 |
| George Buster Singleton |
Picture yourself looking over the mighty river from the high
bank somewhere near where the large grain elevator is now located near
Claiborne. The day is Tues., Oct. 12, 1540.
It is a beautiful, dry autumn day; the river is at a very
low level due to the exceptionally dry weather in the area for the past two
months or so. You have come down river from your village of Piachi, gathering
mussels along the sandy banks. The current of the river is almost at a
standstill because of the lack of water from up in the hills to the northeast.
Looking out across the river, it looks as if a grown man or a large deer could
almost wade across it.
Looking across to the west side, you wonder what is about to
happen. There is a large gathering of what is said to be soldiers and war
horses near the water’s edge. The men on the bank with shiny clothing sit on
the backs of these strange animals called horses. The horses, too, have on a
white shining cover. You have watched other strange animals being herded down
the west bank of the river from an unknown area upstream.
Strange animals
You have been told by some of your people that the smaller
animals are swine or hogs. The larger ones have horns like the deer that roam
the areas along the great river. They are called cattle. Men with dark skin are
herding the strange animals. There is much yelling and hollering going on
around them.
There has been talk in your village of Piachi, which is
located up the river aways, that a strange man by the name of Hernando DeSoto
has come this way from a country across the great waters called Spain. He has
brought with him this strange group that he calls his army.
It is said that he and his army have journeyed from the
northeast in search for something called gold. The story is circulated in the
village that the man called DeSoto has been cruel to the native people to the
northeast and to those of your village he has come in contact with.
He has with him several who speak your tongue, and he always
has them ask something about a city made of that stuff he calls gold. When no
one answers, he has them beaten or even killed. The talk in the village is that
he thinks that there are seven of these gold cities, and that he is holding a
great chief from the northeast prisoner. The chief’s name is said to be
Tuscaloosa. It is said that this man called DeSoto thinks that chief Tuscaloosa
knows the location of these seven cities of gold.
Watching a tall man
You look across the river again; it is true. There is a tall
man dressed as your people do sitting on an animal called a horse. The man is
so tall until his feet are touching the ground There are several men in shining
clothing close to the tall man as though watching him.
If this tall man is chief Tuscaloosa, he does not seem to be
worried. He is watching the men bunching together driftwood that they have
gathered from along the water’s edge. They are making what are believed to be
some type of crude rafts out of the wood.
The men are taking off their shining clothing and that of
their horses. They are placing it on the bunches of driftwood. The horses are
being led into the river; some of the almost naked men are riding them. The
animals called horses are swimming the deep water in the middle of the river.
Some have made it across to the east bank. These are yelling to the other side
and motioning for the rest to start across.
The rough wood rafts have now started across with the
animals called cattle swimming alongside. The waters of the river must be quite
cold; the men are yelling and shaking. Fires have been started on the east bank
as those who have crossed gather around them.
The hogs are being caught and their feet are tied together.
Then they are placed on the driftwood rafts for the trip across the river.
Strange noise like squeals are coming from the swine as the rafts leave the
west bank. The dark-skinned herders are watching the rafts and are holding on
the sides as they make their way across the deep waters in the middle of the
large stream.
Drowning man
Alongside one raft, a scream is heard as one of the
dark-skinned men sinks beneath the river’s surface. No effort is made to try
and help the drowning man; he disappears from sight down the river aways.
Looking to the west, the evening sun is slowly making its
way down on the distant horizon. Before too long, the shadows of the coming
darkness will begin to creep across the east bank of the mighty river.
The strange gathering of DeSoto’s army begins to move up
river in the direction of the village of Piachi. Seeing that they are heading
in a northeastwardly direction, you leave your observation point and hurry
toward the village to warn everyone of the coming of these strangers who are
dressed in strange and shining clothing.
Reaching the village of Piachi, word is quickly passed among
the villagers of the coming army of DeSoto. The women and small children
quickly disappear in the heavy woods to the east of the village. You find out
that the chief of your village has known about these strangers for some time.
They have been watched since that night, two days past, when they camped at the
mouth of the large creek on the east bank.
You also learn that several messengers have come down river
from the neighboring villages, telling your chief of the pillaging and cruelty
done to their people by DeSoto’s followers.
As the evening shadows slowly creep across the large
clearing to the east of the village of Piachi, the first of the moving columns
of riders come to a halt as the village chief and his council slowly move out
to meet them. You hear the man called DeSoto, speaking through his interpreter,
that his army is sick. They became sick from food that they had eaten during
the past two days.
He goes on to say that they are week and need rest. He asks
if there is anything the village medicine men, or wind walkers, can do to cure
his men of this sickness.
A medicine man is summoned and told of the sickness; the
medicine man disappears from sight. Shortly he reappears, carrying with him a
large bundle of weeds. He tells DeSoto to have his men burn these weeds and mix
the ashes with the food of the evening meal. DeSoto instructs one of his men to
give the medicine man a large string of beads. Across the clearing, the evening
fires have already been lighted as the army of DeSoto begins to settle in for
the night.
The army of DeSoto will camp at the village of Piachi for a
period of three nights and two days. On the morning of Oct. 15, word was passed
that the army had recovered from its sickness. DeSoto had demanded guides from
the village of Piachi to show him and his army the way to the large central
village of Maubila in the high hills to the northeast.
Here, he expects to find much of the gold and riches he
searches for. Little does he know that runners have already been sent to warn
Maubila of his coming army.
Before the sun has set three days later, DeSoto and his army
will have suffered a devastating defeat. He would lose over 65 of his best
soldiers; he would also lose over 200 of his best war horses and much of his
swine and cattle.
DeSoto himself will receive a serious head wound; this will
affect his ability to reason for the rest of his life. But the bloody battle of
Maubila is another story.
(Singleton, the author of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and
Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of 79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime
resident of Monroeville, he was born on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County and
served as the administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from 1964 to
1987. He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column above and
all of Singleton’s other columns are available to the public through the
microfilm records at the Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s
columns are presented here each week for research and scholarship purposes and
as part of an effort to keep his work and memory alive.)
No comments:
Post a Comment