DeSoto's Southern Trail
by Donald E. SheppardHernando de Soto re-entered Georgia from Chattanooga, "On Tuesday (July 13, 1540, when) they crossed another river (South Chickamauga Creek, camping near Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia), and on Wednesday another large river (West Chickamauga Creek), and they slept in Tasqui (Lafayette)... On Thursday they went to another small town (above Trion) and passed other towns, and on Friday the Governor entered in Coosa..." at Summerville, beside Pigeon Mountain. "...one of the best and most abundant provinces we found..." DeSoto timed his arrival there on the weekend of Full Moon for the safety it afforded.
"Its chief (Coosa, who spoke a Muskogean dialect, different from the Carolina Cherokee Iroquoian language) came forth to receive us on a litter with great festivity and many people, because he has many subject towns..."
"The chief came out to welcome him two crossbow flights 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."
"... 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 that will satisfy you entirely (today's Etowah and Rome), 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 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 at the beginning of the coming winter to the port of Achusi with reinforcements 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 for twenty-five days, then set out on Friday, August 20th (1540), to look for a province, by name, Tuscalusa..." His scouts were dispatched several days earlier on the Full Moon. "We departed from here (Summerville, GA) toward the west and southwest (down the Chattooga River Valley) and went through towns of the Chief..." "...and they spent that night beyond Talimuchusiour (today's Chattoogaville)..." "...a half-league beyond it near a stream (the Chattooga River)."
"...the next day (August 22, 1540), in a heavy rain, they spent the night in Itaba, a large town near a good river..." today's Cedar Bluff, Alabama, where the Chattooga River joins the Coosa River. "... We stayed there for six days [eight on Rangel's calendar] because a river, which ran hard by the town, was swollen."
Cedar Bluff is on a large reservoir today (maped above), caused by Weiss Dam raising the Coosa River by only a few feet nine miles below Cedar Bluff. That dam diverts the river into a man-made lake for power generation, cutting off twenty-one miles of river flow. The dam is in a narrow ravine where the river was naturally obstructed by heavy flow and debris during heavy rains when DeSoto reached that impasse just above that canyon.
Eight days later "the Governor left from Itaba with his army and spent the night in an oak grove" near today's Centre, six miles below Cedar Bluff. "The following day they went to Ulibahali (Andrew Jackson's Turkey Town, just east of Gadsden), a very good town next to a large river..." The Coosa River is 300 wide at that point.
Ulibahali 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... was plastered within and without and had loopholes..." on a hundred foot high hill at today's Union Church. DeSoto's army orvertook it.
"On the other side of the (Coosa) river was a town where the chief was (today's Turkeytown). The governor ordered him to be summoned and he came immediately... and give him (DeSoto) the necessary tamemes and thirty women as slaves..." for troops to wed at DeSoto's planned colony on Mobile Bay. They harvested grapes in that area for several days.
"From this town of Ulibahali they left one Thursday, the second of September, and they spent the night in a pretty town hard by the river..." at Glencoe, hedged by Green Creek Mountain to the Coosa River, "and the next day, Friday, they (passed between mountains and) came to Piachi (today's Ohatchee), which is alongside a river... On Sunday they left there and spent the night in the open (out of the mountains)... and the next day reached another called Toasi (today's Talladega)... where they rested for several days."
Elvas says, "...we marched ordinarily five or six leagues (13 or so miles) daily when going through a peopled region, and as much as we could through a depopulated region..."
"...[Then] we marched for five days... [Rangel says the first two nights were "in the open," his meaning "in a valley"] and reached Tallise..." spelled "Tallassee" today, on September 16th, Full Moon. "This town was palisaded... with very good terraces, and almost surrounded by a river..." at the Tallapoosa River's southeastern most bend.
Eighteen days later, "...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 E into hostile Indian territory where he would be slain, according to reports of another Spanish expedition, Tristan de Luna's, two decades later). We went by way of a road that they (natives and scouts) told DeSoto was the most suitable."
Scouts had been dispatched from Tallassee to examine two different trails to Chief Tuscalusa, reported by the natives to be thirteen leagues (34 miles) from there. One trail passed through today's Montgomery, the other above it. The first crossed the Tallapoosa and Alabama Rivers (map below), the other only the Coosa River. DeSoto chose the later given that the Alabama River was too large to lead an army across un-necessarily.
We "...headed south (down the north 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 River near Old Bingham), and the next day, Wednesday (October 6, 1540), they went to Caxa (French Fort Toulouse), a wretched town on the bank of the river (the Coosa River, photo at left) on a direct line between Talisi and Tuscalusa." "...and (we) crossed the River of Talise (the Coosa River, into Chief Tuscalusa's Province) in rafts and canoes, it being so full of water that they could not ford it." "Next day, Thursday, they spent the night alongside the river (the Alabama River), and a town called Humati (near Montgomery) was on the other side of the water."
"And the next day, Friday, they went to another town, which is called Uxapita (Prattville)... and the next day, Saturday, they established their camp one league before arriving at the town of Tuscalusa, in the open..." They camped in the valley near Autaugaville. "On Sunday the Governor entered the town, which was called Atahachi." "It was not the chief town of this state, but one of the other, ordinary ones." Chief Tuscalusa lived in the center of his province in Piachi, several days travel to westward.