PART I:
THE SURVIVORS
1. Introduction
On May 25, 1989, the United States celebrated the
450th anniversary of the landing of Hernando de Soto and his host on the
western shores of Florida. De Soto's was the longest and most detailed
exploration of the southeastern United States conducted some eighty
years before the Mayflower reached Plymouth Rock.
For this celebration it is appropriate to know, with
the best possible certainty, who survived this four year and two month
journey which traversed ten present-day states. With that purpose this
work presents a register of those who accompanied Hernando de Soto, the
Adelantado de la Florida, until his death on the banks of the
Mississippi River and afterwards followed its currents to the Gulf of
Mexico and beyond.
Fifty three years ago President Franklin D. Roosevelt
appointed anthropologist John R. Swanton to the United States De Soto
Expedition Commission. Swanton delivered his report to the House of
Representatives in 1938, covering all aspects of the de Soto expedition.
[1] This report included a list of the
participants compiled from the writings of the four known contemporary
chroniclers of this expedition, a few original documents published in
the nineteenth century, and a transcription of the passengers registered
in Spain to proceed to Florida via Cuba. [2]
Swanton's archival research was interrupted by the Spanish civil war.
His practice of adding the persons found in the cited sources did not
take into account those who sailed from Spain but did not continue
beyond Cuba, nor all those who were added in Cuba.
In 1538 Hernando de Soto transported his men to Cuba
for the Florida expedition. There he remained for almost a year making
final preparations, during which time he lost a number of Spanish
recruits and picked up new ones locally. Since no documents recording
those who finally sailed from Cuba to Florida have yet been found, it is
more practical to investigate those who came out of Florida rather than
those who went.
This study is based not only on the sources used by
Swanton but on the study of unpublished documents. Altogether,
sixty-three names have been added to the survivors specifically
identified by Swanton, for a total of 257 persons. This work also
includes extensive information about their places of birth, ages,
families and personal histories. The new data presented here and its
analysis, alters previous accounts of de Soto's force and increases our
understanding of his expedition. It is hoped that this will encourage
further studies of the political, social and economic contributions of
de Soto's men, in the places where they chose to live their remaining
years.
2. Number of Persons Who
Departed For Florida
A brief recounting of those who accompanied de Soto
to Cuba and on to Florida is appropriate. Chronicler Garcilaso de la
Vega wrote that the Adelantado expedition which left Spain consisted of
his household, including his wife and family, 950 soldiers, sailors and
the necessary crew, plus twelve priests. [3]
The Gentleman of Elvas wrote that de Soto departed with a total of 600
men enlisted in Sevilla. [4] The original
register of the passengers who left Sevilla for Florida has been
preserved in the Archives of the Indies. It has been transcribed twice,
with some variations between the two. The first listed 651 persons but
contained one double entry for a net total of 650. It included three
women, and five "color loro" or dark-skinned persons. The second listed
the same 651 persons including the double entry, but added four men and
three women, for a net total of 657. [5] It
should be noted that the original passenger roster is not complete,
however, for it does not include Hernando de Soto nor his entourage.
Another available list was compiled by J. R. Swanton
from the four chroniclers. It amounts to 793 persons including many
repetitions, most acknowledged by the author. Considering that Garcilaso
de la Vega wrote his account from evidence supplied him by others some
50 years after the fact, his figures are suspect. When comparing the
number of persons departing from Sevilla, which he puts at 950 excluding
sailors and de Soto's wife and family and 12 priests, with the 657
registered passengers including some females and priests, the
exaggeration seems evident. The memory factor may have played an
important role in the post-factum estimates of Garcilaso's informants.
It appears that the correct figure of those who sailed from Sevilla was
higher than the estimate of the Gentleman of Elvas, a little higher than
what it is shown in the original register, and lower by some hundreds
than Garcilaso's numbers. Two estimates which could be closer to the
real figure are those of the Florida survivors Juan Lopez and Sebastian
de Villegas contained in their short biographies in Part II of this
work. Both testified that the number of persons who sailed from Spain
was 700.
Now, let us consider those who finally left Cuba for
Florida. Ten days before departure from Havana, the royal officials of
the expedition wrote a letter to the King informing him that the armada
consisted of nine ships and the army of 313 footmen and 200 horsemen,
for a total of 513 soldiers. [6] Once again
the chroniclers of the expedition provide varying figures.
Hernandez de Biedma wrote that 620 men landed at the Florida port
of Bahia Honda. [7] Rodrigo Rangel recorded
that 570 men, not counting 130 sailors, were present at the landing. [8] Garcilaso de la Vega wrote that the total
number of persons who sailed from Havana for Florida was 1,000,
including the islanders who wanted to accompany the expedition, but not
counting the sailors. [9] As indicated in the
individual biographies of the Florida explorers in Part II, many do not
appear in the original register made in Sevilla. The conquerors not
registered could have been added in Cuba, leading to another limitation
of the original roster for the purposes considered here. During the year
the expedition was readied in Cuba several of the original recruits
dropped out and many appear to have been added.
The large difference between Garcilaso's figure of
the persons arriving in Florida and that of the royal officials can be
explained in part, for while the officials were referring to military
personnel only, Garcilaso considered all persons including servants,
administrators, tradesmen, and it seems, people living in Cuba who
wanted to tour the eastern coast of Florida. The rest of the difference
may be due to an exaggerated count by Garcilaso. A more likely number of
those landing in Florida should exceed the soldiers mentioned by the
royal officials, and perhaps somewhere around the 570 mentioned by
Rangel and the 620 described by Hernandez de Biedma. Some
additional estimates can be gathered from the biographies of the
survivors in Part II. Pedro de Arevalo declared that 650 persons went to
Florida from Cuba, a figure repeated by Francisco de Guzman.
All these estimates are presented in Table 1. Based
on them and the official register, it appears that around 700 persons
left Spain for Cuba and, after nearly one year there, some 600 plus
finally left for Florida. It seems apparent that more were lost than
gained in Cuba, thus the allure of de Soto's adventure may not have
appealed to all the conquerors of the day. After all, Florida was
competing at that time with the fantastic news still coming from Peru
and, to some lesser extent, with the riches found in the Urabá
region east of Panama and the first notice of the possible existence of
a rich land south of the Santa Marta, province of Nueva Granada.
Table 1.
Number of Persons Who Departed For Florida
From Spain to Cuba
Garcilaso de la Vega | 950 plus |
Gentleman of Elvas | 600 |
Passenger register | 657 |
Juan Lopez | 700 |
Sebastian de Villegas | 700 |
From Cuba to Florida |
Royal Officials | 513 |
Hernandez de Biedma | 620 |
Rodrigo Rangel | 570 |
Garcilaso de la Vega | 1,000 |
Pedro de Arevalo | 650 |
Francisco de Guzman | 650 |
From Spain and Cuba to Florida |
J. R. Swanton, including repetitions | 793 |
3. Number of
Survivors
The most detailed account on the number of survivors
comes from the Gentleman of Elvas. He wrote that 322 Spaniards embarked
in seven brigantines at Aminoya to sail down the present day Mississippi
River. When confronted by Cacique Quigaltam and his people a short
distance downstream, eleven men were lost. The rest continued towards
the river mouth and then to Mexico. Elvas added that 311
Christians, who had departed Florida, finally reached the port of
Pánuco, New Spain. [10] Garcilaso de
la Vega indicated that slightly fewer than 300 survivors rejoined their
new Governor, Luis de Moscoso, at Pánuco. [11]
Another important source on the survivors is a record
following Hernandez de Biedma's account of the Florida
expedition, here referred to as Hernandez de Biedma's list. [12] He titled it "Memoir of the Names of Persons
Who Came from Florida, Who They Are, And of What Countries Native."
Under subtitles corresponding to different geographical areas and
cities, he mentioned 221 survivors adding, in several instances, the
profession, trade, and/or parentage of the person included. This list is
not complete and, by its numerous folds and how it is ordered, may have
been kept in somebody's pocket for some time. Yet, it is invaluable,
containing not less than 60 names not found in the passenger register
recorded in Sevilla. His additions reflect the conquerors who joined the
expedition in Cuba and those not registered in Spain, like de Soto's
entourage. Other sources of information about the number of survivors
are the very declarations by some of them appearing in Part II of this
study. Pedro de Arevalo indicated that 350 persons survived, Francisco
Gutierrez lowered the figure to 300, Luis de Moscoso mentioned 350, and
Sebastian de Villegas said that half of the 700 who started the
expedition were able to see its end. As will be seen in detail in Part
II, this investigation has revealed the names of 257 survivors but, the
definitive list has yet to be compiled. The figures listed here are
presented in Table 2. It is likely that the Gentleman of Elvas was quite
right about his 311 figure, having witnessed the events. If so, 54 names
await discovery. It may be added that in the list of de Soto's men
compiled by Swanton, 194 persons are specifically described as
survivors, including some possible duplications acknowledged by the
author. [13]
Table 2.
Number of Survivors
Gentleman of Elvas | 311 |
Garcilaso de la Vega | under 300 |
Hernandez de Biedma | 221 |
Pedro de Arevalo | 350 |
Francisco Gutierrez | 300 |
Luís de Moscoso | 350 |
Sebastian de Villegas | 350 |
J. R. Swanton | 194 |
This investigation | 257 |
|