I wonder if the mastodon was what they were talking about? The mastodon was a forest creature, and (in its known period of existence) was found mostly east of the Mississippi; the mammoth was found mostly west. Anyway, thanks, it’s another uncertainty which has an outside chance of someday being verified by a find of recent remains.
Could easily be. I’ve heard a couple of versions of the story involving David Ingram, basically if an English pirate ship got sunk around Florida in those days and by some miracle you (the pirate) survived and swam ashore, you had to hike back to New England on your own and then hitch a ride back to England. Anybody who survived all that would have stories to tell.