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| Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto |
(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator
George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere
in Time.” The column below, which was titled “Spanish explorer De Soto crossed
Alabama in 1540” was originally published in the May 26, 1977 edition of The
Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)
Atop the high banks at Claiborne, and looking south as the
river flows, the tall, cylinder-shaped structure of the state grain elevator
comes into view. Little thought is given, except that one may marvel at modern
man’s ability to construct such an engineering feat.
Perhaps a few might pause and wonder what happened along
these banks back across history’s faded pages before Claiborne was settled and
the early settlers saw fit to stop here and build the many homesteads scattered
across the countryside.
Few realize that on the very spot where the grain elevator
now stands, an event took place that helped shape the destiny of this country
for all time.
Returning southward
The year was 1540, and Hernando De Soto, the famed Spanish
explorer, was returning southward after his swing in what is now north Alabama
and Georgia.
As he moved southward, moving this way and that, he avoided
the rough terrain and sought out the larger Indian villages, where he could replenish
his supplies and take by force slave labor that would carry these supplies
across the country to the west.
Not much is known as to how long it took for the army to
cross the Alabama River. Pickett’s History of Alabama, probably the most authoritative
of all the records on De Soto, states that the cross was made on Oct. 15 and
Oct. 16, 1540.
The army had stopped earlier at the large village of Piache
and rested. The village of Piache was located near where Limestone and Flat
creeks join the mighty Alabama River.
Lack of salt
De Soto’s soldiers were suffering a disease caused by lack
of salt. It was at Piache that the Indians showed the Spaniards a certain type
of weed that they burned and mixed in the food, thus curing the disease.
After he crossed the river at the site below Claiborne, De
Soto’s line of march carried him to the large village of Maubila. Here his army
destroyed so completely this large village of nearly 11,000 that the exact
location was never found.
The battle of Maubila lasted nine hours, and in it De Soto
lost 82 of his most valuable followers and 40 of his best trained war horses,
not to mention most of his supplies and medicines.
Never recovered
De Soto was defeated. Wounded and sick, he never completely
recovered from the battle of Maubila. The river crossing marked the beginning
of the end for this soldier of fortune, who had run roughshod across the land,
bringing death and destruction wherever he went.
Had he chosen not to cross the river that fateful day,
history might have afforded many different incidents. But fate sometimes can be
a cruel companion, and that day in October there by the river proved no
exception.
(This column also included a photo of the state grain
elevator with the following caption: Grain elevator is now where De Soto
planned to cross river.)
(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, graduated from Sweet Water High School, served in
the Korean War, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County
in June 1964 (some sources say 1961) and served as the administrator of the
Monroeville National Guard unit from 1964 to 1987. For years, Singleton’s
column “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a
lengthy series of articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life
magazine. Some of his earlier columns also appeared under the heading of
“Monroe County History: Did You Know?” 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.)
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