowers to return to the ships, But when they emerged from the narrow passage between the two islands, they found that the wind had shifted direction and stiffened too, a light gale that nearly prevented them from paddling out into the open sea. Once free of the inlet, the tiny craft could make no headway toward the fleet as the wind pushed them repeatedly

back against the beach in Longboat Key. Finally, as the sun dropped into the sea and the sky darkened into twilight, the governor gave up and ordered his men to run the brigantine under the beach for the night in a protected spot out of the driving wind. This could have either been potentially Longboat Key or possibly back inside sarah Soota Bay. We're not sure wherever it was.

One of the men on board them, Roligo Ranjel, says that they found a small Indian village hastily abandoned, containing quote a hut like the large ones that have been seen in the Indies, and several smaller ones and quote. Sodo was now with his small group stranded on shore miles away from his fleet. Alviedo, one of Soto's key lieutenants back with the ships, noted that he was very lucky Sodo, that is, the natives didn't wipe out his

scouting party then in there. Luckily, the next morning the fleet spotted Sodo's brigantine and they were able to send the caravel to collect the men. For four more days, the fleet proceeded slowly into the bay. On May thirtieth, Sodo found a suitable enough landing space that he ordered the horses unloaded, assuming he followed normal conquistado procedures. Soto then likely cleared out enough space for a campsite, cleaning the underbrush and felling several trees during this process, Soto's

men first encountered a group of hostile natives. The meeting didn't go well. Two natives were killed and two horses were wounded, and no one found any gold. Not the best start. The following morning, Soo took a hundred or more men in brigantines to find a more suitable campsite. He found it eight miles to the north, in an abandoned Indian village called Osita. Soto decided to make this his temporary headquarters and ordered his men to march there at

once. Everyone, including the stragglers, reached Osita by June the third, muddy hot and happy to find abandoned huts to rest in. But the bad news was that this seemed like an extremely primitive village. Not only was there no site of golden pyramids, or golden temples, or golden anything. These locals didn't even seem to grow corn, a crop with which the span it's now associated with advanced Mesoamerican cultures. Soto, of course, remained undaunted.

The question, then, of course, is when Hernando de Soto planted the purple and gold standard of Castile and Arragon on the Florida coast. What exactly was he claiming, Because he did that according to the King, the governor combined the concessions given to Panfilo, Navarees and Lucas de Ayom. Theoretically this encompassed the entire of North America above Mexico, all seven point three million square

miles of it. Quite a piece of real estate to be claimed by one person standing on a beach who had no real idea of the continent's size. But then again, such as the age of the Comquisador. Still, even if to Soto had known the audacious claim he was putting forth, I doubt it would have stopped him. Nor was Soto a loan as he offloaded his men in material late that May near the Indian village of Ossita. Other explorers

were making their own bids to penetrate deep into the interior. In Mexico, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was about to launch his invasion of what was now the southwestern United States, and far away to the northeast in the Saint Lauris River Valley. The French explorer Jacques Cartier two years later would begin his third and final expedition, trekking deep into Canada. Where he had already claimed the homelands that belonged to the Huron, the Algonquin, and the Iroquois, all for

France without ever asking them. Meanwhile, to the west, a man named Francisco de Yula and later Juan Rodrigo Cabrillo were exploring the Pacific coast from Mexico. Should eventually take Cabrillo as far north as present day Oregon. It was

an age when one had to just point and say mine. In fifteen thirty nine, though Columbus's first voyage was then forty seven years old, Europeans knew next to nothing about North America. It may come as a surprise to some of you listening, but all the attention had been in the Caribbean, Central and South America, but would become the United States in Canada largely an afterthought. That's going to change when England becomes more of a colonial player in the

seventeenth century. But even Jamestown won't be founded until sixteen o seven. Soto was in uncharted lands already, he and his men had met and killed several of the local peoples, the Tumukuian Indians, the people who inhabited the upper half of the Florida Peninsula. Soto actually didn't want to kill these people. He hoped to capture a few to interrogate them again. He wanted to know

we're all the kingdoms of the Gold were. Sodo's early frustration at being unable to capture knowledgeable Indians, or any Indians for that matter, other than a few scragglers, became a major problem as summer preceded and the Natives continued to elude his men. In part this was because of the inexperienced Spaniards had not yet properly learned about how to sneak through the swamps and forests. But even when Soto's men managed to find Indians, they proved to be among the most

formidable fighters Soto had ever seen, including the incas. Their secret weapon was something that was unheard of anywhere else in the Indies, belong bow. Indeed, Soto had not faced such deadly bows and arrows since his late teens in Colombia. The Florida Natives used what was kind of a massive bow, was

six or seven feet long. There was no poison, but their deadly accuracy was almost perfect, even from as far away as two hundred paces Sodo's men had great difficulty even bending these bows that were as tall as a man. According to one the arrows were quote very heavy and so tough that a sharp and cane passed through a shield, somber pointed like a fishbone, some as sharp as an awe, and others with a certain stone like a diamond point.

Generally, when these strike against armor, they go right through the links and quote, so Sodo was up against it in terms of the odds, and Frank was probably a little bit surprised by the sophistication of the weaponry that was being used by the natives, despite the fact that they didn't seem to evidence any other characteristics of advanced Mesoamerican civilizations. During these first busy weeks in La Florida, Soto sent his scouts out in all directions in the hopes of

finding evidence of an advanced civilization. He also organized his army into permanent squadrons for cavalry and two infantry. Around sixty days, the camp remained a flurry of activity as men unloaded the ships and built palisades of earth and timber. As Soda organized the army, his men debated whether an author governor should build impermanent settlement. Soto, who usually let his men openly talk over such matters

before making his final decision, cut off these discussions in mid July. He told them that there would be no colony here because the soil was too swampy and too sterile. He did not dismiss the idea of an inland settlement,

however. Now, according to a couple of sources, the nearby native chiefs knew that the Spaniard were coming, and they sent out a party of thirty men to greet them, some sixty to eighty miles from their main town, which is called Osita, west of present day Orlando, Carrying gifts of maze and fur. They brought a titillating message from their ruler that up north, in a place called Ocala, the Spaniards would find all the treasure they could

carry. The scouts told Soto's men quote that land talking about Ocali had gold in abundance, so much so that when they came to make war on the people of Ocali, they wore hats of gold resembling helmets end quote. Now to an extent, was any of this true? No, And quite frankly did these native Americans believe any of this. No, they just shrewdly understood what the Spaniards wanted and were willing to give them the information that would take

them somewhere else, anywhere other than here. And not for the last time, I'm going to bring up Sodo's biggest mistake, failing to build a settlement on the coast. Soto spent his entire time in North America trying to find a civilization to loot and plunder. He never put down any roots. Had he, he would have been able to resupply and reconnoiter more effectively and more

permanently. But he didn't. Before departing Tampa Bay, Soto ordered one of his men to stay with forty others to guard the harbor and the remaining ships of the fleet, and keep open communication lines between Florida and Havana. This was on the ninth of July. At this point, the mood of Sodo and everyone else in the expedition remained high. At the end of a letter that he wrote around the same time, Soto concludes, quote, may it

please God that this may be so? For of what these Indians say, I believe nothing, but I will see and must see, although they know and have it for a saying that if they lie to me, it will cost them their lives. But further on we will find much treasure. End quote. Now. From his vantage point high on top of Osita's mound, Hernando de Soto had an excellent view of his army preparing to leave this ground to march north to Alkala. This is on July fifteenth, fifteen thirty nine.

Later that morning, Soto probably took a final look on the mound, watching with great satisfaction as his men formed its neat lines and their units set off briskly to scout and secure the road to the interior. The army departed Osita, arrayed in standard Unquista marching order, beginning as always, with the vanguard behind them. Came the main army, called the battle line, divided into squadrons. Some of these men would have been an alerting case of attack.

Others protected the senior officers. Still others protected the porters, slaves, prisoners, and noncombatants, snaking along the trail in a procession that sometimes stretched for several miles. Typically, Sodo rode at the head of this large ungainly center. Throughout July Sodo and his army continued moving north through Florida. It would have been frankly, absolutely miserable. The land was all swamps and marshes.

There were constant hidden run attacks from Native Americans who were always shadowing his army, though Sodo and his men likely could not see them much of the time. On July the twenty fourth, Sodo reached what is today probably with a Coochie swamp. It's a twelve mile long depression of stagnant bogs and freshwater lakes just outside Orlando. Sodo's biggest problem now was not a lack of gold, there was clearly none of that in central Florida, but a lack of

food. Sodo tended to move quickly with an advanced force, while the bulk of his slower moving army followed. Captured Native porters suffering under heavy burdens and from a lack of nutrition, dropped dead in their tracks in droves. Still, Sodo pressed on as the desperate men followed him, hoping for word that they had found food. Right now, they were trying to reach the town of Ocala, which Sodo had been told possessed a bounty of food supplies,

and the problem was he didn't know exactly where Ocalay was. His men had no choice but to continue marching, mud and mock up to their knees, hasted endlessly by mosquitoes and haunted by the distant and eerie calls wolves, alligators, and birds. The army ultimately did reach Akalai, but in what was going to be a preview of probably everything to come from here on out,

it was not the oasis Sodo thought it would be. O'calley turned out to be little more than a village or another several villages put together, probably no more than a few dozen palm thatched huts. There were no great stores of food, there was no gold, but there was enough for the army to avoid the ever present specter of starvation. After the last stragglers arrived in O'kali, the Spaniards wearily gathered corns, squash, pumpkins, and beans, plundering

the Indians fields. Because they had even fewer servants left alive after the march through the swamp, most were forced to prepare their own food while his men ate and regained their strength. Sodo wondered about his situation, dismayed to find himself already two months into his expedition, with several men and horses killed and nothing to show for it. But this hardly damped the enthusiasm of a man who had survived grueling marches from Darien to the Andes, who had remained convinced

that these past eight weeks were merely the prelude to a successful quest. Continuing to dream, Soto's next would be El Dorado was a kingdom to the north called Appalachi. This time the goal was never gold, Soo knew there was no gold there. His only hope now was to find enough food to get his men through the winter. They would worry about the gold later on. In August eleventh, he departed Okale for this new mythical land of plenty.

He had no guides, but Soto new Appalachi lay somewhere to the north, so north he would go for Once the pass was easy to follow, Soto was able to use what was effectively an ancient highway, cleared so well that three or four people could walk abreast. This helped the men make good time and encouraged Soto to believe that this time he was going somewhere more sophisticated. Four days later, the army marched through what are today the outskirts of Gainesville,

Florida. By now the countryside had shifted from swamps to dry grass land and forest. Food was much more plentiful, and the men began to recover some of their lost strength. In August the sixteenth, they crossed the Santa Fe River, about twenty miles north of Gainesville, and here Soto's trek nearly came to an end, at least for him. They came upon a local

group of Indians, whose chief devised a trick. They would pretend to be friends, surround Soto and his men, and then quickly launch a surprise attack. The Indians made the first move, one man telling us that no sooner had Soto arrived quote and the conversation was beginning when he saw himself immediately surrounded by Indians endote, but having anticipated this attack and someone actually told him about it a trader, Soto gave the signal to trigger a full scale Spanish charge,

which was one blast on a trumpet. Soto's cavalry came rushing across the field, smashing into the surrounding Indians, taking them completely by surprise. They fled towards two ponds on the end of the plane, but the Spanish were not about to let them escape. After surrounding the pond and waiting out several days, several Indian soldiers eventually emerged from the cool black water. The Spaniards

bound them up with rope and marched them back to Soto's camp. Once in town, Soto ordered them put in chains and imprisoned in a huge lodge house in the village. As the sun rose. Another eyewitness tells us that these Indians quote were allotted among the Christians for their service and quote, with individual prisoners being let off in ropes and chains to the personal areas of the soldiers, where they were put to work grinding corn, carrying equipment, fetching grass

for the horses, and obeying whatever commands were given to them. Soto was used to Native Americans, who had been crushed this decisively in battle, being docile and dejected. But here's where he would get a lesson indifference. No sooner had the first chief been released from his chains. Later on that he turned on Soto and punched him in the mouth, delivering quote such a great blow that it bathed Soto's teeth in blood and made him spit out more blood

end quote. This, of course, was entirely suicidal, but it didn't matter. The immediate revolt seemed to engulf all the warriors, even though still in ropes and chains. They tried to grab whatever they could to use his weapons, one man apparently snatching quote the pestle for crushing maze, which he used with all his might to try to kill his master end quote. Others grabbed swords and lances much more useful for this purpose, carelessly left about.

But the outcome was never in out Sodo Spaniards rallied against the prisoners, who were still mostly unarmed and chained or otherwise encumbered. Within minutes, the conquistadors had grabbed weapons and were battling back, cutting down the most recalcitrant warriors and recapturing others. This time, the prisoners were not going to be spared, bloodied, and furious, Soda ordered most of the survivors executed, though too many. That was a mistake. Sodo was, after all, desperate for

labor, and he really could have used the servants. Perhaps killing a few as an example would have been a more appropriate and measured response. In fact, some of Sodo's own men wrote in their diaries, considering the punishment excessive and wasteful, and criticizing their commander wouldn't be the first time they would do so. After the massacre, Soto had no choice but to keep moving. By late September, he reached roughly what is today Tallahassee, Florida. Here

things were much nicer. The pine forests of North Florida are pleasant. In late September, the humidity eases off and the temperature becomes tolerable, even for men wrapped in thick quilted armor, chainmail, and metal jackets. Yet Hernando de Soto was clearly on edge as his guides became gradually more and more terrified.

Approaching the Appalachi border go back, they pleaded, regaling their interpreter with gruesome stories about legendary Appalachi atrocities and the fierce, maniacal bravery of warriors feared for hundreds of miles beyond their domain. For some Spaniards, the terror among their guides undoubtedly wetted their appetite for a good fight. Others were less enthusiastic

about facing an even more formidable foe. There was also continued muttering among the men about the fate of Penphilio de Navarez his army at the hands of the Appalache he a dozen years earlier, an incident that resulted in that entire expedition being white doubt. Soto's preoccupation with the coming campaign and the high statehead and winning it seems to have made him more irritable than usual. An infantry men named Alvaro de Canna found out the day the army departed, sneaking away from

his unit without permission to fetch a sword that he left behind. His absence was noted and reported to Sodo, but instead of exacting the usual fine, demotion or flogging for the breach of military discipline, a tense Soto ordered the young man hung. The sentence stunned the army, Sodo soon calmed down and canceled the execution. Regardless, there are no further reports of swords being left behind. By now, the Appalachi knew the Spaniards were coming already, the

Appalachi dispatched a large force of warriors to stop the advancing Spaniards. Their plan was to use a series of hidden run attacks, and if that failed, simple slash and burn. They would eliminate the food supply and thereby stop the Spanish dead in their tracks. These guys knew what they were doing, by the way. It would not be until the British and Creek, working in tandem, eliminated them in the early eighteenth century. The proud Indian Soda was

about to confront were the first true Mississippians along the Spaniards route. That is, the first highly organized kingdom with a strong central authority, standing army, elite classes of politicians, priests and warriors, and a complex network of trade with other Mississippian kingdoms as far north as the Great Lakes and perhaps as far

south as Tegoshtiklan in Mexico. At the time that Sodo arrived, the Appalachi king ruled a prosperous kingdom that worshiped the sun, grew an abundance of corn, and built large cities filled with pyramids in what is today modern Leon County in Florida. In fifteen thirty nine, this country was fertile enough to feed some twenty five thousand Appalachi and possibly as many as one hundred thousand, by

far and away the most dense population that Soto had yet come across. On October, the first Sodo officially crossed into what might be called Appalachi Country, on the east side of the Assilla River, which flows through Georgia and parts of North Florida. According to one source, the Indians began their attack as soon as Sodo's vanguard quote ventured a few steps into the swamps and thickets end

quote. The same man continues, quote there was a lively combat. A path the Indians had made was so narrow that two men could scarcely get through it and were attacked the whole way end quote. Now, actually, in this particular instance, the Appalachi were like sort of Greek like at Thermoplai, able to find a bottle neck in the woods, and wouldn't allow the Spaniards to get past. Soto became infuriated. He joined the combat, but even

his marshal prowess couldn't push back the Appalachi. On this occasion, the battle became quote cruel and bloody, as the Spaniards pushed hard into the waste high water, slashing and lancing and firing their guns, headed inexorably toward their targets the main channel of the river, and eventually Soto and his men do manage to reach it by the end of the night, but both sides suffered many deaths and wounds. With night falling, Soda ordered his men to stand fast

and pitch a makeshift camp. He then ordered another subordinate to build a bridge across the deep channel of the water. In describing the battle, another witness tells another colorful story, ripe with kind of romance and drama. But as usual, a lot of these stories don't jive with what we do about the actual battle, and frankly, according to yet a third witness, this battle

was actually no more than a small skirmish. The Appalachi stuck to the plan, retreating, burning their villages and fields, and launching harassing attacks against Soto and his men. It was a grueling march. On October sixth, Soto reached the Appalachi capital of on Ahyika, which the natives had not burned. This is actually the only point in all of Soto's four thousand mile march that

we can say we know exactly where he is. That's because on Ahyika was in downtown Tallahassee, about a half a mile from the Florida State Capitol building. Recognizing that he could go no further before winter set in, Soto decided to fortify the town and use the stores of food left to get through the winter. Then he would continue to search for his city of gold, increasingly becoming an obsession. Hernado to Soto left on a hika on marched the third

fifteen forty. Certainly the decision was a mistake, so to missed an opportunity to found a new colony. Had he done so, he might have established a base from which he could launch later expeditions. But his head remained full of illusions of grandeur and gold for the moment. His men continued to share in these fantasies, and so departed with great fanfare, convinced they were all merely steps from finding temples of gold. It did not take long for the

army to reach Georgia. From there they moved essentially due north toward the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Here, the days and nights became a bit repetitious. They marched. Sometimes they came upon an Indian settlement. Sometimes it was occupied, more often it was abandoned. Occasionally the army was attacked by different bands of warriors who emerged from the woods or swamps, and then quickly retreated

back from whence they came. On March the twenty third, fifteen forty, Soto reached Talaya, the capital of one of the four advanced civilizations his army would march through in Georgia. Sodo stayed in Twya only a few hours. He suddenly became obsessed once again with wanting to keep moving, inspired by the

sophistication relativists of the Twaya people. According to one source quote, it was a constantly observed custom of his Sotos that he must go himself to any new discovery of provinces, because he was not satisfied with the reports of others, but wished to see it with his own eyes end quote. They next reached the kingdom of the Echiesi. While they found some advanced farming techniques, there was no evidence of Inca style grandeur. Soto only tarried a day from it

Chiesi. Sodo continued following the various rivers of central Georgia as his army moved north. On me the first Sodo crossed into what is today South Carolina. There he entered the kingdom of the This is a very difficult word for me Kofichiki. This was probably the most sophisticated civilization Soto and his men had seen thus far. For one fleeting moment, it seemed like it might all pay off. The Queen of the Choki arrived to meet them wearing a string of

precious pearls. Here was finely evidence of a luxury good Sodo could do something with. Plus, the homes and the clothing of the people here were just much more elaborate in general. Unfortunately for Sodo, if there had been grandeur, it was gone. The Kofi Chikiti had just been decimated by plague. It's unlikely that the queen even ruled over half of the territory she and her progeny had once. One of our historians tell us that the queen herself first

told Soto of the plague when they met at the river. She apologized to the lack of food on hand, and told him that quote, the pestilence of the year before had deprived her of the provisions she might have given Soto in previous years end quote, she was able to give him enough corn for his immediate needs, though food supplies in the capital region were minimal. Enough that as soon as the men had regained their strength, they continued northeast towards

a vassal city. This which was called Ilapi, was probably located near present day Cherra in South Carolina, about fifty five miles further north. There, the queen said that she had several large stores of food, which was true, but Sodo continued to pester the queen and the people. Where were the gold? Where was all the precious metals? Unfortunately, at least for Soto, there weren't any, and the pearls turned out to be the only piece

of evidence that they have of Jofikitkiti wealth and power. Everyone in the army was now just kind of feeling defeated, let down by the meager treasure in Kofi Chikiti. I mean, it was hard for everybody to make their fortune on one string of pearls. As SODA's men rested and regained their strength, however, they began talking amongst themselves about how appropriate this place would be to

establish a colony. According to one man, quote, all them men were of the opinion that they should settle that land, as it was an excellent region. End quote. He was actually dead on agriculturally, this region of the United States today is great, but strategically and again, what Europeans still didn't totally know was that right here along the coast of South carol Lina would

be a perfect place for a port. The Gulf Stream pushes ships north as they travel up from the Caribbean, and they'll need a place to resupply. If Soto would have recognized that, his whole expedition may have actually been a success. But Arno de Soto had no interest in the tedious process of building colonies. He insisted to keep going, both because this region was low on food because he was nervous about meeting up with his fleet, which he had

left back in Florida. None of this was really true, though. Sodo simply just didn't want to stop in a place with no gold and a small population of potential laborers and slaves. Indeed, when he heard that twelve days in lynd there lived a great king ruling a country called Chiaha, he refused

to listen to talk about any more, staying in Kofiji Kitti Lands. While the men went along, some were starting to wonder, starting to wonder if Donna Soto the governor of La Florida, the member of the Order of Santiago, the hero of Peru. Something in to wonder if he was losing his mind. So it was that on May the twelve or thirteenth, Soto spurred his horse and turned his back forever on probably his best for success in North

America. Once again, his obsession with finding piles of gold so impacted Soto's decision making that he failed to see the opportunity right there in front of him to an extent, and then of the Soto is a cautionary tale. He is not unlike Macbeth or any other tragic figure from Shakespeare. He had huge dreams that he simply could not let go of. In the end, they killed him. From North Carolina, Soto turned his army due west and began

the march to Tennessee. The Spaniards in this area associated mountains with gold and other precious metals, so the sight of the looming Appalachian mountains meant more to Soto than their sheer beauty. Of course, there's irony in all this talk and rumors of precious metals, for the truth is that there was and still is a small amount of naturally occurring gold in this region, recovered mostly by panning in creeks and streams, first discovered in eighteen twenty by a Carolina farmer.

Mines in North Georgia. The Carolinas and Eastern Tennessee produced as much as a million dollars a year worth of gold until eighteen forty eight, when the miners literally pulled up stakes and rushed off to California. Soto failed to locate copper deposits that still exist in the area, saw some of which were worked by prehistoric Mississippians. In late May, Soto reached the French Broad River, which runs through Asheville, North Carolina. He was moving quickly now, his

army running out of supplies. Here's a journal from one of Soto's men that gives you a good sense of what the day to day going was like. Quote. Friday, May twenty eighth, we spent the night in an oak grove. Saturday May twenty ninth, we marched alongside a large creek, which

we crossed many times. Sunday, May thirtieth, in the morning, messengers came in peace, and we arrived early in Gulasi, and the Indians gave us many tamales, many little dogs and corns, and because this was a good resting place, the soldiers afterwards called the term house of Gulasi when they threw the dice for good luck. May thirty first Monday, Soda left for Gulossi and took the army to an oak grove alongside the river. Tuesday June

first, we passed through Knnesoca and spent the night in the open. Wednesday June the second, we spent the night alongside a swamp and we ate a great number of mulberries. Thursday June third, we followed a large creek next to the river, the French Broad River. We had crossed in the savannah where the cicacia went away, and now it was large. Friday June the fourth, we went to a pine forest in a creek where the Indians from

Chihaha came in peace and brought corn. Saturday June the fifth, in the morning, we crossed the very broad River across a branch of it and entered Chiaha, which is an island on the same river. End quote. This island capital is near present Bay Dandridge, Tennessee. It had no gold, but it did have puntiful supplies of food, and the army as a result

rested there for twenty two days. Refreshed. After their respite in Chiaha, Soto's men on June twenty eighth, fifteen forty plunged back into their journey, the full army traveling together for the first time since they crossed into the wilderness at the Savannah River. For eighteen days, the Spaniards trekked roughly one hundred and fifty miles across low mountain passes and down river valleys, their path alternating

from why highways to narrow trails. Now numbering some five hundred and fifty men plus hundreds of porters, slaves and servants, the army moved either single file or two or three minute breast, depending upon the terrain. Their goal was now to head for the heartland of the next major missus sit the Empire, the Cusa, during this summer march, which would eventually take the army beyond

Cusa toward the planned rendezvous with Soto's fleet on the coast of Alabama. So Too finally established a marching rhythm he had been after since making landfall in Law, Florida. This involved the usual conquistador method of quickly bringing local chiefs under his power, so the Spaniards could use his authority to demand food, lodging porters, and women, until Sodo had passed through this kingdom and on to the next, where the process would begin again in very much a leech like

manner. Soto's smooth and largely uneventful progression across the southern Appalachians was hardly a coincidence. He chose this route specifically because he had been told that the army would find the stores of food that they needed and large numbers of Indians to impress into servants. The Indians, too, were continuing to operate under the tactic of giving Sodo and the invaders whatever they asked in order to get rid of them. None of the native leaders, however, fully appreciated how much

luck contributed to their design. If Soto had found any sign of treasure at all among the natives of Tennessee and Georgia, this march would have instantly ceased to be benign, with Soto grabbing whatever he wanted, whether or not the natives cooperated. Soto seems relaxed during this period his plan to march south and link up with his fleet seemed more feasible than ever. It was late June, so we had plenty of time. As a result, he stopped his

army frequently, affording the men an opportunity to rest and recuperate. Soto had three years left on his royal contract. He must have felt like that was plenty of time to find what he was searching for. He had mapped out a rough idea of La Florida. He could always now come back with more men later and continue the expedition. Sotos marched to Cusa, was not entirely

without difficulty. In Costi, the next major kingdom of the Chiaha, Soho saw his peaceful sojourn nearly turned violent when he and eight Spaniards entered the capitol, probably situated twenty eight miles southwest of modern Knoxville, Tennessee, looking for corn. Some of his party began plundering all kinds of different storehouses near the

chief's palace. This was despite a friendly welcome from the Indians, with no regard for the fact that the group was vastly outnumbered and lightly armed, that the main army was in a camp about a half a mile away. This outrageous behavior angered the people who seized the looters and began to quote unquote beat them, while others grabbed their bows and arrows to come forth to the plaza

end quote. Normally, Soda would have met such an assault against his own men with deadly force, if only to drive home the point that Indians who dared to lay hands on a European faced automatic punishment, even if the European was at fault. But because Soto had entered in the town carelessly and unarmed, quote, he abruptly found himself in a position where he was likely to

be the one penalized or even killed. He first heard about the fight between his men and the Indians when several natives breathlessly rushed up to the leader, that is, the native leader, to report that the Spaniards were trying to plunder the royal storehouses. They were quickly followed by the bloodied Spaniards themselves, who ran up to join Sodo's army. Angrily, turning to his guest, the king demanded the Native American king an explanation as to what the native soldiers

were doing. A conquisador with less experience might have panicked or attacked in a suicidal charge and it would have been suicide. In this case, Sodo did neither. Instead, he proved once more the nimbleness of mind during a life threatening crisis had been a hallmark of his success in the New World. As the Indians closed in, he suddenly turned on his own men and began to quarrel with them, pretending to chastise them for stealing the natives corn. He

whispered them to play along and suffer it. Quote be tolerant because of the evident danger in which we were, and that no one should put a hand on his weapons endote. He then quote thrashed some of them as he flattered the leader and told him that he did not wish the Christians should anger them end quote. Evidently the roost worked and the whole situation managed to be disfused.

Eventually, Soto passed into the Empire of the Cusa, the largest indigenous empire of the American South, and he would make it to the capital of said empire, but historians hotly debate exactly where that was. The most likely site is Cartier, It's Georgia, roughly between Chattanooga and Atlanta. One thing is certain, though, upon arrival and said capital the Empire of the Cusa came out to meet Soto with great pomp and circumstance, only to have Sodo

immediately take the man captive. Soda then took what food he could, and then he plus the emperor, who was a good hostage, continued south. On September the sixteenth, the army reached Talisi, near Childersburg, Alabama, about fifteen miles southeast of Birmingham. This was probably the last town under control of the Kusa Empire. Here Soda received several ambassadors from a nearby king named Tasca Lusa. Now here's the thing. It's not Tuscaloosa. I know.

That's really confusing, because there is a Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and it is really tempting to think that the two names are associated with each other, but they're not. Tascalousca was the king of the Atahachee, who were considered feared warriors. Sodo would soon learn the veracity of that reputation here. At this point, Soto also let the Cusa emperor, who he was still toting around, go back home, given that he was no longer of any use.

And it's really hard to document just how devastating Sodo's march through the Cusa territory was to the people there. What we can say is that when another expedition comes the same way about twenty years later, they found a land essentially diminished to nothing. The population density that existed when Sodo marched through the head evaporated. Odds are that disease brought by Soto or possibly other European contacts, were

out most of the devastation. By the sixteen seventies, when the British started exploring the region, there was simply nothing left of any of these high Mississippian civilizations, and these, of course, were the true losers of Soto's expedition. As Sodo headed south, King Taskaloosa of the Atahatchie weighed his options about what to do with these powerful, deadly strangers moving toward him, with the

inevitability of a tornado gathering to vent its fury. But Tescaloosa probably knew more in advance about the strangers than most of the Mississippian rulers, because he had already met a European, actually, a Greek man had wandered through. His name was Doroteo Diadoro, which is fascinating because it's basically flipped. I've never seen a name like that before. Regardless. Thirteen years later, this Greek man had become a castaway on the coast of the South during the desperate voyage

of Panfilo de Navarez, the last failed effort to conquer La Florida. Later on, Cabesa de Vaca explained how he had disappeared, he being Dado when Navarez's fleet sent him to fetch water in the vicinity of what is today Mobile Bay. Nothing was known about his fate until the Indians showed Soto a small dagger that had belonged to this Greek man, who had apparently lived for a

period of time in the Adahachee town of Piachi. Whether or not King Tascalusa actually met Teodoro is not known, but it seems likely that the king would have at least received a detailed report about this stranger and about the Spaniards that he came with, But this information would have been misleading to Tascalusca because Navarez's shabby fleet and emaciated army probably could not have provided anywhere close to an accurate

example of what the Spanish could do in battle. Tascalusa may also have received sketchy reports about Navarez's routing by the Appalachi in Florida, and over the past few weeks about Sodo's largely peaceful march through Chiaha, all of which probably contributed to the course of action which was about to be taken. With regard to these new visitors, there is evidence that the Adahachee dynasty of Tascalusa had only

ruled for two or three generation. Still, there's no evidence whatsoever that Tascaloosa's hold on power was anything but absolute. We know next to nothing about the city of Adahachee itself, other than had a plaza and one temple mound. What we do know is that while Tascaloosa welcomed Soto upon his arrival to the city, the Indian king was already planning a devastating sneak attack on the newcomers.

This suggests that Tascaloosa's military understanding and abilities were at the very least significantly advanced. On October the tenth, Soda arrived in the capital of the Adahachie, which is also just called Adahachie. Here, Soda was greeted warmly, and that evening sat down with Tascaloosa at a great banquet. Soda at this point probably thought that this would be nothing but another pleasant march through another Mississippian

kingdom. When Sodo demanded food, porters and women, his usual refrain arrival in an indigenous kingdom, Taskaluska gave him several hundred porters, but rebuffed his other demands for the moment. Sodo left the next day with his army, but as they marched away, Taskaluska was sending orders for his warriors to assemble at another one of his towns, Mabia, further south. It took Soto

six days of marching, but he ultimately reached Mabia. There, several within Sodo's camp warned him from entering the town, but Sodo dismissed to the warnings. He said he was tired of sleeping in a camp. He wanted to sleep inside the wall town, which was situated on a plane. We can't say today exactly where Mabia was, only that given Sodo's presence speed, it should have been about where Selma, Alabama is today. When Sodo arrived in

Mabia, he received the welcome that he was used to. He and his parties soon found themselves having a good time, entertained by Indian dancers as the King Tascalousa and his nobles chatted amiably, and everyone feasted and drained fermentmented beverages

and just generally had a good time. But one of the historians along with the expedition then explains what happened next, saying that Tuscaloosa went to a hut where his aids were holding a secret council of war quote when Tuscalousa was among his captains and the chief men of his army, and he told them that they must come quickly, whether they would immediately cut the throats of the Spaniards who were there in the pueblo and of the others after them as they arrived,

or whether they would wait until all of those had come quote. For a long time, the council argued over which option was best, until the King Tascaloosa, rising to his full height, threw his weight behind, killing at once any Spaniards who came within their power. He then issued the order to his troops in the houses around the plaza to attack Soto and his party

immediately. Eyewitnesses now report only that Taskaloosa slipped away into a nearby house and then refused to come out when Soto asked him, telling Sodo that quote, he would not come out of there, and he would not leave that town end quote. Then, according to the same historian, Taskaloosa issued a warning quote, if Sodo wished to go in peace, he should go immediately and should not insist on trying to take him out of his lands and dominion by

force. End quote. At this point, according to the chroniclers, those Spaniards began looking around the town and realized that the houses were not empty as they had assumed, but filled with Indian soldiers armed for battle. Some of the members of Sodo's guard, his personal guard, first noticed things were amiss when they saw natives hiding bundles of arrows and bows secretly, and some palm

leaves. This sent them rushing back to Warren Soto, who must have frowned as he grabbed his helmet and strapped it on while ordering the guard to fetch the horses as quickly as they could. At about this time, one of Sodo's lieutenants was trying to get Tuscaloosa to come out of the hut. He grabbed a nearby noble and demanded to bring Tuscaloosa to him. When a man

refused, he cut his arm off. The battle began moments later when the Indians answered Sodo's repeated demands for Tuscaloosa's return by suddenly bursting out of the houses and swarming into the streets and plaza Mabia, shouting war cries and brandishing clubs, maces, and loaded bows. This was it. This was the moment for the expedition. According to one source quote, immediately the Indians came out, charging towards Sodo's position and leaping up to man the walls and towers guarding

the city endote. Depending on what account you believe, Tuscaloosa had a hidden three thousand, five thousand, or maybe even eleven thousand warriors and huts, which he now threw against Hernando de Soto, his small aids and group of bodyguards. These men found themselves suddenly cut off from the city's gates and from the rest of the Spanish army, which remained sprawled out across several miles along

the Alabama River. Soto and his party were fully armed, but they found themselves engaged in the situation very unfavorable to their style of fighting, which of course was cavalry based. They were trapped in a cramped fortress town, with their horses across the plaza and masses of Mississippians surging toward them, eager to engage them using a close style of fighting that they excelled in. During the first few confusing minutes of the fight, five Spaniards of Soto's guard were struck

down by arrows and a crush of well aimed blows from maces. The others survived this initial wave of attackers, though some were wounded. Soto too was hit with some twenty arrows, though none penetrated his heavily quilted armor as he hacked back and forth of his sword. As the Baniards fought to free themselves and escape out of the gate, two of them, Rodrigo Ranelle and jue Mendez de Solis, a member of Soto's guard, managed to fight their way

to two of the horses tethered across the plaza. So Lise was shot dead as he climbed into one of the saddles, but Rangell, as himself relates, managed to mount his horse and rear it up against the Attahachee This caused the charging Indians to pause long enough for Soto to dash over to another mount and jump into the saddle. Soto could have then escaped the city through a

nearby gate, but this was not his style. Instead, he turned abruptly back into the fray, blasting into the midst of the Indians to clear a path for bloodied bodyguards to follow him. This was what the conquist the Dords were famous for. This was their principal tactic, a sudden, aggressive thrust

forward into the midst of unarmored Indians. Miraculously, Soto and most of the remaining guards escaped Mabila alive, battling their way to the gate, where they ran out into the surrounding fields and raised the alarm among the soldiers then arriving at the outskirts of town. However, they were forced to lead behind a priest and some of Soto's servants who were holed up to a house. They were all killed As Soto and his party retreated in chaos. The Indians made

a move that would later proved disastrous for the Spaniards. They invited the armor's porters to join them in the new bloody fight. Having stopped not far from Abea's walls. These Indians, some of them at a Hatchee warriors pressed into service just two days earlier, and others from as far away as Florida, responded eagerly to the defender's request. They sit down their loads, helped each other, strike off their chains, and grabbed weapons from the stockpiles in the

cities. In fact, they went through the army's own baggage, grabbing weapons, clothes, and everything from iron pots to leather shoes. Shortly thereafter, the Indians quote closed the gates to the town and began to beat their drums, to raise banners with a great yell, and open the trunks and bundles to display on top of the wall all that the Spaniards had brought end quote

out of the field. The Spaniards were in disarray as Sodo, probably looking like a porcupine with arrows sticking out from his armor, galloped hard to the nearest soldiers, shouting them furiously to get ready to defend themselves. The governor then organized a troop to encircle the town to prevent any Indians from escaping, taking an additional sixty or eighty men to form into four squadrons so that he could assault the town on four sides as well. Liss was Sodo at his

finess. This was Sodo at his worst also, and this is pure conquistador surrounded with innumerable odds, where the intelligent thing to do for any military commander would be strategic retreat or withdrawal. What is Sodo going to do. He's going to do what the conquistador would do. He's going to charge right back into the numbers. According to one historian, the signal for the Spanish counterassault was the blast of an arquebus, which boomed over the Alabama planes as the

four squadrons threw themselves against the palisaded town. The Indians repelled this onslaught, with the Spaniards pulling back in exhaustion, most of them so tired from the unexpected combat after weeks of comparative inactivity, that they paused for a moment to assuage their thirst from a nearby pond. They only stopped when they realized that the pond was already soaked in blood from the earlier parts of the combat. After this brief pause, the Spaniards attacked again and again, and this give

and take of Spanish attacks and Indian peris continued throughout the afternoon. According to one why witness, the Indians quote fought with so much spirit that they drove us the Spaniards outside again and again end quote. Another witness adds that at one point the Indians even tried an offensive thrust outside their walls, rushing out as the Spaniards appeared to be falling back, but this was only a ruse by Soto to try to draw the mount which failed when the defenders quickly retreated

back behind their walls. It was during this action that another witness reports one of the army's favorite captains was killed, one of Soto's in laws, Don Carlo Sonriquez. He had stopped to pull an arrow out of his horse in front of the city wall, only to be struck by another in the neck between his armor's collar and the bottom of his helmet, According to one witness,

quote, asking for confession, he fell dead. The battle continued well into the autumn afternoon, though as more and more Spanish troops heard the alarm and rushed forward as reinforcements, it soon became clear that once more European arms and armaments would prevail Repeatedly, they threw themselves against the walls, hacking with swords and axes against the plaster, cane and branches. Each time they were

beaten back, only to return to hack away more of it. Finally, as the afternoon waned, they breached the wall enough for a few men to Russian side and set the nearest houses on fire. Instantly, the flames caught on the cane thatch roof as a deadly wall of fire exploded across the city, and in a flash, heat and smoke shattered the Indians defense. Hundreds

of Atatachee were trapped and obliterated by the flames within minutes. The rest ran for their lives, either into the central plaza or over the walls and the

fields outside. Either option brought the warriors face to face with Spanish swords as SODA's cavalry stood ready to cut them down in what devolved into a massacre, like the slaughter at Kajamarca, when Sodo and his outriders spent the night of Atahuelpas captured killing Inca, but unlike the Peruvians, the Atahachee had fought on until the cause became so hopeless that a great number of them committed suicide by fleeing quote into the burning houses were piled up on top of one another.

They were suffocated and burned to death due. This battle, one of the bloodiest fought in five centuries of warfare between Europeans and Indians on what would become United States. Soil ended at sunset, with Mabia in flames and heaps of Indians lying dead or dying as men moaned and coughed and blood soaked the ground. One of the last Indians died as twilight came and the first cool breeze

of night blew over the battlefield. It happened as a group of Spaniards, themselves wounded and exhausted and drenched in blood and sweat, chanced to look up on what remained of Maybea's smoldering ramparts. There they saw an Indian warrior wake up after lying unconscious for most of the battle, reviving just as a line

of fire was closing in on him, threatening to burn him alive. The men desperately tried to escape the flames by running up a bastion, only to look out into the plain, where he saw heaps of dead Indians and units of Spanish cavalry, chasing down those still alive and running them through lances.

Overwhelmed by despair and what he probably knew was the end of his people and their civilization, this unnamed Mississippian quickly unstrung his bowstring, and before the Spaniards watching him could scramble up the wall to stop him, threw it over the branch of a nearby tree, wrapped it around his neck, and hung himself.

We have no idea how many Native Americans died at Mabia, but the next time that a European gets to southern Alabama, nineteen years later, the only trace of Tasca Lusca's kingdom was few survivors amongst the ruins of Atahachee. All that night, Sodo writhed in pain from the injuries he sustained in the battle, a reminder both of the battle's ferocity and of his own foolishness for getting himself ensnared in the ambush in the first place. He was, of

course lucky. Eighteen to twenty five Spaniards died one of the worst battles for European and the New World up to that point, but the most devastating loss was the complete destruction of the army's baggage train, which had burned to the ground in the midst of the fire. Soto now desperately needed to get back to his ships. Now. Interestingly, our chroniclers offered differing accounts about whether

or not the army even found the ships. One claims that Soto did hear about them from Indians on the coast, who sent word to his translator, Juan Ortiz, that the Spanish vessels were at Anchor six days march to the south. This chronicler insists, though, that Soto did not contact the fleet, worried that his men might desert him and return to Cuba. Accordingly, the governor arranged that the translator should be quiet about it and make sure that

none of the items of value make their way to the ships. Now there's another story here, though. There's a different chronicler that tells us that Soto did mention the existence of the ships to his men, but refuse to let anyone make contact with them. This historian gives us a reason that has nothing

to do with fear of desertion. He says Soto vetoed the request because the army was low on provisions, this man writes, quote, many wish that the governor would go to see because they the Indians gave us news to the Brigantines. But he did not dare to go to the ships because the month of November was already half over and it was very cold, and he felt it advisable to look for a land where he might find provisions in order to be able to winter end quote. But this seems like an odd reason.

Even if there was a scarcity of food in southern Alabama, it seems incredible that Sodo would move off his current position without contacting the captain of the fleet

or offloading desperately needed supplies that might help alleviate the lack of provisions. Nor does it seem likely that if the army knew about the ships, someone didn't slip away to try to find them beg passage to Cuba, something that the commander of the fleet is adamant later on did not happen, And curiously, a third of our contemporary historians, the ones who are writing as Sodo's traveling, he doesn't mention the ships at all, which is a perplexing omission given

that this man was Soto's secretary and he would have been far more likely to know about the ships than anyone else. I suspect the real reason that Hernando de Soto turned away from the ships was because he continued to believe in the

dream of an Eldorado. He continued to believe in his ultimate success. The thing that I think perplex's most historians is why did Soto's men continue to follow him after the disaster at Mabia. Only one historians suggests that there was any true dissension in the army, and he recounts a story about half baked mutiny led by the Royal treasurer in a story that rings about as true as any

in the narrative that he wrote. The same man was in Peru. He describes Hernando de Soto after Mabia is facing an army quote frightened and disturbed by the incredible ferocity of the battle end quote, with a sizeable number of men now wishing to quote leave the land and go away from it as soon as they could. A few of these grumblers conspired to desert to the to look for whatever ships they could find. However, before they could leave, their

plan was leaked to the governor Desto quote. This man says that Dosto actually disguised himself, which is this is kind of crazy to investigate the allegations personally. So I guess hernandode Soto like shaved really quickly or put on like a fake beard or something and pretended to be, you know, just some common joe walking around. What do you guys think of the captain? No mutiny which probably killed that guy, you know, I just can't imagine that.

That just seems like something out of a really really bad comedy, reduction of this entire investigation. But according to one historian, it absolutely happened. And it turns out that he found out that his men did want to leave, and this man wrote, quote this hurt the governor exceedingly, for he understood from these words that his army was disintegrating and that his men, in finding

a place to go, would all desert him. End quote. So it's kind of interesting that the iron willed de Soto at the very end of his life, because we are getting close to the end of it here wounds up just feeling personally really upset by the things that his men are saying, not that this might imperil the expedition. From a strategic perspective, but he almost seems to believe at this point that the only thing that he has going is

this personal charisma and belief that everything's going to be okay. And when that starts to get rattled for the first time, he starts to maybe wonder about the wisdom of all of this, if only he would have gone to the ships. But by mid November winter was fast approaching. The army finally began to limp along inland in search of food to pillage. They crossed the Alabama River near Selma and continued northwest. Desperate for food, Soto's army now effectively

lurches from village to village like locusts, eating anything and everything available. By early December, the rain and snow had now begun and matters were getting desperate. Soto managed to find another native civilization, this time called the Chicasa, not Chickasaw, Chikasa, with whom the army stayed through the winter as very much uninvited guests. So too remained there until early March when the snows cleared. Once the Spanish were on the move, that Chikasa had their revenge.

However, like Tascaloosa, Chikasa planned a nighttime sneak attack. Their warriors trailed Soto's army until what night. They set the roofs of the houses the Spaniards were staying in on fire. When the Spaniards ran out to the warriors attacked. Fortunately for Sodo that Chikasa were so successful in their initial attack that the horses got loose, and this so spooked the natives that they abruptly broke off their attack. Had they not, Sodo almost certainly would have perished that very

night. As it were, any baggage Tascaloosa had not destroyed was now lost forever. Sodo responded with immediate action. He moved his men three miles away and prepared for another attack. It never came, but the men were now absolutely miserable from lack of food and the bitter cold. After a week, the Chicasa finally attacked again, but Sodo was ready and the attack was easily

repulsed, and so the army kept moving. Finally, on May eighth, fifteen forty one, the army came out of the wilderness and stood atop a low bluff. Below them stretched the mighty Mississippi River. Interestingly, those Europeans who first gazed down upon the river had no idea of its importance. They only marveled at the river's size. I do want to say, by the way, there are a lot of conflicting claims now by different historians as to

who saw the Mississippi River first. In terms of Europeans, for a long time, Hernando de Soto was credited as being the first European to quote unquote discover the Mississippi River. But I do want to point out now those claims have subsequently been hotly disputed. I'm not sure that we have a final conclusion yet. The men who are with Sodo were happier, frankly to see a town down the river, about thirty miles to the south of Memphis, with

ripening fields of corn. The corn they could eat the Mississippi, while pretty they couldn't. For nearly a month, Sodo's half starved army rested under shade trees along the Mississippi. They ate local corn and roasted a huge aquatic beast the Spaniards called a bagrey, but which we now know today is a catfish. Sodo's engineers worked to construct four flat bottom rafts to take the army across the river. The engineers finished the rafts on June the seventeenth and crossed the

river that very night. Soto had now reached the final state in what would be the United States that he would ever see, Arkansas. His goal right now remained the same, find an indigenous community he could leach off of and buy more time for his army to recover. Soto moved north after crossing the river, staying in Pachaca, the home of yet another Native American band. He stayed there for about a month, all the while continuing to reconnoiter the

area looking for gold. Never giving up on his dream. He left there in late July and turned south. His army was now no longer able to move great distances without regular stomping, and this time traveling perhaps fifty miles around twenty one days. It's hard to see what Soto's purpose is at this point,

other than simply to keep moving forward. If you look at a map right now, he's basically zig zagging between the Mississippi River and the Arkansas River, moving from river to river or stream to stream, really with no discernible goal or object. And so it was on September fourteenth, he reached the Arkansas River proper. On September the fourteenth, a Wednesday Whig party came to a quote unquote large river, the Arkansas, which one of the men said

flowed into the Mississippi. By now, the weight of Soto's gathering failure must have been bearing down on him. Indeed, the better realization that he was not going to be successful must have confronted him every time he looked in the starving faces of his men, or watched the unsteady gait of the lean horses, scarred by battle wounds and bites from swarms of insects, and ridiculously armored now and dried hides of buffalo. But the forty one year old kept going.

In mid September, they reached the tilled fields and small villages of the US, most likely arriving at the Arkansas River about thirty miles north of Little Rock. He entered this verdant valley, where the river flows slightly flanked on the north and south by tree clad mountains and hills that fade into the distant, hazy expanse of purple and green. Soto continued to press on down the valley, sending out parties scouting as far west now as Oklahoma, a few

miles from what is Fort Smith, Arkansas. There, the Spaniards found themselves entering a brand new topography, if anything they had seen before, what looked like a sea of grass, where the soil was chalkier, less rich, the land was flat, and there seemed to be so little water that no trees could grow. Obviously, it was a place unsuited for any sort of large scale Indian kingdoms or empires, and nor was there any evidence of any

ocean anywhere nearby. Faced with the reality of dead ends to the west and north, even Soto had to admit that this expedition had finally reached the end of the line, but he was still not ready to give up, having one final card to play. Nearby were the Okawachee Mountains, a steep, rocky range that no doubt reminded Soto of his time in Nicaragua, Hoduras and then also in Peru. In these places, the Spaniards had found traces of

gold and streams and in shallow, narrow veins. Praying that these mountains too contained gold nuggets, he ordered his men on the eighteenth of October to go into the Ochatchee Foothills, where he wandered about For the next five days. They sifted through the silt of creeks and rivers, but every single time the men came up empty. On October twenty third, he reluctantly left the mountains marched quickly back to Arkansas, now not interested in gold, but only finding

a well provisioned town within which to pass the winter. The Army's third in North America, Sodo had now finally made a decision, the decision he should have made a long time ago. He planned to go back to the Mississippi River, establish a base where it met the ocean, and then returned to Cuba to prepare another expedition. Great idea, Too bad it was just about

three years too late. Ironically, at almost the exact same time, the expedition, which had left Mexico under Francisco de Coronado, was in Central Kansas and itself on the verge of giving up. Hence, the two failed quests for gold were only seven hundred miles apart, even though there's no evidence either knew of the presence of the other. Near Redfield, Arkansas, about twenty miles south of Little Rock, Sodo and his men spent another terrible winter.

During this winter, Sodo lost his translator, who died of illness. If you looked around at the faces of his men at this point, I'm sure one thing would be clear. No one expected to get out alive, not anymore. On March sixth, fifteen forty two, the snows ended and Sodo began the march towards the Mississippi. He was now desperate to get back to the Gulf of Mexico, find his ships, and make it back to Spain. Sadly, he had no idea how far he truly was from the gulf.

By mid April, he reached present day Arkansas City, which he thought was close to the gulf, but which is in reality one hundred and seventy five miles north of the Gulf of Mexico. The locals told Sodo such, but by now he was far too delusional to believe them. By late April, Sodo was racked by fever. By mid May, it was clear he was going to die. In mid May fifteen forty two, Soto's fever was racking his forty two year old frame, turning him gaunt and pale. What

he felt as he slipped farther into delusions of fever we don't know. Gathering his close friends together, he told them quote, he was about to give them an accounting before the throne of God of all his past life end quote, though the witness tells us he didn't seem particularly concerned about this. Indeed, he was dying the way he had lived, worshiping his warrior God, and undoubtedly feeling as though he had served Spain and the God, well,

of course, was Spanish. He thanked his remaining soldiers for remaining loyal despite all their hardships. He asked them to forgive any offense they might have received from them. His men, in turn, begged him to choose a successor. Sodo named his old comrade from Peru, Luis do Mosoko, probably because he knew his old friend was a savvy leader and anxious to get out slowly and quietly. Hernando de Soto receded deeper into fever. Then, on May

the twenty first, fifteen forty two, he died. Luis de Mosoko and a small band of Sodo's friends disinterred him and carried his body to one of the army's dugouts at the river's edge, they loaded the already rotting corpse of the Governor of La Florida into a large hollow log and carried it out to

the middle of the river. There, in really what was an almost impossibly poetic finale to this guy's life, his friends heaved the log containing his body into the swirling, writhing rivers of the Mississippi, where it quickly sank beneath the surface, plunging him to the depths of the river. Hernando de Soto

supposedly discovered. It took more than a year for Luis de Mosoko to lead the remnant of Sodo army out of left Florida and to return three hundred and eleven of them safely to Mexico. He tried to march overland one thousand miles across Arkansas in Texas, but turned back near modern day Dallas, where the country was too dry and sparsely populated to feed and maintain his army. In September fourteen ninety two, they arrived back at the Mississippi, where Soto had

died. Here they spent another winter in a nearby city before building boats to float down the Mississippi. Harassed by floods and fierce attack by Native Americans, Mosoko and his exhausted troop finally made it to the Gulf. They then sailed to Mexico, astonishing the neighbors of a town called Panuco by arriving on September tenth, fifteen forty three, after having been long ago e'ven up for dead. Hernando de Soto, in a lot of ways, closes the book on

the age of the Conquistador. There will be other small expeditions, but his is really the last Spanish throw of the dice in an effort to find another indigenous empire, another city of gold somewhere in the Americas. By the middle of the sixteenth century, enough of the Americas have been explored that Europeans have finally, perhaps quietly, perhaps reticently, accepted the fact that they're just simply who were no more kingdoms of Mexica. There were no more kingdoms of Inca

worth conquering. From the middle to the late sixteenth century. On the attitude towards the New World is going to shift as we see less conquistador and more intrepid settlers who are trying to use the land to produce luxury cash crops like tobacco and especially sugarcane that they can sell, realizing that the gold itself was tapped out. I also think Hernando de Soto is a cautionary tale from the

age. I don't fault him at first for what he was doing, although to us, of course, conquistadors are horrifyingly brutal in their attitudes towards the first nations of the Americas. But that being said, you have to remember her Non Cortez had discovered a wealthy indigenous empire. Francisco Pizzato, whom Hernando

de Soto worked with, also discovered one. There's no indication whatsoever, given the size of the Americas that they should have been tapped out of wealthy kingdom that Spaniards like DeSoto could have simply leeched off of which is what his goal ultimately was. DeSoto just didn't realize that there were no more empires at the end of the day. He didn't understand that the way that Europeans needed to approach the Americas had to change time and time again. Even his own men

fault him for not building a settlement. He had tons of opportunities, and the history of the Americas, especially if we think about Georgia and the Carolinas, might have been very different. If there's a thriving Spanish colony by the seventeenth century around what is Charleston, that may very well check British advances in the region. Of course, there's no way of knowing, but it's an interesting historical what if Regardless, DeSoto was working on the old model, which

was fine, conquer take. Problem was there was no one to conquer, There was nothing to take. He just didn't know that yet. All right, Well, today's episode was a lot of content, but if you still need more, check out the website at Western Sip podcast dot com. Also, you can now do a free seven day trial of my Patreon service. So if you check out the link in the show notes Patreon dot com forward

slash Western sip Podcast. Instead of paying the dollar or two dollars or five dollars a month, whatever you would like, you can give it a try and see if you're like some of the additional content that's there. Again, for twelve dollars a year, you get no ads, and that's super helpful to me too because it helps purchase the books that keep it all going. So if you want to check that out, feel free. There's also still a seven day free trial of Western Cive two point zero. That link is

in the show notes as well. Now, next time we are gear as we are actually for the first time in months, going to move away from the Americas. We're going to go back to Europe. And I want to now spend the next couple of weeks talking about something that's been growing since the Age of Discovery got kicked off, and that is the scientific revolution, the

early scientific revolution. So we're talking about math, astronomy, Copernicus, Galileo, take Obrahey, all of these people who change the way dramatically that humankind sees the world, especially from a European perspective. And don't worry, we're also going to talk about the reaction to that, because for every Galileo, there's an inquisition, and it's important to understand the ying and the yang Fo mite