Last Saturday there was a public program in Columbus by leading archaeologists working on two sites dating to the mid 1500s. One of the sites is located near Demopolis, Alabama, and the other near Starkville.

The presence of metal artifacts associated with 1500s Indian ceramics at both sites point toward contact with Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto as he is the only European explorer known to have been in this area during that time period. The archaeological evidence that has been found at the two sites indicates the Indian town of Mabila is probably in the Demopolis area and the Chickasaw town of Chicasa, where de Soto and his army spent the winter of 1540-41, is probably in the Starkville area.

Over the years the location of Chicasa has been said to have been anywhere from near Tupelo to south of Macon. In the 1980s, the search for Chicasa began to focus on southwestern Lowndes and southwestern Clay counties and the Starkville area. In a letter dated Oct. 17, 1989, University of Georgia professor Charles Hudson wrote “I am tilting towards Atkinson’s (Jim Atkinson was archaeologist for the Natchez Trace) theory that Chickasaw was south of Tibbee.”

In his classic book on Hernando de Soto, “Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun,” Hudson wrote that the trail de Soto was following, while guided by an Indian from Apafalaya, probably “led them to the Tombigbee at present day Columbus, Mississippi.” When de Soto arrived at the Tombigbee, he found the river high and was forced to build a raft for his men to cross it. Hudson placed the probable location of Chicasa as being within about an 18 mile radius of the Tombigbee crossing.

It was a survey report from 1817 that led Hudson to suggest a Tombigbee crossing specifically at present day Columbus. Major Hugh Young surveyed the route for Andrew Jackson’s Military Road from Madisonville, Louisiana, to Tennessee and sent a letter to Jackson on Sept. 14 and a report on Sept. 30, 1817. In the letter and report Major Young provided the location for the Military Road Tombigbee ferry and why it was selected. It is now the location of the two downtown Columbus Tombigbee bridges at the mouth of Moore’s Creek.
In the letter Major Young wrote:

“From the Noxubbee the road runs with the St. Stephens’ trace, to a point 7 miles from the Tombigby; being, for that distance, the best route in the direction of the places on the River, which I had chosen for a ferry. The crossing place of the Tombigbee, I fixed on, after a thorough search from the mouth of Loklopolala as high as Pitchlynn’s, and fortunately, I found a point where the high ground approached to the river on both sides.”

On Sept. 30 Major Young followed the letter with a report in which he wrote:

“I proceeded to reconnoiter the course and appearance of the road, to Major Pitchlynn, on Tibbee, paying attention to the creeks – and the soil, width and obstructions of the swamps – endeavoring also, to obtain information about the country to the left, near the heads of the water courses. From Tibbee, accompanied by Mr. Pitchlynn, in a canoe, I meandered Tombigby for eight or ten miles; attending to its windings and general course, bestowing particular attention to its banks and low ground. In this search, I was fortunate enough to find, eight miles below Tibbee, and two above Lok-Lopolale, a place where the high ground approaches the river on both sides. This spot, as mentioned in my last letter, was selected for the ferry…”

Later in the report Major Young added that a Choctaw trail ran to the point on the river that was selected for the ferry and that “Mr Pitchlynn joined me at the river, and recognized the place, as one used by the Indians for rafting, when the high water prevents fording at the usual places.” If de Soto crossed the Tombigbee below Tibbee, Major Young’s description of the Military Road’s Tombigbee ferry sure fits the description of a Tombigbee crossing point for de Soto.

When de Soto arrived at the Tombigbee, which he called the River of the Chickasaw, it was high and required a raft being built to cross.

The fact that de Soto had an Indian guide would have meant he was taken to the Indian’s high water crossing point where Indians would build rafts to cross. According to John Pitchlynn, who had lived with the Choctaws since the 1770s, the traditional Tombigbee high water crossing point was where the Military Road ferry was located. There was, however, another Indian trail that crossed about five miles south of present day Columbus at Buzzard’s Island, but it was low land on the east bank that flooded in high water.

If the crossing was north of Tibbee, it was probably at Barton’s Ferry. A crossing above Barton would have placed de Soto having to cross the flooded bottom lands of the Buttahatchee in addition to the Tombigbee. A halberd found four miles northeast of Columbus around 1910 was believed to be a relic of de Soto and evidence of a more northern route and crossing. However, the halberd now appears to be an artifact from the artillery regiment building the Military Road 1817-19. Halberds such as the one that was found were carried by sergeants of the artillery as symbols of their rank through the War of 1812.

Interesting, but of no known or even suspected ties to de Soto, was an unusual occurrence in 1848. In that year two small old cannons, each bearing a Spanish crest, were discovered in the Tombigbee in the area of the Military ferry. No one at the time had any idea where they had come from. They were sent to be displayed at the state capitol in Jackson where they remained until carried away by Union troops during the Civil War. Thanks to Carolyn Kaye for helping with this column.

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