Okla-homey
5/21/2007, 06:08 AM
May 21, 1542: De Soto dies in the American wilderness
http://aycu12.webshots.com/image/17371/2002649997013375080_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002649997013375080)
This painting of DeSoto's party encountering the Mississippi hangs in the US Capitol rotunda. It's probably reasonably accurate in terms of the Spaniard's appearance. The Indians, not so much. Especially, the tipis. That was a plains tribes dwelling, not southeastern Indian. Those people lived in thatched houses.
465 years ago today, on the banks of the Mississippi River in present-day Louisiana, Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto dies, ending a three-year journey for gold that took him halfway across what is now the United States. In order that Indians would not learn of his death, and thus disprove de Soto's claims of divinity, his men buried his body in the Mississippi River.
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/16439/2002682002845040938_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002682002845040938)
Hernando DeSoto. The guy wandered the southeast US looking for gold. He made it as far northeast as NC and as far west as northeast TX.
In late May 1539, de Soto landed on the west coast of Florida with 600 troops, servants, and a few Jesuit priests, 200 horses, and a pack of bloodhounds.
http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/14517/2002613672071570331_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002613672071570331)
Conqueror of Florida
From there, the army set about subduing the natives, seizing any valuables they stumbled upon, and preparing the region for eventual Spanish colonization. Traveling through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, across the Appalachians, and back to Alabama, de Soto failed to find the gold and silver he desired, but he did seize a valuable collection of pearls at Cofitachequi, in present-day Georgia.
http://aycu14.webshots.com/image/16333/2002603975076589648_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002603975076589648)
One of the dozens of deSotoan historical markers that dot the SE US. This one is in MS.
Decisive conquest also eluded the Spaniards, as what would become the United States lacked the large, centralized civilizations of Mexico and Peru. He simply couldn't defeat and subjugate one tribe, and control a vast region as Cortez had been able to do when he conquered the Aztecs, and as deSoto's pal Pizarro had been able to do with the Inca.
As was the method of Spanish conquest elsewhere in the Americas, de Soto ill-treated and enslaved the Indians he encountered. For the most part, the Indian warriors they encountered were intimidated by the Spanish horsemen and kept their distance.
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/16374/2002606631512402231_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002606631512402231)
A conquistadore and his nag. Pretty intimidating to folks who had never seen a horse before.
In October 1540, however, the tables were turned when a confederation of Indians attacked the Spaniards at the fortified Indian town of Mabila, near present-day Mobile, Alabama. All the Indians were killed, along with 20 of de Soto's men. Several hundred Spaniards were wounded. Worse still, the Indian conscripts they had come to depend on to bear their supplies bugged-out durinmg the confusion and took the expedition's baggage with them.
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/14599/2002615967122493751_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002615967122493751)
Contemporary image of the fight.
De Soto could have marched south to reunite with his ships along the Gulf Coast, but instead he ordered his expedition to push north-westward in search of America's elusive riches.
http://aycu12.webshots.com/image/14571/2002946032772620164_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002946032772620164)
In May 1541, the expedition reached and crossed the Mississippi River, probably the first Europeans ever to do so. From there, they traveled through Arkansas and Louisiana, still with few material gains to show for their efforts. Turning back to the Mississippi, de Soto died of a fever on its banks on this day in 1542.
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/16374/2002617054617993619_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002617054617993619)
The bridge at Memphis is named for deSoto
The Spaniards, now under the command of Luis de Moscoso, traveled west again, crossing into north Texas before returning to the Mississippi. With nearly half of the original expedition dead, the Spaniards built rafts and traveled down the river to the sea, and then made their way down the Texas coast to New Spain, finally reaching Veracruz, Mexico, in late 1543.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/15153/2002602204865635314_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002602204865635314)
http://aycu12.webshots.com/image/17371/2002649997013375080_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002649997013375080)
This painting of DeSoto's party encountering the Mississippi hangs in the US Capitol rotunda. It's probably reasonably accurate in terms of the Spaniard's appearance. The Indians, not so much. Especially, the tipis. That was a plains tribes dwelling, not southeastern Indian. Those people lived in thatched houses.
465 years ago today, on the banks of the Mississippi River in present-day Louisiana, Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto dies, ending a three-year journey for gold that took him halfway across what is now the United States. In order that Indians would not learn of his death, and thus disprove de Soto's claims of divinity, his men buried his body in the Mississippi River.
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/16439/2002682002845040938_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002682002845040938)
Hernando DeSoto. The guy wandered the southeast US looking for gold. He made it as far northeast as NC and as far west as northeast TX.
In late May 1539, de Soto landed on the west coast of Florida with 600 troops, servants, and a few Jesuit priests, 200 horses, and a pack of bloodhounds.
http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/14517/2002613672071570331_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002613672071570331)
Conqueror of Florida
From there, the army set about subduing the natives, seizing any valuables they stumbled upon, and preparing the region for eventual Spanish colonization. Traveling through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, across the Appalachians, and back to Alabama, de Soto failed to find the gold and silver he desired, but he did seize a valuable collection of pearls at Cofitachequi, in present-day Georgia.
http://aycu14.webshots.com/image/16333/2002603975076589648_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002603975076589648)
One of the dozens of deSotoan historical markers that dot the SE US. This one is in MS.
Decisive conquest also eluded the Spaniards, as what would become the United States lacked the large, centralized civilizations of Mexico and Peru. He simply couldn't defeat and subjugate one tribe, and control a vast region as Cortez had been able to do when he conquered the Aztecs, and as deSoto's pal Pizarro had been able to do with the Inca.
As was the method of Spanish conquest elsewhere in the Americas, de Soto ill-treated and enslaved the Indians he encountered. For the most part, the Indian warriors they encountered were intimidated by the Spanish horsemen and kept their distance.
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/16374/2002606631512402231_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002606631512402231)
A conquistadore and his nag. Pretty intimidating to folks who had never seen a horse before.
In October 1540, however, the tables were turned when a confederation of Indians attacked the Spaniards at the fortified Indian town of Mabila, near present-day Mobile, Alabama. All the Indians were killed, along with 20 of de Soto's men. Several hundred Spaniards were wounded. Worse still, the Indian conscripts they had come to depend on to bear their supplies bugged-out durinmg the confusion and took the expedition's baggage with them.
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/14599/2002615967122493751_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002615967122493751)
Contemporary image of the fight.
De Soto could have marched south to reunite with his ships along the Gulf Coast, but instead he ordered his expedition to push north-westward in search of America's elusive riches.
http://aycu12.webshots.com/image/14571/2002946032772620164_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002946032772620164)
In May 1541, the expedition reached and crossed the Mississippi River, probably the first Europeans ever to do so. From there, they traveled through Arkansas and Louisiana, still with few material gains to show for their efforts. Turning back to the Mississippi, de Soto died of a fever on its banks on this day in 1542.
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/16374/2002617054617993619_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002617054617993619)
The bridge at Memphis is named for deSoto
The Spaniards, now under the command of Luis de Moscoso, traveled west again, crossing into north Texas before returning to the Mississippi. With nearly half of the original expedition dead, the Spaniards built rafts and traveled down the river to the sea, and then made their way down the Texas coast to New Spain, finally reaching Veracruz, Mexico, in late 1543.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/15153/2002602204865635314_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002602204865635314)