Charles Melvin Hudson Jr. [1]

• baccalaureate degree with high distinction at the University of Kentucky 1958
• Anthropology, M.A. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1962
• Anthropology, Ph. D University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1965

In 1984, Hudson and fellow researchers Marvin T. Smith and Chester DePratter published a route for de Soto's Georgia travels that had him crossing the Ocmulgee River near Macon.

Hudson and his colleagues mapped de Soto's route using written accounts of three men traveling with the explorer and matching them with geographic features and archaeological evidence of Indian settlements they believed the explorer encountered. Hudson said what made his proposed route stand up to scrutiny was that the Indian sites formed a chain across the state. [2]

Dr. Hudsons work is cited by many other writers, historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists. These authors include but are no limited to the following list.

• Paul D. Welch- Associate Professor at Southern Illinois University.
• Patricia Galloway-Associate Professor at University of Texas-Austin.
• Theda Perdue-Professor of Southern Culture at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Kathleen DuVal- Assistant Professor of Southern Culture at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• David Ewing Duncan- Journalist and author, and a television and radio producer and correspondent.
• Peter Peregrine- Professor of Anthropology at Purdue University.
• Stephen Cornell- Professor, Department of Sociology, The University of Arizona.
• Louis L'Amour- American author of primarily Western fiction.
• J. William Harris- Professor of History, University of New Hampshire.