Hernando de Soto returned to Arkansas under the Full Moon of October 5, 1541. He had traveled to Harrison the week before from Forsyth, Missouri, with a scouting party to Tula, the name of the very hostile Wichita (Caddoan) Tribe which lived in Northwest Arkansas at the time. It took three days for DeSoto's army of over 500 men and 100 horses to march 36 miles from Forsyth. They followed Turkey Creek Ravine from Hollister, near Branson, to the flats of Harrison. The army would stay there for two weeks; DeSoto would die in Arkansas at Springtime.

DeSoto's Secretary reported, "On Wednesday, the fifth of October, they left from the site of Tanico or Cayase (Forsyth, Missouri) and arrived on Friday at Tula (Harrison, Arkansas, having camped on the clearings of Hollister, on the White River across from Branson, and at the top of the mountain pass at Cricket), and they found the people (of Tula) gone; but they found many supplies. And on Saturday in the morning the Indians came to give them a surprise attack or battle. They brought long poles like lances, the points fire-hardened, and these were the best warriors that the Christians came upon (in North America); and they fought like desperate men, with the greatest courage in the world..." © 1993, UA Press

Another of DeSoto's Officer's reported, "As soon as the Indians were perceived, both those of horse and those of foot sallied out against them and there many Indians were killed, and some Christians and horses wounded. Some Indians were captured, six of whom the governor sent to the chief with their right hands and their noses cut off. He ordered them to tell him that if he did not come to make his excuses and obey him, he would go to get him; and that he would do to him and to as many of his men as he found what he had done to those he sent to him. He gave him the space of three days in which to come. This he gave them to understand the best he could by signs as he had no interpreter (who could understand that strange Indian language).

"After three days came an Indian whom the chief sent laden with cowhides (probably buffalo skins). He came weeping bitterly, and coming to the governor cast himself to his feet. The governor raised him up, and he made him talk, but no one could understand him (this was the first time DeSoto was completely stymied by speech in North America; every other tribe he had visited could produce an interpreter for the next tribe along his way). The governor told him by signs that he should return and tell the chief to send him an interpreter whom the people of Cayas (Southwest Missouri) could understand. Next day, three Indians came laden with cowhides and three days after that twenty Indians came. Among them was one who understood those of Cayas. After a long discourse of excuses from the chief and praises of the governor, he concluded by saying that he and the others were come thither on behalf of the chief to see what his lordship ordered; and that he was ready to serve him. The governor and all the men were very glad, for they could in no wise travel without an interpreter (as they had done throughout North America).

"The governor ordered him under guard and told him to tell the Indians who had come with him to return to the chief and tell him that he pardoned him for the past and that he thanked him greatly for his gifts and for the interpreter whom he had sent him and that he would be glad to see him and for him to come next day to see him. The chief came after three days and eighty Indians with him. Both he and his men entered the camp weeping in token of obedience and repentance for the past mistake, after the manner of that land. He brought many cowhides as a gift, which were useful because it was a cold land, and were serviceable for coverlets as they were very soft and the wool like that of sheep.

"Nearby to the north (of Harrison, well out the White River, the provincial boundary) were many cattle (buffalo). The Christians did not see them nor enter their land (Oklahoma), for the land was poorly settled where they (the buffalo) were, and had little corn. The chief of Tulla made his address to the governor which he excused himself and offered him his land and vassals and person (thereby allowing the chiefs of Missouri to return home with their people). No orator could more elegantly express the message or address both of that chief and of all those who came to the governor in their behalf (probably owing more to poor language translation than anything Chief Tula meant to say)."

Some of DeSoto's men reported to a later historian that, "In the village our men found many cowhides tanned and dressed with the hair on them, which served as blankets on the beds. They found many other rawhides, not yet tanned. They also found beef, but they saw no cattle in the country, nor did they learn from where they had brought the hides. The Indians of this province of Tula are different from all the other Indians whom our Spaniards had encountered hitherto, for we have said that the others are handsome and graceful in person. These, however, both men and women, have ugly faces, and though they are well-proportioned, they deform themselves by deliberate distortion of themselves. Their heads are incredibly long and tapering on top, being made thus artificially by binding them up from birth to the age of nine or ten years. They prick their faces with flint needles, especially the lips, inside and out, and color them black, thereby making themselves extremely and abominably ugly. The hideous aspect of their faces corresponds to their bad dispositions... Their neighbors said that they deformed their heads... and painted their faces and mouths, inside and out, to make themselves uglier than they were already, so that their faces would be as forbidding as their bad dispositions and fierce natures, for they were the most inhuman in every way."

The Officer mentioned above continued, "The governor informed himself of the land in all directions and learned that there was a scattering of population toward the west (in Oklahoma) and large towns toward the southeast, especially in a province called Autiamque (the Batesville-Newport area of Arkansas near the fertile Mississippi River Delta), ten days journey from Tulla... and that it was a land abounding in corn. Since winter had already come and on account of the cold, rains, and snows, they could not travel during two or three months of the year (it was almost November on our Gregorian Calendar); fearing lest they could not feed themselves for so long a time because of its scattered population; also because the Indians said there was a large body of water near Autiamque (the Mississippi River Basin was described as an ocean, just like Lake Michigan had been, by the Indians) - and according to what they said, the governor believed it to be an arm of the sea (the Gulf of Mexico) - and because he now wished to give information of himself in Cuba, for it was three years and over since Donna Isabel (DeSoto's wife), who was in Havana, or any other person in a Christian land, had heard of him, and now two hundred and fifty men (twice that, according to the others) and one hundred and fifty horses were wanting: he determined to go to winter at Autiamque...

"...and in the following Summer to reach the sea and build two brigantines and send one of them to Cuba and the other to New Spain (Mexico), so that the one which should go safely might give news of him; hoping from his prosperity in Cuba (DeSoto was still the Governor of Cuba and, thereby, its Tax Collector) to refit (his army) to take up his expedition again and explore and conquer (North America) farther west than he had yet reached, where Cabeza de Vaca (who had wandered through Texas from an earlier Spanish coastal expedition) had gone."

Cabeza de Vaca had met DeSoto in Spain with wild tails of North American Indian legend, including stories of a great northern sea (Lake Michigan) and of a tremendous inner bay in America. Vaca had lived for years among Indians in Southern Louisiana and had seen the gigantic Mississippi River, which he believed was a giant inland bay. DeSoto, having heard that report from Vaca, coupled with what the Indians were saying in Arkansas, blissfully set out toward that bay.

Another Officer says, "They asked us what people we were and what we were looking for. We asked them about some large provinces where there would be much food, because already the cold of the winter was greatly menacing us. They told us that the way we were going (southwest) they knew of not one large village. They pointed out to us that if we wanted to turn east and southeast (down today's Arkansas Highway 65 through the Ozark Mountains to the Batesville-Newport area) or northwest (to the Kansas City area) that we would find large villages.

"Having seen that we did not have any other choice, we turned again southeast and went to a province called Quipana (at today's Clinton; they would camp in the flats of today's airport there) which is at the foot of some very rugged mountains (the first Officer says of this journey, "...DeSoto dismissed the two chiefs of Tulla and Cayas, and set out toward Autiamque... For five days [sixty miles] he proceeded through very rough ridges and reached a village called Quipana, where he was unable to capture any Indian because of the roughness of the land and because the town was located among ridges... They said that Autiamque was six days journey away (from Quipana) and that another province called Guahate (Little Rock) lay a week's journey southward - a land plentifully abounding in corn and of much population (Toltec Mounds, another Native Village, is also very near Little Rock); and here (at Clinton) we went east (through Fairfield Bay and Drasco; Greer's Ferry Reservoir floods much of that land today) and traversed these mountains and descended to some plains (of Desha, on the White River's south bank), where we found a village (Batesville, 60 miles from Clinton; the army marched there in five days) suited for our purpose (of feeding the horses while gathering blankets, clothing, women and dogs for Winter), because there was a town nearby that had much food (Jacksonport), and it was on a large river (which was easily crossed in canoes procured at Desha and Batesville; Jacksonport lies at the White and Big Black Rivers' junction) that flowed into the great river by which we left (North America; the Mississippi River). This province was called Viranque (east of Big Black River: "Utianque" Province by others with DeSoto)."

The last entry in DeSoto's Secretary's Journal reads, "...and all that land is mountainous from Tula on... they came out of the mountains and entered the plains (of Desha), and on Monday, the last day of the month (of October, 1541, mid-November on our Gregorian Calendar), they arrived at a town that is called Quitamaya (Batesville), and on Tuesday, the first of November, they passed through a small village (Newark), and on Wednesday, the second of November (on Full Moon for the light it afforded for a dawn raid, on horseback, against this giant Indian village), they arrived at Utiangue (Jacksonport, 25 miles downstream from Batesville), which is a very well populated savanna of attractive appearance." Utiangue Village ran up the east bank of Big Black River; the savanna, described here, was the 600 acre pasture, nearly enclosed by the river for horses to graze on, directly below Jacksonport.

The other officer says, "They found considerable corn hidden away (stored) as well as beans, nuts, and dried plums, all in great quantity. They seized some Indians who were collecting their clothing (DeSoto conducted a dawn raid on their village under the Full Moon), and who had already placed their women in safety (on news of DeSoto's approach). That land was cultivated and well peopled. The governor lodged in the best part of the place (on the sandy hill of Jacksonport) and immediately ordered a wooden stockade to be built about the place where the camp was established (on the river's 600 acre savanna; the stockade was simply a curved wall, spanning the river's bend, across the north side of today's Jacksonport) at some distance from the houses (on Big Black River's east bank), so that the Indians without (north of the stockade) might not harm it (the army's camp) with fire. Having measured off the land by paces (600 acres of it), he allotted to each the amount that was proper for him to build, in proportion to the number of Indians they had. Thereupon, the wood was brought in by them (from the river bank of the nearby Indian village; thereby opening the land so horsemen could patrol it), and within three days the stockade was built of very high timbers set close together in the ground and with many boards placed crosswise (something today's archaeologists might consider finding in order to "prove" DeSoto's presence in Arkansas, instead of seeking highly transportable Spanish artifacts). Near the village flowed a river of Cayas (the White River was the provincial boundary of Cayas, Tula and Utianque) and, below, it was densely populated..." near Arkansas Post.

DeSoto would spend most of the Winter of 1541-42 at Jacksonport. His men reported, "The general and his captains having seen the village, which was large and had good houses containing plenty of food and was situated on a fine plain with two streams on either side of it that had plenty of grass for the horses, and seeing that it was enclosed with a wall (on the north side), decided to winter there..." as did the Confederate Army of Arkansas 320 years later, at precisely the same place. Jacksonport would become both Armys' headquarters for that reason, but the city of Newport would replace Jacksonport as a big agricultural center on the Mississippi River Delta with the coming of railroads in the nineteenth century.

DeSoto's men continued, "It snowed hard during that winter in this province, when there was an interval of a month and a half in which they could not go out into the country because of the deep snow. With their plentiful supply of wood and provisions (and women), however, they had the best winter of all that they spent in La Florida (North America)." Scouting forays were made during which DeSoto learned that the Mississippi River Delta was only a gigantic lake, and not a bay of the Gulf of Mexico. Prior to 1698, much of northeastern Arkansas was occupied by the Michigamea, a tribe of the Illinois Confederation. In Algonquin their name means "big lake," referring to the enormous lake that existed in the area prior to the New Madrid Earthquake of 1811. Today that swamp is drained by Oak Donnick Floodway. DeSoto would lead his army south, down the high ground of the White River's east bank; leaving Jacksonport well before melted snow flooded that area and others below.

At Jacksonport, the King's Agent with DeSoto says, "Here we spent the winter. There were such great snows and cold weather that we thought we were dead men. In this town died the Christian who had been one of Narvaez's men, whom we had found in the land and taken along as interpreter..." (Juan Ortiz, who had served DeSoto for 3 years from the time he was rescued in Florida. Ortiz, always by DeSoto's side, would translate Spanish into the language of a neighboring tribe to the one he had been held captive in for a dozen years before DeSoto had rescued him. That Indian would translate to the next, who lived in close proximity, then he to the next and so on through a dozen interpreters, or more, and, finally, to the Indian of the district DeSoto happened to be in at the time; all of whom were held captive by DeSoto for language translation in provinces beyond. A few native "merchants" were encountered along the way who could speak the languages of many tribes, thereby eliminating the need for certain go-betweens, who DeSoto released unharmed.

"We left from here at the beginning of March, since it appeared to us the fury of the cold weather had abated, and we traveled downstream (on the White River), where we found other well-populated provinces with a quantity of (much needed) supplies..." DeSoto would trade the only trinkets he had left from Spain, the bells on his horses which where otherwise used to terrify Natives during dawn raids along his way. There were too many Natives in that neighborhood to start a war over food when his army was cold, sick and hungry on an escape trail.

Another officer says, "On Monday, March sixth of the year 1542, the governor set out from Autiamque to go in search of Nilco (around today's Arkansas Post), which the Indians said was near the great (Mississippi) river, with the intention of reaching the sea (the Gulf of Mexico) and obtaining aid of men and horses; for he now had only 300 fighting men and 40 horses, and some of them lame... because of lack of iron they brought them along all unshod; In Autiamque died Juan Ortiz (mentioned above), which the governor felt deeply, for without and interpreter, not knowing where he was going, he feared lest he enter a region where he might get lost... From Autiamque, it took the governor 10 days to reach the province called Ayays (which began at Brinkley, the Cache River [Chief's River] was the provincial boundary). Another officer says, "...we traveled downstream along the river, where we found other well-populated provinces (at today's Taggart, Cotton Plant, Clarendon and many others between Newport and St. Charles) with a quantity of supplies..." "(DeSoto) reached a town (Cross Roads, near Marvell, the Territorial Headquarters during the Louisiana Purchase; all land in Arkansas is titled in relation to Marvell's location) near the river which flowed through Cayas and Autiamque..." (the White River; Cross Roads was that river's crossing place for centuries). There he ordered a raft to be constructed, by which he crossed the (White) river (into Nilco Province, as they would later be told). After crossing, such weather occurred that he could not march (south from St. Charles) for four days because of the snow (and the hardship of crossing the flooded White River without Indian assistance and With No Moon to light the long crossing).

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