USA > Mississippi > A history of Mississippi : from the discovery of the great river > Part 2
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It is known, though all efforts to follow the exact line of the march of De Soto have proved futile, that he and his followers wandered aimlessly through the territory com- prised within the limits of the present States of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and a portion of the ex- treme southern part of Tennessee. His entire progress through these various territories was marked by une con- tinuous scene of battle and bloodshed, by day and by night. The Indian tribes through whose country they passed, seemed to know, intuitively, that the advent of the white man on this continent boded no good for them, and hence they determined to fight their invaders. They met them at every point, disputed every inch of ground, with a courage as heroic, a fortitude as sublime, and a con- stancy as unyielding, as the annals of patriotism have re- corded in any age or in any clime.
Col. Claiborne, in his interesting volume, “Mississippi as a Province, Territory and State," pays the following well deserved, glowing and eloquent tribute to the native red men of the South :
" Remembering their victorious achievements in Mexico and Peru, they (the Spaniards) anticipated an easy con- quest. But everywhere on their route, on the surf-washed sands of Florida, in the canebrakes of the Tombigbee, amidst the hills of Coosa, on the prairies of Chickasaw, and in the swamps of the Great River, they encountered a race of men as patient, subtile, remorseless and as intrepid as themselves. Their march was one protracted conflict. interrupted only by battles as obstinate and bloody as any
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recorded in history. No soldiers ranked in those days with the iron-clad cavaliers of Spain.
" The savages who fought them at Maubila and Chicka- saw exposed their naked breasts to the shining armor and terrible lances of veterans, and died as nobly as the men of Thermopylæ and Marathon. Then, as ever since, in conflict with trained armies, this heroic race of southern red-men have resisted the invaders of their country with a constancy above all Greek, above all Roman fame. "
It is believed that De Soto and his followers crossed the Tombigbee river near where the city of Columbus is now located, in Lowndes county, and thus entered what is now the State of Mississippi, for the first time, in the month of December, 1540. He made his way to the neighborhood of the site of the town of Pontotoc, in Pontotoc county, where he proceeded to establish a fortified camp, with towers and bastions in conformity with the fashion of such works in Europe, and went into winter quarters, to afford his weary men and jaded horses a much needed rest and recuperation. This fortified camp was in the close neigh- borhood of one of the principal towns of the Chickasaws, and the residence of their chief. With these Chickasaws and their chief, De Soto maintained very amicable relations for a time, frequently exchanging visits with their head men, and occasionally entertaining the latter, but he soon gave the Indians mortal offense, which is thus described in Claiborne's volume :
" The chronicle relates that De Soto was in the habit of regaling his visitors on fresh pork. a flesh that they had never before tasted; they soon commenced stealing his hogs, no doubt by the order of the chief, and whenever the thieves were caught, the Spaniards chopped off their hands and let them go, a punishment the Chickasaws deeply resented. "
Continuing, Col. Claiborne says : " The winter of 1540-41 was unusually severe, and it was not until March that De Soto thought of leaving his comfortable quarters. He then demanded two hundred men to carry his baggage. This ended the truce. One dark, tempestuous night his camp was suddenly attacked. The Chickasaws rushed upon
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it in four detachments, one on each side of the square, with yells and clamor that rose above the fury of the elements. With burning arrows they set on fire the thatched huts within the walls, and the roofs of the stables where the horses were sheltered. It was a complete surprise. De Soto was the first to mount. He charged, attended by a solitary soldier, but they were soon followed by the rest, and it was difficult to distinguish the roar of the tempest from the clamor of the battle; a lurid light streamed from the burning camp over the wounded and the dead. At length the Indians withdrew, pursued by the Spaniards as far as they could see how to slay them by the blaze of their burning fortress. Day dawned upon their disasters. Forty cava- liers and troopers lay dead ; fifty horses had been killed or burned ; the swine had mostly perished in the flames : the remnant of their baggage saved at Maubila, and most of their clothing, was here lost.
"The exact position of this entrenched camp is still in- dicated by the vestiges that remain. Some persons con- tend that De Soto left this stronghold, advanced to Chica- silla, one mile northwest from where Pontotoc now stands, and commenced the attack on the Chickasaw towns. This would reverse the detailed accounts of the writers who ac- companied him, who must be accepted as the best author- ity when their statements can be reconciled with proba- bilities. It is not probable that De Soto would have sought a battle with the warlike Chickasaws, in the heart of their own territory, where they could readily concentrate their entire strength against him. He had no intention to con- tinue in their country ; was, in fact, preparing to leave it : they had nothing to tempt his ambition or cupidity ; and he had no motive for seeking a battle, which, whether vic- torious or defeated, must materially cripple him. His ter- rible fight at Maubila, and on the Black Warrior, where the Indians attacked him three times in his entrenchments, was sufficient proof of their prowess, and beyond a doubt he was preparing to get peaceably out of their country. when they assaulted his camp. History records no bolder enterprise. A fortified camp, defended by the best soldiers of Europe, armed with what the Indians called 'thunder
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and lightning," attacked by naked savages with bows and war clubs !
" All honor to this noble race of warriors. These native Mississippians, who subsequently, in defence of their homes and firesides, defeated and disgraced three French armies sent to subdue them. And may this ever be the fate of the invaders of the territory of a free people."
It will be seen that Claiborne and Gayarre differ mate- rially in regard to the time at which the fortified camp of De Soto was attacked by the Chickasaw Indians. Claiborne gives the month of March as the time when the assault was made, while Gayarre, on the other hand, fixes the period of the assault in the month of January. The latter, in describing the attack of the Indians, says :
" In the dead of a winter night, when the cold wind of the north, in the month of January, 1541, was howling through the leafless trees, a simultaneous howl was heard, more hideous far than the voice of the tempest, the Indians rush impetuous, with fire-brands, and the thatched roofs which sheltered the Spaniards are soon on fire, threatening them with immediate destruction. The horses rearing and plung- ing in wild affright, and breaking loose from their liga- ments; the undaunted Spaniards half naked, struggling against the devouring element and the unsparing foe ; the desperate deeds of valor performed by De Soto, and his companions ; the deep-toned shouts of St. Iago and Spain to the rescue ; the demon-like shrieks of the red warriors ; the final overthrow of the Indians; the hot pursuit by the light of the flaming village, form a picture highly exciting to the imagination, and cold indeed must he be who does not take delight in the strange contrast of the heroic war- fare of chivalry on one side, and of the untutored courage of man in his savage state, on the other."
It is preferred to follow Gayarre, for the reason, that during his long residence in Europe, with his scholarly tastes, and his familiarity with the French and Spanish languages, and his opportunities of consulting the original reports to be found in the archives of both Spain and France, give him decided advantages over Claiborne in treating of events transpiring in the new world three cen- turies and a half ago.
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Mr. Gayarre, in referring to the ponderous volumes of the Spanish historian, Garcillasso, who recounts with great particularity the many incidents of the march of De Soto, and his constantly recurring conflicts with the Indians through whose territory he was passing, in a fine burst of enthusiasm, says :
" What more interesting than the reception of De Soto, at the court of the Princess Cofachiqui, the Dido of the wilderness ? What battles, what victories over men, over the elements themselves, and over the endless obstacles thrown out by rebellious nature ? What incredible physi- cal difficuties overcome by the advancing host ? How heroic is the resistance of the Mobilians and of the Ala- bamas! With what headlong fury those denizens of the forest rush upon the iron-clad warriors, and dare the thun- der of those whom they take to be the children of the Sun ! How splendidly described is the siege of Mobile, where women fought like men, and wrapped themselves in the Hames of their destroyed city, rather than surrender to their invaders !"
Following the disastrous assault by the Chickasaw In. dians upon his fortified camp, De Soto resumed his weary march in a northwesterly direction, and during the month of May, 1541, reached the Chickasaw bluff near where the prosperous and populous city of Memphis now stands.
What were the emotions of the daring explorer when he first beheld the turbid billows of the world's mightiest river, the Imperial Mississippi, rolling in solemn, silent grandeur to the sea, no mortal man can ever know; but if the veil which hides all of the future from human eyes could have been lifted at that moment, and De Soto could have looked into the dim future for three centuries and a half, how his eyes would have brightened, how his brain would have been fired, and how his heart would have glowed and expanded at the exulting thought that his name would be inseparably linked, for all time, with the mighty river, upon which he, the first of all Europeans. had been permitted to gaze. Little did he dream then that the great river which flowed at his feet was the reservoir. the receptacle of the hundreds of streams that permeate
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and make glad the soil of thirty great States and Territo- ries yet to be ; that rich and populous cities would arise on its banks, rivaling the wealth of ancient Tyre; that upon its broad and affluent bosom should be annually borne a commerce richer and more valuable than his wild- est imaginings of wealth had ever compassed ; that splen- did specimens of marine architecture, mighty ships of war, propelled by a power of which he had never heard, should cleave its billows, and "walk the waters like a thing of life"; and finally, that the vessels with which he was familiar, as compared with the ships and boats des- tined to float upon the great river upon which he was gaz- ing for the first time, would appear as the merest toys, like the card-built fabrics of a child's fancy, opposed to the rugged, rock-built structures reared by Titan hands.
It is not proposed to follow De Soto in his futile and aim- less marches through the wilderness of the present State of Arkansas and western Louisiana. It is sufficient for the present purpose to say, that having floundered for nearly a year through dark forests and quagmires innu- merable, he again reached the Mississippi, near, as is sup- posed, the mouth of Red River. Here De Soto, worn down by more than three years of ceaseless toil, conflicts and dangers, disappointed in his dearest hopes, having lost two-thirds of the men who followed his standard, sickened and died on the 21st day of May, 1542. His body, first interred in the earth, was finally buried beneath the waters of the great river he was the first to discover. The life, death, and burial-place of Hernando De Soto add impres- sive emphasis to the line of the poet:
" The paths of glory lead but to the grave."
A pathetic story is told of his beautiful wife, the lovely and fascinating Isabella Bobadilla, who was impatiently awaiting his return at Havana ; waiting with the fond fidel- ity of a loving wife, waiting with that yearning, sickening pain, which " hope deferred " is ever sure to bring to the heart of woman ; and finally, when the tidings of her hus- band's death reached her, having heard no word of, or from him, since they parted five years before, her gentle spirit was crushed, her heart was broken, she drooped like a lily
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on a broken stem, in three days she was a corpse, and " beautiful in death she lay."
For nearly three centuries and a half the sad sea waves have been murmuring her requiem, for the same period of time the sweet south wind has been breathing her lullaby, and for all these years the flowers of the tropics, flowers of the brightest hues and the most delicious odors, have been shedding their sweetest perfume above the grave of the beautiful and hapless Isabella Bobadilla De Soto. May we not hope that,
" After life's fitful fever she sleeps well."
The disheartened followers of De Soto, now reduced to one-third of their original number, under the leadership of Muscoso de Alvarado, whom he had appointed his succes- sor previous to his death, attempted to reach Mexico by a journey over land. After a long and weary march, during which they suffered many dangers and privations, they reached the Rio Grande and the mountainous region which lies between Texas and Mexico, and here they determined to retrace their steps, and return once more to the great river. Arrived at their destination, near the mouth of Red River, they built a number of brigantines for the purpose of descending the Mississippi to its mouth, and in these frail barques they hoped to make their way to Havana, or to some port on the coast of New Spain, as Mexico was then called. They reached the mouth of the river, being pur- sued and harassed, by night and by day, by countless swarms of hostile foes, and launched boldly upon the wa- ters of the Gulf of Mexico. After a voyage of ninety days, a voyage of untold suffering and privation, less than three hundred of those who had so proudly and with such high hopes landed with De Soto, on the soil of Florida, less than five years before, arrived at the port of Panuco on the coast of Mexico, in a state of utter and absolute desti- tion, and from there the most of them made their way. to Havana, and from thence they managed to return to their homes in Spain.
From the day the Spaniards emerged from the Missis- sippi with their frail barques, the surface of that mighty
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stream was unruffled for nearly a century and a half, save by the canoe and paddle of the native Indian. In 1673, however, Father Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit missionary, & native of France, who had been living in Canada for a number of years, and Louis Joliet, a merchant trader, organized a party in Canada for the exploration of the great river of which they had heard so much from the In- dians. After undergoing great fatigue and yet greater perils, they reached the Mississippi by an overland jour- ney, at a point where, it is supposed, Prairie du Chien now stands, on the 7th day of July, 1673. After spending & few days at this point for rest and recuperation, the monk and the merchant, " the prototypes of two great sources of power, religion and commerce," as Gayarre terms them, embarked upon the broad bosom of the mighty stream and descended it as far as the mouth of the Arkansas. They were everywhere met by the Indians inhabiting either shore of the river with great kindness, and established the most amicable relations with them. Fearing that they might be arrested by Spaniards below there, and believing that they were much nearer the coast than they were, Mar- quette and Joliet ascended the river to the original point of embarkation, and made their way back to Quebec, from whence they had started. ' The intelligence that they had explored the wondrous river for hundreds of miles, was re- ceived in Quebec with every manifestation of rejoicing, and Gayarre tells us that "the bells of the cathedral tolled merrily for a whole day. and the Bishop, followed by his clergy and the whole population, sang a Te Deum at the foot of the altar."
Seven years later, in 1680, Robert Cavalier de La Salle, a native of Rouen, France, originally educated for the church, who had for some years resided in Canada, deter- mined to organize a party for the exploration of the Mis- sissippi to its mouth. He left Quebec with forty soldiers, the Chevalier de Tonti, a native of Italy, who had served with distinction in the army of France, a man of unques- tioned courage and fidelity, and as he afterwards proved, a devoted friend of his companion, La Salle. There were three monks who accompanied the party, each anxious to
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proclaim the gospel to the benighted red men of the wilder- ness. The sufferings of La Salle and his companions in their weary march through dense forests of hundreds of miles in extent, may be better imagined than described. On his arrival at the spot where Peoria, in the State of Illinois, now stands, he proceeded to build a fort for protec- tion against the Indians, and the deplorable condition in which he found himself and his party may be guessed from the name he gave the fort he was building; he called it Creve Cœur, the fort of the "broken heart." Leaving Tonti in command of Creve Cœur he returned to Quebec in mid-winter, with only two companions, travel- ing nearly a thousand miles, and exposed to great dangers, suffering and hardship. Returning in the spring to Peo- ria, on the Illinois river, he soon descended that stream to its mouth where it pours its wealth of waters into the broad bosom of the King of Floods. Here he remained for some time in preparation for the arduous work before him, the exploration of the Mississippi to its entrance to the sea. In the month of April, 1682, the month of birds, buds and blossoms, La Salle is found at the mouth of the Mississippi, " and in the name," says Gayarre, (as appears by a notarial act still extant,) " of the most puissant, most high, most invincible, and victorious Prince, Louis the Great, King of France, took possession of all the country which he had discovered." He also undertook to belittle the great river, by bestowing upon it the name of Colbert, a minister of France under Louis the Great, but he imag- ined a vain thing-his effort was futile. He claimed the entire country watered by the Mississippi and its tributa- ries, and in honor of his sovereign, Louis XIV of France, he called the immense territory, which now constitutes thirty great States and Territories, Louisiana !
Returning to Quebec, La Salle sailed in 1684 for France, where he went to lay the title deeds of a vast domain, an empire in itself, at the feet of his sovereign. Such gifts are never disdained by royalty, and as his reward La Salle was ennobled, a fleet of four vessels was placed at his dis- posal with all that was necessary to establish a colony. 2
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The fleet sailed from France, but the expedition was a melancholy failure. Differences of an irreconcilable char- acter soon arose between La Salle and the officers of the fleet, and the friction between them became so great, and the ill-feeling thus developed grew so deep and bitter, that a disastrous failure must have been apparent. The fleet failed to reach the mouth of the Mississippi, but went many miles west, touched on the coast of Texas, and anchored in the hay of San Bernardo, near where the town of Mata- gorda now is. In entering the bay the store-ship of the expedition was wrecked on an island. A few days later Beaujeu, the senior officer of the fleet, sailed away for France, leaving La Salle only one ship, and this was, a few months later, wrecked, leaving him absolutely without means of reaching the mouth of the Mississippi. He was, therefore, compelled to build a fort to protect his people from hostile attacks, and this, again, in adulation of his sovereign, he called St. Louis. La Salle and his men suffered much from disease and the frequent attacks of the Indians, and in the early part of the year 1687 his party of more than two hundred men were reduced to something like forty. Taking with him twenty men, and leaving the rest at Fort St. Louis, he determined to endeavor to reach Canada, and thus be able to succor the men left behind him. After thus wandering wearily through the forests of Texas for nearly three years, undergoing many sufferings, dangers and hardships, he was finally murdered by men of his own party in January, 1687, and was buried near where the town of Washington now stands. Thus perished Robert Cavalier La Salle, in the forty-fifth year of his age. He was worthy of a happier destiny. A man of high, heroic na- ture, of dauntless courage, boundless ambition, tireless energy and a fortitude that was sublime, he deserved a better fate. As the first white man to navigate the Mis- sissippi from the mouth of the Illinois to the Gulf of Mex- ico, his name will live as long as the great river flows sea- ward.
Learning that La Salle was returning to Louisiana with ships to establish a colony, his devoted friend, the Che- valier de Tonti, hastened down the Mississippi River to
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meet and welcome him at its mouth. This was not to be. As the reader already knows, La Salle had been driven westward to the shores of Texas, and thus these devoted friends met no more on earth.
It is amusing, at the present day, to learn what vague notions La Salle and the men of his time entertained of the geography of the continent of America, and the source of the Mississippi. For instance, we read that " La Salle made explorations of the country lying between the great lakes and the Ohio river, and leaving his trading post at La Chine, above Montreal, he sought to reach China by way of the Ohio, which the Indians believed emptied into the Pacific Ocean."
Equally idle and absurd were his ideas in regard to the source of the Mississippi River. In a conference he had with Count Frontenac, the then Governor of the Province of Canada, La Salle informed that functionary as follows :
" From the information which I have been able to collect, I think I may affirm that the Mississippi draws its source somewhere in the vicinity of the Celestial Empire, and that France will be not only the mistress of all the territory between the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, but will com- mand the trade of China, flowing down the new and mighty channel which I shall open to the Gulf of Mexico." That the views of La Salle in regard to the source of the Mississippi were idle, every school boy of the present day knows ; but the school boy of our times is far ahead of many learned men of two centuries ago, especially in their knowledge of geography, the mechanic arts, and human progress.
The dream of La Salle, that "France was to be the mis- tress of all the territory between the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi," was equally vain, and to-day the flag of that nation floats above no foot of soil on the continent of America.
CHAPTER II.
MISSISSIPPI AS A FRENCH PROVINCE, 1699 TO 1717.
TN the month of February, 1699, Pierre Lemoyne d'Iber- ville, a naval officer who had won high distinction on the ocean in the service of France, arrived in the waters of what is now known as " the Mississippi Sound," in com- mand of three frigates and two store-ships, and cast anchor in the roadstead of Ship Island, then, as now, one of the safest and most capacious harbors to be found on our entire southern coast.
The sagacity of Iberville, in selecting the roadstead of Ship Island as a safe anchorage, has been vindicated many times in the nearly two centuries which have elapsed since first he cast anchor there .. Vessels have ridden at anchor in safety under the protection of Ship Island during the wildest storms. In regard to the capacity of that road- stead, it is only necessary to state that the British fleet co- operating with General, Sir Edward Packenham, against New Orleans in 1814-15, consisting of more than thirty vessels, and carrying two hundred and ninety-eight guns, were assembled and rode at anchor in entire safety in the harbor of Ship Island.
While the Sieur d'Iberville had the honor to be placed in command of the expedition, he was personally com- manding the frigate Le Badine, of thirty guns, M. Le Compte Surgere, was in command of the frigate Le Marin, also of thirty guns, while the frigate Le Francois, a fifty- gun ship, was commanded by the Marquis de Chateaumer- ant, who had been ordered to join the squadron of d'Iber- ville at San Domingo and accompany it to Louisiana. Iberville had been granted a large and valuable conces- sion in the fertile soil of the newly discovered country before sailing from France, and leaving his ships riding at anchor in the roadstead of Ship Island, prepared to ascend
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