'''Tuskalusa''' aka '''Tuskaloosa''' was a chief of a Mississippian group, the ancestors of the many southern Native American tribes (Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee), in what is now the Hernando de Soto.  The modern-day city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is named for this Native American chief.

Hernando de Soto was appointed Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama.  One technique of the conquistadors was to take a local chief hostage to guarantee their safe passage.

Rumors of vast stores of gold led de Soto into Alabama and to Tuskaloosa and the Choctaws. Tales of the expedition's brutality apparently heightened Tuskaloosa's suspicions, and he planned an ambush at the walled city, which the Spanish dubbed Maubila or Mauvila. It is speculated that de Soto planned to take Tuskaloosa as a hostage.  Instead, a fierce battle broke out when a Spanish swordsman slashed the back of a Choctaw man, and the waiting Choctaw force of between 2,000 and 6,000 ambushed de Soto's men on the central plaza. The Spaniards fought their way out only to attack the city over and over again. In this battle that lasted nine hours, eighty-two Spaniards were slain, or died in a few days after the engagement. Maubila was burned down, and the entire Choctaw fighting force was killed either in battle, in the subsequent fires, or by suicide. 

Among these lost or killed were Diego De Soto, the nephew of the Governor; Don Carlos Enriquez, who had married his niece; and Men-Rodriquez, a cavalier of Portugal, who had served with distinction in Africa and upon the Portuguese frontiers. Forty-five horses were slain -- an irreparable loss. All the camp material and baggage were consumed in the house where the Indians stored it, except that of Captain Andres de Vasconellos, which arrived late in the evening. All the clothes, medicines, instruments, books, much of the armor, all the pearls, the relics and robes of the priests, their flour and wine, used in the holy sacrament, with a thousand other things which a wilderness could not supply, perished in the flames. The Mobilians were nearly all destroyed. Garcellasso asserts that over eleven thousand were slain. He claims that 2,500 were killed within the walls alone. 

'''Tascalusa''' ou '''Tuskaloosa''' ou '''Tuskalusa''' était le chef d'une tribu amérindienne qui livra bataille à l'explorateur espagnol, Hernando de Soto. (en langue Choctaw, ''tushka'' signifie « guerrier »  et ''lusa'' « noir » donc mot à mot « Guerrier noir »<ref name="tusc"> {{lien web
| url=http://www.ci.tuscaloosa.al.us/index.asp?nid=172
| titre=''History of Tuscaloosa''
| éditeur=Site officiel de la ville de Tuscaloosa (Alabama)
| consulté le=5 juillet 2007}}</ref>)

Le 18 octobre 1540<ref name="elvas"> {{lien web
|url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=rbfr&fileName=0008//rbfr0008.db&recNum=171
|titre=''A Narrative of the the Expedition of Hernando de Soto into Florida by a Gentleman of Elvas.''
|auteur=translated by Richard Hakluyt
|année=London, 1609.
|éditeur=The Library of Congress
|consulté le=9 juin 2007}}</ref>, de Soto et son expédition se retrouvent devant un ville sommairement fortifiée nommée ''Mavilla'' ou ''Mauvila''<ref>''The Mauvila project : on the trail of Soto, Luna, and the Indians they encountered'' ; Caleb Curren;  Mobile, Ala. : Mauvila Project of the Mobile Historic Development Commission, 1992.   </ref> (sans doute proche de l'actuelle ville de Mobile). Un Indien converti les avise que la cité est pleine de guerriers et d'armes. L'un de ses capitaines propose à de Soto d'établir un campement à l'extérieur de la cité, mais de Soto refuse, il veut loger à Mavilla. La tribu de Mavilla, commandée par le chef Tascalusa, a préparé une embuscade à l'intérieur de l'enceinte de la ville. Les Espagnols sont piégés et doivent se battre avec ardeur pour s'échapper avant de parvenir à réduire la cité en cendres. La bataille dure neuf heures, dix-huit Espagnols sont tués<ref name="elvas"/>, cent cinquante des survivants sont blessés, vingt autres mourront encore de leurs blessures lors des semaines suivantes, douze chevaux ont été tués et soixante-dix blessés<ref name="elvas"/>. Parmi les guerriers indiens, on compte à peu près deux mille cinq cents morts<ref name="elvas"/>. Tascalusa lui-même périt sans doute dans l'incendie de sa cité. 

== Hommage posthume ==
La ville de Tuscaloosa en Alabama fut nommée en son honneur, en 1817.<ref name="tusc"/>