User:JMilty/Juan Ortiz (explorer)

http://community.learnnc.org/weblogs/partners/phe/6_de%20soto.pdf Ch. 8. OF SOME [ATTACKS] THAT WERE MADE, AND HOW A CHRISTIAN WAS FOUND WHO HAD BEEN A LONG TIME IN THE POSSESSION OF A CACIQUE [Indian leader]. When Baltasar de Gallegos came into the open field, he discovered ten or eleven Indians among whom was a Christian, naked and sunburnt, his arms tattooed after their manner, and he in no respect differing from them. As soon as the horsemen came in sight, they ran upon the Indians who fled, hiding themselves in a thicket, though not before two or three of them were overtaken and wounded. The Christian, seeing a horseman coming upon him with a lance, began to cry out: “Do not kill me, cavalier; I am a Christian! Do not slay these people; they have given me my life!” Directly he called to the Indians, putting them out of fear, when they left the wood and came to him. The horsemen took up the Christian and Indians behind them on their beasts, and, greatly rejoicing, got back to the Governor at nightfall. . ..

Ch. 9. HOW THE CHRISTIAN CAME TO THE LAND OF FLORIDA, WHO HE WAS, AND OF WHAT PASSED AT HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE GOVERNOR. [Juan Ortiz, survivor of the 1527-28 Narváez expedition to Florida, was captured by the Indians with whom he then lived for twelve years.] . . . By command of Ucita, Juan Ortiz was bound hand and foot to four stakes and laid upon scaffolding, beneath which a fire was kindled that he might be burned; but a daughter of the Chief entreated that he might be spared. Though one Christian, she said, might do no good, certainly he could do no harm, and it would be an honor to have one for a captive; to which the father acceded, [ordering] the injuries to be healed. When Ortiz got well, he was put to watching a temple, that the wolves in the nighttime might not carry off the dead there, which charge he took in hand, having commended himself to God.

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Spanish_Florida On May 30, 1539, de Soto and his companions landed in Tampa Bay, where they found Juan Ortiz, who had been captured by the local Indians a decade earlier when he was sent ashore from a ship searching for Narváez. Ortiz passed on the Indian reports of riches, including gold, to be found in Apalachee, and de Soto set off with 550 soldiers, 200 horses, and a few priests and friars.

http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/lessons/de_soto/de_soto1.htm Amazingly, a cavalry patrol found a Spanish survivor from an earlier expedition. He had been searching for gold along with Narváez eleven years earlier. The Spanish survivor's name was Juan Ortiz and he had been living as an Indian. Ortiz's rescue was a great find for de Soto since Ortiz could communicate in Spanish and many of the native languages. He could also function as a guide for the area. As de Soto's expedition moved inland, however, they met different native groups whose languages were unfamiliar to Ortiz.

http://www.savannah.chatham.k12.ga.us/Students/Hispanic+Heritage+Month/Hernando+de+Soto.htm A young Spaniard named Juan Ortiz, who had come to Florida in search of the lost Narváez Expedition and been held by an inland tribe, was sighted near De Soto's port. Ortiz came to Florida in search of the earlier Narváez Expedition and was captured by the Uzica, a Calusa tribe. The daughter of Chief Hirrihigua of the Uzica arguably served as a precursor to Pocahontas by begging for Ortiz's life, as her father had ordered Ortiz to be roasted alive. Ortiz survived captivity and torture, and joined, at the first opportunity, the new de Soto Spanish expedition. Ortiz knew the countryside and also helped as an interpreter. As a lead guide for the de Soto expedition, Ortiz established a unique method for guiding the expedition and communicating with various tribal dialects. The "Paracoxi" guides were recruited from each tribe along the route. A chain of communication was established whereby a guide who had lived in close proximity to another tribal area was able to pass his information and language on to a guide from a neighboring area. Because Ortiz refused to dress and conduct himself as a hidalgo Spaniard, his motives and council to de Soto were held in suspicion by other officers. But Don Hernando remained loyal to Ortiz, thus allowing him freedom to dress and live among his tribal Paracoxi friends. Another important guide was the seventeen-year-old boy Perico, or Pedro, from modern-day Georgia, who spoke several of the local tribes' languages and could communicate with Ortiz. Perico was engaged as a guide in 1540 and treated better than the rest of the slaves, due to his value to the Spaniards.