Childersburg traces its heritage to the Coosa Indian village in the area. In June 1539, DeSoto, accompanied by 600 men, began his march across North America from Tampa Bay, Florida, searching for riches as his expedition traveled through what became the Southeastern United States. After entering the area that would become Alabama, DeSoto and his men marched southward along the Tennessee River to Tali and then to the banks of the Coosa River. In the middle of July 1540, they reached the empire of the great Coosa, and on July 16, 1540, the Spaniards entered the town of Coca on the east bank of the river between two creeks now known as Talladega and Tallaseehatchee. The young chief of the Coosas greeted DeSoto, and for about a month the Spaniards enjoyed the hospitality of the chief and his tribe and received an offer of land for a Spanish colony. After declining, they departed Coosa in August 1540, leaving behind members of the expedition. A 1939 DeSoto Commission report authorized by the U.S. Congress and chaired by John R. Swanton concluded that the site of Coca was near the present town of Childersburg, a conclusion also supported in articles by Dr. Walter B. Jones. Beginning with the men left by DeSoto and continuing for about 250 years, explorers, conquistadors, traders, and pioneer settlers penetrated and occupied the vicinity, and from those settlers came the development of what became the City of Childersburg.