Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

18 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
Charles V and planting the flag of Spain in the white sands of Florida,
De Soto pointed his jeweled sword toward the North.
So far as authentic records go, these were the first Europeans to set
foot upon the soil of Georgia. From time' to time navigators had skirted
the coast, entering perhaps for a short distance the mouths of rivers,
but none had ventured to explore the interior, at least heyond the -range
of tide water. • It was still an unknown land when De Soto stood upon
its borders and peered into its vast solitudes in the spring of 1540. But
before tracing the route which lay before these bold but deluded
Spaniards, let us cross the water to the ancient Town of Seville and
take a hasty survey of the events to which this strange spectacle on the
shores of the New World was only the dramatic culmination.*
Hernando De Soto, at the time of this expedition to America, was
perhaps the foremost man of his age at the Court of Spain. As a lieu
tenant-general under the renowned Pizarro, he bore a conspicuous part
in the conquest of Peru and returned home enriched with the spoils of
the Incas. But life at the Spanish Court grew tame to one whose breast
was aglow with the spirit of adventure; and, envious of the greater fame
of his old chieftain, he sought and obtained from the Spanish Crown
permission to explore an indefinite region of the New World, then known
by the name of Florida. It will doubtless be remembered that the ill-
fated Ponce de Leon, in search of his fabled Fountain of Youth, some
years before, had bestowed this name upon what he took to be an island
of vast magnitude and of untold wealth.
Dazzled by the prospect of enlarging the boundaries of his empire,
* '' Original Sources.'' Four original manuscripts deal with the history of
De Soto's expedition:
(1) The brief report of Biedma, an officer of the expedition, _ presented to the
King, in 1544, immediately after the return to Spain.
(2)' Next, in point of time, but of first importance for detail and general appear
ance of reliability, is the narrative of an. anonymous Portuguese cavalier of the
expedition, commonly known as the Gentleman of Elvas, originally published in the
Portuguese language, in 1557.
(3) Third, in order, conies the Spanish narrative of Garcilaso, written but not
published in 1587, a document which deals in gross exaggerations.
(4) The last original account is an unfinished report in Spanish by Eanjel,
secretary of the expedition, written soon after reaching Mexico, but not published,
except in mutilated extracts, until 1851.
Secondary authorities:
(1) "Researches on America," by James H. MeCulloh. (1816).
(2) "The Conquest of Florida," by Theodore Irving (1845).
(3) "History of the Discovery and Settlement of the Mississippi Valley,," by
John M. Monette, M. D. (1848).
(4) "History of Georgia," by Bishop Win. B. Stevens, M. D., Vol. I (1847).
(5) ."Synopsis of the Indian Tribes within the United States, East of the Kocky
Mountains," by Albert Gallatin (1836).,
(6) "History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi," by
Albert J. Pickett (1851).
(7) "History of Hernando De Soto and Florida," by Bernard Shipp (1881).
(8) "History of Georgia," by Chas. 0. Jones, Jr., Vol. I (1883).
(9) ".Eomantic Passages in Southwestern History," by A. B. Meek (1857),
including "Pilgrimage of De Soto" (1839).
(10) "Myths of the Cherokee," by James Mooney (1900), House Document,
Vol. 118.