File:Burial of Hernando de Soto.jpg

Identifier: unitedstateshist00ridp (find matches)
Title: United States; a history: the most complete and most popular history of the United States of America from the aboriginal times to the present day..
Year: 1893 (1890s)
Authors: Ridpath, John Clark, 1840-1900
Subjects:
Publisher: Boston, New York, The United States history co.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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n some of the Cubans who had joined the expeditionfirst saw the silent forests and gloomy morasses that stretched before them,they were terrified at the prospect, and sailed back to the security of home;but De Soto and his cavaliers despised such cowardice, and began theirmarch into the interior. During the months of July, August and Sep-tember they marched to the northward, wading through swamps, swim-ming rivers and fighting the Indians. In October they arrived at thecountry of the Apalachians, on the left bank of Flint River, wherethey determined to spend the winter. For four months they remained inthis locality, sending out exploring parties in various directions. One ofthese companies reached the gulf at Pensacola, and made arrangementsthat supplies should be sent out from Cuba to that place during the fol-lowing summer. In the early spring the Spaniards left their winter quarters and con-tinued their march to the north and east. An Indian guide told them of Hill Si :tiIP If1 III
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VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 65 A- powerful and populous empire in that direction ; a woman was empress,and the land was full of gold. A Spanish soldier, one of the men ofNarvaez, who had been kept a captive among the Indians, denied thetruth of the extravagant story; but Do Soto only said that he would findgold or see poverty with his own eyes, and the freebooters pressed onthrough the swamps and woods. It was April, 1540, when they cameapon the Ogechee River. Here they were delayed. The Indian guidewent mad; and when the priests had conjured the evil spirit out of him,he repaid their benevolence by losing the whole company in the forest.By the 1st of May they had reached South Carolina, and were within atwo days march of where De Ayllon had lost his ships and men at themouth of the Jordan. Thence the wanderers turned westward; but thatDe Soto and his men crossed the mountains into North Carolina and Ten-nessee is hardly to be believed. They seem rather to have passed acrossNorthern Georgia

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