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Juan Pardo's Juada sergeant wiped out a strongly fortified Chiska village
Source: Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors #121
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The following January (1567), after Pardo 's return to Santa Elena, a letter reached him from Moyano informing him that his sergeant had been at war with a chief named "Chisca," that with 15 soldiers he had killed over 1,000 Indians and burned 50 huts. Later Moyano received a threatening letter from one of the mountain chiefs (un cacique de la sierra), perhaps from this same Chisca—at any rate from one of his allies. Determined to be the first to attack, Moyano "went out from the fort of San Juan with twenty soldiers, marched four days through the sierra, and reached the enemies one morning and found them so well fortified that it was a marvel, because they were surrounded with a very high wooden wall and having a small gate with its defences; and the sergeant seeing that there was no way to enter but by the gate, made a shelter by means of which they entered with great danger, because they wounded the sergeant in the mouth and nine other soldiers in different places, but none of them dangerously. When they finally gained the fort the Indians took refuge in the huts which they had inside, which were underground, from which they came out to skirmish with the Spaniards, and [the latter] killing many of the Indians, fastened the doors of the said huts and set fire to them and burned them all, so that there were killed and burned 1,500 Indians.7 In contemplating this feat of Moyano's I can not help repeating Lowery's reference to a Spanish proverb, "Distant countries, big tales." It is sad to relate that the hero of the expedition was afterwards cut off, along with all of the force accompanying him except one man, by a comparatively insignificant tribe near Port Royal.1 And yet it is possible that Moyano's narrative is true if he was accompanied by a large body of friendly Indians not mentioned in the text. Later the Chiska chief, in alliance with those of "Carrosa, Costehe, and Coza," was reported to be lying in wait with several thousand Indians, intending to attack Pardo, and this was why Pardo turned back to Santa Elena from his second expedition that same year (1567).2 As we shall presently see, the Yuchi later came to be called Chichimecs by the Spaniards through a fancied resemblance in character to the wild tribes north of Mexico. A reference to "Chichimecas" far to the north of Florida in a Spanish document dating from the last quarter of the 16th century may possibly have reference to the tribe we are discussing.' The course of Yuchi history now separates into several distinct channels, corresponding to a similar division among the people themselves. A portion of them remained in the north, a second body settled not far from Choctawhatchee River in western Florida, and two or three others established themselves on and near the Savannah River. Each will be considered in turn, beginning with that band mentioned first, which remained nearest to the original Yuchi home. (Swanton)
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