The New Student's Reference Work/De Soto, Fernando

De Soto (dắ sō′tṓ), Fernando, was born at Estremadura, Spain, about 1498, of a good but poor family. He proceeded under other captains on a voyage to Darien in 1519 and on an expedition to Nicaragua in 1527. He helped Pizarro to conquer Peru, and returned to Spain with a fortune. Charles V now gave him permission to conquer Florida at his own expense, and made him governor of Cuba. In 1538 he sailed with 600 men, 20 officers and 24 priests. The little fleet anchored in the bay of Espiritu Santo (now Tampa Bay), on the 25th of May, 1539. The ships were sent back to Cuba, and the long search for gold was begun. For three years, harassed by Indians, lured onward by reports of wealth that lay beyond, the ever-lessening company kept up their wearisome march over a route that cannot now be clearly traced. In 1541 the Mississippi was reached and crossed, and the third winter was spent on Washita River. Returning to the Mississippi in the spring, De Soto, worn out by disappointments, died of a fever on its banks in June, 1542. In order that his death might be hidden from the Indians his body, wrapped in a cloak, was lowered at midnight into the waters of the great stream he had discovered. In the following year about half the number of the companions with whom he had set out sailed down the river in seven frail boats, and at last reached Panuco in Mexico.