De Soto and his men in the land of Florida ... With illustrations by G. Gibbs

Front matter

DE SOTO AND HIS MEN IN THE LAND OF FLORIDA The Lady of Cofachiqui. De Soto and His Men in the Land of Florida BY GRACE KING Author of "New Orleans : the Place and the People," "Jean Baptiste le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville," *' Balcony Stories," etc. With Illustrations by George Gibbs New York The Macmillan Company London: Macmillan St Co., Ltd. 1898 All rights reserved Copyright, 1S98, By Th^Atacmilian Company. Norwood Press J. S. Cusbing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. " Deep buried in the ooze of centuries, Wrapped in the mighty river's winding-sheet, That which the world once called De Soto lies So sepulchred, steel-cased from head to feet, — Grim ruins of that puny wonder, Man, Poor fragments of a half-created Thought, Dowered with struggling will for one brief span, Then dashed to pieces by the hand that wrought ; But yet no part of him, no grasp for power, No strenuous aim, no hope, has passed away, No wrongful act but blasts this very hour, — All, all his acts are seeds that sprout to-day : And yet for him — sleep, and thro' all the years The endless drone of waters in deaf ears." •> Preface THE Inca, Garcilaso de la Vega, tells us, in the Introduction to his History of Florida, how he came to write it.

He says that, in frequent and long conversations with a great friend of his, a cavalier who took part in the expedition of Hernando de Soto, he learned of the many great deeds performed in it, both by Indians and Spanish cavaliers ; and as it seemed a shame and a pity that the memory of so much heroism should die out of the world which gave it birth, he induced his friend to recount the story in regular order while he himself should write it down. But, what with long voyages and wars, with incessant activities on the part of both, twenty years passed and they had not carried out their intention ; and as both were then well on in years, the fear was great within them that, one or the other dying, their story would perish. Time and opportunity came, however, at last, and the Inca and his friend set themselves to the task, and accomplished it.

By good fortune, just as he had finished his book, the Inca was enabled to add to his friend's memory the written testimony of two witnesses of the same events. Alonzo de Carmona, an old soldier of De Soto's Preface VIII who after the Florida expedition went to Peru, from pure pleasure in recalling past adventures in his old age and retirement in Spain, wrote them down for circulation in his family and among his friends. The Inca was an old Peruvian acquaintance, so Car mona sent him his manuscript, knowing nothing, however, of the Inca's history of Florida. Shortly afterwards, the Inca learned that in the hands of a printer of Cordova was a collection of narra tives of adventurers in the discovery and conquest of the New World, belonging to the Provincial of Santa Fe, who had been called away from the editing of them by business of his order.

Chapter I Hernando De Soto Hernando De Soto

and his men came within sight of the land of Florida on the twenty-fifth of June, 1539. It was Whit sunday. The faint white streak of land between the calm blue heavens and the quivering, flashing blue waters of the Gulf broke like a new dawn. It seemed the crest of a wave held fast, a wisp from a white cloud overhead, — nothing more ; but to the Spaniards it looked hardly less than the very symbol of the Holy Spirit, whose day it was, hover ing over the bosom of the waters ; a token of divine approbation and promise, the sure warrant of the fulfilment of their hopes and expectations. So, a quarter of a century before, the same vague white line appeared to Juan Ponce de Leon on that radi ant Easter morning when he named the country " La tierra de la Pascua Florida," — the land of the flowery feast; and as he looked towards it, he could hear, sighing over the waters behind him, the soft B I voices of the Indians borne down in their weakness by their oppressions, murmuring, "Over there!

Over there lies Bimini ! The land of the fountain of Eternal Youth! The land where none grow old." "Eternal Youth!" Young warriors catch not at such words ; but the old, weather-beaten adventurer and companion of Columbus heard them and lis tened with his heart ; for the voice of the siren can be heard only in the heart, and she sang to him the song that never fails to lure the heart of the old — the song of joyous youth, of fresh love and fresh hopes. Gold and Silver, Fame and Honour ! What paltry baubles in comparison with Eternal Youth ! Ponce de Leon hastened to secure the conquest of that land, and set sail for it with men and arms. His own efflorescence, his own radiant resurrection, was the festival he had in mind when he named the shore. Alas ! poor old Ponce de Leon had been dead and buried now some fifteen years.

On De Soto's fleet, the cry of the lookout, sig nalled from ship to ship, was answered with glad shouts and cries; trumpets sounded, swords flashed in the sun; the decks darkened with a rushing throng, and the ships, as if they, too, scented con quest, bounded and leaped forward over the rippling surges, their sails thrilling in the wind. These men were pursuing no myth; the magic fountain no longer lured men on, and, besides, these were all young, possessed already the magic fountain of youth ; there was but one white-haired man in the thousand of them. The song they heard was the "Swords flashed in the sun.' song the siren sings to the young ; the song of the future, the fortunate future, the future of fame and wealth, of golden rivers and flashing mines, spoils and prizes, ransom of kings and capture of kings' daughters ; the future that youth gladly squanders youth to obtain.

And the gilded San Cristoval was no more appropriate at the prow of his ship than was Hernando de Soto at the head of such an expedition; the pilot at the wheel could not steer a straighter course across the ocean than he to that land; for had he not been to it, had he not been guided by the lodestar of his hopes into the very haven of it ? An unknown youth of sixteen, the son of an obscure, impecunious hidalgo of Villanueva de Barcarrota, with no possession of his ow*, as the saying went, but his sword, no other recommenda tions than his valour and good qualities, he set out from Spain, one of the thousand of motley adventurers that followed the new governor, Pedrarias d' Avila, to Darien. Twenty years later he returned a conqueror of Peru, and rich with fame and fort une ; the lieutenant general and right hand of Pizarro, captor of Atahualpa and one of the spoilers of the golden city of Cuzco; his name standing only after the two Pizarros in the list of the division of the prizes ; and young still, still in the prime of life and enjoyment, and good looking and unmarried, withal.

Pizarro, even Cortez himself, was held by not a few in Spain to have but a closing vista of life in comparison with the career opening before him. Of medium height, a figure that appeared as well on foot as on horseback, dark complexion, regular features, expressive eyes, noble address, he looked the cavalier and soldier he had proved himself to be ; inexorable of will, inexhaustible of resources, cool and daring in battle, prudent and subtle at the council board. He was by common consent reputed to be the best horseman in the Peruvian army, and always excepting the incomparable Pizarro himself, also the best lancer in it, his lance being ever reckoned equal to any ten of the best. He was in truth the first Spaniard — and his horse, the first of those fateful animals that the unfortunate Inca beheld — if he beheld them.

The story of the celebrated interview came with De Soto to Spain, but its truth was discredited then, as it is now. Sent as envoy to Atahualpa, in Caxa malca, De Soto found the Inca, in all his sacred majesty, seated on a throne, surrounded by attendants, awaiting him. The glittering troop of lancers galloped to the spot and halted. Atahualpa's eyes were fixed upon the ground. The troop passed and repassed before him ; still he did not raise his head, nor would he look at the envoy nor receive his message nor answer him. An attendant looked, listened, and answered for him. Stung by the con temptuous disdain, De Soto spurred his horse and curveted and pranced the animal so close to the throne that the hoofs almost grazed the royal face. The Peruvian attendants fled in terror from the great, strange beast.

Atahualpa then raised his eyes and spoke. He commanded the attendants to be put to death. Seventy of the Peruvian conquerors returned to Spain with De Soto, among them the distinguished cavaliers Luis de Moscoso d' Alvarado, Nufio de Tobar, and Juan de Lobillo. All went together to present themselves at court in Valladolid, — Juan d'Anasco, a rich young cavalier of Seville, and an amateur in adventure and science, accompanying them. They presented themselves in such costly apparel and made so gallant a show, that the his torians of the time pause in their serious narratives to chronicle it, and tell us, with naive simplicity, with what smiles and favour they were received. De Soto was treated with especial distinction and honour ; and when it became known that of his prize money he had loaned the king upwards of a hundred thousand ducats, it became known also that royal favour, the best gift of the blind goddess even in the days of America's conquest, was not to be withholden from him.

Returning to Seville, he took the lodgings and set up the state of a noble man with attendants, a steward, gentlemen-ushers, pages, a gentleman of the horse, a chamberlain. While, of all the cities of Spain, the gay Andalusian capitol would sow in the breast of a youth the surest seeds of desire to turn him from contented provin cialism to roving adventure after gold,, yet would she, more surely than any other city, lure him back home again; for none other could vie with her in the gratifications that a Spaniard coveted wealth to enjoy. Around her fountains, in good sooth, old war riors could forget even to wish for the fountain of youth. There, society counted but one season, the carnival, which had lasted ever since the days of Columbus, with such a glittering flow of adventurers streaming through it to and from the New World as gilded it beyond the semblance of reality, as the streams of Castilla de Oro were said to gild their beds.

When De Soto came to Seville, the brilliant queen and leader of this society was Dona Isabella de Bobadilla, the widow of Pedrarias, his first chief and patron. She had sailed in that same expedi tion to Darien with her husband, to accompany him, doughtily leaving behind her eight children in Spain, and showing, it is chronicled, no less stout a heart on the tempestuous voyage than the mari ners who had passed their lives upon the deep. And no less stoutly did she stand the bloody tem pests of her husband's terrible reign in Darien (Furor Domini, he was called for it). And it is not to be forgotten that, in one of her efforts to mitigate it by reconciling the vindictive Pedrarias with Vasco Nunes de Balboa, she betrothed her eldest daughter to the glorious young discoverer of the Pacific. But she could not prevent the bloody execution of Acla. . . .

Dona Isabella, in fact, not only touched the Spanish conquest with her own hands, as it were, but, reaching back a little, she could touch the discovery of America and the great discoverer through her aunt, the charming Beatrice de Bobadilla, Marchioness of Moya, the favourite and intimate friend of Queen Isabella, but better known now as the ardent admirer of Columbus, and his friend at court when he most needed a friend. Dona Isabella's court in Seville was made up of charming women like herself and a train of cavaliers recruited from the fine flower of the Spanish chiv alry and adventurers of the day. De Soto found in it the same welcome and the same favour and dis tinction as in the less charming imperial palace at Valladolid. His marriage to Doha Isabella's daughter, the young Doha Isabella de Bobadilla, follows in logical and romantic sequence.

And now it would seem that De Soto's star had reached its zenith. With fame, fortune, and a noble wife, what higher was there to guide him to ? He had but to buy land, found a great estate and family, and sit down content with his happiness. But it seems ordained that ambition may aspire to every success but content, and fortune purchase every gift except independence of fortune. De Soto had already sought and obtained from the king the conquest of Florida, offering to achieve it at his own expense. A curt old chronicler who took part in the Florida expedition, speaking for himself doubtless, says it all came about simply through Cabeza de Vaca and his talk. Cabeza de Vaca had made his appearance at Val ladolid,too, after his adventures in America. There was no splendour of fame and wealth about him ; nothing of the conqueror; his return to his native land was in striking contrast to De Soto's. He, too, guided by the lodestar of his hopes, had gone to the New World in quest of his future.

He had found his future but not his fortune ; the expedition had been a fool's errand, and he had come back broken in health and in wealth. Massacre, ship wreck, starvation, captivity, and hopeless wanderings through vast unknown savage territories, this was the tale he brought back to Spain. Pamphilo de Narvaez had been his leader, Florida his El Dorado. Ten years afterwards he and three companions made their appearance on the frontiers of Mexico, the sole survivors of the six hundred men who had landed on the coast of Florida. Nevertheless it was observed at court that in his relation of his adventures, Cabeza de Vaca every now and then would arrest his words suddenly, as if on guard against revealing secrets, — or would add such phrases as " The rest which I saw I leave for conference between His Majesty and myself."

To kinsmen who urged him to be more explicit he would say that an oath bound him from revealing what he saw, but that Florida was the richest country in the world ; and he gave out that he was deter mined to beg the conquest of the country from the emperor. The device is a well-known one, but as long as the world is peopled, its success may be relied upon. Hernando de Soto unhesitatingly threw his fort une into equipping this expedition. Luis de Mos coso, Juan de Lobillo, and Nuho de Tobar eagerly backed him with their prize money and their ser vices. The king, who himself, from Cabeza de Vaca's delusive manner, believed that Florida was another Mexico or Peru, thought De Soto another Cortez or Pizarro, and accorded him all the rights and privileges and titles necessary or useful to the Conquest.

He named him governor and captain general of Florida, with the title of Adelantado for life, and the office of lord high sheriff in continuity to his family; he gave him a grant of two hundred leagues of land along the coast, and twelve leagues square in the interior, of his own choosing, with the right of importing negro slaves into it, and allowed him one-seventh of the ransom and the spoil of all the goods of any cacique, or chief captured. He made him also governor of Cuba, and as a last compliment, knight in the military order of St. Iago. De Soto chose his old companion in arms, Luis de Moscoso d' Alvarado, for master of camp, Nuho de Tobar for lieutenant general ; Juan d'Ahasco, the rich Sevillian, who also put money into the un dertaking, was appointed royal treasurer. And now the news was spread through Spain with great trum petings of the grants, privileges, titles, and prospects.

Nothing else was talked about in city, town, and hamlet but how Hernando de Soto and other conquerors of Peru, not content with their hundreds of thousands of ducats of spoils, were going to spend all in an armament for a new conquest; and while everybody wondered and marvelled, each one con fidently held that this second conquest must indubitably be far richer and greater than the first. From all parts of Spain, volunteers flocked to get a place in it, — cavaliers, soldiers, peasants, labourers, artisans; nephews of cardinals and ministers; young relatives of De Soto, of Luis de Moscoso, and even of Cabeza de Vaca. Those who had money brought it with them ; others sold or mortgaged estates to purchase an interest in the investment. Peasants parted from vineyards and farms, artisans from trades, to equip themselves with a horse and a lance.

Who could doubt of the venture when gold and silver were coming in by the ship-load from the New World? And they all were willing, say the chroniclers, to leave home, parents, family, and friends, to part with rents and estates, sell vine yards, farms, and trades, and venture life on the expectation that Florida would prove richer than Mexico and Peru. The excitement spreading over to Portugal, the cavalier, Andreas de Vasconselas, with a troop of three hundred Portuguese cavaliers, all finely mounted and equipped, enlisted ; and they were the prettiest company in the expedition ; the most soldierly. All the returned soldiers from Peru, al ready trained and whetted for conquest and plunder, eagerly volunteered. There was no lack of choice ; more came than could be taken, and when De Soto embarked at San Lucar de Barrameda, a crowd of disappointed adventurers was left on the quay, among heaps of luggage of all kinds, for there was an oversupply of provisions also.

Money had been spent so lavishly that more was brought than the seven large ships and three caravels could take. In San Lucar it was said that a finer expedition had never left that part for the New World, and San Lucar knew ; for since the time of Columbus the water-gate of Seville had been the passageway to the New World, and the memory of a middle-aged mariner could easily hold all the expeditions that had sailed from it. The fleet set sail on the sixth of April, 1538, and crossed the bar, trumpets sounding. Dona Isabella, the true daughter of her mother, accompanied her husband. The fleet made the usual stop for water and pro visions at the Canary Islands. The governor of Gomara, a cousin of Doha Isabella's, entertained her rq-yally. Living with him was a daughter, the Dona Leonora de Bobadilla, a young girl of six teen, and so extremely beautiful that Dona Isabella begged her of her father as companion, and sailed away with her, — she and De Soto promising for her a good marriage and establishment in Cuba or in, Florida.

Meeting a calm, but no tempest, the expedition made the harbour of Santiago de Cuba in due order, and due pleasure, we may well say, for here were assembled all the notables of the island to greet and welcome the new governor and his bride. The welcome lasted for three months, with banquets, balls, masquerades, bull-fights, and games, with prizes of gold and silver for the gal lants, as if celebrating in anticipation the triumphs of conquest. A very harvest of pleasure and triumph it was to the Spanish cavaliers and a triumph of conquest too. But, above all others, shone the young lieutenant general, the handsome, dashing Nuno de Tobar, mounted on his splendid dapple grey charger. He carried off all prizes, and all hearts, and chief prize of all, the heart of the beautiful young Dona Leonora.

When Doha Isabella and her husband discovered the romance, it had already sped to a secret union. The young cavalier hastened to make the reparation of a public celebra tion of his nuptials ; but De Soto's displeasure was implacable, and resenting the insult to his family pride and dignity, he dispossessed Nuho de Tobar of his title and office, and, in truth, would never forgive him, nor restore him to favour. The fleet moved round the island to Havana, and the summer and winter were passed in Cuba, while still further provisions and preparations were made for the success of the Conquest. Two more vessels were bought and loaded, reinforcements of Cubans were added to the army, and horses of the fine breed that this island was then producing for the trade of conquest. By spring all was ready for accomplishment, even to favourable winds.

Installing Doha Isabella as governor of Cuba during his absence, De Soto bade her farewell, and, embarking in his flag-ship, the San Cristoval, sailed out of her sight into the Gulf, toward the Land of Conquest.

Chapter II The Beginning Of Conquest The

fleet cruised along the wavering coastline until the bay marked on the chart as the Bay of Juan Ponce was discovered rounding inland. De Soto changed the name to Espiritu Santo, in honour of the day, and by sunset he had furled sail and dropped anchor across its mouth. Barges were sent out in the morning to search for a channel and landing-place. They returned in the evening loaded with greens of all kinds for the horses. The vines heavy with grapes gave great joy, for neither in Mexico nor in Peru had grapes been found. The week passed in explora tion, and it was not until the next Sunday, Trinity Sunday, that formal possession was taken of the land ; and the Spanish banner and royal arms were raised and fixed in the beach, and the Conquest officially begun in the name of the Church and the King.

The rest was a mere question of human powers. The three hundred soldiers sent ashore for the ceremony scattered over the beach, carelessly and easefully, enjoying their first taste of ownership of so beautiful a land. As far as eye could see, the dark, serried forest ran to the right and left, God's fence, as they might call it, about their vast property of inland kingdoms, cities, treasure. In front stretched the sparkling Gulf, blue as another heaven. The fluttering of the flag of his Catholic Majesty, the soaring of a bird overhead, the glint of a fish through the water — naught else to fleck the measureless Sabbath calm ; nor had there been aught else during the past week, save a few faint spirals of smoke rising here and there in the hori zon — camp-fires, perhaps signals. At nightfall, after their supper, the soldiers stretched themselves upon the ground around the royal standard for their first sleep upon the bosom of their conquest.

It was rudely enough broken. Just before the grey hour of dawn there burst from the silent black forest a tumult that might have come from hell ; cries and yells, leaping naked forms, and arrows darting like a tornado of serpents through the air, and slashing into the flesh like knives. Over whelmed and confused, the untrained conquerors could only run in helpless terror down the beach and out into the water, whence their trumpets sent clamorous calls over to the ships for help. It came promptly ; horse and foot put out in barges, and before the savages could finish their victory, they were driven back into the forest, and Spain put again in possession of the beach. The army was at once disembarked and camped around the standard, but the Indians made no The Beginning of Conquest 15 further demonstration.

After a few days of rest it marched to a deserted Indian village discovered on the shore about ten miles distant, where De Soto decided to quarter himself for the present. The village, a small one, consisting only of one row of low wooden cabins, thatched with palmetto, stood about an open space, the cabin of the chief on a mound at one end; opposite, on another mound, the temple bearing its wooden effigy of a fowl. The Adelantado with his staff took the cabin of the chief, the officers the rest of the cabins ; the soldiers, tearing down the temple and gathering brush, made rude shelters for themselves. The ground was cleared of trees and underbrush for a crossbow-shot around the village, sentinels were posted, and horsemen ordered on regular rounds, and the little savage hamlet was changed into a trim military Spanish outpost.

The vessels, coming in gradually with the tide, were unloaded and the provisions stored ; details were sent out every day to capture natives for guides and to learn some thing of the country. A few stragglers were caught in the forest, but without interpreters they were almost useless. De Soto managed to understand from them, however, that the village he was in belonged to a chief named Hirrihigua, who, warned of the approach of the Spaniards, had taken refuge with all his people in the forest. These captives were always set at liberty with presents for Hirri higua and messages asking for friendship. But the savage chief would none of them — neither presents nor messages. On the contrary, he would rail at his people for bringing him fair words and promises from Christians, telling them to fetch him no presents, but to bring him their heads — these he would receive ; but until then he wished to hear neither their words nor their names.

So much, only, could De Soto at first learn : that Hirrihigua knew the Spaniards and hated them. At length, however, by patience and painstaking he gathered from the Indians the explanation, — an incident of Pamphilo de Narvaez's expedition, which, with all his talking, Cabeza de Vaca had omitted. When Narvaez landed on this coast, in this bay, Hirrihigua received him and treated him as a friend; but the Spaniard acted as the Spaniards (may God forgive them for it, say the pious chroni clers) too often did, repaying kindness and confi dence with treachery and cruelty. He seized Hir rihigua and mutilated him vilely by cutting off his nose. But this was not the worst : the chief's old mother he had thrown to the dogs, and she was devoured before the eyes of her son. This could not be forgotten ; it had haunted the memory of Hirrihigua ever since, driving him at times into the wild frenzy of one possessed by the evil one.

One, and only one, morsel of revenge in his long famished craving for it he had enjoyed. A Chris tian ship sailed one day into the bay. Divin ing at once that it came in search of tidings of Narvaez, who had marched into the forests and had nevermore been seen or heard of thereabouts, The Beginning of Conquest 17 Hirrihigua sent messages to it, indicating by signs that Narvaez had left papers there to be given to Christians who would come for them. In proof, bits of paper and old letters found in the Spanish camp were tied to sticks and held up from the beach, but Hirrihigua refused to give them up unless the Spaniards came in person for them ; the Spaniards, on their guard, were afraid to trust them selves ashore. Hirrihigua then sent four of his warriors to remain on the ship as hostages, where upon four Spaniards agreed to go ashore, paddling away in the canoe that had brought the warriors.

But the canoe had barely touched the sand, when the four warriors sprang with a great leap from the ships into the water and swam away like fish. The four Spaniards were dragged off in triumph into the forest. Hirrihigua tortured and killed three of them ; the fourth escaped to a neighbouring chief. When bit by bit the story pieced itself together in the camp and grew into a clear meaning to the soldiers, that a Spaniard was even then living in captivity among Indians, neighbouring to Hirri higua and to the village, there was, there could be, but .one thought among all, officers and men — to advance no further step in the conquest until he was delivered. The Adelantado at once sent out two detachments of horse and crossbowmen, one under Juan de Lobillo, the other under Balthazar de Gallegos, with orders to go in different directions and search a week for the village in question.

Juan de Lobillo had a vexatious time of it ; his route c lay through bogs and swamps, where the horses could not travel, but where the Indians were at their best. As one of the soldiers described them : " Warlike and nimble as they are, they care not a whit for any footman. When we charge, they run away ; and as soon as we turn our backs, they are upon us again. They never keep still, but are always running about, so that no crossbow nor arquebuse can be aimed at them, and before a man of us can make one shot, they make six." Juan de Lobillo returned at the end of his time, bringing six men wounded, one mortally, with nothing gained but four frightened Indian women captives. Balthazar de Gallegos followed his guide down a smooth open road ; but after a time the Indian seemed to grow uneasy in his mind and uncertain in his conduct.