Surprise Attack

On July 25, 1539, Captain Moscoso led Hernando de Soto’s army north from the village of Tocaste to support De Soto’s scouting party, but messengers reported that the scouts had been attacked by a small force of native warriors and ordered the army to return to Tocaste. Later that day, another message directed that 30 horsemen be sent ahead as reinforcements, and the army was then ordered to continue north across a great swamp. As Spaniards moved through Central Florida, native peoples retaliated against them in their own lands, lying in wait and ambushing the soldiers before disappearing quickly. Garcilaso de la Vega wrote that native warriors killed several Spaniards, decapitated them, and after the bodies were buried, dug them up at night, cut them into pieces, and hung them in trees for birds to eat. Among the conquistadors’ weapons, war dogs such as mastiffs and greyhounds were especially feared, having long been used in warfare and employed by the Spanish in the Americas to force cooperation and inflict punishment, spreading fear across the Southeast.

Inverness, Florida · United States