=18. The Expedition to Florida.= While Coronado and his men were
searching in vain for hidden cities with golden temples, another band
of men was wandering through the forests farther to the eastward.
Hernando de Soto had been one of Pizarro's bravest soldiers. The news
that this bold adventurer was to lead an expedition to Florida stirred
all Spain. Many nobles sold their lands to fit out their sons to fight
under so great a leader.
The Spanish settlers of Cuba gave a joyful welcome to De Soto and
to the brave men from the homeland. After many festivals and solemn
religious ceremonies, nine vessels, carrying many soldiers, twelve
priests, six hundred horses, and a herd of swine, sailed for Florida
(1539).
[Sidenote: =The settlers of Cuba welcome De Soto=]
[Illustration: HERNANDO DE SOTO
_After an engraving to be found in the works of the great Spanish
historian, Herrera_]
What a grand sight to the Indians as the men and horses clad in steel
armor landed! There were richly colored banners, beautiful crucifixes,
and many things never before seen by the Indians. But this was by far
the most cruel expedition yet planned.
[Sidenote: =The Spaniards' cruelty to the Indians=]
Wherever the Spaniards marched Indians were seized as slaves and
made to carry the baggage and do the hard work. If the Indian guides
were false, they were burned at the stake or were torn to pieces by
bloodhounds. Hence the Indians feared the Spaniards, and Indian guides
often misled the Spanish soldiers on purpose to save the guides' own
tribes from harm.
De Soto fought his way through forests and swamps to the head of
Apalachee Bay, where he spent the winter. In the spring a guide led the
army into what is now Georgia, in search of a country supposed to be
rich in gold and ruled by a woman. The soldiers suffered and grumbled,
but De Soto only turned the march farther northward.
[Sidenote: =Attacked by Indians=]
The Appalachian Mountains caused them to turn south again until they
reached the village of Mavilla (Mobile), where the Indians rushed on
them in great numbers and tried to crush the army. But Spanish swords
and Spanish guns won the day against Indian arrows and Indian clubs. De
Soto lost a number of men, at least a dozen horses, and the baggage of
his entire army, yet he boldly refused to send to the coast for the men
and supplies waiting for him there.
=19. The Discovery of the Mississippi.= Again De Soto's men followed
him northward, this time into what we know as northern Mississippi,
where the adventuring army spent the second winter in a deserted Indian
village. In the spring, in 1541, De Soto demanded two hundred Indians
to carry baggage, but the chief and his men one night stole into camp,
set fire to their own rude houses, gave the war whoop, frightened many
horses into running away, and killed a number of the Spaniards.
[Illustration: THE ROUTES OF CORONADO AND DE SOTO
_Following these pathways, the soldier-explorers discovered the Grand
Cañon of the Colorado and the great Mississippi River_]
[Sidenote: =They reached a great river=]
[Illustration: DE SOTO DISCOVERS THE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI]
The army then marched westward for many days, wading swamps and
wandering through forests so dense that at times they could not see the
sun. At last, a river was reached greater than any the Spaniards had
ever seen. It was the Mississippi, more than a mile wide, rushing on at
full flood toward the Gulf.
On barges made by their own hands, De Soto and his men crossed to the
west bank of the broad stream. There they marched northward, probably
as far as the region now known as Missouri, and then westward two
hundred miles. Nothing but hardships met them on every hand. In the
spring of 1542, the little army came upon the Mississippi again.
[Sidenote: =Burial of De Soto=]
De Soto was tiring out. He grew sad and asked the Indians how far it
was to the sea. But it was too far for the bold leader. A fever seized
him, and after a few days he died. At dead of night his companions
buried him in the bosom of the great river he had discovered.
=20. Only Half the Army Returns to Cuba.= There were bold leaders
still left in the army. They turned westward again, but after finding
neither gold nor silver, they returned to the Mississippi and spent the
winter on its banks. There they built boats, and then floated down to
the Gulf. Only one half of the army returned to tell the sad tales of
hardships, battles, and poverty.
[Sidenote: =What Coronado and De Soto proved to the King of Spain=]
Thus it came about that Coronado and De Soto proved that northward from
Mexico there were no rich cities, such as Columbus had dreamed about,
and such as Cortés and Pizarro had really found. Hence it was that the
King of Spain and his brave adventurers took less interest in that part
of North America which is now the United States, and more in Mexico and
in South America.