by Donald E. SheppardSpanish Conquistadors wrote the oldest history we have of America, but told a different story than the one we learned in school. Fresh documents make it possible for us to track and study the Hernando DeSoto Expedition, Spain's longest journey into Native America. This Site traces their trails, highways today, to villages which became our cities in Fourteen States.
DIRECT OBSERVATIONS BY: the King's Agent, Fernandez de Biedma, DeSoto's Personal Secretary, Rodrigo Rangel, and those of a central Portuguese Officer who modestly called himself A Gentleman of Elvas were used to study and track desoto for this report. Garcilaso de la Vega, herein called "Inca," published a book based on interviews with, among others, one of DeSoto's Thirty Lancers. Inca's writings were also used despite his eventual place sequence confusion. All of these translations are INDEXED by CITY AND STATE herein.
*These works were collected in The Desoto Chronicles, the Expedition of Hernando DeSoto to North America 1539-1543, by Lawrence A. Clayton, Vernon James Knight, Jr. and Edward C. Moore of the University of Alabama. They were used for this report and are simply abbreviated "Clayton 1993" throughout.
None of DeSoto's maps or field notes is known to exist today. His chroniclers, however, accurately described his movements and works; usually calling him "Governor". He is referred to as "DeSoto" throughout this paper, that being common vernacular in this country, although "Soto" is proper. I believe that each chronicler reported some of what he saw or understood, but that each saw and heard things from different vantage points, especially when they were on the move. In the confusion of unexplored wilderness, they and their informants were among tribes who spoke languages so alien to their own that recorded location names varied among the chroniclers.
Archeology was once thought to be the key to finding Conquest Trails (Brain 1985:xvi-xxiii in References), but that science has failed to do so in the sixty-odd years since ethnologists and historians surrendered that study to them. Little evidence of conquest has been found, mostly in Florida, all leading archeologists to very suspicious conclusions (1951, Ripley P. Bullen).
On the other hand, knowledge in other fields has flourished in the years since the DeSoto trail theory which we learned was hypostasized. We now realize that early trail seekers misinterpreted Spanish written jargon, overlooked tactics of ancient mariners, and failed to comprehend "land paced" navigation and geographic reality altogether.
Moon Phases and coasts were important during conquest. The King's agent with Hernando de Soto, and Cabeza de Vaca, described their trails through Florida in relation to the coast. To the King of Spain and all professional seamen everywhere, the word "coast" meant navigable water nearest to land; a functional sea lane (the King in Clayton:I:360). Scholars have used the shoreline of our shallow Gulf of Mexico for reference while selecting Conquest trails, but their shoreline lies at least fifteen miles inland of Florida's real "coast". "Definitive" conquest trails have, therefore, been placed about that distance inland of actual Conquest trails (both DeSoto and DeVaca used the same Native trails).
The only complete description of DeSoto's main trail through Florida was made when DeSoto's Thirty Lancers rode back down his trail after guiding him to north Florida. The length of their reported ride, however, has been discredited and shortened by scholars by an amount believed by them to have been exaggerated by a sixteenth century transcriber of their journal (Swanton 1939:151). The Thirty Lancers rode on Harvest Moon at journey's mid-way, unknown to scholars until the advent of powerful computers, enabling the Lancers well lit over-night passages between places confused by scholars until now.
Tides are also affected by the moon (Katzeff 1981:93). Certain Florida harbors were impassable to large Spanish Galleons except on particular moon phases (Inca in Clayton:II:73). "Spring Tides", which only occur near new and full moon in Florida, increase the tide's amplitudes, making particular harbor channels navigable for large ships. DeSoto's biggest mistake in approaching Florida arose from ignoring that fact. It cost him dearly during his landing; from then on the Moon's Phase would be considered on every tactical decision DeSoto made. Precise lunar intelligence became available with the advent of atomic time measure, radar telescopes and digital computers (the data used herein was provided by Mammana 1994). Only now can we focus on DeSoto's genius and folly.
Distance-measurement, in LEAGUES, and pasture land location were important to Conquest Navigators and Captains. It meant the actual distance between places, along straight lines, measured in Spanish judicial leagues by pacers and plotted by cartographers for eventual land title. There are 2.6 statute miles per Spanish judicial league; so 1 LEAGUE = 2.6 AMERICAN MILES (see Blake 1988; Brain 1985:xvi; Chardon 1980:295; Hodge 1907:22 footnote 2; Swanton 1939:104 in References). All of America's land is titled in reference to a grid similar to the one DeSoto planned, with statute miles our units of "legal" measure. That land titling concept was inherited from the Romans (King 1990:99). DeSoto's people knew that he could only claim lands inland of two hundred leagues of coast for his colony, and that they could claim homesteads only within the boundaries of that colony (the King in Clayton:I:360). Accordingly, they kept track of desirable locations, some in their personal journals, and described the army's movements in the process. Modern detailed maps allow us to follow their directions with precision.
DeSoto's army had over two-hundred horses, each requiring adequate food every day (Biedma in Clayton:I:225). Horses were so important to his mission that pasture lands or Indian villages with stored food were always his intermediate destinations. But American Indians had no horses or cattle, so their lifestyles were not accommodating to DeSoto's (Inca in Clayton:II:69, 146). To make allowance for this, DeSoto marched his army in six divisions (Elvas in Clayton:I:58), and each camped separately on Florida's small fields and Indian villages. DeSoto's army was strewn across the landscape as it advanced, their campsites often at great interval. Horsemen provided DeSoto with intelligence for selecting desirable campsites for each, then "posted" his marching orders accordingly. Horses were kept fit and Captains were kept aware of the proximity of other divisions in case of attack. Accurate distance measure was DeSoto's key to these ends, and would serve as the foundation of land title once his planned colony was selected. DeSoto trail seekers have tended to ignore precedent land title, equestrian lifestyle, nautical terminology and colonial lunar concept.
Florida's 130,000 acre rock phosphate ridge and its giant pebble phosphate fields are almost forgotten today. Most were mined-out well before many of us were born. The phosphate from them was ground into fertilizer for America's crops. In DeSoto's time, however, Florida's phosphate ridges and fields were the centers of life on peninsular Florida's west side and afforded large enough pastures and sufficient maize to support his entire army and its livestock. DeSoto's army rested on them until the food ran out due to consumption or packing for the road ahead. Unfortunately, archaeologists will never get to study most of them as surface mining has destroyed most.
Detailed satellite photographs, accurate lunar tables and laser-defined topography did not exist until recently. For that matter, neither did effective mosquito repellant, reliable all-terrain vehicles, snake bite antivenins or affordable deep-probe metal detectors to use in locating sites. Today we have the benefit of these tools plus newly-annotated translations of the DeSoto's chronicles available at most public libraries.
The DeSoto Chronicles were written as personal journals by three Officers of his expedition; Luis Fernandez de Biedma, a factor of the Crown; The Gentleman of Elvas, an un-named Portuguese Officer with DeSoto; and Rodrigo Rangel, DeSoto's Private Secretary. Garcilaso de la Vega published a narrative based on interviews with several entrada survivors, primarily one of DeSoto's Thirty Lancers. Inca's narrations are used here, despite his occasional exaggeration of fact and confusion of detail, along with those of the three officers, and are collectively called the "DeSoto Chronicles" in this paper. ALL OF THESE ARE INDEXED BY STATE, WITH TABULATED INDIAN PLACE NAMES BY CITY AND STATE
All of these works, plus other DeSoto documents and biographies, were recently published in a two volume set, The Desoto Chronicles, the Expedition of Hernando DeSoto to North America 1539-1543, edited by Lawrence A. Clayton, Vernon James Knight, Jr. and Edward C. Moore. These interpretations are used here for ease of reader reference.
None of DeSoto's maps or field notes is known to exist today. The chroniclers frequently described him and his work, however, calling him "Governor". He is called "DeSoto" throughout this paper, that being common vernacular in this country, although Soto is proper. I believe that each chronicler reported some of what he saw or understood, but that each saw and heard things from different vantage points, especially when the army was on the move (Inca in Clayton:II:132). In the confusion of unexplored wilderness, they and their informants were among people who spoke languages so alien to their own that recording it in print was almost impossible. Inca, never having been in Florida, confused place names occasionally and never understood what the other Chroniclers called provinces (he names ten provinces in Florida [ibid.:33-38, 189], the others agree on four). Most specifics, however, are similarly titled by the various chroniclers. Forgotten activity and lost notes in conquest probably account for certain aberrations. The observer's scattered localities during particular events could likewise account for discrepancies in ranging, timing and sequencing reports.
If we are to find DeSoto's trail and learn more about the places he visited, then surely we must begin by understanding and applying what these people wrote. This work is an attempt to do just that; it varies substantially from previously published works, however. What follows is my version of the events, circumstances, and geographic locations involved in the DeSoto landing and entrada. Explorations and conquests of America's Gulf Coast, immediately preceding DeSoto's, are also included. I have done my best to use all of the DeSoto chronicles, without bias from other published route reconstructions, and I have attempted to match geographic descriptions provided by DeSoto's Chroniclers with existing locations in America. Today's place names are used in many cases to facilitate identification of sites which may not otherwise be known to those less familiar with Early American History.