60
Discovery of the Americas, 1492–1800
He also gathered the craftsmen needed to run a colony, such as shoemakers and tailors. He purchased food and trade items and packed hundreds of shackles and iron collars for slaves. When all preparations were complete, the force included some 620 men and 223 horses. On May 1, 1539, de Soto’s ships approached Florida’s west coast. They sailed into a bay he named Espíritu Santu (Holy Spirit). As supplies were slowly unloaded, eager conquistadores rode into the surrounding marshland. They chased a group of Native Americans. They were shocked when one of the fleeing men pleaded for his life in Spanish. The man was Juan Ortiz. He had been sent by Narváez’s wife a decade earlier to find her husband. When Ortiz and his party landed in Florida in 1528, he and another Spaniard had been captured by Native Americans. Ortiz’s companion was killed immediately. The tribe began to roast Ortiz alive over a coal fire. The chief’s daughter convinced her father to spare the young Spaniard’s life. Soon after, she saved Ortiz’s life a second time. She warned him to flee before he was to be killed as a sacrifice. Ortiz escaped to the protection of a nearby tribe. He was living with them when news arrived that ships were sailing along the coast. De Soto was thrilled to find Ortiz. He now had a translator. De Soto began to send military scouts inland. They did not find treasure. Instead, they were bogged down in swamps. There they were easy targets for hostile Native Americans. The furious de Soto suspected one Native American guide of leading the Europeans in circles. The guide was thrown to the dogs, which tore him to pieces. By mid-July, the Europeans were starving in the humid, insectridden Florida summer. Instead of gold, they found only poor villages. Often, the local people burned their homes and fled with food stores before the Europeans arrived. De Soto left 100 men on the coast and sent most of the ships back to Cuba for more supplies. He ordered the rest of his party to march inland. There was no turning back. De Soto’s hungry army struggled northward. Native Peoples along the way who refused to supply food or information were tortured, raped, or killed. Others were chained and used as slaves to carry the Europeans’ equipment. Starving soldiers often ate maize (corn) raw. They also ate chestnuts and whatever else they found.