Searching next in all accessible modern histories and books, the first attempt at definite localizing that I can find is in the appendix to the Smithsonian Report for 1867. The Rev. Samuel Agnew, writing from Guntown, Mississippi, under date of January 11, 1868, states that twelve years before, there had been pointed out to him on a long ridge between John’s Creek and Friendship Church, in Pontotoc County, the remains of ancient ditches or embankments. These he surmised might probably be the remains of De Soto’s winter camp, but he hoped that some intelligent antiquarian would look further into the matter.
The most comprehensive attempt however, to identify these camps, was made by Hon. J. F. H. Claiborne, in his “Mississippi as a Province” etc., published in 1880. In this book he wrote that:—
“There (the old Indian trail) struck Pontotoc ridge, four miles east of the ancient Chickasaw Council House. Near this point stood the first Chickasaw town, and in this vicinity the Spaniards went into winter quarters.
“At that period a portion of the Chickasaws still resided in the mountain region of east Tennessee, but a large body of them had taken possession of the territory where De Soto found them, and their principal settlement or town, or series of villages, was on the ridge from the ancient Council House (near Redland) north fifteen miles (near Pontotoc) and northeast, on the ‘mean prairie’ eight or ten miles, within a few miles of Tallahatchie River....
“Four miles east of the ancient Council House, on the Pontotoc ridge, near the source of the Suckartonchee Creek, are the vestiges of a fortified camp, evidently once strongly entrenched, after the European style of that day, with bastions and towers. Leaden balls and fragments of metal have been often found in these ruins. The enclosure was square, and the whole area, as evidenced by the remains, would have afforded shelter to the Spaniards and their live stock.... The chief of the Chickasaws resided about two miles southeast of the present town of Pontotoc, on the head-waters of Coonawa, now called Pontotoc Creek.... The exact position of this entrenched camp is still indicated by the vestiges that remain. Some persons contend that De Soto left this stronghold, advanced to Chickasilla, one mile northwest from where Pontotoc now stands, and commenced the attack on the Chickasaw towns. This would be to reverse the detailed accounts of the writers that accompanied him.... After the destruction of their camp, the Spaniards moved three miles to the village of Chickasilla, where they were annoyed by desultory attacks.”
In forming his opinions on the matter, Claiborne acknowledged his indebtedness to W. J. N. Walton of Aberdeen, Mississippi, a gentleman who “in early life was secretary of Levi Colbert, head chief of the Chickasaws, familiar with their language and with all their traditions,” and to W. B. Wilkes of the same place, a man whose tastes inclined him to archaeological pursuits. It is with diffidence therefore, that I venture to disagree with these conclusions, in my own statement.
As to the ideas of the farmers and others living in the old Chickasaw County, there is no uniformity of opinion as to the site of Soto’s camps. There are many local candidates for that honor, and so far as I could find out, there is no good reason to adopt one more than another. The place pointed out to Mr. Agnew is probably the site of Mound Builder’s work, of which class of remains there is no lack in northern Mississippi.[11] The same may be said of the position assigned to Chicaza by Claiborne, though the locality he means is rather to the southeast of Redland and in Chickasaw County.
The Chicaza of Soto’s time was on a high ridge or hill located about one mile northwest of Redland, on the S½ of the S¼ of Section 21, and the N½ of the N W½ of Section 28, town 11, range 3E. in Pontotoc county. The hill extends north and south, and on both sides there are many little spring branches flowing out of the base of the hill and uniting with the larger streams at a distance of from one to four or five rods. The main part of the town was located on Section 28. A part of it is under cultivation and has farm buildings upon it, while the remainder of the site is covered by young timber and brush.
Many years ago there was an Indian mission school that is said to have been located where the farm building now stands. In the new ground broken up within recent years, there were beds of charcoal and ashes found at different points, and even in the old portion of the cultivated land charcoal is occasionally brought to the surface by the plough. These are undoubtedly remains of old Chicaza, and the beds of charcoal and ashes mark the sites of the houses burned by the Indians. As regards the location, there is no other place in either Lee or Pontotoc counties—where the oldest Chickasaw settlements were undoubtedly situated—that corresponds to the topographical description given by the Inca.
Chicacilla was probably located on the S E¼ of Section 5, town 11, range 3 E., about 3½ miles north and a very little west of Chicaza. At this point there is debris, etc., indicating that there was once an old Chickasaw village there. The narratives of the expedition, however, do not give sufficient data regarding this site, so that it is impossible to fully identify the place by them, there being nothing beyond the statement already quoted that it was located on a sloping hill, a league distant from Chicaza. This being the only ancient Chickasaw village site properly lying on sloping ground, and at about the right distance from the burned town; it is more than probable that the position given above is the correct one. It is presumable that after the place was abandoned by the Spaniards, the Indians took possession of it, and occupied the houses in lieu of those destroyed by both parties. Besides this, it supplied them with a well fortified (palisaded) town in which to re-establish themselves.