De Soto and the Chickasaws
Just south of Memphis is De Soto County Mississippi. The county seat of De Soto is Hernando. Although I don't know who decided on those names, but it certainly was not the Chickasaw Nation. During De Soto's travels through North America in search of riches he was as cruel to the natives as a conquistador would be expected. Upon encountering the Chickasaw however his luck began to change for the worse.
The following account of this fateful meeting is from Lee Sultzman. It is part of an exhaustive site dedicated to accurate description of various Native American cultures. A detailed section about the Chickasaw Nation may be found at http://www.tolatsga.org/chick.html.
The Chickasaw story begins with their own account of their migration from west of the Mississippi. Each night when they camped, their priests would set a pole vertically in the ground. When they arose the next morning, the direction that the pole was leaning would indicate where they were to go. It always pointed east, and after crossing the Mississippi, they reached the Tennessee River near Huntsville, Alabama. Here the pole remained erect, and they stayed. The timing of this is uncertain, but the Chickasaw had been there for some time when Hernando De Soto's conquistador army arrived in December of 1540. Still healing the wounds from their victory over the Mobile in southern Alabama, the Spanish were discouraged by the ferocity of the battle and their failure to find gold. Rumors of mutiny had forced De Soto to turn northward to find winter quarters rather than risk wholesale desertions if he proceeded to the supply ships waiting on the coast.
As one-sided as their victory had been, the Spanish were no longer viewed as invincible by the region's tribes, and the reception they received from the Chickasaw at a river crossing in northern Alabama was a shower of arrows from warriors on the other side. The Spanish finally forced their way across and, after capturing several hostages, demanded that the Chickasaw supply them with food. The Chickasaw minko reluctantly agreed, and with snow already on the ground, the Spanish established their winter camp. An uneasy truce prevailed throughout the winter with neither side entirely trusting the other. The Chickasaw supplied the Spanish with corn but were still trying to find a way way to rid themselves of their "guests." To this end, they asked the Spanish to help them crush a revolt by a tributary tribe to the west, the Chakchiuma. De Soto agreed to send 30 horsemen and 80 infantry but, realizing the danger of dividing his army, put the remainder on alert. The Spanish-Chickasaw expedition found the Chakchiuma town abandoned, and suspecting a trap, the Spanish returned to their camp. The remainder of the winter passed quietly with the Spanish becoming increasingly complacent.
Above: Young Chickasaw Warrior
De Soto offered some roast pork to visiting Chickasaw (his army kept a large herd of pigs as emergency rations), and they loved it. Since the Chickasaw were sharing their food with De Soto, they saw nothing wrong with appropriating a few of the Spanish pigs. Three "hog thieves" were caught, and De Soto dealt with them in the usual high-handed manner of the conquistador. Two executed by a crossbow firing squad, and the third was sent to his chief minus his hands. Spanish soldiers also plundered one of the nearby Chickasaw towns. Expecting that the Spanish would leave soon, the minko chose to ignore the abuse, but as the time for departure approached in March, De Soto made one demand too many ...200 young Chickasaw women to serve as tamemes (bearers) and "other purposes." The Chickasaw minko said that he would "have to think about this" but that De Soto would receive his answer in the near future.
His answer was in keeping with the Chickasaw's later reputation as a people who "don't take guff" with a talent of "going for the jugular" with the sudden and unexpected. Chickasaw warriors made a surprise night attack on the Spanish encampment bringing along live coals in clay pots to set it afire. The result was chaos, and De Soto himself was almost killed when his saddle came loose after mounting a horse to defend the camp. The Chickasaw withdrew and when the smoke cleared in the morning, the Spanish had lost 12 men, 57 horses, and 400 of their precious pigs. Even worse, almost all of their clothing and weapons had been destroyed, and the expedition was within a hair's breadth of being wiped out. Whatever their other moral failings, the Spanish had courage. Under constant attack, they gathered what remained and retreated cold, desperate, and almost entirely naked to an abandoned Chickasaw village where they hastily built a forge to repair their weapons and saddles. Once this was done, the conquistadors left the Chickasaw homeland by the shortest route available.