“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.