Customer Reviews

Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando De Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms

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Charles Hudson is one of the greatest authors on the Nations of the Southeastern States, and in this book he turns his attentions towards their early contacts with the Spanish conquistadors in the mid-1500s. The first chapter of the book is nice, giving historical backgrounds and cultural details concerning both the Spanish (who had recently unified their country and having driven the Muslims and Jews out, were eager for more conquests) and the Mound Builders (who were in fact several highly developed civilizations throughout the Southeast).

He then goes on to a very detailed examination of Hernando de Soto. He is examined, and we are given insight into every aspect of his expedition from his arrival in Florida all the way up to the end. The book is read in a linear fashion, making the story much easier to follow and the book focuses on specific places, villages and Nations that de Soto encountered. More than anything, his expedition had a negative impact on the Southeastern civilizations, gradually weakening them through disease, depletions of food and outright murder, rape and kidnappings. This would have such an impact that old Nations eroded away and gave rise to new Nations. Those that encountered the British and Americans later, such as the Five Civilized Nations (Cherokee, Seminole, Creek, Choctaw and Chickasaw), Powhatan Confederation and Tuscarora, were vastly different from their ancestors.

The book closes out with a look at what happened after de Soto's expedition and includes a very thorough bibliography. It is also lavishly illustrated, including almost a hundred photographs of artifacts from Cahokia and other Mississippian civilizations, woodcuts, drawings of Indian dwellings and cities, photos of the Southeastern landscape and even recreationists in full Spanish military gear. Plus lots of maps of archaeological cultures in the Southeast, de Soto's route and so forth. A very nice book explaining the mysterious Indians of the Southeast and their early (and largely forgotten) contact with the Spaniards.

I bought this book on a whim, but ... wow ... what a journey. Hudson has been intimately involved in combing through the journals and reports of the De Soto expedition, cross-referencing the reports with examinations of the geography of the areas covered and archeological/anthropological studies of the 16th century inhabitants of the region.

Hudson's approach to the expedition is interesting. He is a partisan arguing in favor of the route he delineates for the expedition, but he lays out the journey in a fairly straightforward manner that is very engaging. The Afterward, however, gives a quick rundown of the differences in opinion over the route, the still-unfolding evidence to support Hudson's claims, and what remains to be proven.

All it all, it is a vivid retelling of the first planned European expedition into southeastern North America, which was quite a different place than when much of it was colonized by Europeans a century later. The native cultures were near the end of the moundbuilding Mississippian culture, and Hudson notes how the disruptions of De Soto and his men may have contributed to the eventual changes in native society.

Fascinating.

This is by far the most comprehensible work on DeSoto that I've read to date. It fully brings to life the stuggles of the expedition, as well as the depridations done to the indeginous peoples of the Southeast. It reads much like a novel, bringing to life several key participates, both Spainards, and natives alike. This book is a masterpiece, decades in the making, wonderfully researched, and written. If the early exploration of the Southeast is of intrest to you, then this is a must own book.

This book uses journal entries from those who traveled with De Soto to recreate the Spaniards trek through the eastern United States. The book documents everything from the ordinary - such as the number of pigs the Spaniards had to the number of Indians encountered - to detailed and horrific accounts of the brutality the Spaniards exacted on those tribes who did not welcome them with open arms. This book provides a rare look at what life was like for those native to the Southeast on the cusp of great change. A bit sad but a fascinating read, especially if you are interested in gleaning details of pre-contact life for the Southeastern tribes.

This is probably the most authoritative and best written book about Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and the Indians he met during his famous expedition to the United States, 1539-1543. The author spent decades resolving the mysteries of de Soto's 4,000 mile route from Florida to the Carolinas, and across the Mississippi to Texas. He relies heavily on archaeological investigations to identify and describe the Indian nations de Soto met during his odyssey.

Never did so many men march so far for so little treasure. De Soto and half of his 600 men didn't survive their long march. The importance of the expedition is that it was our first and only glimpse at the Indian societies that de Soto met, fought, and often destroyed during his sojurn. Often, the few prejudiced and ill-informed words of the scribbing chroniclers accompanying de Soto are the only information we have of these complex, numerous, and populous nations. By the time the white man returned to this area a century or more later the large Indian societies had disappeared, destoyed by European diseases possibly spread (inadvertantly) by de Soto himself.

Hudson does a brilliant job examining every step of the de Soto expedition and extracting every possible fact out of mountains of obscure, contradictory information. The author knows his subject and tells his story well. Many illustrations and good maps augment the text. "Knights of Spain" is one of those few, outstanding books that have a permanent place on my bookshelf.

Smallchief

While reading Tony Horwitz's recent book, "A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World", about his travels through the Americas to rediscover the early explorers and colonists that preceded Jamestown and Plymouth, I became fascinated with those who came to America a full 100 years before Jamestown, particularly Hernando De Soto's 4 year plunge into the wilderness of America with his 600 man army in 1539. In spite of failures by previous Spanish explorers, including one army that lost all but 4 men, De Soto marches throughout the entire southeast from Florida, as far north as Tennessee and North Carolina to as far west as northeast Texas in a vain search for gold and other precious metals. De Soto's journey is fascinating in that he marches through the wilderness and unknown with an unusual measure of confidence while encountering an amazing society of Indian tribes totally unlike what American's perceive of the Indian culture based on their knowledge of American Indians post Jamestown. These tribes had concentrated villages with advanced agricultural development, a networked culture with a central chief, an upper class and they utilized great mounds for the base of the homes of their chiefs and to a lesser degree, their other important tribal members. Based on eye witness accounts left in chronicles and secondary sources, Hudson, tells the story of De Soto's travels and encounters with the Indians that is even more fascinating by Hudson's ability, aided by archeology, to trace a pretty accurate mapping of De Soto's travels. The cruelty inflicted by De Soto and his followers seems counter productive particularly as they are frequently at war with the various tribes they encounter as they in turn depend on the Indians supplies for survival. Thus 220 years before Sherman's march, De Soto also lived off the land creating even greater devastation in his wake. What is very interesting is the detail about the Indians encountered, the names of the towns, biographies on the various chiefs, the detail of their lifestyle and the intriguing explanations of the built up mounds that are still present throughout southeast America. The initial part of the book provides a good history of the early Spanish explorations before de Soto, the closing chapters explains what may have happened to these advanced Indian cultures that were in apparent decline before de Soto and virtually melted away before the tribes known today became prevalent like the Cherokees, the Creeks, Chickasaws etc. The final section covers the great debate and documentation of De Soto's route that was seemingly well documented through the Smithsonian but has more recently been proven to be less accurate by current scholars such as Hudson. If you are only interested in de Soto's travels, this is the meat of the book and whether you have interest in the final sections, this is still one of the best books on De Soto and those lost American tribes who seem related to the Aztecs without the stone necessary to similar stone structures, they in turned built mounds.

I enjoyed this book immensely. As a guy who can take something as dry as "Darwin's Origin of Species" to the beach for the weekend, this is a real page turner. The author does a wonderful job of assembling journal entries along with well documented historical data, into an enjoyable read for the interested lay person. It reminds me somewhat of "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose in both its well documented historical accuracy, and attention to readability by the consuming public. I bought this book mainly out of a life long interest in Southeastern Indian culture, and an interest in the terrain of the region before European settlement. The book delivered in spades on both accounts. I am surprised Hollywood has left this story alone. There is enough violence, death, greed, deceit and sex for 5 movies in Desoto's story.

K Cook

I probably first read or heard about de Soto in high school, but until recently he was just a name, one of dozens of Spanish Conquistadors. Then in 2002 while traveling through the Tampa, FL area I came across a National Park commemoration where he first landed on a 4,000 mile 3-year trek through North America. Being there in person my imagination was fired and I've been fascinated by de Soto's journey ever since. I can still smell the salt air, hear the surf and see the Spanish horsemen moving through the shadows of the red mangrove forest. In terms of discovery and epic adventure de Soto equals the story of Lewis and Clark.

This is the single best book available about de Soto, representing 20 years of research and incorporating the latest in archaeological evidence. The route is historically a subject of great controversy, each state has commemorative trails and sites that occasionally change with new scholarship.

The books is a masterpiece incorporating details from many layers to create a highly textured and easily imagined vision of the Spainards and Indians. Hudson is an anthropologist and takes a multi-disiplinary approach which creates a much richer work than a straight historical narrative. Hudson used a "braided narrative", inter-twining the chronological history of events with the latest anthropological evidence - the effect works well.

I found this book to be an excellent read. I could almost hear the clanking of armor and smell the smoke of the Indian village cooking fires. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in early Southeastern Indian culture as-well-as sixtenth century Spanish conquest.

Written by Charles Hudson (Franklin Professor of Anthropology, University of Georgia), Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun is an in-depth scrutiny of Hernando de Soto's history-making mission of exploration between 1539 and 1542. Taking pains to recreate as precise a geographic answer as possible to the question "Where did De Soto go?", Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun retraces De Soto's steps along a map, with supplementary black-and-white photographs and illustrations, recounting De Soto's adventures, perils, and encounters with Native Americans as accurately as possible. Accessible to lay readers and historians alike, Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun is a welcome addition to public and college library world history shelves.