There is little known about the native populations east of the Mississippi River in 1500. Much of what we do know comes from oral histories presented to European sources in the 1600s. When the last ice age receded the land bridge between the Americas and other continents was cut off. So unlike Europe and Asia which developed trade and exchange of ideas, America was left to itself and it missed improvements in farming, manufacture and written languages. The natives east of the Mississippi were a stone age tribal society of hunter-gatherers or farming combined with hunter-gathering.
Algonquian (i.e. Pequots, Narragansettes, Leni Lenape, Mahican), Siouan (i.e., Catawba, Sioux, Biloxi), and Iroquois (i.e. Mohawk, Huron, Susquehannock) were the three main language families east of the Mississippi in the north, Muskogean (i.e. Creek, Chickasaw, Alabama) is in the southeast but there were multiple sub dialects for the various tribes for all language groups. For our purposes I divide the tribes into two areas, the Northeast tribes and the Southeast Tribes. The Northeast covers the area north of the Ohio River around the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean and south to the Susquehanna River Valley and coastal Virginia. The Southeast includes the area south of the Ohio River and from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Ocean including the Gulf of Mexico Coast.
These varied tribes were often at war with each other pushed by conflict over resources and past or present offenses. The primary farming tribes were the Iroquois Tribes but all tribes were combined hunters, gatherers, and farmers according to the local climate and resources. Northeast Rivers provided fish and northern frost killed crops so they relied more on the former. Western fringe tribes had an abundance of Buffalo and so relied more on hunting. But all northeast tribes were familiar with “the 3 sisters,” corn, beans, and squash. Algonquian and Siouan (leaning towards hunter-gatherer) tribes built wickiups (wigwams), a 20’ round pole house made of a wood frame covered in woven mats or bark with a single fire in the center which held a 3 generation family. Iroquoian’s (leaning more to farming and hunter-gathering) built longhouses, 20+ feet wide and 40 to 400 feet long using material similar to the wickiups. Fires were placed in the center walkway and interior walls were built to divide areas for nuclear families, holding from 5 to 10 families in each longhouse.
Prior to European contact all tribes wore clothes made from animals hides. Men wore a breech cloth, leggings and a cape in cold weather. Women wore a skirt, legging and a cape in cold weather and both wore moccasins. Weapons of war and hunting were the bow and arrow, tomahawk, lance, and war club with arrowheads and knives made of flint. They made armor and defensive shields of wood. They trapped with snares, foot hold traps (made of wood), and deadfall traps. Fish were caught in weirs and speared. Land for farming and also hunting grounds were cleared by burning and trees were felled by girdling it or burning it all around.
Generally, most Tribes were broken up into Clans with Clan Chiefs beholden to the Tribal Chief, a hierarchal tribal system. Marriage occurred across Clans within a Tribe but not within a Clan, offering genetic diversity and also promoting unity between Clans. Marriage was a loose contract among the young but more so monogamous with the older persons. The right of inheritance was within the Mothers Clan so a male child born to a Clan Princess had rights to hierarchy in her Clan and not his fathers. The primary male responsible for a male child was the mothers brother and the rest of the adult males. Woman controlled decision making in most of the internal workings of the Clan and men held decision making for external matters such as war, setting or moving Tribes and Clans living spaces, etc. Given similarities, there was variation and no standard across the many tribes.
When Europeans made contact with the native tribes they brought diseases which the natives had no immunity too. The larger farming villages (the Iroquoian tribes) were hit harder by these diseases due to greater contact between the their people but none of the tribes escaped these plagues. Raiding other tribes and taking slaves, who were often made a part of that tribe, to replace lost members to disease or warfare, was common and with the reduction in numbers of tribesmen greater pressure was put upon tribes to replace losses.
The earliest contact with Europeans was in the first decade of 1500 as English, French, and Spanish fishermen started fishing in the vicinity of the Grand Banks off of present day Newfoundland. Proof of this was found in a Huron Village excavation by archeologists in present day Whitchurch-Stouffville in Ontario, Canda (located north of Toronto). Dating to 1500, the site was named the Mantle and covered over 10 acres and held 98 longhouses and held between 1500-1800 people. This is 5 times larger than the average Iroquoian village size of that time. Additionally part of an axe was found ceremonially buried and an investigation into the source of it revealed it came from the Basque region in Spain. The Curse of the Axe is a documentary of the find. Unfortunately, transfer of iron from tribe to tribe most likely marked the transfer of European diseases.
Spanish Conquest:
In 1513 Ponce de Leon landed on the coast of Florida and claimed it for Spain. At the time the Calusa Tribe controlled southwest Florida. Described as a warlike tribe, Calusa meaning “fierce people,” they were also good sailors using Cypress dugouts and traveling as far as Cuba in them. They would have been familiar with he poor treatment of natives by the Spanish. Ponce de Leon returned in 1521 landing on the western side of Florida. Put upon by the Calusa de Leon was wounded most likely by a poison arrow. The expedition sailed back to Cuba where Ponce de Leon died.
In 1526 Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon took 600 to settle in the Americas. In 1504 de Ayllon landed at Hispaniola (Present day Haiti and Dominican Republic) and gained wealth and power then he married into a prominent Caribbean family. In 1521 de Ayllon financed an expedition to gather slaves in the Bahamas but finding it depopulated the expedition turned northwest in search of land rumored to be in the region. They landed at Winyah Bay in present day South Carolina and took 60 slaves from the Cofitachequi Tribe. An Indian named “Francisco de Chicora” learned Spanish and came to be owned by de Ayllon. Reports from the expedition and Chicora told de Ayllon stories about his homeland and its riches. De Ayllon brought Chicora to Spain and secured a contract with the King to establish a settlement.
Landing at Winyah Bay the 600 men, including some women, children, and African slaves, they then continued south to an unknown location where they established a town. Most of the inhabitants succumbed to cold, hunger, disease, and conflict with natives. When de Ayllon died the surviving colonists broke into factions fighting over control. After only 3 months the 150 survivors abandoned the settlement and returned to Hispaniola. The African slaves ran off and settled with the natives.
In 1527 the Spanish Narvaez expedition led by Panfilo de Narvaez, intending to establish a colony in Mexico, was hit by a hurricane and landed on the West coast of Florida north of Tampa Bay. He landed 300 men ashore and there was some trading of goods with local natives and they advised him he could find food and gold to the North. They continued north on foot and the remaining ships were to follow by sea, but the parties were never to find each other. Narvaez attacked the next village he came to and took prisoners. As they continued the natives began to attack them by setting ambushes.
By using ambushes the natives negated the Spanish advantages of gunpowder, armor, and horses. They could get off 5 arrows to one from the Spanish crossbows or before an arquebus could be loaded and fired. Their bows weren’t strong enough to penetrate the armor but they learned to shoot at the soft spot, the neck and lower body not covered by armor. Forest terrain provided concealment and also prevented the use of horses to run them down. The Spanish advantages worked best in open fields such as around the settlements.
Over the next 3 months they found the villages deserted and as they moved they were under constant ambushes. They decided to build boats and sail to Mexico and for the next month turned their armor into tools and built boats. Disease, starvation, and attacks had reduced their number to 242 when they sailed. Storms, thirst, and starvation reduced the expedition to 80 and they were hit by a hurricane and driven apart and landed in various spots in present day TX. One party was attacked and killed by natives but two others met friendly natives who brought them food and water. Reduced to about 160 men they decided to winter over in TX.
Their numbers dwindled over the next 4 years and by 1542 only 4 were left alive held captive by a native tribe. The 4 escaped and walked northwest, along the Rio Grande turning West and then south eventually hitting the Gulf of California and going along the West coast of Mexico. Unlike many of the eastern coastal tribes which were hostile to the Spanish the interior tribes treated them as honored guests. They were escorted from village to village and in 1536 arrived at the Spanish frontier outpost at Culiacan Central west coast of present day Mexico) and thus ended the Narvaez expedition.
In 1539 Hernando De Soto sailed from Cuba in 5 ships and landed in Florida, present day Tampa Bay, with an army of 1000 men and 350 horses. Landing 300 on shore, they were attacked by the natives at dawn but drove the attackers away. As with the Narvaez expedition the natives would attack the Spanish in ambush. When counter attacked they retreated away from the armored soldiers and horsemen. But as soon as they turned the natives would again attack. As De Soto’s expedition progressed they encountered increasing resistance. De Soto then learned of a Spaniard in the custody of a native tribe.
A party from Narvaez ships had gone to shore and was put upon by the natives with 4 taken prisoner to Chief Ucita. 3 were slowly killed by arrows and the 4th was stretched over a fire to be burned to death but his screams caused the Chief’s daughter to take pity on him and he was removed from the fire. Knowing at some point that her father would put him to death she spirited the Spaniard, Juan Ortiz, to a neighboring tribe where she had close relations to the Chief, Mocoso. When Ortiz was given safety Chief Ucita aligned with neighboring tribes against Chief Mocoso.
De Soto learned of this and sent a party of lancers into Mocoso’s lands to retrieve his fellow Spaniard. But Ortiz had also leaned of De Soto and was given leave to go find him with an escort to assure his safety on the condition that Ortiz entreat De Soto to not lay waste to his territory or harm his people. The parties came upon each other and the lancers advanced and the natives fled, save one who announced himself as a Spanish Christian. De Soto now had an interpreter and a person with knowledge of the natives.
De Soto’s expedition, like Narvaez before him, was met with constant harassment by arrows as it moved. Taking some natives prisoner, the Spaniards turned their dogs loose on them causing a brutal death. At the next village De Soto sent to the Chief for a friendly chat, the Chief responded he wanted no friendship, “War only, and never-ending shall be waged against the invaders of our soil,” said the Chief.
It was De Soto’s practice to take a Chief captive to obtain the support of his tribe. He did so with 3 brothers who were Chief’s of 3 tribes. But one hatched a plan of resistance and put up 10,000 warriors against De Soto’s 1000 thinking that 10 to 1 in numbers would overcome the armor of the Spaniards. By the end of several days of fighting the land was left in desolation and 1300 warriors had been killed in battle. As De Soto moved the natives continued to harass and several were killed at each assault and some taken prisoner and put in chains and used as carriers. If the natives fled their village upon approach the Spaniards would just use the abandoned houses for shelter and harvest the planted crops. It was De Soto’s plan to winter in Apalachee on the Florida panhandle.
The Apalachee tribe had met the Spanish at the Narvaez expedition and were familiar with firearm, horse, crossbow, and armor. Upon approaching the village the battle began and ran on for 2 days with the Spaniards pushing forward slowly. They came upon a palisade manned by many Apalachee warriors. The heavily armed dismounted horsemen were able to breach it and put the natives to flight. The Spaniards set up a camp but the natives continued to assault it all night, this now the 4th night of battle. De Soto and his horsemen assaulted the stronghold of the Chief, capturing him and securing his winter quarters.
De Soto made contact with his ships and sent them west to find a harbor, which they did. Reporting back to him they found one in present day Pensacola, De Soto kept a road open between it and Apalachee. The Apalachee themselves refused to surrender and De Soto’s men were ambushed everywhere they went. Expeditions in the surrounding country failed to reveal any gold or riches to plunder. Hearing stories of riches to the North and west De Soto was to move on.
De Soto was met by the Chief of the next tribe who advised they had no gold or riches. He offered 400 of his people as porters in addition to provisions for his men. The following Chief, Patofa, met De Soto in peace and allowed his army to pass. He offered four thousand warriors and 4000 carriers to De Soto as he was in conflict with the neighboring tribe which was De Soto’s objective hearing it had gold. An expedition of 9000 started but was so large in 7 days food became scarce, and discipline began to unravel with each leader employing a heavy hand of punishment on those who failed them. Finally they came upon a well provisioned town with few inhabitants and plundered it, but every captured prisoner claimed to not to know of any other towns in the vicinity, save one native who caved in under threat of being burned alive.
De Soto’s Indian allies went ahead of him and as De Soto came to the next several towns he found all inhabitants had been killed and scalped. He sent horsemen to get Patofa to return to him as he wanted to first try to befriend the next chief and if that didn’t work then resort to hostage taking or conquest if the former didn’t work. Patofa was sent back to his village, happy to go as his tribe had gathered hundreds of scalps as vengeance for past assaults.
De Soto continued on with 100 horsemen and meeting a warrior advised he came in peace. The warrior agreed to relay the message to his queen. She met with De Soto and offered shelter and provisions in her town. Not too far distant was an abandoned town which was vacated due to a pestilence, most likely an imported European disease. De Soto also found in this town breast plates, axes, armor, and beads which he believed was from an ill fated expedition by Vasquez de Ayllon to the South Carolina coast to form a settlement. The town was on the Savannah River within days of the coast. De Soto found no gold but many pearls, about 14 bushels, many taken off of dead Chiefs in their burial grounds.
When De Soto asked for carriers and guides for his expedition the queen refused, disgusted at the behavior of the Spaniard guests in raiding the graves, and De Soto then took her captive. They travelled north and then northwest 300 miles into Cherokee territory. Fearing she would not be released as promised the queen took flight and managed to elude capture. De Soto was saddened, not by the loss of the queen but by the loss of a chest of pearls, those in perfect and valuable condition.
The next Chief offered De Soto corn and provisions and shelter in his village of about 300 houses. With ample provisions in a rich and fertile land, De Soto stayed to fatten his horses and rest his men. Searches in the nearby mountains again revealed no gold, just some copper. In lieu of robbing the graves for more pearls De Soto had the Chief show him how they are obtained. Mussels, in abundance, were collected from the streams and placed on the coals of hardwood fires to open them. The pearls were removed and the meat of the mussels used to prepare many dishes for their dinner. It now midsummer, De Soto took his leave before exhausting all provisions of the tribe.
The next Chief met De Soto and his advance party with 1500 warriors. Before they could secure De Soto as a prisoner his army arrived and it was the Chief who was taken. The Chief was then released on the promise of assistance and they built rafts and boats which De Soto used to cross a river into present day Alabama. Passing from village to village De Soto was met with hospitality at each village which offered provisions and carriers and so they passed through the land. Arriving at the main village De Soto was met in peace but took the Chief and his sister hostage for safety traveling to the ends of his lands where he released him but kept his sister hostage.
De Soto passed into Choctaw territory (Alabama and Mississippi) and met the Chief Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa was 7 feet tall and an impressive figure. Offering peace, De Soto noticed he was often in consult with sub chiefs and many warriors were arriving. De Soto took him hostage but allowed him to ride along on horseback with a large pack horse the only one big enough to carry his large frame. They crossed the Alabama River on rafts headed to Mauvila, the Chiefs stronghold. It was the Chiefs intent to amass his warriors and take the Spaniards there. Tuscaloosa continued to provide provisions and carriers but several incidents, including the disappearance of 2 of De Soto’s men made it apparent the Chief was planning something. De Soto hoped to avoid conflict, rest in Mauvila, then strike south to Pensacola to meet his ships which were supposed to bring provisions.
Mauvila was located at the confluence of the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers. It was more of a fortress than a town with palisade walls planted in the ground and tied together. At every 50 paces there were holes cut to allow darts and arrows to be shot through and the fortress held 90 houses capable of holding 750 people each. It contained two gates and the land around the fort was cleared of trees and brush. De Soto entered with the Chief, having only his advance party fo about 100 men. De Soto saw the ruse to lure him in but lacked the men to do otherwise. Inside the fort was filled with 10,000 warriors and no women or children, with towers and walls manned by heavily armed warriors.
De Soto was shown his quarters and those of his party and advised his army could encamp outside the walls, thus splitting his army. When De Soto asked Tuscaloosa to stay with him for the noon meal he replied he was tired of De Soto’s company and this was his land and not De Soto’s. De Soto could go in peace but the Chief would be staying in his stronghold and with that took his leave. De Soto sent a messenger to get Tuscaloosa for the noon day meal which was ignored twice. On the third the messenger shouted loudly and a warrior came out of the door and confronted the messenger angrily.
Another warrior behind him placed bow and arrow in his hand and he made out as if to fire at a crowd of Spaniards. A cavalier then took sword in hand and cut him down, dead. He was put upon by the warriors son who fired 6 arrows quickly, which bounced off his armor. He then put upon him striking the helmet with the bow and causing blood to flow and he was also then put to the sword and killed and the Spanish party retreated. The 10,000 warriors then came out of the houses and attacked the Spaniards.
De Soto made it to his horse and even though shot in the thigh rallied his men away from the walls to lure the warriors away and then counter attacked. Over 9 hours the battle raged with many Spaniards killed and many more warriors slaughtered. De Soto managed to make it to the gate and outside the fortress and the warriors closed the gate. Tuscaloosa expected to wait out the Spaniards and attack them in the forest but on arrival at the fortress the carriers had brought all the Spaniards equipment, plunder, and supplies inside the fort. Also several soldiers were still inside the fort, trapped in one of the houses.
De Soto attacked one of the gates with 200 men, 100 with shields and battle axes, 100 with lances and swords. They mowed down the gate and advanced to the house holding the hostages, killing hundreds of warriors in the process. They then set the place on fire, which quickly spread from house to house and tower burning all. The Spaniards retreated to a nearby field. The warrior attacked, were repulsed, and attacked again. Dead and wounded warriors numbered 3000 while the Spaniards lost 80 men and forty horses.
The spaniards stayed there for a month resting and caring for the wounded. De Soto received word that the ships with supplies made it too Pensacola but kept it from his men. The consensus of the men is that they should return to Pensacola and take ship out of North America as there was no plunder and riches to be gained in this country of half naked savages. Consulting his officers, De Soto learned that to return to Pensacola he would lose the support of his men to continue the expedition. De Soto looked to his own self interest not wanting to return empty handed and a failure, and ordered the expedition to go north and continue on.
After five days the expedition found themselves on a wide river with 1500 warriors on the other side. When De Soto offered peace to the Chief he responded he wanted a war of fire and blood as he had heard of the destruction of Mauvila. After 12 days of building rafts the Spaniards crossed and made quick work of decimating the warriors. Traveling on they came into the lands of the Chickasaw. Here De Soto befriended a Chief and was given shelter and provisions. But conflict started almost immediately with 3 Indians caught raiding the Spaniards swine, two were killed and the 3rd had his hands cut off. The Chief did not complain, but when 2 Spaniards were caught stealing furs from the Chief’s hut he demanded the same treatment which De Soto ordered. However, the translator advised the Chief De Soto wanted the men pardoned and the Chief did so.
One dark and stormy night warriors passed the Spaniard sentinels and set fire to the huts they inhabited. They were driven out into battle with the warriors. The warriors were eventually repulsed but not before De Soto lost 40 men in the flames, all his swine which were burned in the fort, as were 50 horses in addition to all their supplies and provisions. Many were naked having not time to gather their clothes and now had to spend the night outside on a cold march night. They moved off a distance and made a forge and bellows with a bear hide to re-temper their words damaged in the fire, built lances and saddle horns of ash and shields from buffalo hides and in a week were on the march again.
In 3 days they came upon another group, naked with fully painted bodies for war, they stood behind palisades. The warriors erred in leaving their fortress and the Spaniards routed them, sending them in retreat and in hast they became stuck in the narrow entrance and were cut down. The Spaniards then gained the interior and a great carnage ensued. The location was most likely near the Yazoo River in Mississippi. De Soto continued northerly and in 8 days came to the Mississippi River.
De Soto went to the nearest village and asked for time to build vessels to cross the Mississippi on. The Chief replied he was under another Chief who would want them to war but De Soto advised he would not harm or ravage the province and he was not attacked. In making his vessels the party was approached and attacked by water. Raiding parties rained arrows down on them but when it was apparent it wouldn’t stop the work the party withdrew. A party of 7000 warriors, Sioux, appeared on the opposite shore as De Soto crossed in 4 barges and but were defeated on the Spanish landing. The expedition continued on meeting a friendly tribe, the Chief Casqui.
De Soto continued his quest for gold with Casqui and 5000 warriors and 3000 baggage bearers along. Prior to arrival at the neighboring town controlled by Chief Capaha, Casqui went forward with select warriors to scout but in actuality to attack an enemy he had lost many battles to. Casqui and his warriors killed many and desecrated the burial ground of his enemies; remains were pulled from coffins and heads of his defeated warriors were taken down from poles and replaced with the heads of his new victims. Thus for the second time De Soto was befriended to involve him in the tribal politics of the area.
Capaha had removed to an island and peace offerings from De Soto were declined. De Soto attacked in 70 canoes supplied by Casqui with 200 of his men and 3000 of Casqui’s. Upon arriving at the island the force could barely make shore due to the great defense of Capaha’s warriors. Faced with strong opposition the 3000 of Casqui’s warriors fled in their canoes leaving the Spaniards to certain destruction. They were saved only when Capaha called for a cessation and offered De Soto peace. De Soto was able to broker a peace between the two Chief’s but Capaha advised Casqui that he was victorious only because of the Spaniards and that they would leave at some point but he would still be there, a warning of future retribution.
De Soto continued to wander looking for gold and wintered over his third year. Losing his interpreter made the going harder and he was down to 400 efficient men and forty horses. Finally De Soto gave up his westward march and looked to return to the Mississippi and build 2 Brigantines, one to go to Cuba and the other Mexico to get supplies for the expedition. The more he moved the more hostile Indians he encountered. He went to the Arkansas River, a tributary to the Mississippi River and down to the Mississippi. Finding a friendly Chief De Soto settled into his care for shelter and provisions.
But nightly the Chief and warriors would cross the Mississippi River, De Soto suspecting he was making alliances with neighboring tribes. It was here that De Soto became ill and died. Luis de Moscoso was put in charge before De Soto died and he feared to let the Indians know of the death as they thought De Soto was immortal. Moscoso had De Soto secretly buried but several warriors suspected the sick De Soto had been buried there so Moscoso moved the body and put it in the Mississippi River.
The remaining Spaniards were hopeful that De Soto’s death would mean a movement to return to Cuba but Mosco decided to continue the quest and marched for a year in a long circle leaving any place the Spaniards went in death and destruction as their numbers decreased also. Finally he returned to the place of De Soto’s death. Knowing they now wanted to leave the natives provided shelter and provisions as they set about attempting to build ships. Finding 30 spies from a neighboring tribe in his camp Moscoso cut off their hands and sent them home mutilated.
The summer of 1543 the Spaniards finished building their vessels and with only 350 men left in the expedition embarked down the Mississippi assuming it would take them to the Gulf of Mexico. It was here the Chief of the mutilated Indians would get his revenge as fleets of canoes with thousands of warriors put upon the Spaniards. All but 8 of the horses were killed and just about every Spaniard wounded. On the 4th day 4 of the vessels were cut off and 48 killed or drowned. A couple days later they landed to graze the last of the horses and lost them, killed by arrows with the handlers barely escaping the attack. The Spaniards finally suffered greater losses than their assailants and after 16 days of assault the Indians left.
They made it to the Gulf and decided to push out to sea instead of holding to the shore. A gale hit, scattered them, and pushed them back to shore and they spent 2 months slowly navigating the shore line before returning to civilization. De Soto’s ships waited in Pensacola until it apparent he was not returning. They came back every year and sailed the Gulf looking for information on the party, finally learning of its failure and losses from word spread by the arrival of the remains of the expedition in Mexico.
In 1535 Esteban Gomez explored the eat coast of North America from Florida to Maine and the Penobscot Bay looking for the Northwest passage. Finding no route to the riches of the East he took a load of slaves from the natives, most likely one of the Abenaki tribes in Maine, and returned them to Spain to be sold. It was common for explorers to take natives hostage as slaves to be sold, guides, or future interpreters.
1559 Tristan de Luna landed at Pensacola Bay in an effort to establish a base of support to establish a colony on Santa Elena (Parr’s Island). It was it by a hurricane which killed many and sank 6 ships, grounded a 7th, and ruined supplies. Survivors moved inland (present day Alabama) for several months then returned to the coast. Finally in 1561 the effort to settle was abandoned concluding northwest Florida was too dangerous to settle and it was ignored for over 100 years.
French and Spanish conflict:
In 1562 French Huguenots settled Charlesfort on Parr’s Island, South Carolina. Looking to secure a piece of America for France, 28 men were left on Parr’s Island, South Carolina, to build a settlement and their leader, Jean Ribault, returning to France to secure supplies but he was arrested by the English and imprisoned for 2 years preventing his return. The Orista and Guale Tribes originally supplied the colony but when their provisions were severely taxed they withdrew support. A mutiny occurred due to strict discipline and most of their supplies were burned. They built their own open boat and all but one sailed back towards Europe. Lacking supplies they were reduced to cannibalism before being rescued by an English Vessel. The Spanish came from Cuba and burned the fort and took captive the one Frenchman who was living with local Indians.
Santa Elena. The Spanish built a fort on top of the French fort, San Felipe, in 1566 and occupied it until 1570 when it was destroyed by fire. They built a second fort nearby, San Felipe II, to house 250 troops which arrived from Spain. In 1566 225 settlers, farmers and families and Catholic Missionaries, arrived from Spain. In 1577, due to cruel treatment, the Guale and Orista Tribes attacked the settlement together and it was abandoned. In 1577 the French returned and their ship wrecked in Port Royal Sound so they built a fort but were put upon by the natives and many killed and the rest captured. The Spanish returned, attacked the Guale and Orista’s and secured the French from their captors then promptly hanged most of them. The Spanish built Fort San Marcos and then a second larger fort nearby but they abandoned it in 1587 in favor of St. Augustine after learning of Sir Walter Raliegh’s Roanoke Island settlement and fearing an attack by the English Sir Francis Drake operating in the Caribbean and attacking Spanish settlements.
About 1564 300 French Huguenots sailed to Florida to settle, hold the land for France, and drive out the Spanish. They settled at the mouth of the St. John’s River building a triangle shaped fort there, Fort Caroline. Initially they got along with the Timucua Indians but when their supplies ran short they looked to the natives who declined causing conflict. To counter this French Protestant settlement Phillip II of Spain sent Pedro Menendez de Avilez and 600 men to Florida. Unknown to them Ribault had been freed and was returning to Florida with provisions for the Huguenots.
Menendez was badly beaten by storms but managed to reach Florida with 5 ships only to find Ribault already there. In 1565 Menendez founded St. Augustine and began to build earthworks and a fort. Menendez fleet couldn’t compete with Ribault’s and he sent away his larger ships. Ribault emptied Fort Caroline of most of the men looking to strike the Spaniards and drive them from Florida. Menendez noticed a heavy storm coming and proceeded overland with a part of his force to attack Fort Caroline. Not expecting an attack in foul weather the fort was easily taken as the few raining men were getting out of bed in the morning. Mendez put all the men to death by sword. Menendez returned to St. Augustine to learn that the 2 vessels of the French fleet had been wrecked in the storm and the rest scattered. Survivors on the beach surrendered to Menendez and he offered them life to convert to Catholicism, which few did, and 111 were put to the sword. A second party was found with Ribault and all were put to death.
The Spanish were mostly men and turned to the Timucua for food and wives. This caused conflict between them and the Timucua began to attack the Spanish to try to drive them out. Menendez established Santa Elena as his Capital and St. Augustine was used primarily as a fort. Over time it grew and was settled but it suffered many disasters. And in 1586 Sir Francis Drake burned St. Augustine to the ground. Spain decided to consolidate holdings and in 1587 abandoned Santa Elena and made St. Augustine the Capital of Florida. Short of food they were saved by Dona Maria Melendez, a Timucua ruler of an Indian mission town and a Christian (as was her mother) and she had married one of the Spanish soldiers. Being part of the hereditary elite class she was respected by the Spanish. Her son was to become the Chief of another Indian mission Town.
Marriage with native women was common in the Spanish colonies due to the lack of women. The class system was royalty (anyone with a connection to royalty); then a peninsular, a person born in Spain; criollos, a Spanish person born in the Americas; mixed races; and Africans. The cultures also became mixed, part native Timucua and part Spanish. Catholic missionaries and the establishment of mission towns was spreading Christianity and also the mixed cultures in Florida and West Florida.
France in Canada
In 1534 French navigator Jacques Cartier was looking for the Northwest Passage when he discovered the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River. He would return in 1535 and sail the St. Lawrence to the city of Hochelaga. Here he took 2 sons of the Chief back to France with him. Cartier returned to North America in 1536 and guided by the 2 natives he had brought back sailed up the St. Lawrence River and established a base near an Iroquois Village. From there he proceeded further upriver to Montreal and a 2nd Iroquois Village but returned to his base the same day. Wintering over they lost 25 men to disease during a cold, brutal winter. They also began to have conflicts with the locals and when spring arrived Cartier took several Chief’s hostage and returned to France.
In 1541 Cartier was to lead another expedition, this one including Jean-Francois de la Roque de Robal to establish a colony to secure french claims over those of Spain. Cartier sailed first and settled in Quebec, Roberval was delayed for one year. They suffered another bitter winter and again the actions of the Europeans raised the hostilities of the local natives. Cartier found what he thought were gold and diamonds and that spring sailed for France only to meet Roberval en route and be ordered back. Cartier stole away and returned to France only to find the gold and diamonds were worthless minerals. Roberval spent one winter in Canada then abandoned the colony. The land was called “Canada” by Cartier after the Mohawk word for town or village.
Iroquois, Huron, Algonquin, Delaware, Susquehannock, Neutrals, Wenronhronon, and Mohicans:
The Mohawk Indians:
There are differing views on which tribe of Iroquois Cartier met at Montreal. Some claim it to be the Mohawk and some the Hurons. Many believing that the Mohawk are related to the Huron and split from that tribe. There can be no definitive answer as to the tribes in this area as at that time it broke out in war shortly after the visit and tribal lands were changed for all due to the conflict. According to spoken history to the Champlain Party in 1603, the Algonquin Tribe (an Algonquian speaking tribe) and the Mohawk Tribe (Iroquoian) were at peace in the St. Lawrence Valley. 3 Mohawks were killed by 6 Algonquins when hunting together. The Algonquins refused redress and the Mohawks swore and oath to perish to a man or have revenge.
Mohawk tradition is that they were driven from the St.Lawrence Valley by the “Adirondacks,” a derogatory name for the Algonquins used by the Mohawks. With their numbers reduced the Mohawks withdrew to the mountains in Vermont east of Lake Champlain and built their strength and numbers before attacking again. When put upon the Algonquins asked the Huron for assistance and they joined in. The Hurons suffered greatly in the battles as they sat between the Mohawk and the Algonquins. Most likely weakened by war and disease, the Mohawks themselves moved south along Lake George to the Hudson River then west into the Mohawk Valley.
As discussed in “Eastern American Geography Guiding Settlement” the area where the Mohawk settled is a crossing point for north-south travel and also travel west to the Great Lakes and ultimately the Ohio River Valley. Originally the area was unsettled as the location would put a tribe in conflict with all using the routes west and North-South, the Mahicans in the Hudson River Valley and the Albany NY area south to the Catskill Mountains, The Algonquins in the Ottawa River Valley (Montreal to Kingston, Canada), and the Huron Tribes southwest of the Algonquins and north of Lake Ontario. Additionally, the Mohawk were in conflict with (east to west) the Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca Tribes.
The Great Peace (Dekanawida and Hiawatha) and the Iroquois Federation:
Some references have the Federation occurring in the mid 1500s while most have it occurring about 1570-80 and some later. If a life was taken between the tribes tribute had to be negotiated, often a life for a life, slavery to the offended family for loss of labor, or tribute, and if not agreed to then retribution would be brought against the offending tribe and so it went back and forth. The oral tradition of the Iroquois Confederacy tells the story of “The Great Peacemakers” which brought the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca together. They instituted The Great Law outlining the rights and responsibilities of the 5 Nations Federation. Each nation maintained their own internal control but in matters between Nations and in matters concerning other Nations the Federation Council ruled. Tribute for loss of life was a settled matter of law ending the feuds back and forth.
The Federation is important as now hunting lands were held in common as was defense of the Federation against outside enemies. The Mohawk claimed control of the area just north of Albany, NY around Lake George and Lake Champlain and north to the St. Lawrence River, the Cayuga a rectangle just north of the PA border to the St. Lawrence River, the Onondaga a rectangle from north of the PA line to Lake Ontario, the Oneida a rectangle from north of the PA line to Lake Ontario, and the Seneca a flat top triangle at Lake Ontario to almost the PA border. While the claimed territory was difficult for the Federation to control at the edges in the 1500s the east-west pass through the Appalachian Mountain Range, the Mohawk River was in complete control of the Federation as was access to the Susquehanna and Delaware River headwaters and access from them to the Schoharie Creek and Mohawk River junction to points north and west.
The Mohawks, Onondagas, and Senecas were the elder brothers of the Iroquois Federation, the Oneidas and Cayugas the younger brothers. The Mohawks were given precedence as the first of the older brothers and speculation is that they were the descendants of the original tribe from which the others branched out. Each tribe was divided by clans and marriages did not occur within the same clan. Rights were passed down maternally and so a father from the wolf clan marrying a mother from the turtle clan would have offspring living in the turtle clan and grow to hold positions in that clan. The primary male to a son would be his uncle and the rest of the males in the clan.
By 1600 the Algonquins were located north of the upper St. Lawrence River just north of the Mohawk lands. The Huron were located on the lower St. Lawrence River and north of Lake Ontario and bordering the all 5 Iroquois tribes. The Mahicans (Mohicans) were located in the Hudson River Valley above NYC and the Catskill Mountains bordering the Mohawk on the East. The Delaware were in the Delaware River Valley bordering the Mohawk on the South The Susquehannock, west of the Delaware, bordered the Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. The Wenronhronon were south of and on Lake Erie west of the Seneca. The Neutrals were north of Lake Erie and west of the Seneca. (britannica.com map) By forming the Federation (definitely by 1590) the Iroquois were not only able to keep the surrounding tribe from their territory, they gained the strength to expand their territory.
English Attempted Settlement of Virginia:
In 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh obtained a patent from Queen Elizabeth for a settlement in North America and sent two vessels to scout a location and they landed on Roanoke Island (present day North Carolina) and named the country Virginia in honor of the virgin queen. In 1585 600 men went to establish a colony to settle it and from which the English could control shipping lanes in the Americas and the adjacent Islands. The expeditions larger vessels had to anchor outside of the sounds around the island and one of them was lost in a storm with many supplies. 108 men were left to build a temporary shelter and the expedition returned to England to return with supplies the following year. Instead of planting food the men began to look for gold, using the natives they called Croatan’s (Croatan also the name of nearby present day Hatteras Island).
The English name Croatan’s might be the Secotan Tribe or the Chawanok or Weapemoc tribes, a tribe (or affiliate) of the Roanoke Indians, part of the Algonquian Tribes of the Carolinas. Tension increased between the English and natives and when smallpox broke out in the tribes Chief Wingina of the Secotan changed his name to Pemisapan and tried to cut off all aid to the English. His plan was to attack small bands of English when they went in search of food. For this the English preemptively killed him. Shortly after Sir Francis Drake’s fleet arrived and the decision for all to return to England was made abandoning the colony.
On the return to England two of the Secotan’s, Manteo and Towate, joined them on the voyage. Additionally they carried back to England tobacco, maize (the Europeans called all grains such as wheat and oats corn and maize was referred to as Indian Corn), and potatoes. They also carried word of a temperate climate and rich soils. While initial attempts at settlement were looking to support expeditions to plunder gold and silver and support their conflicts with other European nations and increase their power, the information certainly had some thinking of colonization, to plant (and hence the word Plantation) like they had attempted in Ireland.
Shortly after they left Roanoke a supply ship with 400 men arrived and found the colony abandoned. After interviewing some natives they learned it had returned to England with Drake. The decision was made to also return to England but 15 men were left for an English presence and to protect Raleigh’s patent claims. Raleigh decided to attempt another settlement but due to conflict with the Secotan he decided to move it to Chesapeake Bay.
In 1587 115 men, women, and children under the lead of John White, mostly middle class Londoners (looking to become landed gentry?), set off for America. When they landed on Roanoke Island the fort and buildings were destroyed and the 15 men gone. Bones of one man was found and presumed to be one of them killed by Indians. Shortly after that one of the colonists was killed by an Indian. Manteo had returned with them and a settler and he were sent to establish relations with the Croatan (Secotan). The Croatan advised a larger federation of tribes inland had attacked the settlement and killed the 15 men.
The settlement decided to move 50 miles up Albermarle Sound. White was to return to England and resupply for the settlers and return the next year. Word of the impending Spanish Armada’s attack on England resulted in all ships being held in England. Two smaller ships of White were allowed to leave with supplies but they were raided by French Pirates and the supplies taken. Smith finally secured ships in 1590 and went to Roanoke Island and found “CRO” carved into a tree and “Croatan” on logs from which a palisades had been built. Inside it appeared the buildings had been dismantled and chests belonging to Smith had been buried but subsequently dug up and ransacked. They had agreed before his leaving that if they relocated the location would be carved into a tree and if they were under duress they would carve a cross. Smith was certain they had relocated and Smith searched Croatan Island and the area around Roanoke but no one from the colony was found.
Several attempts to locate the colony over the next couple of decades revealed no clues and there are many lost colony theories. The colonists were absorbed into local Indian populations either settling with them or captured as slaves. Chief Powhattan had the Powhattan Tribe kill them but the lack of bones and evidence at the site disputes that. England and Spain were at war and there was much activity in these remote areas and they may have attacked. Disease was a possibility and would explain the lack of bodies as they would have been disposed of away from the healthy, most likely into the sea. Other theories are cannibalism, witchcraft, and supernatural or religious explanations.
Conclusion of the DNA diaspora in the Americas:
The DNA diaspora which came out of Africa split and one turned west ending in Great Britain and the other turned east, across Asia, Beringia, and into the Americas. Geography kept them apart for 10,000 plus years. Europe advanced from a Clan (tribal) society, through a feudal society and for the most part were nation states. In the Americas they were still mostly a tribal society, aside from the great empires in South America which compare to the feudal society of Europe. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of the Americas geography kept them from the advancements which occurred in Europe, Asia and Africa most importantly horses and large pack animals, Iron and metal working, and gunpowder and the invention of firearms and cannons. Thus they lacked the tools to compete with the Europeans in war.
In the world from the 1500s to the 1600s the Right of Conquest was the rule including in the tribes of the Americas. Feudal states developed into nation states due to the threats from neighboring nation states. The interactions between England, Scotland, and Ireland are good examples of this. Add to this fervent religious beliefs with little or no toleration for the beliefs of others. For natives in America this meant the Europeans, who had little or no remorse for killing others of their kind for being the wrong religion or nationality, had little or no remorse over plundering and killing the natives, as the natives did among themselves. It was a hard cruel world with much brutality.
Word of the white man must have travelled to the interior of northeast and southeast North America. Cartier’s contact in the St. Lawrence River would travel by word of mouth into the Great Lakes. And Spanish incursions and De Soto’s expedition from Florida to the Mississippi would travel up the Mississippi River and the Ohio River. And word of the Roanoke Settlement would travel across the eastern seaboard. And there most likely were many contacts and interactions not recorded. De Soto’s pillaging across the Southeast and the taking of Indians as slaves would have the tribes react cautiously with the whites and their power of metal weapons, tools, and armor would be both feared and desired to be possessed for their own uses. We see some of the tribes using the power of the Europeans against their enemies, risking subservience to gain power.
As word of the whites travelled so did the diseases they introduced into the Americas. Contact with whites was more often than is indicated in written history. An example is in the documentary “Curse of the Axe” which states that the tribe in contact with the fishermen who had temporary summer work sheds on the coast and traded with them is no longer there with no oral history of where they went. And between them and the Algonquins was an Iroquois Tribe (unrelated to the Iroquois Federation) which is also gone. Some estimates have the death toll from European diseases as high as 70-90% of the native population. If hit with disease and weakened by decreasing numbers of warriors in the tribe it would most certainly be defeated and/or incorporated into neighboring tribes.
Tribes who had their numbers depleted by war with Europeans and by disease would look to their historic enemies as sources of slave labor and to build the strength of their tribe. Women and children taken slave were most often incorporated into the tribe over time giving the tribe strength of numbers. Conflict between enemies would cause larger alliances such as Powhattan of the Powhattan tribe in Virginia and the best example being the Iroquois Federation which controlled over 1/2 of present day New York State. And so even though there was no permanent settlement outside of Florida, European contact had begun to change the interaction of the natives in North America between themselves. The 1600s will only see more.
