The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1922-01-01
(Continued,)

Inc popuidtlOn OF E,UUu souls winch
were brought with the required sup
plies of every kind having been landed,
the work of settlement begin of the
place where the settlement was made:
one historian points out Santa Rosa
Island afterwards due to local advar-
tage. which afterwards induced Ariola
TO select what is now called Barrancas
as the site of his town, governed the Sc
lection of DeLuna. and tradition ena-
bles US to identify the spot, as a future
page will endeavor to do so
The destruction OF the fleet by
hurricane within a week after it's ar
rival threw a shadow over the infant
settlement aggregating the natural dis
content incident 10 all colonization re-
suIting from the contrast between the
stern realities of experience and expec-
tations colored by the Imagination of
the colonist against the discomfort ever
on the increase, DeLuna maufully and
successfully struggled until 1862. and
thus II was for two years and more
there existed 4 town of 1000 inhabi-
tants on the shores of Pensacola bay,
which ante-dated by about four years
ST. Augustine. making Pensacola the
oldest city in the United States.
Don Tristan de Luna sent expeditions
into the ipterior, and finally led one
in person. In this journey the priest
and friars joined. and daily in taber-
nacles of Tree boughs, the holy office
of the Catholic church was performed.
The morning chant and the evening
hymn breaking the silence and awaking
the echoes Of the primcval forest.
Where they actually went and how far,
It is impossible TO say. Owing TO our
inability to identify the situation Of
the villages ard other landmarks men
toned in the narrative OF their jour
ney. The presumption is strong. how
ever, that they took and followed
northward the Indian trail on the ridge
beginning at Pensacola bay forming
the watershed between the PerdiJo
and Escambia rivers and beyond their
headwaters uniting with the elevated
country eastward to the Alabama and
Tallapoosa rivers. That t"al accord
ing to tradition, was the one by which
the Indians from the earliest times
passed between the Coosa country and
the sea. The one followed in late.
times by the Indian traders on theiI
pack ponies and the line OF march o.
General Jackson in his invasion ot
Florida in 1914, that it was regardet
ana used as the guiding thread by ne
Luna's expedition, penetrating the IN
known country north Of Santa Maria
DeSoto explored.
DeLuna after leaving Santa Maria
anne into alabama, and was so i'm
pressed with the attractive features
Of the beautiful region OF central Ala
bama, that he determined 70 plant
colony there, but In this he was
thwarted by the discomfort and insub-
ordination of his followers. these hay
ing no other object IN view than to
break UP the settlement and return to
Mexico. But the vice royal investigation
was forestalled by the visit TO Santa
Maria by Don Angel de Vellafana.
whom the viceroy Of Cuba had ap-
pointed governor at that time under
the entire region called Florida. who
permitted the dissatisfied colonists to
embark IN his vessel. Don Frlst-ar de
Luna, with a few followers only. re
manned. The local results os DeLuna
expedition were fixing for = time the
name Santa Maria upon the bay in
stamping upon. the shores tho name
Pensacola. Several writer's have tried
TO make Pensacola named after the In
dian tribe named Pensacola which had
been entirely extcrminated in conflicts
with the 0eiehb0rinC tribes buc il Is
ev7den ly not an Indian name. and The
most able writer discarded this trad1~
lion, and as the name pensacola is Of
a Spanish origin. taken from q port OIL
The Mediterranean shores of Spain.
perched upon a high rock, 24o feet
above the sea and connected with the
nainle nd by a narrow strip Of sand Is
the fortified seaport Of Pensacola:
vhen and by whom the name is affixed
TO our shore is an interesting inquiry
Neither Roberts or Fairbanks nor any
of the others inform US It comes into
The history Of the advent Of Ariola.
whose settlement viii he the subject OF
4 future page The settlement Of De
Luna was the only Spanish settlement
in which the Indians could have come
in contact before Ariola. That settle
nent. therefore must he the subject Of
the Indian tradition and the Spanish
name Pensacola must have been It's
name
Many years passed for which there
is no history until 1893 Don Andres de
Pes entered the bay, but how long ne
remained or why he came, either FOR
examination or It's advantages from
or from necessity, TO disturb
the oblivion of one hundred and thirty
three years history does not say.
But as a memorial Of his visit he
supplemented the name DeLuna had
.igea i with DeIalga n horoe Of the
leroy - HTe--cc. and thus j. comes
.leo e1loalal ms: ny with a long t.tle
e Santa Maria de Galva. In 1886 three
years after de Pes visit, Don Andres de
Ar:oIa. with 500 soldiers and settlers
took formal possession OF the harbor
and the surrounding country, which 70
make effectual ard permanent be built
a square with bastions II what IS now
""tIed Barrancas, winch he named san
Carlos.
~ the beginning. or rather the re-