 extensive food stores and buildings to feed and house his expedition. The Spaniards hoped to find riches to the north. Their oftentimes violent excursion into the southeastern United States forever changed the region and had drastic effects on the local inhabitants.
Based on the timing of their occupation of Anhaica, members of Soto's expedition likely celebrated the first Christmas mass in what would become the United States. Although there is no mention of Christmas in the chronicles, the Spanish were devout Catholics, and clergy in the party would probably have held a Christmas mass. At the time, Christmas was a more solemn affair, and it lacked many of the celebrations associated with present-day celebrations. The holiday was one of several feast days celebrated by Catholics. However, because the expedition was under frequent attack by the Apalachee, Soto and his men were likely too busy to participate in many holiday celebrations. During Christmas, Soto sent some of his men out on auxiliary expeditions to establish new supply lines for an eventual push inland. The holiday may be noted in a map associated with the expedition.
The Apalachee territory spanned between the Aucilla to the Apalachicola Rivers, and from southern Georgia down to the Gulf Coast. The ancestors of the Apalachee who Soto encountered had long roots in the area. Five hundred years before meeting Europeans, they had built the mounds at Lake Jackson. Archaeological evidence demonstrates that the Apalachee farmed maize and focused their settlements on high ground around the red hills of Tallahassee. The Apalachee who Soto encountered are part of the archaeological "Fort Walton" culture, a term used by archaeologists to describe patterned similarities in material cultures, especially pottery styles. Accounts in the historical record suggest that the Apalachee were well known and respected by their neighbors. These chronicles describe the Apalachee province as having many towns and plentiful food. Archaeological finds corroborate this description, and there are many recorded sites dating to the Fort Walton period. The description in the chronicles fits archaeological findings showing a sprawling settlement pattern where principal towns were surrounded by hamlets and homesteads. The precise sociopolitical structure of the Apalachee remains unclear. Historic accounts suggest that their capital was located at Anhaica, although they may have had an alternate capital at Ivitachuco, which was likely located on the Aucilla River. The chronicles give little information about the everyday life of the Apalachee. Continuing archaeological work may shed light into more aspects of Apalachee life during the early 16th century and before.
Soto's violent push through the southeastern United States would forever change the landscape of the region, decimating populations through disease and violence, and disrupting longstanding and powerful Chiefdoms. Soto never established a colony. He died of a fever and his body was placed in the Mississippi river in 1542. Half of his men survived and fled by raft to Mexico.
Despite the trauma of Soto's occupation of their capital, the Apalachee survived. They reoccupied Anhaica after Soto left and were still at the town when the Spanish returned to the area in the 1600s. In 1633 the Apalachee invited Spanish Franciscan friars to the area to establish a mission. The Apalachee remained at their homeland until 1704 when they fled the region due to pressure from invading British and Creek forces. The Apalachee today live in Louisiana.
The Archaeology of the Soto Winter Encampment at Anhaica Apalachee
Historians and archaeologists had long puzzled over Soto's expedition route. Through reconstructing distances and landmarks noted in accounts of the expedition, researchers suspected that the 1539–1540 winter encampment would be located in Tallahassee. Material evidence for Soto's expedition remained elusive until 1987, when Division of Historical Resources archaeologist, B. Calvin Jones (now deceased), decided to "poke around" a construct