Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed
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Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Footnote 1 in the section "DEATH AND BURIAL OF DE SOTO" is missing.
There are two [7] anchors for Footnote 7 in the section "SWORD AND
GOWN IN CALIFORNIA".
There are two [3] anchors for Footnote 3 in the section "THE LOST
COLONY: ST. LOUIS OF TEXAS". The second appears to be a printer's
error.
No map was identified in the text showing the Santa Fé and Oregon
trails.
No section was found referring to the "Edmunds Bill".
The following alternate spellings were identified and retained:
practise and practice
Pekitanoüi and Pekitanoui
Clarke and Clark
Compte and Comte
Nicolet and Nicollet
Cortes and Cortez
Chicasaw and Chickasaw
New-England and New England.
[Illustration: CARTIER TAKING POSSESSION FOR FRANCE.]
THE
MAKING OF THE GREAT WEST
1512-1883
BY
SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE
_WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS_
London
GIBBINGS & COMPANY, LTD.
18 BURY STREET, W.C.
1894
COPYRIGHT, 1887, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.
PRESSWORK BY BERWICK & SMITH, BOSTON, U.S.A.
PREFACE.
"_Time's noblest offspring is the last._"
This history is intended to meet, so far as it may, the want for brief,
compact, and handy manuals of the beginnings of our country.
Although primarily designed for young people, the fact has not been
overlooked that the same want exists among adult readers, to whom
an intelligent view of the subject, in a little space, is nowhere
accessible.
For the purpose in hand, the simplest language consistent with clearness
has been made use of, though I have never hesitated to employ the right
word, whenever I could command it, even if it were of more than three
syllables.
As in the "Making of New England," "this book aims to occupy a place
between the larger and lesser histories,—to so condense the exhaustive
narrative as to give it greater vitality, or so extend what the narrow
limits of the school-history often leave obscure as to supply the
deficiency. Thus, when teachers have a particular topic before them, it
is intended that a chapter on the same subject be read to fill out the
bare outlines of the common-school text-book.
"To this end the plan has been to treat each topic as a unit, to
be worked out to a clear understanding of its objects and results
before passing to another topic. And in furtherance of this method,
each subject has its own descriptive notes, maps, plans and pictorial
illustration, so that all may contribute to a thorough knowledge of the
matter in hand. The several topics readily fall into groups that have
an apparent or underlying connection, which is clearly brought out."
In this volume, I have followed up to its legitimate ending the work
done by the three great rival powers of modern times in civilizing
our continent. I have tried to make it the worthy, if modest, exponent
of a great theme. The story grows to absorbing interest, as the great
achievement of the age,—of the Anglo-Saxon overcoming the Latin race,
as one great wave overwhelms another with resistless force.
Under the title of "The Great West," the present volume deals mostly
with the section lying beyond the Mississippi. Another is proposed, in
which the central portion of the Union will be treated. The completed
series, it is hoped, will present something like a national portrait of
the American people.
CONTENTS.
GROUP I.—THREE RIVAL CIVILIZATIONS.
I. The Spaniards.
PAGE
AN HISTORIC ERA 1
DE SOTO'S DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 10
DEATH AND BURIAL OF DE SOTO 18
THE INDIANS OF FLORIDA 20
HOW NEW MEXICO CAME TO BE EXPLORED 28
"THE MARVELLOUS COUNTRY" 39
FOLK LORE OF THE PUEBLOS 45
LAST DAYS OF CHARLES V. AND PHILIP II. 53
SWORD AND GOWN IN CALIFORNIA 55
II. The French.
PRELUDE 67
WESTWARD BY THE GREAT INLAND WATERWAYS 71
THE SITUATION IN A.D. 1672 80
COUNT FRONTENAC 84
JOLIET AND MARQUETTE 85
THE MAN LA SALLE 93
LA SALLE, PRINCE OF EXPLORERS 99
DISCOVERY OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI 105
THE LOST COLONY: ST. LOUIS OF TEXAS 109
IBERVILLE FOUNDS LOUISIANA 118
FRANCE WINS THE PRIZE 123
LOUIS XIV. 130
III. The English.
THE BLEAK NORTH-WEST COAST 132
HUDSON'S BAY TO THE SOUTH SEA 136
THE RUSSIANS IN ALASKA 140
ENGLAND ON THE PACIFIC 143
QUEEN ELIZABETH 147
_Interlude._
WHAT JONATHAN CARVER AIMED TO DO IN 1766 149
JOHN LEDYARD'S IDEA 153
A YANKEE SHIP DISCOVERS THE COLUMBIA RIVER 156
THE WEST AT THE OPENING OF THE CENTURY 162
GROUP II.—BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN IDEA.
I. America for Americans.
ACQUISITION OF LOUISIANA 171
A GLANCE AT OUR PURCHASE 175
II. The Pathfinders.
LEWIS AND CLARKE ASCEND THE MISSOURI 184
THEY CROSS THE CONTINENT 191
PIKE EXPLORES THE ARKANSAS VALLEY 198
NEW MEXICO IN 1807 205
GOLD IN COLORADO.—A TRAPPER'S STORY 208
THE FLAG IN OREGON 211
LOUISIANA ADMITTED 1812 214
III. The Oregon Trail.
THE TRAPPER, BACKWOODSMAN, AND EMIGRANT 215
LONG EXPLORES THE PLATTE VALLEY 219
MISSOURI AND THE COMPROMISE OF 1821 223
ARKANSAS ADMITTED 1836 227
THOMAS H. BENTON'S IDEA 227
WITH THE VANGUARD TO OREGON 233
TEXAS ADMITTED 241
_Interlude._
NEW POLITICAL IDEAS 246
IOWA ADMITTED 248
THE WAR WITH MEXICO 248
CONQUEST OF NEW MEXICO 251
TAKING OF CALIFORNIA 256
THE MORMONS IN UTAH 264
GROUP III.—GOLD IN CALIFORNIA, AND WHAT IT LED TO.
I. The Great Emigration.
EL DORADO FOUND AT LAST 271
SWARMING THROUGH THE GOLDEN GATE 276
THE CALIFORNIA PIONEERS 279
CALIFORNIA A FREE STATE 285
ARIZONA 288
II. The Contest for Free Soil.
THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA STRUGGLE 290
KANSAS THE BATTLE-GROUND 295
THE BATTLE FOUGHT AND WON 299
TWO FREE STATES ADMITTED 307
III. The Crown of the Continent.
GOLD IN COLORADO, AND THE RUSH THERE 308
THE PACIFIC RAILROADS 315
KANSAS, NEVADA, NEBRASKA, AND COLORADO
ADMITTED 320
THE RECENT STATES 322
THE WORK OF EIGHTY YEARS 326
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
TAKING POSSESSION FOR FRANCE _Frontispiece_
SPANISH ARMS 1
SHIP OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 2
ISABELLA OF SPAIN 3
MEDAL OF CHARLES V. 5
PONCE DE LEON 6
BALBOA DISCOVERING THE PACIFIC 8
FRENCH MAP OF 1542. FROM JOMARD 10
DE SOTO 11
SOLDIER OF 1585 12
CUBAN BLOODHOUND 14
DEPARTURE OF THE SPANIARDS 16
BURIAL OF DE SOTO 19
FLORIDA WARRIOR 21
PALISADED TOWN 23
A FLORIDA INDIAN'S CABIN 24
MAKING A CANOE 25
A CHIEFTAIN'S GRAVE 26
PROCESSIONAL FANS 27
ROCK INSCRIPTIONS, NEW MEXICO 29
MAP, NEW MEXICO. ROUTE OF SPANISH INVADERS 31
JUNCTION OF THE GILA AND COLORADO 34
ORGAN MOUNTAINS 36
EL PASO DEL NORTE 38
A PUEBLO RESTORED 41
ACOMA 43
CASA GRANDE, GILA VALLEY 44
RUINS OF PECOS 47
CEREUS GIGANTEA 49
PUEBLO IDOLS 50
HIEROGLYPHICS, GILA VALLEY 51
MAP, CALIFORNIA COAST 55
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 57
DRAKE SAILS AWAY 58
OLD MAP SHOWING DRAKE'S PORT 60
CARMEL MISSION CHURCH 61
SPANISH MAP OF 1787, SHOWING MISSIONS,
PRESIDIOS, AND ROUTES 63
MAP FROM ARCANO DEL MARE, 1647 64
SHIPS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 68
A WOOD RANGER 70
CHAMPLAIN 72
A PORTAGE 73
TOTEM OF THE FOXES 76
FRENCH COSTUMES 77
FOX RIVER 78
LOUIS XIV. 82
MARQUETTE'S MAP 86
WILD RICE 87
TOTEM OF THE ILLINOIS 89
WAR CANOE, FROM LAHONTAN 90
THE CALUMET 91
LA SALLE 94
MAP SHOWING LA SALLE'S EXPLORATIONS 95
WAMPUM BELT 102
SIOUX CHIEF 107
SIOUX TOTEM 108
SUGAR PLANT 120
MAP SHOWING DELTA OF THE MISSISSIPPI
AND ADJACENT COAST 122
BIENVILLE 124
FRENCH SOLDIERS 126
NEW ORLEANS, 1719 129
ABANDONED HUT, NORTH-WEST COAST 133
HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY'S HOUSE, LONDON 135
HUDSON'S BAY SLED, LOADED 136
INDIAN MASK, WEST COAST 139
SEALS, ST. PAUL'S ISLAND 140
RUSSIAN CHURCH, ALASKA 141
SNOW SPECTACLES, ALASKA 144
INDIAN CARVING 144
INDIAN GRAVE, NORTH-WEST COAST 155
QUEEN ELIZABETH 148
FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY 151
INDIAN BURIAL SCAFFOLD 152
MAP, MOUTH OF COLUMBIA RIVER 157
MEDAL, SHIPS COLUMBIA AND WASHINGTON 159
AN OREGON BELLE 161
A FLAT-BOAT 164
ON THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI 167
A LOUISIANA SUGAR-PLANTATION 176
FRENCH SETTLEMENTS: GERM OF ST. LOUIS 177
OLD CONVENT, NEW ORLEANS 179
MAP, ST. LOUIS AND VICINITY 180
CHOUTEAU'S POND, ST. LOUIS 181
ROCK TOWERS NEAR DUBUQUE 182
MOUNTAIN GOAT, OR BIG-HORN 185
INDIANS MOVING CAMP 186
A MANDAN 188
MANDAN SKIN BOATS 190
GATE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 193
CATCHING SALMON, COLUMBIA RIVER 196
MAP ILLUSTRATING LIEUT. PIKE'S
EXPLORATIONS 199
INDIAN BURIAL-PLACE 200
PIKE'S PEAK 202
THE YUCCA-TREE; SPANISH BAYONET 205
CHURCH, SANTA FÉ, WITH FORT MARCY 207
AN EMIGRANT'S CAMP 217
MAP ILLUSTRATING LONG'S EXPLORATIONS 220
PRAIRIE-DOG VILLAGE 221
DIGGING IN THE RIVER FOR WATER 222
STATUE OF BENTON 229
FORT LARAMIE 235
AMOLE, OR SOAP-PLANT 237
SAN ANTONIO 242
THE ALAMO 244
SAMUEL HOUSTON 245
MEXICAN CART 249
MEXICAN ARASTRA, FOR GRINDING ORES 250
PUEBLO WOMAN GRINDING CORN 253
BOY AND DONKEYS 254
PUEBLO OF TAOS 255
BIG TREE 257
MAP SHOWING STATES AND TERRITORIES
ACQUIRED FROM MEXICO 259
CALIFORNIA INDIANS AND TULE HUT 260
EL CAPITAN, YOSEMITE 262
SALT-LAKE CITY AND TABERNACLE 265
SUTTER'S MILL 272
TWO MINERS 274
THE GOLDEN GATE 276
CHINESE LAUNDRYMAN 277
A FATHER 280
MOUNT SHASTA 281
ON THE OREGON TRAIL 282
SAN FRANCISCO IN 1849 283
EARLY COIN 284
HYDRAULIC MINING 286
CHICKEN-VENDER 287
MISSION SAN XAVIER DEL BAC, NEAR TUCSON 289
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 291
A SQUATTER'S IMPROVEMENTS 296
STREET, KANSAS CITY, 1857 297
LAWRENCE, KANSAS 298
THE FERRY, LAWRENCE, KANSAS 300
A SQUATTER MOVING HIS CLAIM 301
MUD FORT, LAWRENCE 303
JOHN BROWN 304
JOHN BROWN'S CABIN 305
GATE, GARDEN OF THE GODS 309
HUMORS OF THE ROAD 310
DENVER IN 1859 311
OVERLAND STAGE—IN CAMP 311
GOING IN 312
COMING OUT 312
OFFICE OF "ROCKY-MOUNTAIN NEWS," DENVER 312
COLORADO CITY, 1859 313
QUARTZ STAMPING-MILL 314
QUAKER GUN AT STAGE STATION 315
PONY EXPRESS AND OVERLAND STAGE 317
TRACK-LAYING, PACIFIC RAILROAD 319
REAPING-MACHINE 327
GROUP I.
THREE RIVAL CIVILIZATIONS.
"_True History, henceforth charged with the education of the People,
will study the successive movements of humanity._"—VICTOR HUGO.
I.
THE SPANIARDS.
AN HISTORIC ERA.
"_And from America the golden fleece_
_That yearly stuffs old Philip's treasury._"
_Marlowe's Faustus._
The story we have to tell was the problem of the sixteenth century, and
is no less the marvel of the nineteenth. Put in the simplest possible
form, the riddle to be solved in every palace of Christendom was, "How
is the discovery of a new world going to affect mankind?"
[Illustration: SPANISH ARMS.]
To make the whole story clear, from beginning to end, calls for an
effort to first put ourselves in relation with that remote time,—its
thought, its interests, its aims and civilization. Let us try to do this
now, at this time, when from our standpoint of achieved success we may
calmly look back over the field, and see clearly the causes which have
led up to it in orderly succession.
In the very beginning we see three rival civilizations. We see different
nations, each of which is putting forth efforts to grasp dominion in,
or stamp its own civilization upon, the New World in despite of the
other. We see civilization apparently engaged in defeating its own
ends. Naturally, then, our first interest centres in the combatants
themselves. Who and what are these Old World gladiators, who, in making
choice of the New for their arena, have stripped for the encounter?
[Illustration: SHIP OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.]
Great affairs were engaging the attention of the civilized world,
so great that nearly all Europe was up in arms. It was the era of
unsettled conditions,—of old jealousies and animosities revived, of new
opportunities and new adjustments created by them. But among the nations
of Europe power was very differently distributed from what we see it
to-day. Spain, not England, was acknowledged mistress of the seas.
Not yet had England wrested that proud title from her ancient rival in
the greatest naval battle of the century. Drake and Frobisher had not
been born. Hawkins was a lad, strolling about the quays of his native
seaport. Who, then, should dispute with Spain dominion of the seas?
The royal standard of Spain had indeed floated very far at sea. Columbus
had borne it even in sight of the shores of Mexico; but, though he had
given to Spain a new world, he, the man of his century, did not succeed
in finding his long-sought strait to India, and so had died without
seeing the one great purpose of his life accomplished.
[Illustration: ISABELLA OF SPAIN.]
Yet Columbus, so to speak, was a lever of Archimedes,[1] for with the
greatness of his idea he had moved both the Old World and the New. The
Old was thrown into commotion because of his discoveries and what they
implied to mankind, the New thrilled with the new life that stirred in
her bosom. Spain at once stepped forward into the front rank of nations.
How strange and striking are the events that have flowed from this one
idea working in one man's brain! And where, in all the history of the
world, shall we look for their equal?
By the time Columbus had returned to Spain, the Portuguese mariner,
Diaz, had also discovered the Cape of Good Hope. Upon this these two
proud and powerful nations, Spain and Portugal, agreed to divide between
themselves all the unknown lands and seas to the east and to the west
of a meridian line which should be drawn from pole to pole, one hundred
and seventy leagues west of the Azores. All other nations were thus to
be excluded from the New World.[2]
Having first secured a solid foothold in the Antilles,[3] through
Columbus and his discoveries, Spain early threw out her expeditions
into Florida (1512) and Mexico (1519). The one was the logical result
of the other, for St. Domingo and Cuba now assumed distinct importance,
as stations, whence it was easy to move forward upon new schemes of
conquest. In the harbors of these islands the Spaniards could refit
their ships or recruit their crews after the long ocean voyage from
Europe. Cuba, especially, became an arsenal of the highest military
importance, which Spain took great pains to strengthen.
So at the very outset, Spain held this great advantage over her
competitors. She possessed a naval station conveniently situated for
making descents upon the adjacent coasts, which none of them was able
to secure for themselves.
Columbus died in 1506; Ferdinand, King of Spain, whose name by the
accident of time is linked in with that of Columbus, had also died;
and now Charles, who shortly was crowned Emperor of Germany, began his
most eventful reign. The period it covers is one of the most momentous
in modern history, and as great occasions commonly bring forth great
men, so those monarchs who then ruled over the peoples of Europe were
worthy of the time in which they lived. Charles was himself one of the
greatest of these monarchs. Francis I. of France was another; Henry
VIII. of England another. Hence we have felt justified in saying, as we
did at the beginning of this chapter, that our starting-point was fixed
in an historic era; for every thing betokened that as between such men
as these were the struggle was to be a contest of giants.
[Illustration: MEDAL OF CHARLES V.]
During this reign the conquests of Mexico and Peru took place. During
this reign Spain was raised to such a height of greatness as had never
before been known in her history. Europe looked on in wonder to see
these grand schemes of conquest being carried on three thousand miles
away, while Spain's powerful neighbors were kept in awe at home. The
English poet Dryden, who wrote a play upon the conquest of Mexico, makes
Cortez and Montezuma hold the following dialogue, Cortez offering peace
or war:—
_Mont._ Whence, or from whom dost thou these offers bring?
_Cortez._ From Charles the Fifth, the world's most potent king.
Other nations would gladly have shared the riches of the New World with
the conquerors, but Spain haughtily warned away intruders, meaning to
keep the prize for herself alone.
It was then that Francis I. demanded to be shown that clause in the will
of Adam disinheriting him in the New World. But Spain was too formidable
to be attacked on the seas. On the land, the two great rivals met at
Pavia, where the pride of France was laid so low that after the battle
was over, Francis wrote to his mother the memorable words, so often made
use of in like emergencies, "Madam, all is lost except honor."
The pre-eminent grandeur of Spain, at this period, shines out all the
clearer by comparison with the inferior attitude of England, not only as
a military power, but in respect of peaceful achievement. By the light
Spain carried in the van of discovery other nations moved forward, but
at a distance indicating their respect for the dictator of European
politics.
[Illustration: PONCE DE LEON.]
It is worth our remembering that in the efforts made to obtain a
foothold upon the mainland, or _terra firma_,[4] as the Spaniards then
called it, the territory of the United States may claim precedence in
the order of time. Before Cortez landed in Mexico, Ponce de Leon had
discovered and named Florida. Therefore Florida was the first portion
of the North-American continent to receive the baptism of a Christian
name.[5]
Although, under this name of Florida, Spain first claimed every thing in
North America, it was the great central region lying about the tropics
to which her explorers first turned their attention.
Cortez landed on the Gulf Coast, unfurled his banner of "blood and
gold," set fire to his ships,[6] to let his followers know that for him
and them there was no retreat, and marched on into the heart of Mexico.
Two initial points are thus fixed from which to continue the story of
Spanish domination in the New World, Florida and Mexico.
Then again, having at last found their way across the Isthmus of Darien
to the South Sea[7] (1513), the Spaniards in a measure ceased from their
persistent and useless search for an open water-way to India. Cortez
presently hewed out another road, with the sword, across Mexico, to this
great western ocean. His achievement was quickly followed up by Ulloa
(1539), Cabrillo (1542), and other Spanish navigators, who were sent by
Cortez or the Viceroy to extend discovery up the coast. They coasted the
Gulf of California, first called the Vermilion Sea, and sailed beyond
it, as high as 30° North latitude.
So thanks to Cortez, Spain had secured the much-coveted way to India
at last. Yet when he came home to his native country, the king demanded
of those about him who Cortez was. "I am a man," said the conqueror of
Mexico, "who has gained your majesty more provinces than your father
left you towns."
Supreme on land and sea, Spain pushed on her conquests abroad without
hinderance. If such deeds as hers had so irritated the self-love of a
rival prince, how must they have stirred the blood of all those daring
spirits by whom Charles was surrounded, and who burned to distinguish
themselves in the service of their liege lord and sovereign. In America,
men said the making of a new empire had begun. If that were so, it meant
that men of energy, ambition and capacity, the kind of men on whom
fortune waits to bestow her choicest favors, should seek her there.
[Illustration: BALBOA DISCOVERING THE PACIFIC OCEAN.
"Silent upon a peak in Darien."—KEATS.]
But Mexico and Peru were already won. When, therefore, the Spaniards
began to look about them for new worlds to conquer, their eyes fell upon
Florida. It is true that all those who had set forth upon this errand
met with nothing but disaster.[8] A spell seemed hanging over this land
of flowers. The Spaniards had indeed, with much pomp, planted a cross,
strangely proclaiming themselves masters of the country; yet, without
power to hold a foot of ground, this cross stood a monument to their
failures, as its inscription seemed an epitaph to their presumption.
FOOTNOTES
[1] LEVER OF ARCHIMEDES. The saying attributed to this
celebrated mathematician of ancient times, that if they would
give him a fulcrum for his lever he would move the world, is
often employed in one or another sense as a figure of speech.
[2] POPE ALEXANDER VI. confirmed the act of partition by a
special decree, called a bull.
[3] ANTILLES, an early name of the West Indies.
[4] TERRA FIRMA, literally meaning firm land; a name first
used by the Spaniards to distinguish the American continent,
or that part first discovered, from the West India Islands.
[5] CHRISTIAN NAME, from its discovery on Easter Sunday,
_Pascha Floridum_—Flowery Easter.
[6] BURNING ONE'S SHIPS has passed into a proverb often used
to illustrate some act of extraordinary hardihood, by which
one puts it out of his power to draw back from an undertaking.
Cortez only followed the example of the Emperor Julian in
ancient Rome, and of William the Conqueror in England.
[7] SOUTH SEA. The Pacific Ocean was so first called.
[8] DISASTER befell the attempt of Narvaez upon Florida in
1528. Look it up.
DE SOTO'S DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.[1]
"_One may buy gold at too dear a price._"—_Spanish._
If we look at the earliest Spanish maps on which the Gulf of Mexico
is laid down, not only do we find the delta of a great river put in
the place where we would expect to see, on our maps of to-day, the
Mississippi making its triumphal entry into the sea, but the map-makers
have even given it a name—Rio del Espiritu Santo—meaning, in their
language, the River of the Holy Ghost.
[Illustration: FRENCH MAP OF 1542. FROM JOMARD.]
That this knowledge ought not to detract from the work of subsequent
explorers is quite clear to our minds, because the charts themselves
show that only the coast line[2] had been examined when these results
were put upon parchment. The explorers had indeed found a river, and
made a note of it, but had passed on their way without so much as
suspecting that the muddy waters they saw flowing out of the land before
them drained a continent. Had they made this important discovery, we
cannot doubt their readiness to have profited by it in making their
third invasion of Florida. So the discovery, if it can be called one,
had no practical value for those who made it, and the country remained
a sealed book as before. We cannot wonder at this because La Salle
subsequently failed to find the river when actually searching for it,
though he had seen it before.
With 600 men, both horse and foot, thoroughly equipped and ably led,
Hernando de Soto[3] set sail from Havana in May, and landed on the
Florida coast on Whitsunday[4] of the year 1539.
[Illustration: DE SOTO.]
De Soto did not burn his ships, like Cortes, but sent them back to
Havana to await his further orders. These Spaniards had come, not as
peaceful colonists, looking for homes and a welcome among the owners of
the soil, but as soldiers bent only upon conquest. De Soto, as we have
seen, had brought an army with him. Its camp was pitched in military
order. It moved at the trumpet's martial sound. Two hundred horsemen
carrying lances and long swords marched in the van. With them rode
the Adelantado, his standard-bearer and suite. Behind these squadrons
marched the men of all arms—cross-bowmen, arquebusmen, calivermen,
pikemen, pages and squires, who attached themselves to the officers in
De Soto's train—then came the baggage with its camp-guard of grooms and
serving-men: and last of all, another strong body of infantry solidly
closed the rear of the advancing column, so that whether in camp or
on the march, it was always ready to fight. In effect, De Soto entered
Florida sword in hand, declaring all who should oppose him enemies.
[Illustration: SOLDIER OF 1585.]
De Soto enforced an iron discipline, never failing, like a good soldier,
himself to set an example of obedience to the orders published for the
conduct of his army. In following his fortunes, it is well to keep the
fact firmly in mind that De Soto was embarked in a campaign for conquest
only.
Toward the unoffending natives of the country the invaders used force
first, conciliation afterwards. As in Mexico and Peru, so here they
meant to crush out all opposition,—to thoroughly subjugate the country
to their arms. De Soto had served under Pizarro, and had shown himself
an apt pupil of a cruel master. The Indians were held to have no rights
whatever, or at least none that white men were bound to respect. Meaning
to make slaves of them, the Spaniards had brought bloodhounds to hunt
them down, chains with iron collars to keep them from running away, and
wherever the army went these poor wretches were led along in its train,
like so many wild beasts, by their cruel masters. On the march they were
loaded down with burdens. When the Spaniards halted, the captives would
throw themselves upon the ground like tired dogs. When hungry they ate
what was thrown to the dogs. So far as known, Hernando de Soto was the
first to introduce slavery,[5] in its worst form, into the country of
Florida, and in this manner did this Christian soldier of a Christian
prince set up the first government by white men begun in any part of
the territory of the United States.
The Spaniards were seeking for the gold which they believed the country
contained. At the first landing, a Spaniard,[6] who had lived twelve
years among the Florida Indians, was brought by them into the camp among
his friends. The first thing De Soto asked this man was whether he knew
of any gold or silver in the country. When he frankly said that he did
not, his countrymen would not believe him. The Indians, when questioned,
pointed to the mountains, where gold is, indeed, found to this day.
Though he did not believe him, De Soto took the rescued man along with
him as his interpreter.
[Illustration: CUBAN BLOODHOUND.]
It was said, and by many believed, that somewhere in Florida stood a
golden city, ruled over by a king or high priest who was sprinkled from
head to foot with gold-dust instead of powder. This story was quite
enough to excite the cupidity of the Spaniards, who grew warm when
speaking of this city as the El Dorado,[7] or city of the Gilded One.
Such fables would not now be listened to by sensible people, but in
the time we are writing of they were firmly believed in, not only by
the poor and ignorant, but by the greatest princes in Christendom, as
well. No doubt they helped to fill De Soto's ranks. Lord Bacon tells
us that in all superstitions wise men follow fools, and as this was a
superstitious age, we can readily believe him. The great, the prolific,
the true mines of the country, the cultivation of the soil, was not
thought of by these soldiers of fortune who followed De Soto into
Florida.
This ill-starred expedition is memorable rather for its misfortunes than
because of any service it has rendered to civilization. Most graphically
are these shadowed forth in the death and burial of De Soto himself,
and in that sense they will stand for all time on the page of history
as a memorial to what men will dare and suffer for greed of gold. In
any other cause the expedition would be worthy an epic.
Although composed of the best soldiers in the world, with a valiant and
skilful captain for its leader, the little army became so hopelessly
entangled, so utterly lost in the primeval wildernesses, that to this
day it has never been possible to trace out the true course of that
fatal march.[8] Wherever he could hear of gold, thither De Soto led his
weary and footsore battalions. When baffled on one side, he turned with
rare perseverance to another. And though they were being wasted in daily
combats, though famine and disease followed them step by step through
swamp and everglade, over mountains and rivers, still, with wondrous
fatuity, De Soto pushed ever on. Like an enchantress his El Dorado had
lured him on to his destruction.
For about two years De Soto and his companions wholly passed from
the knowledge of men. A miserable remnant of this once gallant band
then made their way to the coast, not indeed as conquerors, but as
fugitives.[9]
[Illustration: DEPARTURE OF THE SPANIARDS.]
Just where these years were passed is not clear. Long ago time
obliterated all traces of the invaders' march. So the clew is lost. Yet
we do know that one day in May, 1541, two years after its first landing,
the army halted on the banks of an unknown river almost half a league
broad. One of the soldiers says of it, that if a man stood still on the
other side it could not be discerned whether he was a man or no. The
river was of great depth, and of a strong tide which bore along with
it continually many great trees. All doubt vanishes. This could be no
other than the "Father of Waters" itself.
FOOTNOTES
[1] MISSISSIPPI RIVER first mentioned (Indian). The name
is variously spelled by early writers. "Father of Waters,"
or "Great Father of Waters," is the accepted meaning. Most
probably the _Espiritu Santo_ of the earliest known Spanish
map of Florida (1521), of Sebastian Cabot's (1544); and _St.
Esprit_ of the one given in the text, though the Mobile may
be meant. De Soto's people seem first to have called it _Rio
Grande_ or Great River. This disaster brought exploration
in this quarter to a full stop for forty years, when it was
resumed by the French, of whose efforts we shall presently
speak. The river then appears on a map of the explorer Louis
Joliet (1674) under its present name, though there spelled
"_Messasipi_." From this time the name superseded all others.
[2] GULF COAST of Florida is laid down with tolerable
accuracy on a map of 1513 (Ptolemy, Venice). Garay examined
it in 1518. By 1530 (Ptolemy, Basle) the Gulf Coast had
obtained quite accurate delineation. The Gulf, itself, being
the highway for ships bound to Mexico and Yucatan, was well
known to Spanish sailors. Erelong it became an exclusively
Spanish sea on which no other flag was allowed.
[3] HERNANDO DE SOTO is described by one of his followers
as "a stern man of few words, who, though he liked to know
and sift the opinions of other men, always did what he liked
himself, and so all men did condescend unto his will."—_Rel.
Portugall._
[4] WHITSUNDAY, or Whitsuntide, a festival of the Christian
Church commemorating the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the
apostles.
[5] SLAVERY, a certain type, it is true, existed among
the Indians of this continent, who held their captives in
semi-servitude, though the condition was totally different, in
that the captive was considered eligible for adoption into the
family and tribe of his master. Among the Indians the question
of social equality had nothing to do with their policy toward
their prisoners, or such as refused to become incorporated
with themselves.
[6] A SPANIARD who came with Narvaez to Florida, named Juan
(John) Ortiz.
[7] EL DORADO. Bear this name in mind. We shall meet with it
again.
[8] THAT FATAL MARCH. The one clew to the route De Soto
took in his wanderings up and down what are now the Gulf
States, is found in the names of various Indian nations whose
countries he traversed. Thus the names Apalache, Coça (Coosa),
Tuscaluca (Tuscaloosa), and Chicaça (Chicasaw) are so many
landmarks. But no precise data remain from which to lay down,
with reasonable accuracy, a journey which extended over at
least eight or ten states, covered thousands of miles, and
occupied years in making. De Soto's crossing place is placed
on Pownall's (Eng.) official map of 1755 at or near Osier
Point, on the east bank, now corresponding with the north-west
corner of the State of Mississippi and De Soto County. On
a map of 1775, it is fixed on the thirty-fourth parallel,
some distance below the ancient village of the Arkansas, or
"Handsome Men."
[9] As FUGITIVES, De Soto's followers, under command of
Moscoso, his successor, built themselves boats, in which
they descended the Mississippi to the coast, finally reaching
Tampico, in Mexico, "whereat the viceroy greatly wondered."
DEATH AND BURIAL OF DE SOTO.
"_By a Portugall of the Company._"
"The Gouernour felt in himselfe that the houre approached, wherein
he was to leaue this present life, and called for the Kings Officers,
Captaines and principall persons. Hee named Luys de Moscoso de Aluarado
his Captaine generall. And presently he was sworne by all that were
present, and elected for Gouernour. The next day, being the one and
twentieth of May, 1542, departed out of this life, the valorous,
virtuous, and valiant Captaine, Don Fernando de Soto, Gouernour of
Cuba, and Adelantado of Florida: whom fortune aduanced, as it vseth
to doe others, that he might have the higher fall.[1] Hee departed in
such a place, and at such a time, as in his sicknesse he had but little
comfort: and the danger wherein all his people were of perishing in that
countrie, which appeared before their eyes, was cause sufficient, why
euery one of them had neede of comfort, and why they did not visite nor
accompanie him as they ought to have done. Luys de Moscoso determined
to conceale his death from the Indians, because Ferdinando de Soto had
made them beleeue, that the Christians were immortall; and also because
they tooke him to be hardy, wise, and valiant: and if they should knowe
that hee was dead, they would be bold to set upon the Christians, though
they liued peaceably by them.
"As soon as he was dead, Luys de Moscoso commanded to put him secretly
in an house, where he remayned three dayes: and remouing him from
thence, commanded him to be buried in the night at one of the gates of
the towne within the wall. And as the Indians had seene him sick, and
missed him, so did they suspect what might be. And passing by the place
where he was buried, seeing the earth moued, they looked and spake one
to another. Luys de Mososco vnderstanding of it, commanded him to be
taken up by night, and to cast a great deale of sand into the Mantles,
wherein he was winded vp, wherein he was carried in a canoa, and throwne
into the midst of the riuer. The Cacique of Guachoya inquired of him,
demanding what was become of his brother and lord, the Gouernour: Luys
de Moscoso told him, that he was gone to Heauen, as many other times he
did: and because he was to stay there certaine dayes, he had left him
in his place. The Cacique thought with himselfe that he was dead; and
commanded two young and well proportioned Indians to be brought thither;
and said, that the vse of that countrie was, when any Lord died, to
kill Indians, to waite vpon him, and serue him by the way: and for that
purpose by his commandement were those come thither: and prayed Luys de
Moscoso to command them to be beheaded, that they might attend and serue
his Lord and brother. Luys de Moscoso told him, that the Gouernour was
not dead, but gone to Heauen, and that of his owne Christian Souldiers,
he had taken such as he needed to serue him, and prayed him to command
those Indians to be loosed, and not to vse any such bad custome from
thenceforth."
[Illustration: BURIAL OF DE SOTO.]
THE INDIANS OF FLORIDA.
_Indian High Priest. "Old prophecies foretell our fall at hand.
When bearded men in floating castles land,
I fear it is of dire portent._"—_Dryden's Indian Emperor._
De Soto's invasion of Florida is, we think, most memorable for what
it has preserved touching the manners and customs of the Indians with
whom the Spaniards dealt in such evil sort. In this light only has
it historic value. Though incomplete as to details it is our earliest
portrait of this singular people, as they existed a full century before
New England was settled, and so marks a definite limit of history whence
to date that knowledge from.
Yet when we shall have gone so far back in the history of this primitive
race as the beginning of the sixteenth century, nothing is found in
their manners, customs or traditions, as they have come down to us,
which would go to confirm the theory that the ancestors of these people
were more civilized than themselves. The little they seem to have known
about it belongs to the very infancy of art, not to its growth out of
lower conditions. These Indians knew how to make beads of the pearl
oyster. So did those of New England know how to make shell wampum. The
Florida Indians could weave cloth of the fibre of wild hemp and dye it
prettily; they could tan, dress, and decorate deerskins; had found out
how to mould rude earthen vessels and bake them in the sun. In some of
these things they certainly surpassed their brethren of New England,
though their arms and implements are quite like those used farther
north. Then inasmuch as all the tools they had to work with were of
the rudest sort, being shaped out of stone or bone, so the making of
most things cost them a great deal of time and labor, and hence the
mechanical arts in use among them were such only as spring from the
first and most pressing wants of a people, as is everywhere the case in
the history of primitive man.[1]
[Illustration: FLORIDA WARRIOR.]
It must be borne in mind that what we are told about these Florida
Indians is written by their enemies. Therefore, when their courage is
praised, we feel that they must have deserved it. Perhaps what most
astonishes us about the narratives themselves is the cold-blooded way in
which they recount the slaughter made of these Indians, who seem hardly
to have been considered in the light of human beings.
It would seem as if the ill-repute of the Spaniards must have gone
before them, for upon nearing the Florida shore the invaders saw smokes
everywhere curling above it, which they soon found were lighted for the
purpose of warning the inhabitants to be on their guard.
The first Indians met with were instantly set upon by De Soto's
horsemen, who had nearly killed John Ortiz before they discovered him
to be a Christian like themselves. Though in doubt what the landing
of so many white men could mean, these Indians were loyally bringing
Ortiz as a peace-offering to the Spanish camp. It is worth while to
remember this, since on the part of the Spaniards the first act was one
of violence and intimidation.
Therefore, whenever the Spaniards approached an Indian town, the
inhabitants fled from it in terror; and so in order to procure guides
to lead them, or porters to carry the baggage, while on the march, De
Soto found himself obliged to seize by force such Indians as his own men
could lay hands upon. On these he put chains and caused them to bear the
burdens of his soldiers. If possible, a chief was kidnapped to be held
a hostage for the good conduct of his tribe. No Spaniard was therefore
safe outside his encampment.[2]
Again, the Spaniards plundered the villages they entered of whatever
they stood in need, just the same as if they were in a conquered
country. If they wanted corn they took it; if they found any thing of
value they helped themselves, without making any show of paying for it.
In consequence, the exasperated Indians everywhere obstructed De Soto's
march so far as it lay in their power to do so; and on the other hand,
in proportion to the resistance he met with, De Soto treated the natives
with greater or less severity. We know these Indians therefore, for men
of courage, since in defence of their homes and liberties they could
fight with naked breasts against men in armor, and with bows and arrows
against fire-arms.[3]
[Illustration: PALISADED TOWN.]
So that by the time De Soto arrived at the Mississippi, he had lost over
a hundred men and most of his horses.
What such treatment would be likely to lead to is easily foreseen.
Most surely it sowed the seeds of future hostility to the white man
broadcast. His cruelty became a tradition. The Indian has a long memory
and is by nature revengeful. From having looked upon the whites as gods,
gifted with all good and beneficent things, the Indian quickly perceived
them to be a cruel people filled with avarice, and bent on destroying
him. His worst enemies could do no more. And thus the two races met each
other in the New World.
We should not omit to mention here one of the strangest things that fell
out in the whole course of the expedition. When the Spaniards came to
the town of Quizaquiz, where they made some stay, Indians flocked there
from distant villages in order to see for themselves what manner of
people had come among them; for they said it had been foretold them by
their fathers' fathers that men with white faces should come and subdue
them, and now they believed the prophecy had come true.
[Illustration: A FLORIDA INDIAN'S CABIN.]
In appearance, the Indian villages and towns we're everywhere much the
same. The houses were little round cabins, built of wooden palings,
sometimes thatched with palm leaves, sometimes with canes or reeds laid
on the roof in the manner of tiles. The better to resist the fierce
Gulf winds, they were built low on the ground. In the colder climates,
the walls would be smeared over with clay. The only difference to be
perceived between the cabins of the common sort and the dwellings of
the chief men was that they were larger and more roomy residences, with
sometimes a gallery built out over the front, under which the family
could sit in the heat of the day.
Every little knot of cabins would have one or more corn-cribs close
beside it. This was a loft or granary set up in the air on poles,
exactly in the manner now practised by the whites, and for the like
purpose of storing up maize or Indian corn which was universally
cultivated. Only for the supplies of maize everywhere found, both the
Spaniards and their horses would soon have starved, as corn[4] became
their only article of food, and ofttimes they had to go hungry for want
of it.
[Illustration: MAKING A CANOE.]
Men and women wore mantles woven either of the bark of trees or of a
wild sort of hemp which the Indians knew how to dress properly for the
purpose. They also understood the art of tanning and dyeing such skins
as were obtained in the chase, which they also made up into garments.
Two of these mantles made a woman's usual dress. One was worn about
them, hanging from the waist down, like a petticoat or gown, the other
would be thrown over the left shoulder with the right arm bared, after
the manner of the Egyptians. The warriors wore only this last mantle,
which allowed them free use of the right arm in drawing forth an
arrow from the quiver, or in bending the bow. When dressed up in his
head-gear of feathers, and wearing his ornamented mantle flung across
his shoulder, bow in hand, and carrying his well-filled quiver at his
back, the Indian warrior made no unpicturesque figure, even beside the
heavily-armed white man, for he was of a well-proportioned and muscular
build, with good features, an eye like the eagle's, and a bearing which
told of the manhood throbbing beneath his dusky skin.
[Illustration: A CHIEFTAIN'S GRAVE.]
The Indians of Florida worshipped both a god of good and evil. They also
made sacrifice to both spirits alike. In some places they worshipped and
sacrificed to the sun as the great life-giving principle; in others they
had a curious custom when any great lord died, of sacrificing living
persons to appease or comfort his spirit with the offering of these
other spirits who were to serve him and bear him company in the happy
hunting-grounds.
Some tribes kept their dead unburied for a certain time in a rude sort
of pantheon, or temple, dedicated to their gods.[5] Over this a strict
watch was kept to guard against the intrusion of evil spirits who were
supposed to lie in wait, in the form of some prowling beast of prey.
This custom sprung from a belief that the spirits of the dead revisited
their mortal bodies at times.
Besides maize, pumpkins, beans, and melons, whatever natural fruits the
country produced the Indian lived on. He hunted and fished. The summer
was his season of plenty, the winter one of want, sometimes of distress,
but in the semi-tropical region, bordering upon the Gulf, his wants were
fewer and more easily supplied, and hence, as a rule, life was freer
from hardship than in more northern climes.
[Illustration: PROCESSIONAL FANS.]
The stronger nations made war upon the weaker, but treaties were
duly respected. The vanquished were compelled to pay tribute to the
conquerors or join themselves with some stronger tribe than their own.
The languages differed so much with different nations, that De Soto
found he must have a new interpreter for every new nation he visited;
nevertheless the Indians quickly learned to speak the Spanish tongue. In
public the people behaved with great propriety, showed respect for their
rulers, and often confounded De Soto, who pretended to supernatural
powers, by the shrewdness of their replies. For instance, when the
Spaniard gave out that he was the child of the sun, a Natchez chief
promptly bid him dry up the river, and he would believe him. In some
places the Indians greeted the Spaniards with songs and music. Their
instruments were reeds hung with tinkling balls of gold or silver. When
the chieftain, or cacique, went abroad in state, men walked by his side
carrying screens elegantly made of the bright plumage of birds. These
were borne at the end of a long staff.
The Spaniards found the fertile parts of the country everywhere crowded
with towns, and very populous. But they did not find the gold[6] they
coveted so much. They called the Indians a people ignorant of all the
blessings of civilization, but to their honor be it also said, they were
free from the vices by which it is accompanied and degraded.
FOOTNOTES
[1] PRIMITIVE MAN. All the articles named as being found in
common use among the Florida Indians have been taken from the
burial mounds which exist in the States of Ohio, Georgia,
North Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin, etc. And all are
more or less referred to as so many evidences of an extinct
civilization.
[2] NARVAEZ pursued the same policy, and met with like
treatment.
[3] FIRE-ARMS of that period were very clumsy weapons indeed.
The arquebus was a short hand-gun, the caliver longer, and
with the help of a slow-match could be fired from a rest. Only
a certain proportion of the infantry were thus armed; the rest
carried pikes.
[4] CORN. The Indians' corn-mill was a smooth round hole worn
in the rock. A stone pestle was used. The coarse meal mixed
with water or tallow, or both, was then wrapped in leaves,
and baked in hot ashes.
[5] BURIAL PLACES. Upon finding one of these receptacles
for the dead, a Franciscan of Narvaez' company, who declared
the practice idolatrous, caused all the bodies to be burnt,
thereby much incensing the natives.
[6] GOLD. Hearing the Spaniards always asking for gold, the
natives shrewdly made use of it to rid themselves of these
unwelcome visitors, by sending them farther and farther away.
In reality the Indians had almost none of the precious metals,
but the finding of a few trinkets among them seems to have
dazzled De Soto's eyes.
HOW NEW MEXICO CAME TO BE EXPLORED.
_"Northward, beyond the mountains we will go,_
_Where rocks lie covered with eternal snow."_
In the disasters of Narvaez and De Soto, the movement from the side
of Florida towards the West had met with an untimely check. But,
strangely enough, it made progress in another quarter through these very
misfortunes.
For while De Soto was vainly seeking for gold on that side, his
countrymen were bestirring themselves in the same business in a quite
different direction, as we shall see.
[Illustration: ROCK INSCRIPTIONS, NEW MEXICO.]
At this time it was Don Antonio de Mendoza who was the emperor's viceroy
in Mexico. Now Mendoza aimed to gain distinction with his sovereign by
being the first who should discover and make known to the world, all the
unexplored region lying north of Mexico, which was accounted as rich as
any yet known to the Spaniards. Most of all, perhaps, Mendoza wished to
find the land's end in that northern direction, as by doing so he would
complete the work of putting a girdle round the continent, and gain the
glory of it for himself.
Various efforts were making to do this both by land and sea.[1] And
curiously enough these efforts came from the West.