Under Captain Pedro Calderon’s command, approximately one hundred soldiers, sailors, and horsemen operated Camp Uzita as a supply port with orders from De Soto to remain there until he sent new instructions. For five months, Calderon’s company guarded the expedition’s supplies while De Soto and the main army marched north toward present-day Tallahassee, Florida. De Soto finally ordered Calderon to abandon the base camp and join the main army in Tallahassee for the winter of 1539-1540.