The Juan Pardo Expedition

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The Juan Pardo Expedition

 

 

 

Introduction

 

In 1559, eighteen years after Hernando de Soto’s failed expedition across the Southeast in search of Indian wealth, Spain attempted to establish another colony in the New World. Tristan de Luna y Arellano was chosen to lead the colonization attempt. He led an expedition from Pensacola Bay northward to the Coosa towns De Soto had visited in northwestern Georgia. Luna followed much the same route De Soto had and visited many of the same Indian villages, however, he failed in his attempt to establish a viable colony and returned to Pensacola Bay.

 

In 1562 the French established a small fort on Port Royal Sound, South Carolina they called Fort Caroline. The Spanish, seeing the French fort as a threat to their ships sailing from Cuba to Spain, attacked and destroyed the fort. Three years later, in 1565, the Spanish began erecting a series of forts along the Atlantic coast to guard their shipping lanes from attack by the French. One, Fort San Felipe, was erected at Santa Elena on the southern tip of Parris Island, South Carolina and placed under the command of Pedro Menendez de Aliles. The next year, Menendez sent Captain Juan Pardo, leading an expedition of 125 soldiers, from Fort San Felipe westward into the interior with instructions to find a route to Spanish Mexico which was thought to be only several hundred miles away. It was the first of two expeditions Pardo would lead into the piedmont of what would later become North and South Carolina.

 

On that first expedition, Pardo marched northwest across South Carolina until he reached the Indian town of Joara located near modern Morganton, North Carolina. This was the same town De Soto had called Xualla twenty-five years before. Pardo and his men traveled on foot and at each Indian town he ordered the chief to construct a house for his use and cribs that were to be filled with corn to feed the expedition. It was winter when Pardo reached Joara and in the distance before him stood the snow covered Blue Ridge Mountains blocking his passage. Pardo spent two weeks at Joara during which time he constructed a fort he named Fort San Juan. During construction of the fort an Indian runner arrived from Santa Elena with a letter from Menendez instructing Pardo to return to the coast where a French attack was feared. He left a garrison of thirty men at Fort San Juan under the command of Sergeant Hernando Moyano and returned to Santa Elena which he reached in March of 1567. During the nine months Moyano and his men were at Fort San Juan awaiting Pardo’s return, they searched the surrounding countryside for gold and made forays into the mountains to the northwest where they fought a battle with some Chisca Indians on the Watauga or upper Nolichucky River.

 

On September 1, 1567, six months after his return to Parris Island, Pardo set out again with 120 men on the second of his expeditions into the interior Southeast. This time he would cross the Blue Ridge Mountains and explore portions of the Appalachian Summit.

 

Of the six accounts we have of the Juan Pardo expeditions (including a brief one by Pardo himself) the most important are by Pardo’s scribe, Juan de la Bandera. Of the two accounts he has left us the “long” account is by far the most detailed but is written in the legalese of the time which is repetitive to the point of being too tedious for the present purpose. Thus it is Bandera’s “short” account that will be used here with some of the more significant parts of the longer account appearing in brackets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Route Map

 

 

 

Juan Pardo -1567

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Text

 

The “Short” Bandera Relation

 

 

 

Florida 1566 Santa Elena

 

A memorial of the places and the sort of land each place is of those [places] of the provinces of Florida that Captain Juan Pardo entered [while] discovering a road to New Spain from the Point of Santa Elena of the said provinces in the years 566 and 567.  They are as follows:

 

Charles Hudson locates Santa Elena on Parris Island, South Carolina near the present-day town of Beaufort. (Hudson 1990, 32) Unless noted otherwise, the entire route follows that proposed by Hudson.

 

First, he departed from Santa Elena with his company pursuing the said purpose. The day he left he went and slept in a place that is called Uscamacu. Here is an island surrounded by rivers. The ground is sandy and has very good clay for pots and roof tiles and other things that may be needed. On this island there are good parcels of soil for maize and [there are] many vinestocks.

 

Uscamacu on the north end of Port Royal Island. (Hudson 1990, 32)

 

From Uscamacu he went directly to another place that is named Ahoya, where he stopped and slept. This Ahoya is an island some of whose nooks and corners are surrounded by rivers and the rest [are] like a mainland. The soil [is] reasonable for maize. [There are] also many vinestocks with many runners.

 

Ahoya was on Scott’s Neck near the town of Sheldon. (Hudson 1990, 32)

 

From Ahoya he went directly to another place that is named Ahoyabe, a small town [pueblo] [that is] subject to Ahoya. The soil is the same as Ahoya’s.

 

Ahoyabe was near Cummings on either the Coosawhatchie or Salkehatchie River. Pardo was traveling in a northwesterly direction. (Hudson 1990, 32)  

 

From Ahoyabe he went directly to another place named Cocao, who is a chief of some importance. It has much good land, like the other [soils] already described and many patches of stoney soil where maize, wheat, barley, grapevines, all sorts of fruits and vegetables may be grown because there are sweet rivers and creeks and fair soil for all [of them].

 

Cocao was  in the Fairfax area. The rivers and creeks, probably, the Coosawhatchie River and Jackson Branch. From here Pardo continued in a northeasterly direction. (Hudson 1990, 32)

 

From Coçao he went directly to another small place that is [the village of] a mandodor of the same Cocao. The soil of this place is good but [there is] little [of it].

 

From this place he went directly to another place that is called El Enfrenado [“the Bridled”]. The ground is miserable although there are pockets of very good soils like those already noted.

 

From El Enfrenado he went directly to another place that is called GuiomaE.

 

[Long Version:  Continuing the journey as is said, he arrived at a place which is called GuiomaE where its cacique, who is called EmaE Orata, had built a large house for His Majesty which he had made as a result of what he had been commanded by the captain in His Majesty’s name, and now today, Monday the eighth day of the month of September of the said year, which was when the captain together with his company arrived a second time at the place called GuiomaE, where, having seen the said house, His Grace summoned, by means of Guillermo Rufin, interpreter of that tongue, who he carried with him in his company, EmaE Orata, to whom through the interpreter, in the presence of me, Juan de la Bandera, notary, it was declared and said that in the service of God, Our Lord, and in the obedience which is owed to His Holiness and to His Majesty, it was fitting that he and the Indians who were subject to him should become Christians and, in addition to this, that he should gather a certain amount of maize and have a house built where it might be put, to which maize he should not come except with permission from His Majesty or of one who has the authority which the captain had. This said, EmaE Orata said and through the interpreter declared that as to what was said concerning [the fact] that he and the Indians who were his subjects should become Christians, that he was happy to do so whenever the captain wished it and that as for having the maize gathered and brought and having the house to hold it built, that he has already gathered the maize and that when the maize is cured he will make the house which is to hold it, and from it neither he nor any other for him will take out any amount except with the said permission. As a demonstration that he carries out that which he is commanded by the captain in His Majesty’s name, he asked the captain’s permission that he might take out of the maize that he has gathered for His Majesty a canoe [load] of it in order to give something to eat to the captain and to his people. . . . In addition to this, in the presence of me, the notary, he gave to each one of the caciques an axe and certain enameled (altajia) buttons with which the caciques remained very content.]

 

Guiomae was near Wateree, north of the junction of the Wateree and Congaree Rivers. (Hudson 1990, 33) On his first expedition the previous winter, Pardo had instructed the headmen of each town he visited to construct a house and a corncrib to be filled with corn for his use. As well, a standard speech about conversion to Christianity and giving allegiance to the Pope and King of Spain was delivered. Orata was the title designating the village headman or chief. Pardo gave a variety of  presents, hatchets, knives, cloth, and wedges as well as axes and buttons, to the Indian leaders who acquiesced to his orders. (Hudson 1990, 52,62)

 

From there to the Point of Santa Elena is [some] forty leagues. The road by which he went was somewhat difficult but ground that can be cultivated [is] all that [is] in Cocao and even better. There are some large, deep swamps but the cause of them [is] the great flatness of the land.

 

From Parris island to Wateree is about 132 miles and a league 3.45 miles.

 

From GuiomaE he went directly to Canos, which the Indians call Canosi and, for another name, Cofetazque. In the district of this land there are three or four fair rivers. One, or maybe two [of them] have a high volume of water. There are a few small swamps which anyone, even a boy, can pass on foot. In this stretch [of the countryside] there are high and low valleys with much rock and [many] boulders. The soil is bright red [and] very good, in effect, very much better than all those noted so far.

 

Canos was located near Camden, South Carolina,  probably at the Mulberry archaeological site, and was the same town De Soto had visited as Cofitachequi. The difference in spelling and pronunciation could have been due to the different linguistic origins of the De Soto and Pardo Indian  interpreters. (Hudson 1990, 34) Hudson argues, based partly on the fact that Canos was led by an orata  instead of a paramount chief as it had been during De Soto’s visit, that in the seventeen intervening years Cofitachequi had declined from a powerful  paramount chiefdom whose influence was felt as far away as the mountains to a much less influential  one led only by a headman. (Hudson 1990, 64) However, Chester Depratter, noting the many oratas who traveled considerable distances from surrounding towns to meet Pardo at Canos, questions Hudson’s conclusion. (Depratter 1994, 217)

 

One of the two rivers of high volume passes by Canos, [as do] other creeks. It has extensive, very good flatlands [i.e. valley floors]. Here and from here on much maize is harvested and there are many large, very good grapes and large and small mala [mailla?, i.e., crabapples?] and many sorts of other [wild fruits?]. In short, it is a land where a principal town could be situated. It is fifty leagues to Santa Elena and about twenty leagues to the sea. It [the sea] can be reached by [means of] the said river, cruising through the land, [as can areas] much further on [i.e., inland], by means of the said river. This [can] also [be done] by means of the other [river] that passes next to GuiomaE.

 

The river was the Watteree River which runs just west of Camden. The expedition was now at the fall line between the Costal Plain and the Piedmont areas of South Carolina. (Hudson 1990, 34)

 

From Canos he went directly to another place that is named Tagaya, [which is] very important. [It is] without swamps. The land is plateaus with little tree cover. [The soils are] blackish and bright red, very good. [There is] much good water [from] fountains and creeks.

 

Tagaya was about eight miles northwest of Camden near the Wateree Dam. The expedition had left the swampy and flat Costal Plain behind and were entering the more hilly Piedmont. (Hudson 1990, 34)

 

From Tagaya he went directly to another place that is called Gueca, a land just like that above and abundant in good. . . .

 

Gueca was probably near Lancester, South Carolina. (Hudson 1990, 34)

 

From Tagaya, I mean Gueca, he went directly to another place that is named Aracuchy, [which is] also a very good land.

 

Aracuchy was on the Catawba River near Rock Hill. (Hudson 1990, 34)

 

From Aracuchi he went directly to another place that is named Otari and Atiqui, which is the head and spokesman for a large area further on. This is a very abundant land of good [soil?]. From this Otari to another place that is named Guatari there are about 15 or 16 leagues, to the right, further below the north than this other one. In this [place] [Guatari], there have been and are two chieftanesses who are the lords and not unimportant in comparison to the other chiefs because in their going about they are served by pages and ladies. It is a rich land. Good houses and humble round huts as well as very large and very good [huts] are [to be found] in all the settlements. It is a land of mountain ridges and flat tracks of arable land, good [for] all [the crops] of the world. We saw and were in this place for twenty days on the return. Next to this place passes a very full river that gives a way to Sauapa and Usi where salt is made next to the sea 6o leagues from Santa Elena. From Santa Elena to this Guatari is 8o leagues. They say that any [sort of] ship could sail more than 20 leagues up this river.

 

Hudson locates Otari on the Catawba River west of  Charlotte, North Carolina and Guaquiri near Hickory, North Carolina, also on the Catawba. (Hudson 1990, 35)

 

From Otari and Atiqui he went directly to another place that is named Quinaha qui, where another very full river passes by. It is a very good land and very good.

 

Quinaha was near Sherrill’s Ford or the town of Catawba on the river of the same name. (Hudson 1990, 35)

 

From the place declared above [i.e., Otari and Atiqui?], on the left hand [and] 12 leagues from it is another place that is called Yssa, which has very beautiful flat lowlands [i.e., valley floors]. All the land is very beautiful. There are many rivers and fountains of water. In the jurisdiction of this Yssa we found three mines of very good crystal. These are recorded so that later they might be worked. We saw and understood all this on the return when we returned to Santa Elena.

 

Hudson locates Yssa near Lincolnton, North Carolina. (Hudson 1990, 35)

 

From Quinahaqui he went directly to another place that is named Aguaquirt, which is a well-finished land and fertile of good [omission?] and fertile.

 

From Aguacari he went directly to another place that is called Joara, which is next to the mountain ridges and is where Juan Pardo arrived on his first trip and left his sergant. It is said that it is as beautiful a land as there is in the best [that there is] in all of Spain for all sorts of things that men might wish to cultivate in it. It is about 100 leagues from Santa Elena.

 

[Long Version: . . . he arrived on the said day at the place called Joara where he found built a new house of wood with a large elevated room full of maize, which the cacique of the village, who is called Joada [sic] Mico, had built by the command of the captain for the service of His Majesty. The captain sum­moned the cacique by means of Guillermo Rufin, interpreter. When he had come, in the presence of me, the notary, there was declared to him through Guillermo Rufin how it was suitable to His Majesty’s service that ordinarily he should have and go with an amount of maize to the house for the support of a certain number of soldiers whom His Grace, for the present, leaves in the fort called San Juan. In addition to the above, he made him the customary speech. The cacique having heard and understood what was said by Guillermo Rufin, the interpreter, replied saying “Yaa,” which means that he is ready to do it. The captain, in view of the obedience of the cacique, in addition to a little battle axe on a handle which previously he had given him in my presence, now he gave him an axe and for him and other caciques, his subjects, eight small long wedges like chisels and eight large knives, and a piece of satin and another of red taffeta, with which the cacique and the others were very content, which I, the notary, attest.]

 

Joara was in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. On his first expedition, Pardo had erected a fort there, naming it Fort San Juan, and leaving it under the command of Sergeant Moyano. This town was also visited by De Soto who called it Xuala. Hudson originally located the town at the McDowell archaeological site near Marion, North Carolina. (Hudson 1990, 35) However, at the Berry site, north of Morganton some twenty miles from the McDowell site, archaeologist have uncovered the remains of what they believe is Fort San Juan. Amid the ruins of five burned structures the archaeologist have found Spanish non-trade artifacts including olive jar fragments, knives, nails, and lead shot. (Beck 2006)

 

In De Soto’s time Joara may have been tributary to Cofitachequi and it is possible Joara ascended to power as Cofitachequi declined. It was located at the junction of two important Indian trails and was probably linguistically diverse with both Cherokee and Catawba spoken. (Hudson 1990, 83-90) The leader of Joara had the title of Mico rather than Orata indicating a chief who had influence over more than a single village. Pardo met only two other Micos during his travels and no Paramount Chief (though he heard rumors of one at Coosa) whose influence was over an even larger number of villages and geographic area.  Bandera defines micro as “a great lord” and orata as “a minor lord” (Hudson 1990, 62) Though Bandera’s does not mention it, in another document Pardo  wrote: “. . . I arrived at Juada where I found that the sergeant Boyano [sic] was gone from the fort [in which] I had left him and the soldiers and that the Indians had him under seige.” (Hudson 1990, 313-4)

 

From Joara he went over the mountain range before it directly to another place that is named Tocar [sic]. We took three days to pass [over] this [mountain range]. On this mountain range there are many grapes, many chestnut trees, many nuts, [and] quantities of other fruits. It is better than the Sierra Morena because there are many flat lowlands and the soil is not very rough to the touch. It is a very good land where great harvests of all sorts can be made.

 

From Morganton, Pardo followed roughly present Interstate-40 up the Blue Ridge Escarpment through Swannanoa Gap and west to Black Mountain then Asheville where the Indian village of Tocae was located on the French Broad River. After crossing the Blue Ridge and the continental divide, Pardo probably began encountering Cherokee speaking peoples. Tocae is possibly the Hispanicized version of the Cherokee word for “where they [the waters] race” which is what the Cherokee called the French Broad River below Asheville. Pardo, concerned for Moyano, only stayed four hours at Tocae. (Hudson 1990, 36, 95)

 

From Tocar [sic] he went directly to another place that is called Cauchi, a very important land. From here onward I will compare this land to Andalucia because it is all a very rich land.

 

Originally, Hudson thought the expedition followed the French Broad River from Asheville to near present-day Marshall where he believed the town of Cauchi was located. However, he now seems to concur with Robin Beck who has presented convincing evidence that the town of Cauchi was located west of Asheville at the Garden Creek archaeological site near Canton on the Pigeon River. Beck proposes that Pardo then either went  up Sandymush Creek to Marshall and then down the French Broad River or down the Pigeon River through the Pigeon River Gorge. (Hudson 1990, 36) (Beck 1997, 167)

 

From Cauchi he went directly to Tanasqui. It took us three days to reach it [going] through an uninhabited area. It is such a rich land I don’t know how to extoll it.

 

Tanasqui was at the junction of the French Broad River and either the Pigeon or the Nolichucky River at Douglas Lake near Newport, Tennessee some 30 miles east of Knoxville. The town was surrounded by a palisade for defense which suggests that it may have been on a frontier between the Cherokee speakers in the mountains and the Muskogean peoples of Coosa.  (Hudson 1990, 36, 102-9) (Beck 1997, 167)

 

From Tanasqui he went directly to another place that is named Olameco and, for another name, Chiaha. It is a very rich and wide land. [It is] a large place [settle­ment] surrounded by very pretty rivers. Around about this place are many small settlements at [distances of] a league or two or three or more or less, all surrounded by rivers. There are some flat lowlands de bendición. [There are many] very good vines and many medlar trees. In sum, it is the land of the angels.

 

Olameco was on Zimmerman’s Island, now under Douglas Lake, near Dandridge, Tennessee. Olameco  was the principle town of the chiefdom of Chiaha which was also visited by De Soto. Here Pardo found Moyano and his men who had erected a fort and though not in immediate danger were surrounded by unfriendly Indians. (Hudson 1990, 36-8, 314)

 

From Olameco he went directly to the west to a place that is called Chalahume. We were three days getting there [passing through] an uninhabited area. Here we found the mountain ranges rougher than the mountain ranges that we name in these forts where we passed [sic!]. It is a very rich, agreeable and fresh land. On climbing one of the ridges of these [mountain ranges] we found a trace of metals. When questioned, the alchemists swore that it was silver. We arrived at Chalahume which has as good a site of ground, in comparison, as the city of Cordoba has. [It has] very large and very good flat lowlands. There we found grapes as good as those in Spain. Is said that it is a land that looks like Spaniards have cultivated it because it is so good.

 

Pardo skirted the northern side of the Great Smoky Mountains to reach Chalahume which was located on the Little Tennessee River where Abrams Creek enters it west of Fontana Lake at the present Chilhowee archaeological site. (Hudson 1990, 38)

 

From Chalahume he went directly to another place that is two leagues from it and is called Satapo, from which we returned. It is a fair town with good houses and much maize and many forest fruits but the land is rich and very pleasing. All of these settlements and those behind them [i.e., already passed through] are situated next to very lovely rivers.

 

Satapo was on the Little Tennessee River at Citico Creek near the Joyce Kilmer – Slickrock Wilderness area on the North Carolina and Tennessee state lines at the Citico archaeology site. (Hudson 1990, 39)

 

From Satapo we should have gone directly to Cosaque. I believe, according to what I was told by the Indians and a soldier of the company who went there and returned and gave an account of what he had seen, [that it] is five or six days’ journey to Coosa. The land [on the way] is very lightly inhabited because there are no more than three small settlements. The first is two days’ journey from Satapo and is called Tasqui. During these two days’ journey there is good land and three large rivers. A bit further on [from Tasqui] [is] another place that is called Tasqui­qui. A day’s journey further [is] a destroyed town that is called Olitifar. All [the ground covered during this part of the journey] is good, flat land. From there two days’ journey further on through uninhabited lands is a small settlement and beyond that, about a league, [is] Coosa. It is a large town, the largest there is [in the area] where we went from Santa Elena until you arrive at it. It must have about 150 householders, judging from the size of the town. It is a place richer than any of those noted. Ordinarily there is a large number of Indians in it. It is situated in a low land in the lap of a mountain range. Around it at a half and a quarter of a league and at a league are many large settlements. It is a very abundant land. Its site is at the midday sun or less than at the midday sun.  From Cossa we should have gone directly to Trascaluca which is the last of the settled area of La Florida. From Cosa to Trascaluça is seven days’ journey. I believe that in all of them there are two or three settlements, the rest [of the area] is unpopulated. Trascaluça is said to be at the midday sun. Some say that it is nine days’ journey, others eleven, others thirteen, but the most common [estimate is] nine days’ journey from there to the land of New Spain, all of them through uninhabited areas. In the middle of this road is a settlement of 4 or 5 houses. After that the next settlement is in New Spain, so they say. I pray to Our Lord that he will provide it as may be his service. Amen. Dated at the Point of Santa Elena, January 23, 1569.

 

Coosa, located near Carters, Georgia is the same paramount chiefdom visited by De Soto. At Satapo, Pardo was warned that the Indians of all the towns associated with Coosa planned a series of ambushes if he continued on. Taking the warnings seriously, Pardo turned back having gotten no closer to the silver mines of Mexico than an Indian village south of Knoxville, Tennessee. On his return to Santa Elena, which he reached on March 2^nd four and a half months after turning back, Pardo erected a series of forts and left them manned by small detachments  – Fort San Pablo at Cauchi, Fort Santiago at Guatari, and Fort Santo Tomas near Cofitachequi. (Hudson 1990, 39-44) In May word reached Santa Elena that all of the forts had been attacked and destroyed in what seems to have been a coordinated effort. There is only record of a single soldier having survived the attacks and returning to Santa Elena. (Hudson 1990, 175)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources

 

Beck, Robin A., Jr. "From Joara to Chiaha: Spanish Exploration of the Appalachian Summit Area, 1540-1568." Southeastern Archeology 16, 2 (Winter 1997): 162-169.

 

Beck, Robin A. Jr., David G. Moore, and Christopher B. Rodning. "Identifying Fort San Juan: A Sixteenth-Century Spanish Occupation at the Berry Site, North Carolina." Southeastern Archaeology 25, 1 (Summer 2006): 65-77.

 

DePratter, Chester B., Charles M. Hudson, and Marvin T. Smith. "The Route of Juan Pardo's Explorations in the Interior Southeast, 1566-1568." Florida Historical Quarterly 62 (1983): 125-158.

 

Depratter, Chester B. "The Chiefdom of Cofitachequi." In The Forgotten Centuries: Indians and Europeans in the American South 1512-1704, Charles Hudson and Carmen Chaves Tesser, eds. 197-226. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1994.

 

Folmsbee, Stanley J. and Madeline Kneberg Lewis, eds. Translated by Gerald W. Wade. "Journals of the Juan Pardo Expeditions, 1566-1567." The East Tennessee Historical Societies Publications (1965): 106-21.

 

Hudson, Charles M.. The Juan Pardo Expeditions: Exploration of the Carolinas and Tennessee, 1566-1568. Washington, D.C: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990.

 

Moore, David G. Catawba Valley Mississippian. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2002.

 

Swanton, John R.. Final Report of the United States De Soto Expedition Commission. Washington, D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939; Smithsonian Classics of Anthropology, 1985.

 

Waddell, Norman. "Cofitachequi: A Distinctive Culture, Its Identity, and Its Location." Ethnohistory 52, 2 (Spring 2005): 333-369.