would be considered a failure, for even the
Cofitachequi pearls had been destroyed in the
Mabila blaze. Determined to return home as a
success, de Soto turned his expedition inland.
In northern Mississippi confrontations
between the Europeans and the Indians con-
tinued. After passing a peaceful winter among
the Chickasaw, de Soto typically demanded
porters from the tribe when it was time to
leave. The night before his planned departure,
the Chickasaw attacked and would have mas-
sacred the entire camp if the Europeans’ terri-
fied horses had not stampeded and thrown
the ambush into chaos.
On Saturday, May 21, 1541, de Soto’s har-
ried men reached the banks of the Mississippi
River, which they called the Río Grande.
“Many of these conquerors said this river was
larger than the Danube,” Ranjel wrote. Yet
they saw it as simply another obstacle to over-
come. Four barges were built, and on June 8
the expedition crossed to the west bank.
Although the exact site of the crossing is still
controversial, it is thought to have taken place
25 miles south of Memphis. The fruitless
search for treasure dragged on into south-
western Arkansas, where de Soto’s men and
their slaves spent the winter snaring rabbits
and subsisting on stores of beans, walnuts,
and maize they confiscated in an abandoned
town. Almost half of the 620 men who had
marched from Florida, including translator
Juan Ortiz, were now dead. Most of the
remaining horses were lame. When Indians
told him of a “great water” to the south, de
Soto finally decided to turn toward the Gulf of
Mexico and send to Cuba for reinforcements.
Near what is now Ferriday, Louisiana, the
expedition entered an Indian town called
Guachoya. The Guachoyans seemed friendly
and told de Soto that the neighboring people
of Nilco were preparing to attack the Euro-
peans. De Soto, however, was suspicious. He
decided to frighten both towns out of any
thoughts of war by sending his cavalry into
Nilco, where de Soto’s men slaughtered all but
a few of the unprepared inhabitants. The Gua-
choyans watched the killing, then rushed to
sack the victims’ homes.
By now it was clear to de Soto and his men
that their expedition had failed. No gold had
been discovered. Many in the ranks now hated
the constant warring with Indians, which had
gained them nothing. De Soto was seriously ill
with fever, and even if he safely led the sur-
vivors back to Cuba, his reputation would be
ruined, leaving no reason for backers to fund
any new expeditions. His fever worsened on
May 21, 1542. He called his officers together,
thanked them, confessed his sins, and named
Luis de Moscoso as his successor. De Soto
died the next day and was secretly buried. De
Soto had told the Indians that he was immor-
tal, but they noticed his absence and a mound
of fresh grave dirt. The Spaniards exhumed
their leader at night, weighted his corpse with
stones so that it would not reappear unex-
pectedly, and dropped him overboard in the
middle of the Mississippi River. The Gentle-
man of Elvas heard Moscoso tell the suspi-
cious Guachoyan cacique that “the Governor
was not dead, but only gone into the heavens”
and would return soon.MOSCOSO TAKES
COMMAND
Moscoso polled the members of the expedi-
tion as to what direction they wanted to take
next. Lacking shipbuilding tools, the majority
agreed to leave the river and march toward
Mexico, still hoping to discover riches along
the way. For the next four months, the expedi-
tion struggled through northern Louisiana
into east Texas, constantly battling with Native
tribes. Moscoso pressed Indians along the wayHernando de Soto and “La Florida” B 101