II Some Early History
In his book, “La Relacion que Dio Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca delo Acaescido unlas Indias”, De Vaca writes in the year 1530 that “we were among the Adayes (Adais), the others were Juan Castillo, Andrea Dorantes and Estabancio of Azmor who was a slave of Dorantes.” These four survivors were of 300 of the Panfilio Narvez expedition that went into Florida in 1528.
Narvez’s expedition, beaten by the Apalache Indians, unable to return to their ships, killed their horses, ate the meat, used the hides to make bellows and water casks; they forged their armor and weapons to make tools and nails, then constructed four boats. They skirted the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, foraging for food. During a storm the boats were wrecked, four survived to become slaves of the coastal Indians.
De Vaca and his companions became traders and medicine men. Meanwhile they learned to live off the land as the Indians did. They planned and successfully escaped.... And now they were among the Adais seeking directions. They were the first white men to travel westward over the Buffalo Trail. They wandered ever westward and finally found a Spanish patrol from Mexico.
De Vaca was the only one of the three hundred to return to Spain and even before he published his book in 1542, he had inspired the Hernando DeSoto expedition into Florida with his story of the City of Cibola, a city built entirely of gold.
Hernando DeSoto, the Golden Eagle, led the next expedition into Florida. Continuously harassed by the Appalachie tribes of Indians of the southeastern states he crossed the Mississippi and now in the year 1540 he marched into Louisiana, pillaging, raping and destroying. He was assisted by these trusting Lieutenants: Don Luis Moscoso, Don Juan de Anasco, Don Baltazarde Gallegardo, Don Juan Labillo, Don Carlos Chinquez, Juan de Quizman, Don Vasco de Procello, and Don Diago Vasquez, and these Captains: Espilando, Gallegardo, Maldamando, and Luis Fuentes. The Chronnicalor, Gonzado Quadrado Charmillo de Zafra who wrote (From the translations of B. F. French):
“We marched one day west from the Rio de Cannis in all this cold country this Wednesday, March 21, 1541, at the end of the day we came to a place called Toalli. All the Indians have houses built so, the houses are built of reeds in a manner of tules and daubed with mud which show as a mud wall, they are very clean and have a small door; when you shut it up and build a fire within it is as warm as in a stove.”1
Don Luis De Moscoso and a scouting party traveled westward over the buffalo trail as far as the Trinity River before returning to the Adais.
For the next hundred and forty years this area was devoid of white explorers.
By early 1682 Cavalier Robert de LaSalle had begun descending the Mississippi River accompanied by Henri De Tonty, the “Iron Hand”, and a party of other Frenchmen.
April 9, 1682, LaSalle discovered the mouth of the Mississippi River and established a plaque there, claiming all land drained by this river for the King of France, Louis XIII. He named this land LOUISIANA in honor of King Louis and Queen Anna.
Returning up the Mississippi near a location in the Illinois country at Starving Rock in that same year he established Fort St. Louis and left Captain Henri De Tonty in command.
LaSalle went to France and received assistance so that he could return and establish a settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Through erroneous navigation the expedition missed the mouth of the Mississippi River and traveled westward, landing at Matagorda Bay, and in the Texas country established another Fort St. Louis in 1685.
LaSalle, realizing that this area was not suitable for colonization, began land excursions in an attempt to reach Canada.
Father Joutel’s diary reveals that in January, 1687, he was with LaSalle, and a scouting party, were among the Nakassa Indians which resided on Nakassa Lake.2
In 1682 at Quaerataro, Mexico, The College of the Holy Cross was founded by Priests; Father Francois Hidalgo, Father Jose Diaz, Father Felix Isadore Espinosa, Father Nunez, Father Antonio de San Buenaventura Oliverez, Father Francisco Marino, Father Juan Parez, Father DeVaca, Father Salazar, Father Massinettes and Father Margil de Jesus, the last named, Father Margil de Jesus, being chosen as President of the College. These priests, so as to distinguish their work from the work of others called themselves Zatachinies, their purpose being to prepare others for frontier missionary duties. By 1684 they had succeeded in establishing missions south of the Rio Grande.
The most northern Spanish presidio at that time was Fort San Juan Bautista, located on the south bank of the Rio Grande near present day Eagle Pass, Texas. The land of the Coahuile Indians extended from present day San Antonio southward into the Monte Clova-Saltillo area of Mexico. The Matagordo area on the Gulf Coast was included in the land of the Coahuile.
Aside from the duties of the Spanish missions to spread the Catholic faith, they were also, in reality, observation and trading posts of the Spaniards. From one of these missions it was learned from an Indian who came to trade, that other white men had come out of the sea in large houses that floated on the waters of the gulf and had settled on the coast land.
On March 20, 1689, LaSalle was assassinated by some of his own men on a tributary of the Trinity River. Father Joutel reported the men responsible for the assassination were in turn killed by the Indians. The remnants of the party returned to Fort St. Louis and finding it deserted, retraced their journey into the Trinity River area.
Alonzo DeLeon and Captain Flores were leading a scouting patrol when they found Santiago Grislet, Jean Lavaschevque and two very young boys, the Tulon brothers, Roberto and Pedro. This Spanish patrol searched for the next two months for other Frenchmen, but not being successful, returned to Mexico.
1689.
Juan Jarri had, during the absence of LaSalle, deserted Fort St. Louis and had risen to a lordly position among the tribes of the Coahuile Indians. During the search by DeLeon and Flores he had been shifted from tribe to tribe so that the Spanish Patrol failed to capture him. The Spanish now realized that this one Frenchman had the power to upset the semi-peacefulness of the Spanish frontier. The College of the Holy Cross was desiring to extend its Missionary work north of the Rio Grande.
Don Alonzo DeLeon, now the Spanish Governor of the Coahuile Territory, led an expedition to establish three missions among Hasinai Indians south of the Trinity River. He now also found himself in pursuit of a party of Frenchmen (Father Joutel’s party).
Henri De Tonty at the Fort St. Louis near Starving Rock in the Illinois country, realized something was amiss and came in search of LaSalle. It is interesting to note how De Tonty, in all this vast country of the southern United States area chose the exact direction in which to travel. Probably the Caddo federation of Indians had trade agreements with the Indian tribes as far north as the Illinois and even further north among the Ouisconsins, to the west they traded with the Hasinais who in turn traded with the Coahuile Indians.
The Amole root (a species of the Yucca plant) was supplied to the Hasinais by the Coahuile Indians. The Caddos traded for this root, which had cleansing properties such as soap and when boiled in water this liquid was used for bathing purposes, it left a pleasant odor on the body of the user.
This drawing of a Caddo hinta-sak, or house, was made from the description of an eye-witness, Gonzado Quadrado Charmillo, one of the chroniclers of the De Soto expedition which visited the El Camino Real area in 1540.
This Indian home was that of the Adais tribe near Robeline, La. of the Caddo Federation. It was made of cypress poles and cane interlaced with vines and daubed with a mixture of mud and moss. The roof was covered with alligator skins which had been treated with bees-wax to make it more impervious to rain. The broad leaves of the cat-tail plant were inserted in the mud to prevent erosion from rain. Thus the Spanish called the place toaille, a deprecatory description of a house built of tules. (Drawing by the author)
The Jumas, traders of the Caddo Indians, were also linguists and it would not have been impossible for them to distinguish the difference of the French and Spanish languages. The same Jumas of the Caddos traveled all of the Caddo trails. The Old Buffalo Trail extending from the Trinity River in Texas to the Red River in Louisiana was now considered part of the Caddo trail system.
In 1690 in the early spring De Tonty, “The Iron Hand,” was among the Adais Indians and the Natchitoches Indians. He, too, went as far as the Trinity River in Texas, but there his guides refused to go further; he gave up his search for LaSalle. In the same year the Joutel Party found the Buffalo Trail beginning at the Trinity River. There among the Hasinai they learned of the Frenchman with the iron hand. They followed the Caddo trail and finally came in contact with De Tonty among the Arkansas Indians. Strangely enough, De Tonty actually came within one days march of finding the Joutel Party.