Los Sobrevivientes de La Florida


horses.57 Gaitan declared in Mexico that he was a son of Joan
Gaitan and Dofia Catalina de Ribera from Talavera de la Reina,
married to Catalina de Zarate, and in charge of the natives of the
town of Tlaculpo. He added that prior to the de Soto venture he
had served the King in Tunis, and later went to Peru to help in its
pacification.58

 Gallego, Diego. Survivor from Castilla la Vieja, Smith-297.
This soldier may or may not be the same Alonso Gallego, son of
Francisco Dominguez and Elvira Garcia, citizens of Alconera,
SR-305. This locality is in Badajoz, Extremadura.

 Gallegos, Juan. He was a brother of Baltasar de Gallegos and
thus possibly from Sevilla, and one of the three surviving priests,
Smith-298. There is one person with the same name listed as son
of Juan Martin Bermejo and Beatriz Belazquez, citizens of Oliva,
SR-323. This may be the same priest mentioned by Garcilaso de la
Vega, who wrote that he was from Sevilla.59

 Gallegos, Baltasar de. Survivor from Sevilla, Smith-292,
who made his probanza in Tenochtitlan, New Spain, in 1545. He
started it by indicating that he was from Sevilla in Spain and a
resident of Mexico where he had arrived around 1526. Later, he
accompanied Baltasar de Osorio in the conquest and colonization
of Tabasco where the former was wounded and where he chose to
settle after receiving an encomienda there. After profiting from the
labor and tribute of his encomendados for three or four years, he
asked the Royal Audiencia for permission to return to Spain to
marry. He travelled to his homeland and, after marrying Maria de
Guzman, he learned that Francisco de Montejo had taken away his
encomienda, for which reason he decided to join Hernando de
Soto. De Soto named Gallegos his Field Marshal, and encouraged
him to travel to Cuba with his wife and household. He did so,
taking along several servants, horses, and slaves at an expense of
more than 4,000 ducats. Once Gallegos arrived in Florida he
engaged in many conquests, wars, and expeditions that took place
in the following years. In the process he lost several of his horses
and slaves. He also suffered the death of his brother who had


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