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CABEZA
DE VACAby
Archie P. McDonald | |
Likely
the first Europeans to see any part of East Texas never set foot here. An expedition
led by Alonso Pineda sailed along the Texas coast, east to west, as early as 1528,
making maps as he traveled. The first Europeans who actually spent time in Texas,
then, were Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Alonso de Castillo Maldono, Andres Doirantes
de Carranza, and the Moor Estanvanico, or Stephen.
Cabeza de Vaca's
little band arrived in Texas in 1528 and stayed for approximately seven years
before wandering into a Spanish patrol somewhere near the Baja of southern California.
This group had never intended to visit Texas. As members of the Panfilo
Narvaez Expedition, they started out to explore Florida from a base in New Spain,
or Cuba. All four survivors were with a landing party that was supposed to rendezvous
with Narvez at a point on the peninsula's western coast.
The exploring
party arrived either too soon or too late, and, regarding themselves stranded,
constructed crude vessels from available timber. Using their own clothes as sails,
they set a course westward, hoping to hug the circular beach of the Gulf of Mexico
all the way to Spanish settlements in what is now Mexico.
Some perished
at sea, but most made it to an island they called Mulhado, which Texas historians
believed was Galveston. Some historians of Louisiana think the island was located
off the coast of that state, but hey, an East Texan is writing this, so let us
agree that they landed on Galveston.
Within a year their numbers had
dropped to about fifteen, so they decided they had to get to the mainland to survive.
When they did so, they were captured by Karankawas, and seven years later, only
four remained.
Cabeza de Vaca survived because he was credited with
the first successful surgery performed in Texas. According to the story, he removed
an arrowhead or spear point from an Indian, who then recovered. The Karankawa
thought this a sign of Devine powers, rather than the simple removal of a foreign
object, which allowed the wound to heal.
Thereafter Cabeza de Vaca, and
perhaps the others, were traded about, rarely seeing each other except when the
tribes came together for annual harvests, and sometimes breaking away only to
be recaptured. Seven years after their ordeal began, they encountered that Spanish
patrol, and at first the soldiers thought the wanderers were Indians because all
their Spanish clothes had long since disappeared.
The best part of the
story is that Cabeza de Vaca's report of his wanderings included stories from
the Indians of cities made of gold. He and the others had never seen these cities,
only heard of them. But nothing quickened the heart of a conquistador more than
stories of gold, and soon many more Spaniards were on their way to East Texas. |
©
Archie P. McDonald
All
Things Historical >
September 19-25, 2004 column
A syndicated column in over 40 East Texas newspapers
Distributed by the East Texas Historical Association. Dr. Archie McDonald
is the Association's executive director and author of more than 20 books on Texas
history. | | |
