USA > Arkansas > A pictorial history of Arkansas, from earliest times to the year 1890. A full and complete account, embracing the Indian tribes occupying the country; the early French and Spanish explorers and governors; the colonial period; the Louisiana purchase; the periods of the territory, the state, the civil war, and the subsequent period. Also, an extended history of each county in the order of formation, and of the principal cities and towns; together with biographical notices of distinguished and prominent citizens > Part 3
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Bancroft's History of the United States :- "The lowest Chickasaw bluff." (Memphis.)
Belknap :- "Within the 34th degree" (i. e. from the Louisiana line to a little above the mouth of White river).
Andrew Ellicott's Journal :- "Thirty-four degrees and ten minutes" (about the location of Sunflower Landing, Missis- sippi).
Martin's Louisiana :- "A little below the lowest Chicka- saw bluff."
Nutall's Travels in Arkansas :- "The lowest Chickasaw bluff."
McCulloch's Researches :- "Twenty or thirty miles below the mouth of the Arkansas river."
In French's Historical Collections of Louisiana, Vol. I, there is an old French map, in which the route of De Soto is given, and the point of crossing is placed at about what would be equivalent to 34 degrees, 10 minutes, which would be a short distance below Helena. The point of crossing is designated on the map as "Pointe d'Oziers," above the mouth of the Arkansas river, and above where White river ought to be on the map, but below the mouth of the St. Francis river.
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TO THE YEAR 1543.
Of this map Mr. French says : "The valuable and rare map accompanying this volume is a well executed fac-simile of the original. It aspires to a degree of accuracy that is of im- portance both to the historian and antiquarian. It preserves not only the Indian names of the lakes and rivers, but teaches the routes of the early explorers, and lays down the localities of the numerous Indian tribes, who once held sway over this extensive country."
On this map the Arkansas river is put down as "Riviere des Arkansas ou Tonti;"' the Red river, "Riv. Rouge ou Sablonier," tributary to the Missouri, or, "Riv. de Pekito- noni" is called "Grande Riv. des Cansez," but the White river of Arkansas is not laid down on it at all.
Mr. Edmund J. Forstall, who prepared an analytical index of the public documents relative to Louisiana, deposited in the archives of the department "de la Marine et des Colonies" and in the "Bibliotheque de Roi," in Paris, says that the manuscript from which this map is printed is found in a volume in the "Bibliotheque," entitled "Journal du voyage de Louisiane fait par le Sr. Bernard La Harpe, et de des con- vertes qu'il a faites dans le partie de l'ouest de cette colonie,"" which journey was made in 1718 to 1722, and containing a "Journal du voyage fait par deux frigates du Roy, la Pradine, commandee par Mons. d'Iberville, et le Marin, par Mons. le Chevalier de Surgeres, qui partirent de Brest le 24 Octobre, 1698," and that the manuscript of the map bears date the year 1700.
If so, it is evident that some one must have added to the original after that date and before it was printed, for the printed map contains recitals of incidents occurring after 1700, the latest date given being "Natchitoches etablisment Fran- cais fait in 1717, par Mons. De Bienville." And in one place is an item difficult to explain. While all the map is in the French language, at Espiritu Santo Bay on the west coast of the Peninsula of Florida it is noted : "De Soto landed 31st of
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
May, 1539." How the English word "landed" comes there, unless subsequently added by some English speaking person, it is difficult to determine. And seeing that the map in the original manuscript appears in the volume of La Harpe's Journey, it is not improbable that the information obtained on that journey, of from 1718 to 1722, was added to whatever had been prepared of the date 1700.
The variances in opinion above given will serve to illustrate the difficulty of determining with precision not only the place of De Soto's crossing, but other matters connected with his march.
Of the three accounts and the wanderings of De Soto's band above mentioned, one was written by Garcilosa de La- Vega; another by Louis Hernandez De Beidma, in 1544, and the third by an anonymous writer, a Portugese, signing himself, "A Gentleman of Elvas," published at Evora, in 1557; Elvas being a city of Portugal. This last mentioned account is an explicit and circumstantial account of the jour- ney, and appears to have been the work of some one who was a member of the expedition, and, therefore, an eye-witness of the incidents he describes. Mr. Coxe, whose history of "Car- olina," or Louisiana, has been mentioned, speaks of him as "the judicious and faithful writer of the famous expedition of Ferdinando Soto, who was therein from the beginning unto the end."* It would doubtless be unwise to accept any of these narrations to the exclusion of the others ; but the proper method would evidently be to take all three for whatever points they agree upon ; and to accept each one for items stated by it and not contained by the others. Upon this basis then the course of De Soto may be traced as follows :
Having landed in Florida in 1539, he had gradually pushed his way westward, until, in 1540, we find him among the Ali- bamos at Tascalousa, below the Tinnase river, and among
(*) In Claiborne's History of Mississippi, also, it is stated that the Portugese writer was a member of De Soto's expedition,
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TO THE YEAR 1543.
the Chicatas and Chactas. These names are so familiar as to leave little doubt of this locality as being in the present State of Alabama. From here he set out to a village called Quiz- quiz by the Portugese, and by De Beidma, and called Chisca by LaVega. To reach this place, the Portugese writer says : "He traveled seven days through a desert of many marshes and thick woods, but it might all be traveled on horseback, except some lakes which they swam over."
This description answers well for country in North Missis- sippi, which would lie direct in a line of his westward march.
Arriving at Quiz-quiz, or Chisca, he found it a small town in the midst of a poor country, with the Indians tilling their corn fields. As we find the remains of many Indian names still subsisting in our modern words, though often in changed form, it is not improbable that our modern name Chicot is the remains of the name Chisca, the ancient village; but whether that village was as low down on the river as our pres- ent Point Chicot, is doubtful. The whole of the country to that extent may have been inhabited by a people whose vil- lage was as high up as Chisca is represented to be. On the old French map above mentioned, it is located opposite the mouth of the St. Francis river, and is set back a short dis- tance from the river. In this it agrees with the narrative, for it is said that because there was small store of maize there, he moved to another town half a league from the river, where there was plenty of maize. And from here he went to see the river, and found that near unto it was great store of tim- ber to make barges, and good situation of ground to encamp. Presently he removed himself thither.
So, according to the Portugese, this was the point at which he first beheld the great river, which they named Rio Grande, or Rio de Espiritu Santo, but which the natives called Mesas- cebe, or Meschacebe. The impression which its vastness and extent made upon them is thus chronicled by the Portu-
3
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
gese : "The river was almost half a league broad. 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 a great depth and had a strong current ; the water was always muddy. There came down the river continually many trees and timber which the force of the water and stream brought down. There was great store of fish in it of sundry sorts. and the most of it differing from the fresh water fish of Spain, as hereafter shall be showed."
De Soto remained encamped at the river for 29 or 30 days, building barges, after which he crossed in the face of a great force of Indians gathered to dispute his passage. The cross- ing is thus described by the Portugese: "In thirty days' space, while the Governor remained there, they made four barges, in three of which he commanded twelve horsemen to enter-in each of them four. In a morning, three hours be- fore day, men which he trusted would land in despite of the Indians, and make sure the passage or die, and some foot- men, being cross-bow men, went with them and the rowers to set them on the other side. And in the other barge he commanded John De Guzman to pass with the footmen, which was made captain instead of Francisco Maldonado. And because the stream was swift they went a quarter of a league up the river along the bank, and crossing over fell down with the stream and landed right over against the camp. Two stones cast before they came to land, the horsemen went out of the barges on horseback to a sandy plot, very hard and clear ground where all of them landed without any resistance. As soon as those that passed first were on land on the other side, the barges returned to the place where the Governor was, and within two hours after sun rising all the people were over."
Having passed the river he traveled a league and a half and came to a great town called Aquixo (A-quiz-co), which was dispeopled before he came thither. "And because the
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TO THE YEAR 1543.
town whither the Governor went was near unto the river, he sent a captain with as many men as he thought sufficient to carry the barges up the river; and because in traveling by land he went many times by land far from the river to com- pass the creeks that came from it, the Indians took occasion to set upon them of the barges and put them in great danger ; because that, by reason of the great current they darest not leave the shore, and from the bank they shot at them. As soon as the Governor was come to the town he presently sent cross-bowmen down the river which came to rescue them ; and upon the coming of the barges to the town he com- manded them to be broken and to save the iron for others when it would be needful."
1169812
All of which indicates that, having crossed to the west bank of the river, he journeyed northward to find the town of Aquixo, and that it was situated on the banks of the Missis- sippi.
At Aquixo he learned that the village of Pacaha was one day's journey, and the chief told him that "at the end of his country there was a lake like a brook which falleth into Rio Grande." He set out on his journey thither, and the next day he came to the lake "which was half a bow-shot over and of great depth and current." Having passed the lake he came to the town of Pacaha, or, as others spell it, Pachaca, which he entered June 19th, 1541. It was a great town. "Walled and beset with towers, and many loopholes were in the towers and wall . Where the Governor was lodged was a great lake that came near unto the wall, and it entered into a ditch and went round about the town, wanting but a little to environ it. From the lake to the great river was a wear by which the fish came into it, which the Cacique" (chief) "kept for his recreation and sport. With nets that were found in the town they took as much as they would ; and took they never so much there was no want perceived . There was a fish they called bagres ; the third part
!
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
of it was head, and it had on both sides the gills and along the sides great spikes like very sharp awls. Those that were in the lakes were as big as pikes ; there were some of an hun- dred and of an hundred and fifty pounds weight, and many of them were taken with the hook There was another fish called a peel-fish ; it had a snout of a cubit long, and at the end of the upper lip it was made like a peel . and all of them" (the different kinds of fish de- scribed) "had scales, except the bagres and the peel-fish." This would indicate that the village of Pacaha was on or near the Mississippi river ; and thus early are we introduced to the well known cat-fish of the western waters.
On the hypothesis that De Soto crossed the river below Helena, and journeyed northward first to Aquixo and then to Pacaha, would raise the presumption that one or other of these points was where the city of Helena now is. Mr. Mo- nette, in his "Valley of the Mississippi," thinks that Helena was the local seat of the Indian town called Kappa, and cites in corroboration certain appearances of Indian mounds, etc. Reasons will presently be given for thinking that this is an error, but that it is more probable that Helena was the local seat of the town of Pa-ca-ha, at which the Spaniards had now arrived. This town of Kappa was evidently at another place ; but the description of the lake agrees so well with the location of the "Old Town Bayou" and neighboring waters, their cir- cular walled town, with the natural levee or embankment by its margin, together with the general direction of their route, would indicate Helena to have been the local seat of Pa-ca-ha, but not of Kappa.
Upon the Spaniards entering the town, the Cacique fled in terror and took refuge "on a little island situated between two arms of the river," where he had hidden with five or six thou- sand of his people. Here they were pursued by the Spaniards, and again fled to the east side of the Mississippi, but were
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TO THE YEAR 1543.
eventually persuaded to return to Pacaha, where De Soto re- mained forty days.
It will not be needful to follow the Spaniards minutely through their entire journeying with its incidents, but sufficient will be accomplished by giving merely the leading route and direction of it as far as can be either ascertained or con- jectured.
Having remained forty days at Pacaha, De Soto set out to the northeast and north, where, after journeying for some days, he came to great marshes, which were probably those on the upper regions of the St. Francis river, and passed a town called Casqui. Here he met roving bands of Indians, living under moveable tents; and learning from them that there were great towns to the southwest, he turned his course thither and came to a considerable town called Quigaute, located on a river, probably White river. He entered this town August 4th, 1541.
The Portugese writer says that at Quigaute "the Governor asked them which way the country was most inhabited? They said that toward the South, down the river, were great towns and caciques, which commanded great countries and much people. And that toward the northwest were certain mountains that were called Coligoa. And the Governor and all the rest thought good to go first to Coligoa, saying that peradventure the mountains would make some difference of soil, and that beyond them there might be some gold or silver."
He set out on his journey for Coligoa, traveling northwest, and to reach it, traversed a great plain and many marshes, after which he came to the town which was on "a mean river"-that is a small, insignificant river-among the moun- tains. "And an Indian, which was his guide, led him through great woods without any way, seven days' journey through a desert, where at every lodging they lodged in lakes and pools in very shoal water; there was such store of fish that they killed them with cudgels, and the Indians, which
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
they carried in chains, with the mud troubled the waters, and the fish being therewith, as it were, astonished, came to the top of the water, and they took as much as they listed."
The plain and marsh country sounds like the swamp and prairie country which lies between the White and the Ar- ยท kansas rivers along this line of route.
Coligoa was most probably high up among the Ozark mountains ; how high up, can only be made a matter of con- jecture. There are traditions that he went as far to the north- west as Washington county. There is no doubt that the Spaniards were in that region; the precise points only are difficult to determine.
The village of Coligoa was the western and northern limit of his expedition. Learning that to the south there was a populous province of the Cayas, he turned his course thither. He crossed the Arkansas river at a point between Dardanelle and Fort Smith, and journeyed south and southeast over mountains, which are described as being considerable.
In 1879, a silver cross was ploughed up in a field on Col. Love's plantation, three miles south of Dardanelle, having evidently lain long in the ground, the silver being very much tarnished. It was 13 inches the long way and 9 inches across the arms, and was one-tenth of an inch in thickness. It con- tained some scroll work, the figure of a dog or wolf, and the letters P. M. stamped into the metal. It was such a cross in size as a priest would be likely to carry hung to a girdle, for which purpose there was a ring at the top. The cross is now. in possession of Dr. J. J. Jones, of St. Louis, who is of opinion, from observations made in New and Old Mexico, that it is of Spanish origin. If so, coupled with the fact that the Span- iards are believed to have been somewhere to the north of that point, and to have journeyed southward to a point much south of it, would afford good ground for an inference that it had been lost there by some one of the party, either on the
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TO THE YEAR 1543.
direct line of march or on some exploration or scouting expe- dition. This conjecture, however, is not based on an abso- lutely sure foundation, as the Spaniards were themselves after- wards possessors of the country from 1763 to 1800, and occu- pants of it from 1768 to 1803 ; a garrison being stationed at Arkansas Post during the time, and doubtless they made ex- cursions and explorations through the country, in some one of which the cross may have been lost.
Setting out from Coligoa, by a journey of nine days over a mountainous country, they came to the province of Cayas. This is one place which is easy to locate without the possibil- ity of being mistaken, for it is said by the Portugese writer, that their horses "drank of a lake of very hot water and some- what brackish."
This fixes the point to be the famous Hot Springs, of what is now Garland county. The province was called Cayas, but the town where these hot waters were was called Tanico.
And again : "Until this time the Christians wanted salt, and there they made good store which they carried along with them. The Indians do carry it to other places to exchange it for skins and mantles. They make it along the river, which, when it ebbeth, leaveth it upon the upper part of the sand." This unquestionably indicates the salines along the Ouachita river near the springs.
Let it be borne in mind that the country of Cayas embraced the Hot Springs, and a clew will be afforded by means of which to locate other points reached later.
From Cayas they went southward, first to Tulla, to reach which they crossed high mountains after having passed a river, evidently the Ouachita river, and then to Quipaua, which they found at the foot of very high mountains. These were prob- ably the mountain regions of Montgomery or Pike county. From here he retraced his steps and came again to Cayas, or, as DeBeidma says, journeyed east; and as the winter was coming on, he desired to find some suitable place for winter
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
quarters. Learning that to the southeast was a great town called Autiamque, or Utiamque, where there was a plentiful store of maize, and was near a great water, which he supposed to be some arm of the sea, which he desired to reach in order to send news to Cuba, he repaired thither in the early part of December, and established himself for the winter. By this time he had lost, since the beginning of the expedition, 250 men and 150 horses.
Autiamque is described as being in the midst of a cham- paign country, i. e. level plains; on a river "emptying into the great river we had passed" (the Mississippi). As the Portugese expresses it : "Hard by this town passed a river that came out of the province of Cayas." This would indi- cate the Ouachita river at some point lower down than the springs, probably as far down as Ouachita, Union, or Ashley county.
They stayed at Autiamque three months, and during that time the cold was so intense that they thought they should all perish. "For one whole month they were so enclosed with the snow that they went not out of the town, and when they wanted firewood, the Governor and his horsemen going and coming many times to the wood, which was two cross-bow shots from the town, made a pathway whereby the footmen went for wood. In this mean space some Indians, which went loose, killed many conies with their gyves and arrows. These conies were of two sorts, some like those of Spain, and the other of the same color and fashion and as big as great hares, longer and having greater loins."
The Indians taught them how to catch these "conies," "which until that time they knew not how to catch, which was with great springs which lifted up their feet from the ground, and the snare was made of a strong string, where- unto was fastened a knot of a cane, which ran close about the neck of the cony, because they should not know the string. They took many in the fields of maize, especially when it
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TO THE YEAR 1543.
froze or snowed." All of which goes on in the same way at the present time.
On Monday, the 6th day of March, 1542, De Soto "de- parted from Autiamque to seek Nilco, which the Indians said was near the Great river." Nilco was evidently also on the Ouachita river, lower down than Autiamque, being most probably in Louisiana, for it is said: "The Governor spent - ten days in traveling from Autiamque to a province called Ayas, and came to a town which stood near the river which passeth by Cayas and Autiamque. There he commanded a barge to be made, wherewith he passed the river. When he had passed the river, there fell out such weather that for four days he could not travel for snow. As soon as it gave over snowing he went three days' journey through a wilderness, and a country so low and so full of lakes and evil ways that he traveled a whole day in water, sometimes knee-deep, some- times to the stirrup, and sometimes they swam. He came to a town called Tutelpiuco, abandoned and without maize. There passed by it a lake that entered into the river which carried a great stream and force of water On Wednesday, the 29th of March, the Governor came to Nilco This river, which passed by Nilco, was that which
passed by Cayas and Autiamque and fell into the Rio Grande or the Great river, which passed by Pacaha and Aquixo."
This still indicates the Ouachita river near its mouth, for it is said to be "near unto the province of Guachoya, "which was further down on Red river-on the banks of the Missis- sippi at the mouth of Red river. The country described also answers well for the country in the region of north Louisiana.
While wintering at Antiamque a great misfortune befell them in the death of their interpreter, Juan Ortiz. He had come from Spain to Florida with the expedition of Pamphilo de Narvaez in 1528, and on the wreck of that expedition had remained in the country. By reason of having lived so long among the Indians he had learned their language, and
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
thus communication between the Spaniards and the natives was easy. As soon as De Soto landed in Florida he learned of Ortiz and sent for him. He came with some Indians and was almost as wild as they. When he came his body was naked and he had a bow in his hand. He had almost forgot- ten his Spanish speech from not having heard it spoken in eleven years. De Soto took him at once with his band, and he proved to be of the greatest service. Now that he was dead they had no one to supply his place, except a youth who had been taken prisoner at Cutifachiqui, in what is now Florida, in 1539, and who had learned a few words of the Spanish language, but who could do but little good as an interpreter.
Says the Portugese "Gentleman of Elvas :" "The death of John Ortiz was so great a mischief for the discovering in- ward or going out of the land, that to learn of the Indians that which in four words he declared they needed a whole day with the youth, and most commonly he understood quite con- trary that which was asked him, whereby it often happened that the way they went one day, and sometimes two or three days, they turned back and went astray through the woods here and there."
Passing the river of Nilco, he was met by Indians of Gua- choya coming up the stream. He sent his men in canoes down the river, and went himself to land with the rest. He reached Guachoya on Sunday, the 17th of April, 1542, and being now where he could at last reach the sea, he commenced the build- ing of barges for the purpose. But being greatly worried at finding it so hard to get to the sea, and with seeing his. men and horses diminishing day by day and his affairs going wrong he fell sick, and "being sorely handled with fever" he died May 2Ist, 1542, in the 46th year of his age. He had been one of the most resolute and intrepid of leaders, but his course had been one of unparalleled cruelty and slaughter of the hapless savages who came in his way. In this respect his career was quite like that of his cruel countryman in Mexico.
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