Standard history of Memphis, Tennessee, from a study of the original sources

Introduction

Patriotism or devotion to one's country is a sentiment. It is not due to self interest nor other sordid motive, but is born of the story of her origin and of the achievements of the brave and enterprising ancestral stock, which, out of small beginnings, established and organized and wrought a nation. Every great city is in semblance a small nation, both in government and the loyal co-operation of its people for the common good. And the same patriotic devotion, born of the same sentiment does, or should prevail in every city as in every nation.

As our civilization grows older our larger cities are taking more interest in the story of their own origin and development, and concerning some of them many historical volumes have been written, dealing with almost every incident of fact and legend that could be traced. And in many notable instances of cities the greater the knowledge of her history, the greater the pride and love and devotion of her people.

Our own City of Memphis, though rated young among her Eastern sisters in America, is yet one of the most ancient, considering the discovery of her site, and the building of the first habitations of the white man here, on the whole American continent. When it is recalled that the adventurous Hernando De Soto built a cantonment for his troops here and established a little ship-yard, in which he constructed four piragues or barges, large enough to transport across the Mississippi River in time of high water, five hundred Spanish soldiers, as many more Indian vassels and one hundred and fifty horses, with baggage and other military equipment, in a few hours, and that all this occurred seventy-nine years before the landing of the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock and twenty-four years before the building of the first hut and stockade at St. Augustine, Fla., it will be realized that our story dates far back in ancient American history.

VI History of Memphis, Tennessee.

Following up this fact much space has been given to the wonderful march of De Soto from Tampa Bay, Fla., to the Chickasaw Bluffs, literally hewing his way as he came with sword and halberd through swarming nations of brave Indians; and to showing that he marched directly from the Chickasaw towns in northeast Mississippi to the Chickasaw Bluffs; and to presenting in fullest detail from the Spanish Chroniclers what De Soto and his people did while on the Bluffs where Memphis now stands. And it was deemed proper also to tell with equal detail of the voyages of Marquette and Joliet and La Salle, past the lonely Chickasaw Bluffs, and of the coming of Le Moyne Bienville with a large army and the construction of a great fortress here, heavily mounted with artillery, in the endeavor to overcome the heroic Chickasaws who resented the French invasions in the effort to conquer their country and to found a great French Empire in Western America, And the story also is told of the effort of Governor Don Manuel Gayoso to establish in like manner a Spanish Empire west of the Mississippi River before the Americans could take hold.

Indeed few American cities possess so romantic a story and the archives, not only of the United States, but of France and Spain also are yet rich in historical material awaiting the historian with time and opportunity for investigation.

When the American pioneer came to the Chickasaw Bluffs and began to plan a city and then to cut away the forests and build, the narrative became more complex. The records at a frontier post, where the printing press had not yet appeared, were few and tradition is unreliable. To weigh and compare the fantastic legends and stories from memory that have come down to us, with the official records and authentic documents that survive, required patient care and discrimination and much that has been heretofore published as history has been rejected when found to be doubtful at least, or actually untrue.

With the founding of newspapers the story became more lucid. But to collect and edit the great mass of undigested material and weave it into a connected story, has been a herculean task that should not have been crowded into a year of time. There are necessarily imperfections and omissions in such

History of Memphis, Tennessee. VII

a work which a generous public, we trust, will overlook. It has been the purpose of the editor to collect, in condensed form, as much of all this story as could be compressed into one volume, leaving to the future historian the enlargement of the concise outline into the several volumes that would be necessary to convey the narrative in fullest detail. Our present beautiful city, with its wonderful river and parks and driveways and libraries and public buildings is worthy of far greater efforts than we have been able to bestow upon it in the work.

If the people of Memphis shall be inspired by any part of the story, written in this book, to greater and more patriotic endeavors, not only to enlarge and adorn their already beautiful city, but to elevate her whole population to the highest plane of intellectual and moral progress and civic righteouness, the editor will feel richly paid for his humble but laborious work.

The editor desires to express the obligation he is under for the cheerfully rendered assistance of all the citizens of Memphis, and the city authorities to whom he applied, for use of documents and records. And especially does he desire to express his obligation to Miss A. R. James, Assistant "Writer and Compiler, to whose intelligence, aptitude and energy the public is indebted for much of the story of municipal progress since the founding of the city, as well as of the sanitary and educational development of Memphis and the growth of classical, musical and histrionic art among her people.

J. P. Young.

Memphis, Tenn., August 29, 1912.

Dedication

To the pioneers who founded and the brave sons who builded and loyally stood by Memphis in her hours of adversity and pestilence as in her days of victory and triumph, this volume of her history is affectionately dedicated.

Chapter I

The Chickasaw Bluffs and the Aborigines. The Great, Silent Continent. Habits and Customs of the Indians. Choctaw Legend of the Bluffs. The Story of DeSoto. With Pizarro in Peru. He Plans the Conquest of Florida. DeSoto 's Dream of Gold. His Army and Knightly Commanders. The March Through Florida. Cruelties of the Spaniards. Toils and Sufferings of the Troops. On the Savannah Eiver. DeSoto Turns Westward. The Battle of Mauvila. DeSoto Enters MississiDDi. He Winters at Chicaca. Terrible Battle with the Chickasaw Indians. Sad Plight of the Spaniards. The Battle of Alibamo. The March to the Chickasaw Bluffs. DeSoto Discovers the Mississippi River. Chisca's Fortress on Jackson Mound. Story of the Discovery by the Spanish Chroniclers. DeSoto 's Sojourn Here. He Builds Huts and Then Boats. He crosses the River and Disappears in the West 9

Chapter II

The Chickasaw Bluffs Under Spain. The Coming of the Frenchmen. Voyage of Marquette and Joliet. The Journey of LaSalle. The Site of Fort Prudhomme. The Town of Mitchigamea. The Mouth of the Mississippi River. The Country Claimed for France. Bienville at the Bluffs. The Voyage up the River. The Building of Fort Assumption. War with the Chickasaws. Failure of Bienville. Diary of his Sojourn on the Chickasaw Bluffs. Terrible Indian Customs. Again Under the Dominion of Spain. Cession of the Country to Great Britain. The Province of Carolina. Grant of Charles II to the Lords Proprietors. Once More Under the Dominion of Spain. Don Manuel Gayoso De Lemos. Fort San Fernando de Barancas. Trouble with the Spaniards. Arrival of Captain Isaac Guion. The Americans Take Possession. The Chickasaw Bluffs Become Part of Tennessee. Our Chickasaw Allies. American Forts Here 31

Chapter III

Land Grants by the State of Tennessee. John Rice and John Ramsey Grants. Purchase of West Tennessee from the Chickasaws. Judge John Overton Purchases Rice Grant. Takes in with him Andrew Jackson, Sketch of John Rice. The Birth of Memphis. Map of New Town. Appearance of the Surroundings. Narrative of Colonel James Brown. The Name of Memphis. Establishment of Shelby County. The First Court of Laws. The First County Tax Levy. The First Marriage 52

Chapter IV

Incorporation of Memphis. Resentment of the Inhabitants. Sketch of First Charter. First Board of Mayor and Aldermen. Limits of the Corporation Fixed. Outline of First Tax-Levy. Second Board of Aldermen. Memphis Made a City. Isaac Rawlings Mayor. City Divided into Wards. Fire Department Established. Citizens Oust the Gamblers. Young Memphis a Free Soil Town. Removal of the Indians to the West. Rivalry Between Memphis and Randolph. Mississippi Claims Site of Memphis. Tax Assessment of 1840. War With the Flatboatmen. Memphis Gets the Great Navy Yard. The City Limits Extended. "South Memphis" and "Pinch." Incorporation of South Memphis. The First Telegraph Line. Troubles Over Slavery. The Wolf River Canal Project. The First Bond Issue. The Charters of 1848 and 1849 70

Chapter V

The Census of 1850. The Building of Plank Roads. Rapid Growth of the City. Extension of the Telegraph System. The First Railroad to the Atlantic. Great Railroad Jubilee in Memphis. The Financial Panic of 1857. Crime in Memphis. Uprising of the People and Mob Violence. Rescue of Able by N. B. Forrest. The Problem of Street Paving. The Bust of Andrew Jackson. More Troubles Over Slavery. The John Brown Raid and Its Consequences. The First Paid Fire Department 92

Chapter VI

Mutterings of the Coming Civil War. Secession Activities in Memphis. Great Torch Light Processions of the Unionists and Secessionists. Secession Defeated at the Polls. Resolutions of the Secessionists. The Leaders of the Disunion Party. The Call of Mr. Lincoln for Troops. Secession of Memphis from State. Tennessee Finally Secedes. The Vote in Memphis. Preparations for War. The Southern Mothers Ill

Chapter VII

Memphis Captured by the Federal Fleet. Exciting Scenes in the City. jMemphis Under IMilitary Law. Sherman in Command. His Cruelty and Tyranny. Seizure of the Municipal Government by Military Commander. Close of the Civil War. Reconstruction Pleasures. Trouble with the Negroes. Great Riot in the City. The Freedman's Bureau. Brownlow's Militia Police. The Ku Klux Klan. Peace at Last. The City Begins to Grow Again. Trouble About Finances. Small Pox, Cholera and Yellow Fever Appear 126

Chapter VIII

John Loague, Mayor. Financial Difficulties. Census of 1875. New Charter. The Flippin Administration. Schemes to Retire City Debt. Sale of Navy Yard. Surrender of Cl^arter Considered. Great Epidemic of Yellow Fever Begins. Panic and Stampede of Citizens. Terrible Scenes of Suffering and Death. Howard Association and Relief Committees. Heroism of the Workers. The Tragedy of Death and Burial. The Daily Press Faithful. Generosity of Non-Residents. Loyal Negro Militia. Death Roll of the Howards. End of the Epidemic. Thanksgiving for Relief 161

Chapter IX

Debt and Disaster Follow the Fever. Surrender of the City Charter. The Taxing District Act. Struggle with Creditors. How Memphis had been Robbed. The Taxing District Officials. How Memphis was Redeemed. Another Epidemic Breaks Out. Efficient Sanitary Measures Discussed. The Meeting of Refugees in St. Louis. Colonel Waring Plans Sewer System. Work on the Sewers Begun. Character of the System. The People Take Heart. Progress of Reconstructing the City Government. D. P. Hadden, President. The Old Debt Refunded. New Water System Established. Artesian Wells Sunk 185

Chapter X

Memphis Rising From Her Ashes. Census of 1880. Details of the Sewer System. The Bethell Administration. Increase of Property Values. The Cotton Trade. Big Fires in Memphis. The Mississippi River Bridge. Ceremonies of the Opening. Electric Car Service Inaugurated. Protest Against Taxing District Form of Government. Taxing District Proves a Success. Form of Taxation Unjust to Memphis. Gamblers Again. Law and Order League. Sam Jones in Memphis. Other Lecturers and Moral Workers. The Legislature Restores Titles of City, Mayor and Vice- Mayor. Clapp Elected Mayor. Artesian Water Company, Telephones and Electric Lighting. Back Tax Collector Appointed. Memphis to Levy Her Own Taxes. New City Hospital. Interstate Drill and Encampment. Flood of Mississippi River. Yellow Fever Scare. Bank Clearings 212

Chapter XI

J. J. Williams Elected Mayor. Death of Senator Harris. T. B. Turley Appointed Senator. Gambling Houses Closed. Further Extension of the City Limits. Collection of Taxes Authorized. Sewer Extension. Visit of President IMcKinley. Great Confederate Reunion. Williams is Reelected Mayor. Municipal Ownership of Water Works. Purchase of the Old Plant. Attempt to Amend Charter. Memphis Streets Renamed. Quarantine 247

Chapter XII

J. H. Malone Elected Mayor. Attack Upon Charter. Commission Government Established and Declared Unconstitutional. Reduction of Tax Rate. Flippin Compromise Bonds Refunded. Police Department Work. Improvement of "Water System, The City's Real Estate. Front Foot Assessment Law. Pensioning Policemen. City Limits Again Extended. Greater Memphis. Resume of Progress, 1909 263

Chapter XIII

Commission Form of Government Established. Provisions of the Act. Election of E. H. Crump, as Mayor. Williams Vigorously Contests the Election of Crump. Contest Withdrawn. Reduction of Tax Rate. Extension of Sewer System to Annexed Territory. Mounted Police Station. Vast Construction of New Streets. The City Greatly Beautified. Prohibition in Memphis. Curious Result of the Law. Juvenile Court Established. Splendid Work Among Children. Mounted Police Force. Modern Fire Equipment. Stupendous Municipal Improvements.

Increase of Bond Issues. Purchase of Tri-State Fair Grounds. Crump Reelected. Tremendous Flood of Mississippi River. Part of City Overflowed. Water System Contaminated 277

Banks and Insurance 579

CHAPTER XXVII Commerce and Manufactures 586

ILLUSTRATIONS

Young, J. P., portrait Frontispiece

Facing Page

Map of the City ' 60 ^

Buckingham, M. S., portrait 5,84 "^

DeSoto, Ferdinand, portrait 13 --"^

Fisher, F. N., portrait 392 "^

Forrest, N. B., portrait 355 \/

Galloway, R., portrait 334 ^

Garnsey, Cyrus, Jr., portrait 576 ■ '

Hanson, C. C, portrait 439/

Harrison, Walter II., portrait 443 '^'

Jackson, Andrew, portrait 58 -

Keating, J. M., portrait 177 '''

LeMaster, E. B., portrait 258

Love, Geo. C, portrait 305 -''

Malone, Jas. II., portrait 263

Maury, E. B., portrait 574^

Meri weather, N., portrait 197^

McFarland, L. B., portrait 328 '^

Omberg, J. A., portrait 579 i/

Overton, John, portrait 69 •

Pickett, A. B., portrait 491 '

Randolph, Wm. M., portrait 162

Speed, R. A., portrait 396

Taylor, A. R., portrait 371

Toof, S. C, portrait 449

Tutwiler, T. H., portrait 395

Winchester, James, portrait 63

Wright, E. E., portrait 538

Wright, Luke E., portrait 183

Chapter I

The Chickasaw Bluffs and the Aborigines. The Great, Silent Continent. Habits and Customs of the Indians. Choctaw Legend of the Bluffs. The Story of DeSoto. With Pizarro in Peru. He Plans the Conquest of Florida. DeSoto 's Dream of Gold. His Army and Knightly Commanders. The March Through Florida. Cruelties of the Spaniards. Toils and Sufferings of the Troops. On the Savannah River. DeSoto Turns Westward. The Battle of Mauvila. DeSoto Enters MississiDui. He Winters at Chicaca. Terrible Battle with the Chickasaw Indians. Sad Plight of the Spaniards. The Battle of Alibamo. The March to the Chickasaw Bluffs. DeSoto Discovers the Mississippi River. Chisca's Fortress on Jackson Mound. Story of the Discovery by the Spanish Chroniclers. DeSoto 's Sojourn Here. He Builds Huts and Then Boats. He crosses the River and Disappears in the West.

m

HEN the light of history first began to illumine the story and traditions of the lower Chickasaw Bluff on the Mississippi River on the day that DeSoto arrived, May 8, 1541, the civilization of western Europe was yet young. Henry the Eighth was king of England and Queen Elizabeth still a young child. Shakespeare was yet to be born twenty-three years later, Galileo and Kepler, the fathers of modern astronomy, twenty-three and thirty years later respectively, Cromwell after fifty-eight years, Milton after sixty-seven years and Sir Francis Bacon, the proposer of inductive reasoning, the basis of all modern science, was not to open his eyes upon the world for yet twenty years to come. For centuries America had slept, a great, silent continent, undisturbed by the boom of guns or the crash of arms. There was no traffic along highways and rivers and her stillness was unbroken by any sound louder than the yell of the savage or the bark of the wolf. Her inhabitants were red nomads, of savage habits, but great mentality, and popularly known as Indians, as they were supposed at first to be connected in some way on the west with the East Indies. These were thinly scattered throughout the territory now occupied by the United States, living for protection mostly in groups of villages, constructed of upright logs or poles, the huts being covered with sections of bark taken from certain trees and sometimes defended by stockades of logs laboriously chopped down with the stone hatchets of the Indians and buried deeply at one end in the ground. These Indians possessed no iron out of which to forge tools or weapons, the tips to the latter, usually arrows only, being wrought as in the stone age, of flint and their hatchets in many instances being made of green porphyry brought from great distances, but more often of flint ground or rubbed smooth.

Their villages were commonly imbedded at some central point in the country occupied by the tribe and between the borders of their territory and that of the next tribe was usually a neutral strip of considerable and sometimes vast extent, claimed by one or both contiguous tribes as a hunting ground, but never permanently occupied. About their villages were extensive cleared fields in which they raised crops of maize, called by the Indians mahiz, which means Indian corn as now known. They likewise grew large quantities of beans, pumpkins and squash, which, together with nuts and dried meats prepared from the wild game of the forest, afforded them subsistence. The southeastern Indian tribes, and probably others also, prepared oils from the nuts of the woods, such as walnuts, pecans and hickory nuts, which were pronounced by the early Spaniards to be a very fine relish, and they made large quantities of oil from the fat of bears, which they used as lard. The family ties were very strong with most tribes of Indians and their tenderness and affection for their children was a striking trait of these people.

Confining our inquiry to those tribes which had relations with the Chickasaw bluffs, that part of the United States between the Savannah River and the Mississippi and south of the Tennessee River was, in 1541, covered by a distinctive racial population known as Appalachees. Between the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, and southeastward into North Alabama and Georgia and in East Tennessee the Cherokees were then located. The Appalachees were divided into a number of tribes which were bound by no political ties and were very exclusive. Among these were the Seminoles of Florida, the Uchees in Northern Georgia, the M.auvila or Mobilians in Southern Alabama, the Chickasaws in North Mississippi and West Tennessee, the Creeks or Muscogees in Georgia and Southeastern Alabama, the Choctaws in Central Mississippi and Alabama, and the Natchez in Southern Mississippi and Louisiana. The Akansas and Quapaws, of Siouan stock and of the same blood as the Omahas, occupied the west bank of the Mississippi opposite Memphis and at the date of DeSoto 's arrival the large tribe occupying, with its chief town and fortress known as Chisca, the site of modern Memphis, seemed to be subject to the tribes across the river under a great chief known as the lord or chief of Pacaha or, by other chroniclers called Capaha, probably the Spanish for Quapa, which was likewise the name of a town. This tribe at the lower Chickasaw bluffs was not related to the Chickasaws and was probably a colony of the trans-Mississippi settlers. The brave Chickasaws whose northern resident limit was in part the Tallahatchie River were then, as always afterwards, though few in numbers, the dominant race of Indians south and west of the Tennessee River and indeed, of the present Eastern Gulf States, though West Tennessee was in the time of DeSoto, as in the days of LaSalle and Bienville claimed, but used only as a hunting ground by them.

All these tribes kept up a pretty constant communication with each other, their embassies or delegations of chief men, passing over vast distances, undisturbed by the tribes through whose territory they traveled, always on foot, as they possessed neither horses nor cattle. But they would frequently, through some real or fancied slight or injury, go to war with each other and they always guarded their well-known boundaries, as well as their more vaguely defined hunting grounds, with jealous care and determination.

Choctaw legend gives to the site of Memphis a fantastic interest in its narrative of mythical events of great antiquity. The legend relates that many centuries ago the Choctaws and Chickasaws, led by two brothers, Chacta and Chicsa, came from the far west. On crossing the Mississippi River they found the country occupied by the Nahonla, giants who were very fair and had come from the East. There was also a race of giants here who were cannibals and who kept the mammoths, animals whose great bones are found everywhere in the clay and gravel deposits of the lower Mississippi Valley, herded, and used them to break down the forests, thus causing the prairies. At last all the cannibals and their gigantic mammoths, except one of the latter, which lived near the Tombigbee River, became extinct. The Great Spirit attempted to destroy him with lightning, but he foiled the bolts by receiving them on his head. Finally being hard pressed by the Great Spirit, he fled to the Socta-Thoufah, "steep bluffs," (now Memphis), cleared the river at a bound and hied him away to the Rocky Mountains.*

It was through tribes like these above described that DeSoto hewed his bloody way from Tampa Bay, Florida, to the Mississippi River, lured by that "auri sacra fames," the accursed thirst for gold, undergoing the most dreadful toil and suffering, but never finding the gold. El Dorado the Golden, or the riches embodied in the wild dream of Cabeza de Vaca. He was moreover unconscious of the fact as he journeyed and toiled that the soil of the lands beneath his feet has proven one of the world's greatest sources of wealth, and that a single cotton crop raised on these same lands now produces more gold than existed in all Europe during his era.

As the lower Chickasaw bluffs first came into prominence in the world's history on the arrival of DeSoto, a brief abstract of his journey and exploits will be here given, derived from

*One may readily discover the origin of this legend in the coming of DeSoto with his horses and guns across the Tombigbee and his crossing the river at Memphis.

r lEi^ © p!3AN H) © E S©T® the original narrative of "The Portuguese Gentleman," Ranjeld, DeSoto's private secretary, Biedma and Garcilaso de la Vega all, except the last named, companions of his march, and whose writings have come down to us and now exist in several splendid translations.* But this will be preceded by a short sketch of his life.t

Hernando DeSoto, frequently written Ferdinand DeSoto, was, according to the narrative of the Portuguese Gentleman, or the Gentleman of Elvas, the anonymous knight who was a companion on his great march through Florida, born at Xeres de Badajos in Spain, but the date of his birth is not by him given. Garcilaso de la Vega, commonly known as the Inca, gives his birthplace at Villa nueva de Barcarota, and Herrara assigns the same town as the birthplace and the date is fixed at about 1501. Buckingham Smith asserts that he was born at Xeres in the province of Estremadura, and the Encyclopedia Brittanica names Xeres de Caballeros in Estremadura as the place where he first saw the light and the year 1496 as the date. He was said to have been of gentle birth on both his father's and mother's side, but was without means, his whole possessions, according to the Knight of Elvas, being his sword and buckler. DeSoto was indebted to his patron Pedro Arias de Avila, generally written Pedrarias Davila, whose attention he had attracted, for the means of acquiring his education. With Davila he went when a mere youth, to the "Indies of the Ocean, "$ or the West Indies, of which his patron had been appointed governor and was by the governor appointed to the command, as captain, of a company of cavalry. Soon after, by order of Davila, he took part with Pizarro in the Conquest of Peru. Here he greatly distinguished himself and attracted

*The editor gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness, in obtaining correct data, to the splendid translations of the narratives of the Knight of Elvas, Biedma and Ranjel. collected in the Narratives of the Career of DeSoto by Edward Gaylord Bourne and published in the Trailmakers series in two volumes, A. S. Barnes & Co., New York, 1904, and to the earlier works of Theodore Irving.

tThe editor does not apologise for this sketch of UeSoto and his long march from Tampa Bay, Florida, to the Chickasaw Bluff. It is logically the initial story in the History of Memphis.

JPortuguese Narrative, page 7.

the attention of that shrewd but accomplished cut-throat who "soon singled him out from the hardy spirits around him and appointed him his lieutenant. Was there a service of special danger to be performed, DeSoto had it in charge ; was there an enterprise requiring sound judgment and careless daring, DeSoto was sure to be called upon."*

DeSoto, narrates Garcilaso de la Vega, commanded one of the troops of horse which captured the Inca, Atahualpa and put to rout his army. He finally shared in the spoil wrung from this unfortunate prince and in the looting of Cuzco. He is alleged in the Spanish chronicles to have been the officer who indicated on the wall of the great room in the Inca's palace, by the reach of his arm and sword, the line to which the room was required to be filled with gold for his ransom, by the unfortunate monarch. He later returned to Spain laden with wealth, his share amounting to 180,000 cruzados or crowns of gold.t Here he lived at the court of the emperor in almost imperial style and loaned of his money to the shrewd Charles V. Soon after he was married to Dona Ysabel, daughter of his former patron Davila and was appointed by the emperor, Charles V, Governor and Captain General of Cuba and Florida with the more exalted civic title of Adelantado or President of Florida.

DeSoto, after some delay, determined to attempt the conquest of Florida, chiefly by reason of the reports brought from there by Cabeza de Vaca, one of the four survivors of the illfated Narvaez expedition, which led him to believe that the land contained rich treasures of gold.$ DeSoto for this purpose organized at his own expense an expedition composed of six hundred hardy adventurers,§ including many knights and soldiers of distinction and a brilliant escort of Portuguese hidaljos or gentlemen under Andre de Vasconcelo, and with these he sailed in seven ships April 6, 1538, from San Lucar de Borrameda for Santiago de Cuba and after nearly a year's sojourn in that island sailed May 8, 1539, for Florida and landed May 25, at Tampa Bay.

*Irving's Conquest of Florida, page 36.

fPortuguese Narrative, page 8.

JPortuguese Narrative, page 8.

§Garcilaso says this force was 950 strong. Irving, page 41.

DeSoto had, besides his foot soldiers, 224 horses, having lost 19 at sea. He also drove with his command a herd of hogs, partly for the support of his army, if meat should not be found, and partly with which to stock a colony if he should deem it expedient to found one. His march is one of the most remarkable for its toils and hardships and barrenness of results in all history, and strongly emphasized the imperious will as well as the greed of the adventurer. By some historians it is called DeSoto 's crazy march, but if he did not discover ''El Dorado, the Golden," which he is believed to have sought, he unquestionably found what is to us vastly more important, the site of our splendid city. He also gave accurate information to all Europe of the nature of the interior of the country now constituting the East Gulf States of the American Union, with its rich plains and forests and mighty water courses, as well as of its brave aboriginal inhabitants, for the mastery of which Spain, France and England struggled for more than two centuries, when it was finally wrested from all of them by the young American Republic.

DeSoto lost no time in getting off on his long march from the landing place at Tampa. The landing was made May 30, 1539 at a village called Ocita and the march was begun June 1. The Spaniards on June 4, recaptured a Spanish captive named Juan Ortiz, who became their guide and interpreter. The Indians were brave and resentful and attacked the detachments of Spanish soldiers wherever found and this in turn moved the Spanish soldiers to reprisals and they inflicted the greatest cruelty on the brave Indians. The Spaniards killed many wantonly, running them down with their horses and spearing them when overtaken and also chased them with their Irish greyhounds, a species of large fierce dog, and caused the dogs to tear numbers of them in pieces. The line of march was through a rough, swampy country and the midsummer sun was hot, causing great suffering to the troops. The route from Tampa was in a long sweeping curve to the eastward and northward through many Indian villages, among others

Mocogo. Urri-Barra-Caxi* and Ocali to Vitachuco, where the Spaniards had a fierce battle. Here DeSoto turned northwestwardly and probably crossing the Suwanee River above the old town of that name, reached, after a long march and many vicissitudes, the site of the modern city of Tallahassee. This was called Anhayca by the Gentleman of Elvas and Iviahica by Ranjel. Here DeSoto wintered in the Province of Apalachee.