Four hunded sixty-seven years ago, during the hot summer of 1539, Hernando De Soto began his exploration of Spanish Florida, an expedition which would take him and his troops on a four-year journey through what is now the southeastern United States and across the Mississippi River into today's Arkansas, Texas, and into Mexico. Perhaps no one man affected the native population of North America as much as did Hernando De Soto, the ultimate Spanish conquistador.

DeSoto was born at the end of the fifteenth century to a noble family in the area of Spain known as the Extremadura which was also the birthplace of Cortés, Pizarro, and Balboa. Christopher Columbus had just completed his voyages of discovery. There was a New World to explore and prestige and perhaps wealth for anyone willing to take the risk. At the age of fourteen DeSoto sought his fortune in the New World by sailing with Pedrarias Dávila to explore the coast and interior of Central America.

Later DeSoto joined his hero Balboa in the conquest of Nicaragua and then served there as military commander. Vicious dogs, fast horses, and extortion became his hallmark in dealing with the native peoples. He was known as "Child of the Sun" for conducting dawn raids on unsuspecting villages, usually capturing the village chief and holding him for ransom. Later, he signed on with Pizarro in Peru and amassed a fortune in Inca gold from his practice of capture and ransom.

In glory and wealth, DeSoto returned to Spain, and he petitioned the King for lands and titles. About this time, Cabeza de Vaca, a survivor of the ill-fated Narváez expedition to settle La Florida, had returned to Spain and was stirring the population with astonishing stories of great wealth in North America. The titles King Charles V granted DeSoto were governor of Cuba and adelantado (military governor) of La Florida, which extended from the Atlantic as far north as the Carolinas and around the Gulf of Mexico to the Rio de las Palmas.

His task was to explore this land, found colonies, build three fortified harbors, pacify the Indians and provide priests to convert them. He was to bear the entire cost of the expedition himself while the king was to have one-fifth of all the spoils of battle, one-fifth of all proceeds from mining, and one-tenth of all booty taken from graves. Perhaps this upstart could succeed and find gold where Narváez and Ponce de Leon had failed.

It was easy to find volunteers--adventurers eager to join the expedition, and after a safe journey across the Atlantic Ocean, they arrived in Cuba in June 1538 to pick up additional provisions. DeSoto had learned from Narváez's mistakes. He would be better prepared. Close to 700 men, perhaps a hundred camp followers, including a few women, many slaves, eight priests, 240 horses, many dogs, 5000 bushels of corn, quantities of bacon, hard ship's biscuits, and a herd of rangy hogs were loaded uncomfortably aboard nine ships.

In May 1539 they arrived at what is now known as Tampa Bay on the west coast of Florida. They soon discovered that this land was filled with swamps, bogs, mangroves, and tall Indians who must have met Spanish before for they shot arrows at the Spanish scouts. They also found and freed Juan Ortiz, a survivor of the Narváez expedition who had been captured by the Timucuan Indians and held as a slave. He would prove invaluable as an interpreter.

DeSoto left some of the men, three small ships, food and seed there at Tampa Bay to try to establish a colony. He sent the rest of the ships back to Cuba for more provisions and recruits, and the main expedition began its long search into the interior of La Florida. Conditions were harsh and wet, and the men grew tired and frustrated as they herded the cattle and pigs through the mud day after day.

Yet, DeSoto urged them on in search of gold with the forced help of Indian guides. De Soto captured the daughter of a cacique, or chief. The father was told he would get her back after he guided the Spaniards into the territory of the next tribe. His people followed, though, to make sure their chief was safe. They planned an attack, but due to Ortiz knowledge of the language, DeSoto was made aware of the plan. He and his men slaughtered and captured many of the Indians. The men were linked with chains and iron collars and forced to serve as porters for the army. Women served as slaves to grind corn and cook and serve as sexual partners for the soldiers. Indians who rebelled were severely punished or killed.

As DeSoto pressed north, this system was repeated over and over. The cacique was captured, and his people were forced to work until the expedition had made it through that chief's territory. Then the survivors were released, and another Indian village was captured.

They wintered that first year in a large Apalachee village near present-day Tallahassee. DeSoto heard about a rich country to the northeast, and in March, the army resumed its search, heading north through today's Georgia and into South Carolina. There they found the village of Cofitachequi ruled by a female cacique who met them bedecked in furs, feathers, and freshwater pearls and with friendly words of welcome. She gave the pearls to DeSoto. They were discolored and of poor quality, but they were the closest things to treasure they had found so far. As with other villages, however, even this cacique was captured and her people forced to work and guide the Spanish farther north and west over the mountains. Finally, she managed to escape near the Pigeon River in eastern Tennessee.

DeSoto's army continued on, now turning back south, planning to meet Spanish reinforcements at the Gulf of Mexico. But by now, word of the Spanish terror was spreading before them. They found the Indians no longer so friendly, no longer so easy to overwhelm. And something else was spreading as well--disease. The natives had no resistance to European diseases. Even measles could decimate a tribe, and even villages far from the Spaniards' route fell victim, as visiting Indians unknowing spread the diseases.

In mid-Alabama the Spanish were ambushed. They lost several men, valuable horses, and most of the army's spare clothing, weapons, and food as well as the cask of pearls from Cofitachequi. Ortiz brought word to DeSoto that Spanish ships were in a large bay not far to the south (Mobile). But DeSoto did not tell his men. He knew they would desert, and his pride could not tolerate that. Go home empty-handed and beaten? Never! They would continue on.

And so they did, wintering that year with the Chickasaw Indians in Mississippi who up rose against them in the spring. Again the Spanish lost men and horses. But again DeSoto pressed them on--on to the Mississippi River. They were amazed at its size and built barges to get across. They spent that summer exploring much of Arkansas and spent the winter there as well.

During the long winter nights, DeSoto reflected on his expedition. He had lost half his force. Some had even deserted to live with the Indians. Only 40 horses remained, most of them lame for want of shoes. His interpreter Juan Ortiz had died that winter, and still they had found no gold or riches. It was time to face the facts and head for home.

The DeSoto Expedition wound for over two thousand miles and four years through the South-east. That spring they returned to the Mississippi River. However, by the time they reached it, DeSoto was ill with fever, perhaps malaria. On May 21, 1542 he died. To keep the Indians from finding and despoiling his body, his men dumped it weighted into the river.

At first the remaining men tried to reach New Spain (Mexico) by traveling back through Arkansas and into Texas by foot. But food was scarce. They turned back to the Mississippi and spent the fourth winter there. That spring they began to build a fleet of makeshift boats, making rope from bark and sails from shawls stolen from the Indians. They launched their fleet in July after killing and eating the remaining horses. They had to fight their way down the river against the angry Indians. Finally, they reached the Gulf, turned west, and on September 10, 1543, the 311 survivors reached the Rio Pánuco in New Spain and kissed the ground in joy. The expedition was finished.

While DeSoto's goal of riches was a failure, the goal of exploration was not. They had traveled thousands of miles and now Europeans had a better idea of North America, its mountains, rivers, and people. In fact, the native peoples were the most important part of the expedition. Without native help, it is unlikely the expedition could have progressed much beyond the Florida peninsula. The expedition had traveled on Indian trails and in Indian canoes, eating food grown, caught, and prepared by Indians, and spending their winters in warm Indian houses.

For the natives of the southeast, however, the expedition was tragic. The slavery and battles weakened chiefdoms, and Old World diseases ravaged populations. By the time the English and French began their invasions in the 17th century, the complex, culturally rich mound-building societies of the region had vanished. They were replaced by the poorer historic tribes whose diminished numbers were no match for the westward-expanding Americans to come.

Sources:
Lavender, David. DeSoto, Coronado, Cabrillo Explorers of the Northern Mystery. pp. 37-51. Washington, D.C: Division of Publications, National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, 1992.

"Soto, Hernando de" Enclyclopaedia Britannica, 1977, Vol 17 pp 18-19.

Sheppard, Donald E. "Spanish Exploration and Conquest of Native America" www.vaca.com/inset44.htm. Native American Conquest Corp, 2000.