Singleton tells of DeSoto in the aftermath of the Battle of Maubila

DeSoto 'discovers' the Mississippi River.

(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 “DeSoto’s army injured in battle,” was originally published in the June 2, 1977 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

I have been asked to follow up last week’s column on DeSoto’s plight and pass on to my readers some of the events that confronted him after the Battle of Maubila.

Although DeSoto’s party won a great victory, if one would call it that, over the Indians at Maubila, he also suffered much that he and his army never recovered from. Many of his followers were severely wounded – wounds that needed good medical attention and weeks of rest and recovery. But this was not the way fate had planned the stage.

DeSoto’s party stayed at the village site of Maubila for eight days. There were 1,700 dangerous wounds among his followers that needed immediate attention. It was often that a soldier had a dozen severe wounds, such as barbed arrowheads embedded in his flesh.

All of the surgeons had been killed during the battle except one, and he was unskilled and slow. As I stated last week, all the medical supplies had been destroyed in the battle.

Fat, straw, leaves

The slightly wounded administered to the more seriously wounded. The bodies of the dead Indians were opened up, and the fat obtained from these was bound to the wounds with clothing of the men who had been killed.

Many pushed straw and leaves into their wounds to try and stop the bleeding. Some went mad with pain and fever. DeSoto himself had several serious wounds. One of these, about the head, was thought to be why he was never again completely competent.

Ships awaited him

Prior to the Battle of Maubila, DeSoto had received word that his ships awaited him along the coast of what is now Florida. These ships would carry him back to Spain and recovery for most of his army. But he still envisioned the fabled Seven Cities of Gold in his fevered mind.

As his condition grew worse, the thoughts of fabulous riches dominated him more. So instead of turning south to his ships, he took a northward course. On Sun., Nov. 18, 1540, DeSoto gave the order that any man who disobeyed the order to turn north would be killed.

His route took him through what are now Clarke, Marengo and Greene counties. High on the chalk cliffs overlooking the Black Warrior River, he paused at the village of Cabusto and rested.

The news of Maubila had rushed like wildfire ahead of DeSoto’s party. Most always, he was met by opposition. DeSoto began to have periods of deep depression, followed by a type of severe shaking of the body and fits, as they were called. The dreams of gold became an obsession, and he pushed ever onward seeking these imaginary riches.

In May 1541, DeSoto and his party reached the banks of the mighty Mississippi River. He was the first from the outside world to see the great river.

After a year of wandering over what is now the state of Arkansas, he and his party returned to the “Father of Waters,” the last of May 1542. Here, while trying to construct two ships that would carry the remains of his army to Cuba, he fell gravely ill with fever.

Said farewell

After appointing a leader to take command of his army, he said farewell to his officers and men.

Then he closed his eyes in death. He was the first to behold the river – and the first to close his eyes in death upon it, and the first to find a grave in its deep and turbid waters.

Thus ended the saga that began that fateful day in October 1540 by the rushing waters of the Alabama near Claiborne town.

(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 to Vincent William Singleton and Frances Cornelia Faile Singleton, during a late-night thunderstorm, on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served as a U.S. Marine paratrooper in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964 and served as the administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from June 28, 1964 to Dec. 14, 1987. He was promoted from the enlisted ranks to warrant officer in May 1972. For years, Singleton’s columns, titled “Monroe County history – Did you know?” and “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. It’s believed that his first column appeared in the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal. He also helped organize the Monroe County Museum and Historical Society and was also a past president of that organization. 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.)