CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GIFT OF The Willers Family _ Cornell University Library E 101.B88 1860 Pioneer heroes of the new world. 3 1924 028 668 493 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028668493 MI PUBLIGATIOHS. I HAVE located permanently in Cincinnati, for the pur- pose of publishing and circulating, by subscription, such books as are calculated to store the mind with useful knowledge. I will therefore publish only books of a high moral tone and tendency — such works as will be wel- comed to every "hojne" and "Jireside" as valuable family treasures. To do this, I have adopted the following RULES AND REGULATIONS. 1. To sell only throiig-h my oirn Agents. 2. Xo sell at a regular price— and one price only. 3. Not to place my books in Book Stores for sale^ as by so doings I could not maintain a uniform price. 4. To obligate my Agents by a vrritten contract, to fulfill, faitbfully, tlie above "Kules." 5. Not to reduce the price of a book after its first issue. By pursuing an upright and honorable course, 1 hope to msrit a liberal share of public patronage. AGEWTTS BESIREJD. Energetic and reliable men are ever desired to circulate my publications in all parts of " The Union." Men who are not lazy in their habits, will find this an agreeable and honorable avocation. I will forward a list of my publications, with a descrip- tion of each, and terms to Agents upon application. Address, ' MACK R. BARNITZ, Publisher. 40 West Fourth Street, Cincinnati^ Ohio. ^^ :\.i*^^ ^ '"•'■. lis <- '' hi THE PIONEER HEEOES NEW WORLD. /ram ttii (fnifet '^nm^i (982) tn tIjB l{kmni €m. BY HENRY HOWARD BROWNELL, A. M. WITH NUMEROUS COLORED ILIUSTRATIONS. "My purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset and the baths Of qU the western stars until I die. It may be that the (julfs will wash us down — It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles." Tknnyson's Ulysses. CINCINNATI, OHIO: PUBLISHED BY MACK R. BAENITZ, 40 WKST FOURTH STREET. 186 0, ENTERED ACC0EDIN6 TO ACT OP CONGRESS, IN THE TEAR 1859, BY MACK E. BARNITZ, IN THE clerk's OFFICE OP THE DISTRICT COURT OP THE UNITED STATES, FOE THE DISTRICT OP OHIO. ■ TEAM PRESS WILLIAMS AND WILET. INTRODUCTION. Amid the great variety of books, ancient and modern, illustrating the early history of America, none, it is believed, presents, in a popular form, any thing like a complete record of the leading events of its discovery and settlement. To comprise, in a single volume, the most important and interesting passages of its progressive colonization, from the earliest known period until the present time, has been attempted in the following work. Next to the clear and full elucidation of historical facts, it has been the aim of the writer to present, as vividly as possible, the spirit of the age and trails of indimduxil character. To eiTect tliis, he hqs permitted the chief actors, so far as might agree with requisite conciseness, to speak for themselves, and by tlieir own words to determine the measure of renown or infamy to which they are entitled. If, by this directness of contact, any mythoA)gical conceptions of celebrated personages, long popularly current, should be partially dispelled, the portrait of reality, it is believed, will not be found an uninterest- ing substitute for that of imagination. In preparing this book, a considerable number of ancient and original au- thorities, many of them rarely to be met, have been diligently consulted. Among these may be mentioned the following: Antiquitates Americance (con- taining Icelandic MSS., &c.) The First Voyage of Columbus, The Decades of Peter Martyr, Cortes' Letters and Dispatches to Charles V., Bemal Diaz's True Conquest of Mexico, De Soils' Conquest of Mexico, the Conquest of Florida, by a Gentleman of Elvas, Hakluyt's Voyages and other publications, Purchas his Pilgrimage and Pilgrims, The Journals of Henry Hudson, Robert Juet, and Habbakuk Prickett, The True Adventures of Captain John Smith, the Journals of Governors Bradford and Winslow — Mourt's Relation, Gov- ernor Winthrop's Journal, Morton's New England's Memorial, Hubbard's History of New England — ^Hubbard's Indian Wars — Cotton Mather's Mag- nalia Christi Americana, Church's Entertaining History of King Philip's War, Boone's Narrative, &c., &c., with a variety of Historical collections. The journals and narratives of modern American adventurers have also been perused, and a great number of standard works, treating on detached subjects, have been carefully examined and compared. To these, and espe- cially in the history of Spanish transactions, to the classical and elaborate productions of Robertson, Irving, and Prescott, the writer has resorted, as INTEODUCTIOW. s the most reliable authority, for the leading facts of his subject; hut, with view to novelty and piquancy of detail, original documents, as far as the} were accessible, have been faithfully consulted. These records, extending over several ages, and pertaining to several nations along with fascinating glimpses of high courage and resolute endurance, ot profound sagacity and far-sighted policy, reveal to the view a sti'ange wilder- ness of fancy, credulity, ignorance, superstition, cruelty, and bigotry. When most of them were writtten, comparatively little was known of the Western World, and fliat little with no great certainty. All beyond was Dream-land, Fairy-land, El Dorado, the true realm of imagination, which loved to people it with all fanciful creations. No tale was too wild to meet with popular cre- dence — whether of golden palaces and fountains of perpetual youth, or of monsters and chimeras dire, guarding their treasures, and forbidding all accsss to the tempting shores. Natural history, in especial, was .at a sad discount. Peter Martyr, vvitii classical fondness, records the appearance of Tritons in the waters of ihh New World; Columbus and Hudson chronicle with much particularity thei' respective encounters with shoals of merm.iids; and the Pilgrims of Plymoutl honestly relate their alarm at the roar of lions pi-owling in the frozen forests of New England. One writer contended that India must be in the vicinity of Cuba, seeing that the parrots there answered so well to the description ol Pliny; and another, near a century later, surmised an easy northerly passagt to the same country, because tlie "home of a unicorne" (doubtless brought from India by the tides [!]) had been found on some dreary shore of the Arctic ocean. A grave English author, describing Guiana, hesitates to endorse all the reports of travellers in that region, and, with prudent candor, reserves his opinion for further information. "Againe," lie says, "they tell of men with mouthes in their breasts, and eyes in their shoulders, called Chiparemai, and of the Guianians, Ewiaponomos, very strong : and of others headed like Doggcs, which Hue all the day time in tlie Sea. These tilings are strange, yet I dare not esteeme them fabulous ; onely (as not too prodigal of faith) I suspend, till some eye-intilligence of some of our parts haue testified the truth." Else- where he tells us of certain sav.ages who appeared on the shore, wearing visors like the heads of dogs — "or els they ^vere Dogges' Heads indeed." In no other field has there been a richer or more fanciful display of the love for the supernatural— whether in its brighter and more alluring phases, or in all the imagined horrors of infernal manifestation. Columbus elaborately argued that he had entered on the confines of the Garden of Eden— the terrestrial Paradise. Two centuiies later, we find a voyager through unfamiliar se-is gravely entering on the log, "Hereabouts is said to be an inchanted island " Most especially in all matters connected with the aborigines, this fascinating INTEODITCTTOB". 5 exerciso of the fancy was allowed to have its full swing. His Holiness the Pope, in granting the right of conquest, had assumed, as a matter of course, that all natives of the newly-found lands were under the direct dominion of the Enemy; his orthodox followers could do no less than sustain and verify the sentiment; and the Protestant English, while disowning his authority, and falling baclt for their share of territory on natural right, were ready enough to adopt a theory so comfortable to the conscience and so gratifying to the imagination. Accordingly, the early voyagers, of all nations, wherever they landed, were prepared to find, among the inhabitants, scenes of necro- mancy and diablerie. The mystical Indian ceremonies of council and devotion, were to them nothing but incantation and Satan- worship; they were ever on the alert against native magic and sorcery; and, like Robinson Crusoe, they saw tho foot-print of the devil on every uninhabited shore. It is strange how long and how generally this Satanic incubus hung over all European adventurers. In all matters of mystery, the Gordian knot was invariably cut by a reference to diabolical agency. No other hypothesis was ever allowable in explanation of Indian reserve or hostility. Montezuma could not retire to his " House of Sorrow," except for a personal interview with the Adversary. If a Pequot war broke out, it was because " the devil had taken tho alarum-" at the prosperity of the church in New England. That worthy knight. Sir Martin Frobisher, having captured an old Esquimaux of hideous appearance, thought proper to pluck off her buskins to ascertain "if she were cloven-footed or no." Errors such as these, outgrown by maturing humanity, may provoke a smile; but not justly from any who, in our own day, see fit to ascribe the phenomena of magnetism and the development of natural, though as yet unstudied laws, to the same infernal and demoniac origin. The fact that the New World was known to Europeans long before the days of Columbus, has been established, by irrefragable evidence, beyond all reasonable doubt. But it is equally certain that for centuries' it had been lost to them by neglect and disuse, and that the grand originality of liis scheme was in no measure dependent on any former experience. What he sought, from first to last, was not the discovery of a New Continent (though such was the splendid reward of his exertions), but the directest way to the remote shores of the Old, and a practical solution of the grand problem, still open in his day, of the sphericity of the earth. The chance discoveries of tempest- driven mariners, in the northern seas, leading to no important result, and soon lost in obscurity, can in no degree impair the fame of him who, first, with a grand, though erroneous aim, " * • * • * Undaunted could explore A world of wavea, a sea without a shore, Trackless, and vast, and wild as that revealed When round the Ark the birds of tempest wheeled." 6 INTRODUCTION. In reviewing the liistory of American colonization, the mind is at first struck with the wonderful brilliancy and rapidity of Spanish discovery and conquest during the first century of their career; an impression naturally followed by the reflection that in the end no substantial advantage has accrued to the nation whose enterprise laid open the pathway to the New World, and whose valor and genius were the first to avail themselves of its tempting opportuni- ties. Extermination of the native inhabitants, bigoted exclusion of foreigners, and, in the end, outrageous oppression of her own dependencies, have marked, almost without exception, the colonial administration of Spain, and have finally resulted in its nearly complete annihilation. Her once numerous prov- inces, alienated by mismanagement and tyranny, have found, in republican anarchy, a questionable relief from parental misrule; while that beautiful island, almost the solitary jewel in her crown, and only proving, by its ex- ception, the general rule of her losses, is held by a tenure so insecure as barely to deserve the name of possession. For an hundred and ten years, the rival nations of France and England hardly took a step in the same venturous direction, or if they did, under ch- cumstances of such gross ignorance and infatuation, as were almost certain to preclude the possibility of success. The various and widely-severed colo- nies of France, founded, through a century of misfostunes and discourage- ments, by ardent and indefatigable servants of the crown, have, with one or two insignificant exceptions, slipped from her hands — not from any want of loyalty or national affection in the provincial inhabitants, but from the feeble- ness of the French marine, ever unable to compete with that of her haughty rival, and quite mefficient for the protection and retention of distant colonies. England, the last to enter on the noble enterprise of peopling the New Hemisphere, but finally bringing to the task a spirit of progress, a love of freedom, and a strength of principle unknown to her predecessors, has founded, amid disastrous and unpromising beginnings, an empire mightier and more enduring than all or any of its compeers; lost, indeed, for the most pai-t, to her private aggrandizement, but not to the honor of her name or the best interests of mankind; an empire already prosperous beyond all example in history, and destined, it is probable, at no distant day, to unite under its genial protection every league of that vast continent stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the tropical forests of Darien to the eternal snows of the Arctic Circle. CONTENTS. THE NOBTHMEK IN AMERICA. pagb Chapter L Ancient Northern Chron!clea~Early Scandinavian Voyagers— Discovery and Settlement of Iceland— DiscoTci? and Settlement of Greenland by Eirck the Red— Acci- dental Discovery of North America by Biarni Ileriulfson, . . > 17 Chaftsr II. Voyage of Lief— The Country named Vinland— Voyage and Explorations Tliorvald— His Death— Unauccesaful Attempt of Thoratein, . . . .21 C3APTBR III, T^ Expedition of Thorfinn— The God Thor worshipped in New England- Fight with the Skroellinga or Natives— Return— Heroic Conduct of Biarni Grimolfijon, S5 Jhaptkr IV. Mention of Vinland in various MSS.— Probable Intercourse between Ireland and America— Story of Biorn Asbrandson— Icelandic and other Remains in America— A supposed Welsh Colony, •....•••• 30- THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA Chapter I. The Early Life of Columbus— His Maritime and Geographical Acquirements — Tlie General Passion for Discovery— The Development of his Scheme, . . 37 CuAPTBR IL Dealings with the Court of Portugal— Treachery of John 11.— Columbus Jour- neys into Spain— His Poverty— His Application to Ferdinand and Isabella— The Council of Salamanca, .......... 43^ Chapter III. Delays and Disappointments— Final Success of Columbus with tho Sovereigns — DifBculties of Preparation— Assistance of the Pinzons— Departure of the Expedition, . 49^ Chapter IV. First Voyage of Columbus— The Tenors of his Crew— Discovery of Giaauii- hani and other Bahama Islands — Simplicity of the Natives— Continual Expectations of finding Asia, ........... 53^ Chapter V. Discovery of Cuba— Desertion of Pinzon— Discovery of Hayti, or Hispaniola — Character of the Native— The Cacique Guacanagari— Wreck of tho Santa Maria— Tho Fortress of La Navidad— Departure of Columbus for Spain, . , . ,00 Chapter VI. Meeting with Pinzon— The Voyage homeward— Peril from Tempeste— Treach- ery of the Governor of St. Mary's— Arrival at Lisbon— Audience before John II. . 67 Chapter VII. Arrival of CoIumbTS at Palos— Death of Pinzon— Enthusiastic Reception of the Admiral-— Honoi-s conferred upon him— Papal Bull— Preparations for a. Second Expedition, ...,..•.••.71 Chapter VIII. The Second Expedition of Columbus— Discovery of Dominica, and other Antilles— The Caribs or Cannibals— Return to Hayti— Destruction of the Garrison at La Navidad, ...........76 Chapter IX, Foundation of the City of Isabella- Natural Wealth of the Island— Conspir- acy against Columbus— Grand Expedition to the Interior— Sufferings of the Colonists- Severity to the Indians, . . . • . • • . . .3! Chapter X. Expedition of Columbus to the Westward— Discovery of Jamaica— Coasting the South of Cubar-That Island supposed to be the Continent of Asia— Intercourse with the Indians— Tedious Voyi^e in Returning, .•.,., 87 Chapter XI. Disorders of the Colony— Hostilities of the Indians^lQielr Defeat and Sub- jection—Their Oppression by the Spaniards, ....... 9i Chapter XII. Intrigues against Columbus— Discovery of Gold Minos— His Retui-n to Spain- Preparations for a Third Expedition, ...... 98 Chapter XIII. Third Voyage of Columbus— Discovery of South America— Extraordinai? Theory- ArrivalatHayti, -,.... , . 102 8 CONTENTS. PAOI Chapter XIV. Disorders of the Colony during the Absence of Columbus— The Rebellion of Eoldan— Hostilities with the Indians— Their Defeat, l"" Chaptuk XV. Negotiation of Columbus with the Rebels— His Submission to their Exac- tions—Influence of his Enemies in Spain— The Appointment of Bobadilla, . • HI Chapter XVI. Rash and Oppressive Conduct of Bobadilla— Columbus sent home in Chains —Sensation at the Spanish Court— Injustice of Ferdinand— Appointment of Ovando, . 115 Chapter XVII. Fresh Schemes of Columbus— Departure on his Fourth and Last Voyage of Discovery— Destruction of his Enemies— Cmise on the Coast of Hondmas, &c.— His 121 Disappointment, ...-•••••" *** Chapter XVIII. Attempt to Found a Settlement— Hostilities with the Indians— The Ves- sels Stranded on the Island of Jamaica— Perilous Situation of the Spaniards— Remarkable Device of Columbus to obtain Supplies, . . . • • • .126 Chapter XIX. Despicable Conduct of Ovando— Final Rescue of Columbus— Atrocities of the Spaniards in Hispaniola— Subjection and Extermination of the Natives, . . 131 Chapter XX. Return of Columbus to Spain— Injustice of Ferdinand— Death of Columbus — Disposal of his Remains, ....>•■•• 13S SEBASTIAN CABOT. Vouth of Cabot— His Discovery of the North American Continent— His Second Voyage- Fruitless Attempt to Colonize the Labrador — Long Blank in the Life of Cabot — He enters the Service of Spain— Returns to England-^Unsuccessful Expedition under Henry VIII. — Appointed Chief Pilot of Spain— His Expedition to South America— His Return to Eng- land—His Useful and Honorable Old Ago, ,.,... 138 AMERICUS VESPUCIUS. Account of Veapucius— His Voyage to South America with Ojeda— His Voyages to Brazil — Extraordinary Attempt at Deception, •••..•• 14fl THE DISCOVERY OE THE'PACIEIC OCEAN. Chapter I. Account of Balboa — The Settlement at Darien — Rumors of a Sea beyond the Moutitainsv-Transactions with the Indians, ...... 150 Chapter It. Expedition of Balboa in Search of the Sea — Contests with the Natives — Dia- covei'y of the Pacific Ocean — Appointment of Pedrarias — Riiappointment of Balboa — Mis- fortunes of the Colony, ......... 154 Chapter III. Disappointments of Balboa — Expeditions of Morales and Pizarro — Recon- ciliation of Balboa and Pedrarias— Cruise of Bulboa on the Pacific — His Sadden Accusa- tion, Trial, and Execution, ......... 150 THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO. Chapter I, Conquest of Cuba — Discovery of Yucatan — Discovery of Mexico — Hernando Cortes — His Expedition — Battles with the Tabascans, Sec. — Arrival at San Juan de Ulua, 105 Chapter V. The Landing at Vera Cruz — Negotiation with Montezuma — Magnificent Presents — Alliance with the Totonacs— Destruction of their Idols, . . .174 Chapter III. The March tg Mexico commenced — War with the Tlascalans — Victories of the Spaniards — Spirited Resolution of Cortes, . . . . . .181 Chapter IV. Submission of the Tlascalans— Entry into their City — Weak Policy of Mon- tezuma— Massacre of the Cholulans— The March resumed- Entrance into the City of Mex- ico — Interviews with the Emperor Montezuma, ...... 188 Chapter V. Description of Mexico— The Palaces and State of Montezuma— His Collections of Natural History — Horrible Rites of Sacrifice — Discovery of Treasure, . . , 197 Chapter VI. Seizure of Montezuma— His Caciques Burned at the Stake— Demeanor of Montezuma— Hostility of the Great Nobles— The Sovereignty of the Spanisn Monarch Acknowledged— Immense Tribute of Treasure, ••.... 203 Chapter VIL Imprudent Zeal of Cortes— Resentment of the Mexicans— Critical Condi- tion of the Spaniards— Transactions at the Court of Spain— Expedition dispatched from Cuba under Narvooz, ••••..,,, oil CONTENTS. 9 FAoa Chapter VIII. Cortes Marches against Warvaez— Defeats and Takes him Prisoner— Great Accession to his Forces ....>•■ > . 315 Chapter IX. Massacre of the Aztec Chiefs by Alvarado— The Return to IViexico— Hostility of the Aztecs— Furious Fighting for many Days in that City— The Death of Montezuma, 220 CnAFTKtt X. The Spaniards Retreat from the City— The " Noche Triste," or Miserable Night -Terrible Loss on tho Causeway— Retreat to Tlascala— Battle of Otumba— Fidelity of the Tltiscalans, .,,,....... 228 CaAi'Taa XI. Tho War Renewed— Success of the Spaniards— Great Force of Indian Allies — Accession of Guatcmozin to the Aztec Throne— March to the Valley of Mexico— Head- quarters Established at Tezcuco, .......> 231 Chaptbr XU. Commencement of the Campaign against Mexico — Taking of Iztapalapan — Policy of Cortez in Uniting the Natives— Great Accessions to his Power — Vessels Trans- ported Overland— Various Battles with the Aztecs— Their Courage and Resolution— March around tho Lakes — Great Victory at Xochimilco, .....* 240 Ceaptbr XIII. Arrival at Tacuba— Grief of Cortes— Conspiracy against him— The Fleet Launched— Execution of Xicotencatl— Defeat of the Mexican Flotillar— Mexico Blockaded — General Assault on the City, .......*• 347 CuAPTKR XIV. The Siege of Mexico Continued— Constant Fighting— Attempt to Storm the City— Great Loss of the Spaniards— Terrible Sacrifice of the Prisoners on the Great Temple, S53 Chapter XV. The Siege Continued— Indomitable Courage of tho Aztecs— Gradual Destruc- tion of the City— Terrible Suffering of the Besieged— Mexico Taken by Storm — Fearful Massacre — Capture of Guatemozin— Reflections, ...... 259 Chapter XVI. Transactions after the Siege— Torture of Guatemozin— Settlement of tho Country— Titles and Offices conferred on Cortes— His Ostentatious State— His Wise Policy, 266 Chapter XVII. Great Acquisitions to the Crown of Spain- Tenible March of Coiles to Honduras— Murder of Guatemozin— Usurpation at Mexico— Return of Cortes— Vexatious Commission — Cortes Embarks for Spain — Honors bestowed on him — His Return to Mexico, 270 Chapter XVIII. Enterprise of Cortes— His Second Return to Spain— Campaign against Algiers— Disappointments at Court— His Death— Ills Character— Fate of tho Conquerors 275 FEUNANDO MAGELLAN. Disputes of Spain and Portngal- FcmanJo Blagollan — His Voyage to tho Southward— The Patagonians — Discovery of the Strait of Magellan — Voyage to tho Philippine Isles — Death of the Commander- Circumnavigation of tho Globe, ..... 281 THE CONQUEST OP PERU.; Chapter 1. The Colony of Panama— Account of Francisco Pizarro— Almagro and Luquo — First Voyngo of Pizarro — Terrible J-oss and Suffering— Failure of the ExpcditioJi atu! Return— Voyage of AIm:u