DeSoto's Southern Trail
by Donald E. SheppardOut of Chattanooga, DeSoto spent one night at Chickamauga, and the next day DeSoto found Chief Coosa at LaFayette, at the foot of Pigeon Mountain.
"Its chief (Coosa, who spoke a Muskogean dialect, different from the Cherokee Iroquoian language) came forth to receive us on a litter with great festivity and many people, because he has many subject towns..." including Achalaque ("Cherokee" in English), where DeSoto first heard about Coosa. Achalaque's young people had moved there.
"DeSoto reached Cosa on Friday, July 16th, 1540. "The chief came out to welcome him two crossbow flights (half-a-mile) from the town in a carrying chair borne on the shoulders of his principal men, seated on a cushion, and covered with a robe of marten skins of the form and size of a woman's shawl. He wore a crown of feathers... and around about him were many Indians playing and singing."
He ordered his Indians to move out of their dwellings, in which the governor and his men were lodged. In the storage bins and fields there was a great quantity of maize and beans. The land was very populous and had many large towns and planted fields which reached from one town to the other. It was a charming and fertile land, and grapes along the (Chattooga) river on vines climbing up into the trees."
"The governor was accustomed to place a guard over the chief so that the chief might not go away, and took the chief along with him until leaving the chief's land; for by taking the chief, the people would await in their towns and the chief would give a guide and Indians as carriers (of their village's food). Before departing from their lands, (DeSoto) would give the chiefs leave to return to their homes as soon as he reached another dominion where others were (forced to be) given to him." "Those of Coosa, seeing their lord detained, thought ill of it and revolted and went away to hide themselves in the woods - both those of their lord's town and those of other chiefs towns, who were his vassals. The governor sent four captains, each in a different direction... They seized many Indians, men and women, who were put in chains. Upon seeing the harm they received, and how little they gained in absenting themselves, they came, saying that they wished to serve in whatever might be commanded them. Some of the principal men among those imprisoned were set free on petition of the chief. Of the rest, each man took away as slaves those he had in chains, without allowing them to go to their lands. Nor did many of them return except some whose good fortune and assiduous industry aided them, who managed to file off their chains at night; or some, who were able, while on the march, to wander away from the road upon observing any lack of care in their guard. They went off with their chains, their loads and the clothes they were carrying..." (for the Spaniards)."
"... and in truth, as eyewitnesses testified (at Spanish Inquests years later), it was a thing of much pity to see (those Indians); but God forgets no evil thing done nor does it remain without punishment, as this history will relate."
"One day while the Spaniards were in this village of Cosa, its lord, who had eaten at the governor's table, having talked with him about many things pertaining to the conquest and settlement of the country and having replied to the entire satisfaction of the governor... said "Sir... if you are seeking good lands on which to settle, see fit to remain in mine and make an establishment in them. I believe that this is one of the best provinces that your lordship has seen among all of those that are in this kingdom, and moreover I assure your lordship that you have chanced to pass through and see the poorest and least desirable part of it. If your lordship should desire to examine it more closely, I will take you through other, better parts (Rome, Georgia, Chief Coosa's home) that will satisfy you entirely, and you can take whatever part of them that seems best to you for settling and establishing your house and court. If you do not wish to grant me this favor at present, at least do not refuse to remain in this village during the coming winter, which is near, where we will serve you, as your lordship will see by our actions..." The governor thanked him for his good will and told him that he was wholly unable to make an inland settlement until knowing what ports there were on the seacoasts to receive the ships and the people that would come to them from Spain or elsewhere with cattle and plants and the other things necessary for making settlements. At the proper time he would accept his offer and would always maintain friendship with him, and meanwhile he might rest assured that he would not delay in returning there and settling the country, and then he could do the things he asked for his gratifacation and satisfaction." This lord (Coosa) was twenty-six or twenty-seven years of age, of very elegant bearing, as are most of those in that country, and of good understanding. He spoke with descretion and gave good replies to all the questions that were asked him; he appeared to have been brought up in a most enlightened and polished court."
"The governor thanked him for his good will and told him that he was wholly unable to make an inland settlement until knowing what ports there were on the seacoasts to receive the ships and the people that would come to them from Spain or elsewhere with cattle and plants and the other things necessary for making settlements. At the proper time he would accept his offer and would always maintain friendship with him, and meanwhile he might rest assured that he would not delay in returning there and settling the country, and then he could do the things he asked for his gratification and satisfaction..."
"...the governor saw fit to continue his journey toward the sea, which he was seeking. Since leaving the province of Xuala (Tryon, N.C.) we had marched toward the coast (the Gulf of Mexico), making an arc through the country in order to come out at the port of Achusi (Mobile Bay) as we had agreed with Captain Maldonado to do. The later had remained to explore the coast and was to return (from Cuba) at the beginning of the coming winter to the port of Achusi with reinforements of men and arms and cattle and provisions... The governor's chief purpose was to go to this port to begin making his settlement..."
"The Governor rested in Coosa (Fort Payne) for twenty-five days, then set out on Friday, August 20th (1540, under the near Full Moon), to look for a province, by name, Tuscaloosa... We departed from here (below LaFayette, GA) toward the west and southwest and went through towns of the Chief..." "...(and) passed through a large town (Summerville, GA)... and went to sleep a half-league beyond it near a stream." (the Chattooga River)
"And the next day, in a heavy rain, they spent the night in Itaba, a large town near a good river..." at Gaylesville, Alabama, on the Chattooga River just above the Coosa River "... we stayed there for six days because a river, which ran hard by the town, was swollen." Weiss Dam and Lake floods the Chattooga and Coosa Rivers by about four feet there today. The dam was built to direct and hold the seasonal flooding of that area into Weiss Lake. DeSoto pastured his people and animals well up the valley, above Gaylesville, during the natural flood which occured there in 1540, then crossed the Coosa River in groups to the south bank grove and pastures to wait for the others.
Another DeSoto Chronicler reported... "As soon as the river allowed crossing we set out, and went to sleep at a town called Ullibahali (Gadsden, during the darkness of New Moon)... near which flowed a small river..." (the Coosa River)... (DeSoto led his horsemen into Gadsden while the others haulted south of a fortress which was) "...enclosed like that in other towns seen there afterward, of thick logs, set solidly close together in the ground, and many long poles as thick as an arm placed crosswise... and it was plastered within and without and had loopholes..." for the natives to shoot arrows through. DeSoto's men took control of that fortress.
"On the other side of the (Coosa) river was a town where the chief was (in today's downtown Gadsden)... The governor ordered him to be summoned and he came immediately... and give him (DeSoto) the necessary tamemes and thirty women as slaves." The army pillaged that area for two days.
"On the day the governor set out thence, he went to sleep at a town (Ohatchee) subject to the lord of Ullibahali, and next day reached another..." (just below the Talladega International Speedway) "...which is alongside a river (Ohoccolocco Creek, which looks like a river above Jackson Shoals)" "...and the next day we reached another called Toasi (Talladega)..." "...where they spent several days gathering food."
"...we marched ordinarily five or six leagues (13 to 16 miles) daily when going through a peopled region, and as much as we could through a depopulated region..."
"...[then] we marched for five days... and reached Tallise..." spelled "Tallassee" today, on September 16ths Harvest Moon." "This town was palisaded... with very good terraces, and almost surrounded by a river..." at the Tallapoosa River's big bend. "...the governor took leave of the good Chief Coosa and his people, who were very sad because we were leaving their country (actually, Chief Coosa was released into hostile Indian territory where he would be slain, according to reports made by another Spanish expedition two decades later). We went by way of a road that they (advanced scouts) told the Governor was the most suitable..."
The scouts had been dispatched to explore two trails to Tuscaloosa, reported to lie only thirteen leagues (35 miles) from there... one trail passed through today's Montgomery, the other above it; the first crossed the Tallapoosa and Alabama Rivers; the other, only the Coosa River; DeSoto chose the later...
"...headed south (down the west bank of the Tallapoosa River), drawing near the coast of New Spain (the Gulf of Mexico)..."
"... and spent the night... alongside the river (the Tallapoosa), and the next day went to Caxa (at today's Fort Toulouse State Memorial, just opposite today's Wetumpke), a wretched town on the bank of the river (the Coosa River) on a direct line [raya] between Talisi and Tuscalusa."
"... and (we) crossed the River of Talise (the Coosa River) in rafts and canoes (into today's Wetumpke), it being so full of water that they could not ford it."
"The next day they spent the night alongside the river (the Alabama River, near Coosada), and a town called Humati was on the other side of the water (we call it Montgomery today). And the next day they went to a new town (Prattville)... and the next day we camped in the open (in the large field of Forester, during the darkness of New Moon) one league (two-and-two-thirds miles) before the town of Tuscalusa... the Governor entered the town, which was called Atahachi (it's called Autaugaville today, nearly the same name with an English ending)."