The second year of Soto’s journey was a circuitous route from Tallahassee to Mississippi via the Carolinas and Alabama where there was a huge battle that they almost lost.
Guided by a captive who told of riches to the north, the Soto army force-marched 500 miles in two months from Tallahassee to near present-day Camden, South Carolina but they found no precious metals. Turning west into the mountains they followed river valleys, capturing hostages for protection and support.
When Soto reached the Montgomery area, the Coosa lured the army inside a fort at a town called Mabila, and 5,000 Indians attacked them killing and wounding many soldiers including Soto, losing horses, weapons, and supplies. But the Coosa suffered greatly, losing at least 3,000 men. Many of the towns the army visited have been found and studied by historians and archaeologists, but not the elusive Mabila.
The Soto army became mutinous, and Soto turned them north, away from their resupply fleet waiting for them at Pensacola Bay. They wandered northwest looting and pillaging. Finally spending the winter near Columbus, Mississippi.
