Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Arkansas, the Home for Immigrants: A Sketch of Her Resources; Railroads, Schools, Mines, Capital, and Chief Towns, Together With Much General Information Relating to the State, for the Benefit of Immigrants and Her Own People
De Soto and his followers were the earliest white men who trod Arkansas soil, of which history has preserved any record. Setting sail from Havana with an army of six hundred men, in May, 1539, in due time he reached Tampa Bay, on the western coast of Florida. Leaving his Ships he marched northward and then westward, through a trackless wilderness, engaging in frequent combats with hostile Indians. After a two years march, during which time his little army had nearly wasted away, De Soto reached the Mississippi river, near the point which now forms the southern boundry of Tennessee. This was in April, 1541. De Soto crossed the Mississippi and penetrated as far westward as the mountain region of Arkansas. He then marched southward, and spent the winter of 1541 on the banks of the Ouachita river.' In the following spring he descended to thejunction Of the Red and Mississippi rivers; where he was seized with a malignant fever by which he died. He was buried by his men at the hour of midnight, in the mighty river he discovered. We find no record of any further explorations, until the 17th of May.
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