In 1540, a party led by two Spaniards, Juan de Villalobos and Francisco de Silvera, sent by Hernando de Soto, entered what is now Lee County in search of gold. In the spring of 1567, Hernando Moyano de Morales, a sergeant of Spanish explorer Juan Pardo, led a group of soldiers northward from Fort San Juan in Joara, a native town in what is now western North Carolina, to attack and destroy the Chisca village of "Maniatique" near present-day Saltville. The attack near Saltville was the first recorded battle in Virginia history.