There are very few pre-1800 images of the Tombigbee River valley, or for that matter, what are now the inland parts of east Mississippi or west Alabama.

There is the image of a Chickasaw warrior in Bernard Roman’s 1771.

“Concise Natural History of East and West Florida” and William Bartram’s Travels” published in 1791, which contained the illustration of an Oak Leaf Hydrangea. Accounts of the de Soto expedition of 1539-1543, published in 1706, 1709 and 1731, contained copperplate engravings illustrating some of the occurrences during the expedition. Several of these engravings were of incidents which occurred in our area.

The first European foray into the Tombigbee valley was the de Soto Expedition that landed in Florida in 1539. In the fall of 1540 this entrada entered what is now west central Alabama and by December had reached the Starkville, Columbus area. Two of the most important sites along de Soto’s trek across the South were associated with the Indian towns of Mabila and Chicasa. Mabila was a town ruled over by Tascaluza, and Chicasa was the principal town of the Chickasaw Nation.

De Soto entered the realm of Tascaluza in early October 1540. He ended up in a fierce battle with Tascaluza at the town of Mabila where about 22 Spaniards and around 3,000 Indians were killed, probably including Tascaluza. The Spanish remained at Mabila about a month recovering from the battle. When the expedition departed, they traveled northwest.

About Dec. 14, the expedition reached the River of the Chickasaw, as the Tombigbee was then known. Most likely this was close to present-day Columbus. As the river was flooded, de Soto had a raft or flatboat built to cross it. On Dec. 16 or 17, 1540, the expedition started to cross the river but found the crossing contested by Choctaw Indians. After a brief skirmish the Choctaw withdrew and the expedition crossed. De Soto and the Spanish force then advanced toward Chicasa, the Chickasaw’s principal town, which they occupied as their winter camp.

During the Spanish occupation, some Spaniards stole food from the Chickasaws. In response, three Chickasaws attempted to take some hogs from the Spanish but were captured. Two of the Chickasaws were killed, but the other was released after his hands had been cut off. The Chickasaws tolerated the Spanish until March 4, 1541. On that day, before dawn, hundreds of Chickasaws attacked the Spanish camp. The Spanish huts were set on fire, and after inflicting heavy damage, the Chickasaws withdrew. De Soto then moved his force to another town so that wounded could recover and weapons and equipment could be repaired or remade.

Over many years I have been fortunate to find and acquire several engravings published between 1706 and 1731 illustrating the de Soto expedition. Two of them are scenes associated with Tascaluza in the present-day Demopolis, Alabama, area, and two are associated with the Chickasaw probably in the present-day Starkville or Columbus area. From these engravings it is very apparent that artists in Europe in the early 1700s had no idea what the landscape here or the Indians or their towns looked like. The original caption for these engravings was found in the Library of Congress. Except for the engraving of the cruelty of de Soto the other engravings were from the 1709 and 1731 editions of The Florida of the Inca.

Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].