The conquest of Florida, Hernando de Soto by Theodore

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Dedication

TO WASHINGTON IBVING-, Esq.

My Dear Uncle :

I know of no person to whom I can with more propriety dedicate the following pages than to yourself, since they were written at your suggestion, and the materials of which they are composed were moulded into their present form and feature under your affectionate and judicious advice.

Preface

While studying the Spanish language, some few years since, at Madrid, an old chronicle was placed in my hands, relating to the early discoveries and achievements of the Spaniards in America. It was denominated " The Florida of the Inca, or the History of the Adelantado, Hernando de Soto, Governor and Captain-General of the Kingdom of Florida, and of other heroic cavaliers, Spaniards and Indians : written by the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega." As I read, I became insensibly engrossed by the extraordinary enterprise therein narrated : I dwelt with intense interest upon the harebrained adventures and daring exploits of steel-clad warriors, and the no less valiant and chivalrous deeds of savage chieftains, which entitle this narrative to the high praise bestowed upon it by Mr. Southey, of being one of the most delightful works in the Spanish language.

While thus employed, I had the good fortune to meet with a narrative on the same subject, written by a Portuguese soldier, who was present in the expedition. This led to further research and closer examination ; and, finding that the striking events and perilous adventures in the chronicles of the Inca were borne viii PREFACE.

out, in the main, by this narrative from another hand, and that various lights had been thrown by modern travellers upon the line of march said to have been taken by the adventurous band of De Soto, I was convinced, that what I had before regarded almost as a work of fiction, was an authentic, though, perhaps^ occasionally exaggerated history.

Deeming, therefore, that a full account of an expedition which throws such an air of romance over the early history of a portion of our country, would possess interest in the eyes of my countrymen, I resolved, to the best of my abilities, to digest a work from the materials before me.

The two main sources from which I have derived my facts, are the narratives already mentioned, by the Inca G-arcilaso de la Vega, and by the anonymous Portuguese adventurer. The former I have consulted in a folio edition, printed in Madrid, in 1723, and in the history of the Indias, by Herrera, in which it is incorporated almost at full length. The Portuguese narrative I have found in an English translation, published in London, in 1686, and in an abridgment in Purchas's Pilgrims.

It has been the fashion, in later days, to distrust the narrative of the Inca, and to put more faith in that of the Portuguese. This has occasionally been done without due examination into their respective claims to credibility. Grarcilaso de la Yega was a man of rank and honor. He was descended from an ancient Spanish stock by the father's side, while by the mother's, he was of the lofty Peruvian line of the Incas. His narrative was originally taken down by himself, from the lips of a friend ; a cavalier of worth and respectability, who had been an officer under De Soto, and for whose probity we have the word of the Inca as a guarantee. It was authenticated and enriched by the writ-

PREFACE. is ten journals or memorandums of two other soldiers, who had served in the expedition. He had the testimony, therefore, of three eye-witnesses.

The Portuguese narrative, on the other hand, is the evidence of merely a single eye-witness, who gives himself out as a cavalier, or gentleman ; but for this we have merely his own word, and he is anonymous. There is nothing intrinsic in his work that should entitle it to the exclusive belief that has been claimed for it. It agrees with the narrative of the Inca, as to the leading facts which form the framework of the story : it differs from it occasionally, as to the plans and views of Hernando de Soto ; but here the Inca is most to be depended upon — the Spanish cavalier from whom he derived his principal information being more likely to be admitted to the intimate councils of his commander than one of a different nation, and being free from the tinge of national jealousy which may have influenced the statements of the Portuguese.

The narrative of the Portuguese is more meagre and concise than that of G-arcilaso ; omitting a thousand interesting anecdotes and personal adventures ; but this does not increase its credibility. A multitude of facts, gathered and gleaned from three different persons, may easily have escaped the knowledge, or failed to excite the attention of a solitary individual. These anecdotes are not the less credible because they were striking and extraordinary ; the whole expedition was daring and extravagant, and those concerned in it men who delighted in adventure and exploit.*

I have been induced, therefore, in the following pages, to

* The reader will find a note concerning Garcilaso de la Vega and his work, in the Appendix.

PREFACE.

draw my facts more freely and copiously than others, in later days, have seemed inclined to do, from the work of the Inca ; still I have scrupulously and diligently collated the two narratives, endeavoring to reconcile them where they disagreed, and to ascertain, with strict impartiality, which was most likely to he correct, where they materially varied, and to throw upon the whole subject the scattered lights furnished "by various modern investigators. While I have discarded many incidents which appeared hyperbolical, or which savored too strongly of the gossip of idle soldiery, I have retained, as much as possible, those every-day and familiar anecdotes which give so lively a picture of the characters, habits, persons and manners of the Spanish discoverers of those days, and to my mind bear so strongly the impress of truth and nature. My great object has been to present a clear, connected, and characteristic narrative of this singular expedition : how far I have succeeded, it is for the public to judge.

Preface To The Revised Edition

Since publishing the last edition of the Conquest of Florida, much valuable light has been thrown upon the expedition by the investigation of several literary gentlemen residing in our Southern States, and I have been gratified to find, that their statements corroborate, in the main, the account I have given of De Soto's expedition.

I am indebted to Gr. R. Fairbanks, Esq., of St. Augustine, for the results of a very careful personal examination of the route of the Spaniards until they reached Apalachee Bay, and have been much aided, by a diagram with which he very kindly furnished me, in tracing the line of march through East Florida.

Buckingham Smith, Esq., very politely forwarded me from

Washington, the most recent maps of East Florida, and gave me

some useful hints with reference to the route of De Soto.

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PREFACE.

A valuable article, entitled u Sketches of the History of Alabama," by Alexander Meek, Esq., published in the " Southron Monthly Magazine and Review," Jan., 1839, confirms the general accuracy of my work in regard to localities.

Col. Albert J. Pickett, a young author of reputation, at the South, has issued in pamphlet form the first chapter of a History of Alabama he is preparing for the press, and which promises to be a valuable addition to the historical literature of our country.* This chapter is taken up with the Expedition of De Soto, and has been written, as he says, " while armed at all points with the best traditions and authorities." As I have differed from some writers on certain points, it is gratifying to meet the following remark in Mr. Pickett's preface. " Theodore Irving, in his Conquest of Florida, has in a great measure been accurate and faithful in describing the route of De Soto, and the incidents attending it."

A third account of this expedition, written by Biedma^ Be Soto's commissary, was placed in my hands by Joseph Gr. Gogswell, Esq., the accomplished and courteous librarian of the Astor Library. It is a confused statement of an illiterate soldier, who. although an eye-witness of what he relates, had not the gift of describing lucidly what he saw, but, so far as his narrative throws any light on the subject, the accuracy of History, as here given, is confirmed.

* " The History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi," by Albert James Pickett, of Montgomery, Ala., 2 vols.

PREFACE. xiii

The growing interest manifested in our country for everything that tends to clear up the misty annals of our early history, has induced me to prepare a revised edition of my work for the press ; and if it only serves this purpose, I shall be fully rewarded for my labors.

Since the publication of the first edition of this work, the war with the native tribes of Florida has occurred ; in which the United States troops have sustained many of the difficulties, hardships and perils sustained by the Spaniards in their adventurous expedition. The same proud and unyielding spirit was exhibited by the native chiefs, which actuated their ancestors, and called forth the admiration of the Spanish historians. Indeed, the recent Indian campaigns in Florida cast back much illustration and interest on the romantic enterprise of De Soto.

Contents

CHAPTERS PAGE

I. First discovery of Florida, . . . . 23

II. The expedition of Painphilo de ISTarvaez, . . .28

Chapter I. First Discovery Of Florida

Never was the spirit of wild adventure more universally diffused than at the dawn of the sixteenth century. The wondrous discoveries of Columbus and his hardy companions and followers, the descriptions of the beautiful summer isles of the west, and the tales of unexplored regions of wealth locked up in unbounded wildernesses, had an effect upon the imaginations of the young and the adventurous, not unlike the preaching of the chivalric crusades for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. The gallant knight, the servile retainer, the soldier of fortune, the hooded friar, the painstaking mechanic, the toilful husbandman, the loose profligate, and the hardy mariner, all were touched with the pervading passion, all left home, country, friends, wives, children, loves, to seek some imaginary Eldorado, confidently expecting to return with countless treasure.

Of ail the enterprises undertaken in this spirit of daring adventure, none has surpassed for hardihood and variety of incident that of the renowned Hernando de Soto and his band of cavaliers. It was poetry put in action ; it was the knight-errantry of the old world carried into the depths of the American wilderness ; indeed, the personal adventures, the feats of individual prowess, the picturesque descriptions of steel-clad cavaliers, with lance and helm and prancing steed, glittering through the wildernesses of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and the prairies of the Far West, would seem to us mere fictions of romance, did they not come to us recorded in matter of fact narratives of contemporaries, and corroborated by minute and daily memoranda of eye-witnesses.

Before we enter, however, upon the stirring and eventful story of the fortunes of De Soto and his followers, it is proper to notice briefly the discovery of the land which was the scene of his adventures, and the various expeditions to it which stimulated him to his great enterprise.

Those who are conversant with the history of the Spanish discoveries will remember the chimerical cruise of the brave old governor of Porto Rico, Ponce de Leon, in search of the Fountain of Youth. This fabled fountain, according to Indian tradition, existed in one of the Bahama Islands. Ponce de Leon sought after it in vain, but in the course of his cruisings discovered a country of vast and unknown extent, to which, from the abundance of flowers, and from its being first seen on Palm Sunday (Pascua Florida), he gave the name of Florida.

Obtaining permission from the Spanish government to subjugate and govern this country, he made a second voyage to its shores, but was mortally wounded in a conflict with the natives. Such was the fate of the first adventurer into the wild regions of Florida, and he really seems to have bequeathed his ill fortune to his successors.

LUCAS VASQUEZ DE AYLLON'S EXPEDITION. 25

A few years after his defeat a captain of a caravel, named Diego Miruelo, was driven to the coast of Florida by stress of weather, where he obtained a small quantity of silver and gold in traffic from the natives. With this he returned well pleased to San Domingo, spreading the fame of the country he had visited. About the same time a company of seven wealthy men of San Domingo, concerned in gold mines, at the head of which was the licentiate Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, auditor and judge of appeals of that island, fitted out two vessels to cruise among the islands and entrap Indians to work in the mines. In the course of this righteous cruise the vessels were driven by stress of weather to a cape on the east coast, to which they gave the name of St. Helena. The country in the neighborhood was called Chicorea, and is the same now called South Carolina. Here they anchored at the mouth of a river which they called the Jordan, after the name of the sea-captain who discovered it. It is the same now known by its Indian appellation, the Cambahee.* The natives hastened to the shores at sight of the ships, which they mistook for huge sea-monsters ; but, when they beheld men issue from them, with white complexions and beards, and clad in raiment and shining armor, they fled in terror.

The Spaniards soon dispelled their fears, and a friendly intercourse took place. The poor Indians were kind and hospitable, brought provisions to the ships, and made the strangers presents of marten skins, pearls, and a small quantity of gold and silver.

* We follow the general opinion, strengthened by the circumstance that the neighboring Sound and Island are still called by the name of St. Helena. Herrera places Cape St. Helena and the river Jordan in the thirty-second degree of latitude, which is that of Savannah river. — Vide Herrera, D. ii. lib. x. c. 6.

The Spaniards gave them trinkets in return, and, having com pleted their supplies of wood and water and provisions, invited their savage friends on board of the ships. The Indians eagerly accepted the invitation. They thronged the vessels, gazing with wonder at every thing around them ; hut when a sufficient number were below the decks, the Spaniards perfidiously closed the hatches upon them, and, weighing anchor, made sail for San Domingo. One of the ships was lost in the course of the voyage, the other arrived safe, but the Indians on board of her remained sullen and gloomy, and refused food, so that most of them perished of famine and melancholy.*

The reports, however, brought back by the kidnappers, of the country they had visited, as well as the specimens of gold and silver brought home about the same time by Diego Miruelo, roused the cupidity and ambition of the auditor Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon. Being shortly afterwards in Spain, he obtained from the Emperor Charles V. permission to conquer and govern the newly-discovered province of Chicorea. With this permission he returned to San Domingo, and fitted out an armament of three large vessels, embarking personally in the enterprise.

Diego Miruelo persuaded him first to steer in quest of the country he had visited, and which he represented as much richer than Chicorea. He accompanied the expedition as pilot, but having, with a negligence unworthy of a practised mariner, neglected in his first visit to take an observation, he was unable to find the place at which he had formerly landed, and was so much mortified by the ridicule and reproaches of his employers, that he fell into a profound melancholy, lost his senses, and died in the course of a few days.

* Hist, Florida, por el Inca, L. i. c. 2. Herrera, D. ii. L. x. c. 6.

EXPEDITION" OF LUCAS VASQUEZ DE AYLLOK 27

Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon now prosecuted his voyage to the eastward in search of Chicorea. Arriving in the river Jordan (or Cambahee), the scene of perfidy in the preceding voyage, his principal ship stranded and was lost. With the remaining two lie passed further to the eastward, and landed on a coast adjoining Chicorea, in a gentle and pleasant region. Here he was so well received that he considered the country already under his dominion, and permitted two hundred of his men to visit the principal village, about three leagues in the interior, while he remained with a small force to guard the ships.

The inhabitants of the village entertained these visitors with feasting and rejoicing for three days, until, having put them completely off their guard, they rose upon them in the night and massacred every soul. They then repaired by daybreak to the harbor, and surprised Vasquez de Ayllon and his handful of guards. The few who survived escaped wounded and dismayed to their ships, and making all sail from the fated coast, hastened back to San Domingo. According to some accounts Ayllon remained among the slain on the coast he sought to subjugate, but others assert that he returned wounded to San Domingo, where the humiliation of his defeat, and the ruin of his fortunes, conspired with his bodily ills to hurry him broken-hearted to the grave. Thus signally did the natives of Chicorea revenge the wrongs of their people who had been so perfidiously kidnapped.*

* Hist Florida, por el Inca, L. i. c. 2. Herrera, D. ii. L. x. c. 6. Idem. D. iii. lib. viii. c. 8. Peter Martyr, D. vii c. 11. Heylyns Cosmograpbie, L. iv. p. 100. Lond. Ed. 1669.

Chapter II. The Expedition Of Pamphilo De Narvaez

A cavalier of greater note was the next who aspired to subjugate the unknown realms of Florida, This was the brave but ill-starred Pamphilo de Narvaez, the same who had attempted to arrest Hernando Cortes in his conquering career against Mexico, in which attempt he was defeated in battle, and lost an eye. Narvaez possessed favor at court, and was enabled to fit out a considerable armament for his new enterprise. He was invested by the Emperor Charles V. with the title of Adelantado, or military governor of the country, he expected to subdue and occupy, which was that part of Florida extending from its extreme cape to the river of Palms. In this expedition he trusted to wipe off the disgrace of his late defeat, and even to acquire laurels which might vie with those of Cortes.

On the 12th of April, 1528, Narvaez anchored at the mouth of an open bay on the eastern coast of Florida, with a squadron of four barks and a brigantine. Here he landed his forces, consisting of four hundred men and forty-five horses ; having lost many of his men by desertion in the West India islands, and several of his horses in a storm.

ARRIVAL OF KARVAEZ'S EXPEDITION". 29

Erecting the royal standard, he took possession of the conntry for the crown of Spain, with no opposition from the natives. After having explored the vicinity, Narvaez determined to penetrate the country in a northward direction, hoping to discover some great empire like that of Mexico or Pern. In the mean time, the ships were to proceed along the coast in quest of some convenient harbor, where they were either to await his arrival, or to steer for Havana and return with supplies for the army.*

This plan was strongly opposed by the treasurer of the expedition, one Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, a prudent and sagacious man. He represented the danger of plunging into an unknown wilderness without knowing a word of the language, and advised, rather, that they should continue on in their ships, until they found a secure harbor and a fertile country, from whence they might make incursions into the interior.

This sound advice was slighted by Narvaez and his adventurous companions, whose imaginations were inflamed with the idea of inland conquest. The squadron, accordingly, set sail to the northward ; and Narvaez and his troops set out by land in the same direction, accompanied by the faithful Alvar Nunez ; who, since he could not dissuade his commander from his desperate career, resolved to share his fate.

The force which proceeded by land consisted of three hundred men, forty of whom were mounted on horses. The allowance to each man consisted of two pounds of biscuit and half a pound of bacon. For the first few days they met with fields of maize, and villages containing provisions. Here, however, they outraged the feelings of the natives by rifling and laying waste their sepulchres, mistaking them for idolatrous temples. They

* Herrera, Decad. iv. L. iv. c. 4.

afterwards journeyed many days through desert solitudes without house or inhabitant, suffering greatly from want of food, They crossed rapid rivers on rafts or by* swimming, continually exposed to the assaults of hordes of lurking savages ; they traversed swamps and forests, making their way with great difficulty through matted thickets and over fallen trees, and suffering every variety of misery and hardship.

Still they were cheered onward by the assurances of certain captives who served as guides, that at some distance ahead lay a vast province called Apalachee, extremely fertile, and abounding in the gold they so eagerly sought after.

At length they arrived in sight of the place which gave its name to this long desired province. Narvaez had pictured it to himself a second Mexico, and was chagrined at finding it a mere village of two hundred and forty houses. Alvar Nunez was sent forward to take possession of it, which he did without opposition, the men having all fled to the woods.

The Spaniards remained twenty-five days in the village, exploring the neighboring country, and subsisting upon the provisions they found in the place. During this time they were harassed, day and night, by the natives of the province, who were an exceedingly warlike people. They were disappointed in their hopes of finding gold, and discouraged by the accounts given them of the country further on. They were told, however, that by shaping their course to the southward, towards the sea, they would, after nine days' journey, come to the village of Aute, where there was maize and vegetables and fish in abundance, and where the natives were of a friendly disposition.

Towards Aute, therefore, did they turn their steps, more eager now for food than for gold. The journey was perilous and

DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED 31 full of disaster. They had to cross deep lagoons and dismal swamps, with the water often np to their breasts, their passage obstructed by rotten trees, and beset by hordes of savages. These appeared to the disheartened Spaniards of gigantic height ; they had bows of enormous size, from which they discharged arrows with such force as to penetrate armor at the distance of two hundred yards. At length, after incredible hardships, and with the loss of many men and horses, they arrived at the village of Aute. # The natives abandoned and burnt their houses on the approach of the invaders, but they left behind a quantity of maize, with which the Spaniards appeased their hunger.

A day's march beyond the village brought them to a river, which gradually expanded into a large road, or arm of the sea. Here they came to a pause in their adventurous career, and held a consultation as to their future movements. Their hopes of wealth and conquest were at an end. Nearly a third of their original number had perished ; while of the survivors a great majority were ill, and disease was daily spreading among them. To attempt to retrace their steps, or to proceed along the coast in search of the fleet, would be to hazard all their lives. At length it was suggested that they should construct small barks, launch them upon the deep, and keep along the coast until they should find their ships. It was a forlorn hope, but they caught at it like desperate men. They accordingly set to work with great eagerness. One of them constructed a pair of bellows out of deer-skins, furnishing it with a wooden pipe. Others made charcoal and a forge. By the aid of these they soon turned their stirrups, spurs, crossbows, and other articles

* Supposed to be on what is now called the Bay of St. Marks.

of iron, into nails, saws, and hatchets. The tails and manes of the horses, twisted with the fibres of the palm-tree, served for rigging ; their shirts, cut open and sewed together, furnished sails ; the fibrous part of the palm-tree, also, was used as oakum ; the resin of the pine-trees for tar ; the skins of horses were made into vessels to contain fresh water ; and a quantity of maize was won by hard fighting from the neighboring natives. A horse was killed every three days for provisions for the laboring hands and the sick. Having at length by great exertions completed five frail barks, they embarked on the 22d of September, from forty to fifty persons being in each ; but so closely crowded were they, that there was scarcely room to move, while the gunwale of the boats was forced down by their weight to the water's edge.

Setting sail from this bay, which they called the Bay of Caballos, they continued on for several days to an island where they secured five canoes that had been deserted by the Indians. These being attached to their barks, enabled them to sail with greater comfort. They passed through the strait between the island and the mainland, which they called the Strait of San Miguel, and sailed onward for many days, enduring all the torments of hunger and parching thirst : the skins which contained their fresh water having burst, some, driven to desperation, drank salt water, and died miserably. Their sufferings were aggravated by a fearful storm. At length they approached a more populous and fertile part of the coast, upon which they landed occasionally to procure provisions, and were immediately involved in bloody affrays with the natives. Thus harassed by sea and land, famishing with hunger, their barks shattered and scarcely manageable, these unfortunate wanderers lost all

[NARVAEZ PERISHES AT SEA. 33 presence of mind, and became wild and desperate. They were again driven out to sea, and scattered during a stormy night. At daybreak three of these tempest-tossed barks rejoined each other. In one, which was the best manned and the best sailer, was Pamphilo de Narvaez. Alvar Nunez, who had command of another, seeing the Adelantado making for the land, called upon him for aid. Narvaez replied that it was no longer time to help others, but that every one must take care of himself. He then made for the shore, and abandoned Alvar Nunez to make the best of his way with the other bark.

After wandering along the coast in his bark for many days, Narvaez anchored one night off the land. All his crew had gone ■on shore for provisions, excepting one sailor and a page who was sick. A violent gale sprang up from the north, and the vessel, in which was neither food nor water, was driven out to sea, and •no tidings ever heard of her after. Thus perished the ill-fated Pamphilo de Narvaez.

The only survivors of this disastrous expedition were Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Yaca, and four of his companions. After the most singular and unparalleled hardships, they traversed the northern parts of Florida, crossed the Mississippi, and the desert and mountainous regions on the confines of Texas and the Rocky Monntains, passing from tribe to tribe of Indians, oftentimes as slaves, until at the end of several years they succeeded in reaching the Spanish settlement of Compostella. From thence Alvar Nunez proceeded to Mexico, and ultimately arrived at Lisbon in 1537 ; nearly ten years after his embarkation with Pamphilo de Narvaez.*

* This chapter is chiefly taken from the " Naufragios de Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca," with occasional references to Herrera.

Chapter III

HERNANDO DE SOTO— HIS BIRTH— ADVENTURES IN PERU— FITS OUT AN ARMAMENT FOR FLORIDA— TOUCHES AT THE CANARY ISLANDS ARRIVAL AT CUBA.

One would have thought that after the melancholy result of these sad enterprises, and others of less note, but equally unfortunate, the coast of Florida would have been avoided as a fated land. The Spanish discoverers, however, were not to be deterred by difficulties and clangers, and the accounts rendered of the. vast extent of this unknown country, and of opulent regions in its interior, served to prompt to still bolder and more costly enter-

prises.

It is proper to note that the Spaniards, at this period, had a very vague idea of the country called Florida, and by no means limited it to its present boundaries. They knew something of the maritime border of the peninsula, but Florida, according to their notions, extended far beyond, having the confines of Mexico in one direction, the banks of Newfoundland in another, and expanding into a vast Terra Incognita to the north.

The accounts brought to Europe by Alvar Nunez, of the expedition of Pamphilo de Narvaez, contributed to promote this

BIRTH OF HERNANDO DE SOTO. 35 idea. It was supposed that this unfortunate cavalier, in his extensive march, had but skirted the borders of immense internal empires, which might rival in opulence and barbaric splendor the recently discovered kingdoms of Mexico and Peru; and there was not wanting a bold and ambitious spirit to grasp immediately at the palm of conquest.