THE CAPITAL BESIEGED AND CAPTURED.
Preparations for defense.--Cuitlahua.--Pestilence.--Guatemozin.--The
brigantines.--The fleet is attacked.--The Spanish victorious.--Dismay
of the Mexicans.--Cortez's skill.--The siege continued.--Obstinate
resistance.--Sortie by the Mexicans.--Preparations for sacrifice.
--Torturing the captives.--The sacrifice.--The Mexicans are elated
by their victory.--Shrewdness of Cortez.--His allies.--Progress of
the siege.--The allies in the city.--Sufferings of the Mexicans.--The
public square.--Affairs in the Mexican camp.--A desperate resolve.
--Pursuit.--The monarch captured.--His dignity.--Guatemozin's
fortitude.--Pretended magnanimity of Cortez.--The Mexicans surrender.
--Loss of the Spanish.--Appearance of the captured city.--Piety of
Cortez.--Searching for the treasures.--The native allies.--Their
carousals.--Spanish revelries and religious celebrations.--An
entertainment.--The plant of Noah.--Father Olmedo.--Religious
ceremonies.--Discontent.--Clamors of the army.--Cortez yields.--
Guatemozin's tortures.--Cortez rescues him.--The divers.--Nature
of the Mexican empire.--The various Mexican governments yield to
Cortez.--Perplexity of Cortez.--His treason.--Velasquez.--Cortez's
labors.--His dispatches.--An extract.--Cortez's address to the
nobles.--Ciquacoacin's reply.--He departs.--Loss of the Mexicans.
--Fifty thousand killed.--Cannonading the city.--The musketry.--
Capture of Guatemozin.--His behavior.--Anniversary of the capture
of Mexico.
While Cortez was thus vigorously preparing to renew the assault
upon the city of Mexico, the Mexicans were no less busy in their
preparations for defense. Upon the death of Montezuma, the crown
passed to his more warlike brother Cuitlahua. By his energies the
Spaniards had been driven from the metropolis, and he immediately,
with great vigor, fortified the city anew, and recruited and drilled
his armies, now familiar with the weapons of European warfare. He sent
an embassy to the Tlascalans, urging alliance against a common foe,
and endeavoring to incite them to rise and crush the Spaniards,
who, without their alliance, would have been entirely helpless. The
sagacity of Cortez, however, baffled these efforts, and he succeeded
in binding the Tlascalans to him by still stronger ties.
Among other woes, the Spaniards had introduced the small-pox into
Mexico. The terrible curse now swept like a blast of destruction
through the land. The natives perished by thousands. Many cities and
villages were almost depopulated. The fearful pestilence reached the
Mexican capital, and the emperor, Cuitlahua, soon fell a victim to its
ravages.
Guatemozin, the son-in-law of Montezuma, was then, by the unanimous
acclaim of his countrymen, placed upon the throne. He was a young man
of high reputation for ability and force of character, and proved
himself the worthy leader of his nation in this dreadful crisis of
its fate. Guatemozin assembled all his forces in the capital, as the
strongest point upon which they could stand upon their defense.
Cortez decided to make the assault by three divisions of the army,
each marching over one of the causeways. Sandoval was to command
on the north, Alvarado on the west, and Olid on the south. Cortez
reserved to himself the command of the brigantines, which were to
sweep the lakes, and drive the war-canoes of the natives from the
causeways. Each brigantine was manned with twenty-five Spaniards,
and armed with a cannon, whose shot would make fearful havoc among
the frail and crowded canoes of the Mexicans.
Guatemozin immediately foresaw how much he had to dread from this
fleet, and decided that, at every hazard, he must attempt its
destruction. He accordingly assembled an enormous mass of canoes,
hoping by numbers to overpower the enemy. The day was calm; not a
ripple disturbed the glassy surface of the water, when a fleet of
canoes, in numbers which could not be counted, pushed out boldly
into the lake to assail the brigantines lying at anchor.
But just then, to the great joy of the Spaniards and to the dismay of
the Mexicans, a fresh and favorable breeze arose, which would drive
the brigantines resistlessly through the swarm of fragile boats which
were approaching them. The sails were instantly spread, the cannon
were loaded almost to the muzzle, and the work of death began. The
heavy vessels crushed the canoes, overturned them, drove them one upon
another in indescribable confusion, while the merciless shot pierced
bones, and nerves, and sinews, and the surface of the lake was covered
with the mutilated bodies of the dying and of the dead. The water was
red with blood, and in a short time the fleet was destroyed; but few
of the boats escaped. The Mexicans, from their house-tops, gazed with
dismay upon this awful scene of carnage, and were oppressed with
fearful forebodings that no degree of courage and no superiority of
numbers could avail them against the terrible engines of destruction
which European skill had framed.
Cortez was now completely master of the lake. He formed his
brigantines into three divisions, to cover the assailants on the three
causeways and to protect them from any attack by canoes. He thus also
preserved communication, prompt and effective, between the different
divisions of his army. The military skill displayed by Cortez in all
these arrangements is of the highest kind. The conquest of Mexico was
not achieved by accident, but by sagacity, persevering energy, and
patient toil almost unparalleled.
The siege was now prosecuted with the most determined vigor. The
approaches were made along the three causeways. The natives had broken
down the bridges and reared a succession of formidable barricades, and
as they were driven from one by the irresistible force of artillery,
they retired, with firmness worthy of admiration, to the next, there
to maintain their post to the last possible moment. The brigantines
approached the sides of the causeways and opened a destructive fire
upon the valiant defenders, where the Spaniards were exposed to no
danger in return. Thus for nearly three months, by day and by night,
on the land and on the water, the bloody strife was continued.
Cortez was astonished at the obstinacy and efficiency of the
resistance effected by the besieged. Gradually, however, the besiegers
advanced, carefully filling up behind them the gaps in the causeway,
that they might easily, if necessary, effect a retreat. They were
taught the necessity of this precaution by a terrible repulse which
they at one time encountered. Guatemozin, with a quick military eye,
perceiving that the causeway occupied by one of the divisions of the
Spaniards was impassable behind the Spaniards from trenches unfilled,
and broken bridges, and the ruins of barricades, ordered the Mexican
troops to retire, to lure the Spaniards forward. He then collected an
enormous force, dispatching some in canoes along shallows which the
brigantines could not approach, and then, at a signal from the great
alarm drum on the summit of the temple, whose doleful tones could be
heard for miles, the whole mass, with frantic rage, stimulated by
hope, rushed upon the foe. The sudden assault, so impetuous, and
sustained by such vast numbers, was quite successful. The Spaniards
were driven back in confusion, horsemen and infantry crowding upon
each other, till multitudes were forced, pell-mell, horses, and
cannon, and men, into the chasms. Here the natives, in their light
canoes, fell furiously upon them. More than twenty Spaniards were
killed outright, and forty, mangled and bleeding, fell alive into the
hands of the victors. There was no possible escape for the captives
from their doom. They were to be sacrificed to the gods.
This was an awful reverse, and the Spaniards were horror-stricken in
contemplating the fate of their captured comrades. The capital was
that night illuminated with great brilliance, and the splendor of the
great pyramidal temple, blazing with innumerable torches, gleamed far
and wide over the lake. It was an awful spectacle to the Spaniards,
for they well knew the scenes which were transpiring on that lofty
altar of idolatry. The preparations for the sacrifice could be
distinctly seen, and the movements of the sacrificial priests. The
white bodies of the victims could also be clearly discerned as they
were stripped naked for the torture and the knife; and when the awful
torture was applied, the shrieks of the wretched sufferers pierced the
still night air, and penetrated the camp of the Spaniards. They
listened appalled to those cries of agony, imagining that they could
distinguish each victim by the sound of his voice.
This awful scene is thus described by Diaz:
"On a sudden, our ears were struck by the horrific sound of
the great drum, the timbrels, horns, and trumpets on the
temple. We all directed our eyes thither, and, shocking to
relate, saw our unfortunate countrymen driven by blows to the
place where they were to be sacrificed, which bloody ceremony
was accompanied by the dismal sound of all the instruments
of the temple. We perceived that when they had brought the
wretched victims to the flat summit of the body of the
temple, they put plumes upon their heads, and made them dance
before their accursed idols. When they had done this, they
laid them upon their backs on the stone used for the purpose,
where they cut out their hearts alive, and having presented
them, yet palpitating, to their gods, they drew the bodies
down the steps by the feet, where they were taken by others
of their priests. Let the reader think what were our
sensations on this occasion. O heavenly God! said we to
ourselves, do not suffer us to be sacrificed by these
wretches. Do not suffer us to die so cruel a death. And then,
how shocking a reflection, that we were unable to relieve our
poor friends, who were thus murdered before our eyes."
This victory elated the Mexicans exceedingly. They cut off the heads
of the sacrificed Spaniards, and sent them to the adjacent provinces,
to prove that their gods, now appeased by this signal offering of
blood, had abandoned the enemy. The priests sent the assurance far
and wide that victory was now certain, as the oracles had returned
the response that in eight days the detested enemy should be
entirely destroyed. This prediction exerted a great influence upon
a superstitious people. Many of the natives who had joined Cortez
deserted his cause, and even the Tlascalans began to waver. The
prudence and shrewdness of Cortez again met the danger and averted it.
For eight days he made no advance, but merely stood on the defensive.
The predicted time having expired, he said, "You see that the gods
have deceived the Mexicans. They have espoused our cause."
The fickle people immediately returned to their stations, and others
joined them, so that Cortez, according to his own account, now found
himself at the head of one hundred and fifty thousand Indians. Gomara
and Herrera assert that there were not less than two hundred thousand.
The number of defenders in the Mexican capital can not with accuracy
be ascertained. It is estimated, however, from various considerations,
that there must have been at least two hundred thousand.
The Spaniards, in this sanguinary and protracted siege, often suffered
severely for want of food. With apparent reluctance, the historians
of the expedition record that their Indian auxiliaries found quite an
abundant supply for themselves in the bodies of their enemies. Some of
them were rather ashamed to acknowledge that their auxiliaries were
inveterate cannibals. Cortez, however, alludes to their horrible
repasts quite in a tone of indifference.
With greater caution the Spaniards now advanced, fortifying every
point they gained, and preparing a smooth and unobstructed road in
their rear. Their progress was exceedingly slow, and it was necessary
to adopt every possible precaution against an enemy who had manifested
such unexpected audacity and skill. As the Spaniards pushed forward,
the Mexicans, contesting every inch of the way, sullenly retired,
rearing barricade after barricade, and digging ditch behind ditch. But
artillery and European science were sure, in the end, to triumph.
Gradually the three divisions of the army forced their way across the
causeways, and entered the streets of the city. But here the defense
was, if possible, still more determined and sanguinary. Every street
was a guarded defile, where every obstacle was interposed which
Mexican military skill could devise. Every house was a fortress, from
whose battlemented roof and loop-holed windows a shower of stones,
arrows, and javelins fell upon the besiegers. As the Spaniards gained
ground, step by step, they leveled every house, and left entire ruin
and desolation behind them.
Day after day and week after week of this unparalleled siege lingered
along, every hour of which almost was a battle. The Mexicans fell in
incredible numbers. The horrors of pestilence and famine in the
pent-up city were soon added to the awful carnage and misery of war.
The brigantines swept the lake, cutting off nearly all supplies by
water for the valiant yet starving defenders, while the armies on the
causeways completely invested the city by land. Wan and haggard,
these unhappy victims of European aggression, even when all hope of
successful resistance had expired, heroically resolved to perish to
the last man, and to bury themselves beneath the ruins of their city.
Even the heart of Cortez was touched with the almost unearthly misery
he was inflicting upon an unoffending people. Again and again he sent
to Guatemozin demanding capitulation; but the proud Mexican monarch
rejected every overture with indignation and scorn. At length the
three divisions of the army, from their three different points of
attack, penetrated the city so far as to meet at the great public
square. The whole western portion of the city was now in the power of
the besiegers. The starving and dying defenders were shut up in a
small section of less than one fourth of the capital.
The Spaniards, now sure of success, pressed the siege with new ardor.
Their forces had met, and were combined in the great square. The
avenues connecting with the country were all open before them, so that
they could freely go and come. The lake was swept by the brigantines,
and, though a swift canoe could occasionally shoot along the shore,
the natives could not venture, in the face of such a force, to cross
the wide expanse of water. Affairs in the Mexican camp were now in the
very darkest state of misery and gloom.
The Mexicans regarded their monarch with superstitious veneration.
Upon his life all their destinies were suspended. His voice was
omnipotent with the people. After long deliberation, the desperate
resolve was adopted to send Guatemozin in a canoe across the broad
waters of the lake, which like an ocean swept around the city, to the
eastern shore. But Cortez, ever on the alert, anticipated this
movement, and ordered the brigantines to maintain the most vigilant
watch. The Mexicans, to deceive Cortez, sent an embassy to him to
confer upon terms of capitulation. They hoped thus to engage his
attention so that Guatemozin could escape unperceived, and, having
roused all the distant provinces, who would spring to arms at his
voice, could make an assault upon the rear of the foe.
Sandoval was now placed in command of the brigantines. He observed one
morning several canoes, crowded with people and plied by strong
rowers, shoot from the city, and direct their course across the lake
toward the eastern shore. The signal was instantly given for pursuit.
Unfortunately for the Mexicans, a favorable breeze sprang up, and one
of the brigantines soon drew near the largest boat. The cannon was
loaded, and heavily shotted and aimed. The gunner stood ready with
his lighted torch. In another moment the fatal discharge would have
strewed the lake with the fragments of the boat and the mangled bodies
of the slain. The Mexicans, regardless of their own lives, but
intensely anxious for the safety of their sovereign, dropped their
oars, and holding up their hands beseechingly, with cries and tears,
besought the Spaniards not to fire, exclaiming that the emperor was
there.
[Illustration: THE CAPTURE OF GUATEMOZIN.]
Eagerly the precious prize was seized. The heroic Guatemozin with
dignity surrendered himself into the hands of his victors, asking
no favor for himself, but simply requesting that no insult might be
offered to the empress or his children, who were in the boat with him.
With much exultation, the captive monarch, who was but twenty-four
years of age, was conveyed to the shore, and conducted into the
presence of Cortez. Guatemozin retained his fortitude unshaken.
Looking firmly upon his conqueror, he said, loftily,
"I have done what became a monarch. I have defended my people to the
last extremity. Nothing now remains for me but to die. Take this
dagger," he continued, placing his hand upon the one which Cortez wore
at his side, "and plunge it into my bosom, and thus end a life which
is henceforth useless."
Cortez well knew how to act the part of magnanimity. He was by
instinct a man of princely manners. Castilian grace and dignity ever
shone pre-eminent in his movements. He endeavored to console his
vanquished foe, whose bold defense commanded his respect.
"You are not my captive," said he, "but the prisoner of the greatest
monarch of Europe. From his great clemency, you may hope not only that
you may be restored to liberty, but that you may again be placed upon
the throne which you have so valiantly defended."
Guatemozin had no confidence in the word of Cortez. He knew well the
perfidy and the treachery which had marked every step of the invader's
march thus far. Proudly disdaining to manifest any concern for his own
fate, he plead only that Cortez would be merciful to his suffering
people. The conqueror promised compassion if Guatemozin would command
their instant surrender. This was promptly done, and the command was
instantly obeyed. The Mexicans lost all heart as soon as they learned
that their monarch was a prisoner. Cortez immediately took possession
of the small portion of the city which still remained undestroyed.
Thus terminated this memorable siege, one of the most remarkable which
has been recorded in the horrid annals of war. It had continued for
seventy-five days of almost incessant conflict. Almost every hour the
fiercest battle raged, as step by step the assailants, with the utmost
effort and difficulty, crowded back the valiant defenders. No less
than one hundred and fifty thousand Mexicans perished in this awful
and atrocious siege. The Spaniards, who wished to make their loss
appear as small as possible, admit that one hundred of the Spanish
soldiers fell, and many thousands of their allies.
Nearly the whole capital was now but a mass of blackened and
smouldering ruins. Its numerous squares, streets, and courts, but
recently so beautiful in their neat order, and their embellishments
of shrubbery and flowers, were now clotted with blood and covered
with the mangled bodies of the slain. The sight was hideous even to
those accustomed to all the revolting scenes which demoniac war ever
brings in its train.
The ground was covered with the dead. Among the putrefying heaps some
wretches were seen, wounded, bleeding, and crawling about in advanced
stages of those loathsome diseases produced by famine and misery.
The air was so polluted with the masses of the dead, decaying beneath
the rays of a tropical sun, that Cortez was compelled to withdraw his
army from the city that the dead might be removed and the streets
purified. For three days and three nights the causeways were thronged
by endless processions of the natives bearing the mouldering corpses
from the city. But the Spaniards were insensible to the woes which
they had inflicted upon others in their exultation over their great
victory. They had conquered the enemy. The capital was in their hands,
and they had now but to collect the boundless treasures which they
supposed were accumulated in the halls of Montezuma. It was on
Tuesday, the 13th of August, 1521, that the conflict ceased. The
mighty empire of Mexico on that day perished, and there remained in
its stead but a colony of Spain.
On the very day of the capture Cortez searched every spot where
treasure could be found, and having collected every thing of value,
returned to his camp, "giving thanks," he says, "to our Lord for so
signal a reward and so desirable a victory as he has granted us." He
continued for three or four days searching eagerly for spoils, amid
all the scenes of horror presented by the devastated city. All the
gold and silver which were found were melted down, and one fifth was
set apart for the King of Spain, while the rest was divided among the
Spaniards according to their rank and services.
"Among the spoils obtained in the city," says Cortez, in his dispatch
to Charles V., "were many shields of gold, plumes, panaches, and other
articles of so wonderful a character, that language will not convey an
idea of them, nor could a correct conception be formed of their rare
excellence without seeing them."
Still the booty which was gained fell far short of the expectation
of the victors. The heroic Guatemozin, when the hope of successful
defense had expired, determined that the conquerors should not
be enriched by the treasures of the empire. A vast amount was
consequently sent out in boats, and sunk to the bottom of the lake.
For a short time, however, exultation in view of their great
victory caused both the commander and his soldiers to forget their
disappointment; love of glory for a moment triumphed over avarice.
The native allies had been but tools in the hand of Cortez to
subjugate the Mexicans. The deluded natives had thus also subjugated
themselves. They were now powerless, and the bond-servants of the
Spaniards. Cortez allowed them to sack the few remaining dwellings
of the smouldering capital, and to load themselves with such articles
as might seem valuable to semi-barbarian eyes, but which would have
no cash value in Spain. With this share of the plunder they were
satisfied, and their camp resounded with revelry as those fierce
warriors, with songs and dances, exulted over the downfall of their
ancient foes. Cortez thanked them for their assistance, praised them
for their valor, and told them that they might now go home. They went
home, soon to find that it was to them home no more. The stranger
possessed their country, and they and their children were his slaves.
In the Spanish camp the victory was honored by a double celebration.
The first was purely worldly, and religion was held entirely in
abeyance. Bonfires blazed. Deep into the night the drunken revelry
resounded over the lake, until Father Olmedo remonstrated against such
godless wassail.
The next day was appropriated to the religious celebration. The whole
army was formed into a procession. The image of the peaceful Virgin
was decorated with tattered, blackened, and bloodstained banners,
beneath which the Christians had so successfully struggled against the
heathen. With hymns and chants, and in the repetition of creeds and
prayers, this piratic band of fanatics, crimson with the blood of
the innocent, moved to an appointed sanctuary, where Father Olmedo
preached an impressive sermon, and solemnized the ordinance of the
mass. The sacrament was administered to Cortez and his captains, and,
with the imposing accompaniments of martial music and pealing
artillery, thanksgivings were offered to God.
Bernal Diaz gives the following quaint and graphic account of these
festivities:
"After having returned thanks to God, Cortez determined to
celebrate his success by a festival in Cuyoacan. A vessel had
arrived at Villa Rica with a cargo of wine, and hogs had been
provided from the island of Cuba. To this entertainment he
invited all the officers of his army, and also the soldiers
of estimation. All things being prepared, on the day
appointed we waited on our general.
"When we came to sit down to dinner, there were not tables
for one half of us. This brought on great confusion among
the company, and, indeed, for many reasons, it would have
been much better let alone. The _plant of Noah_ was the
cause of many fooleries and worse things. It made some leap
over the tables who afterward could not go out at the doors,
and many rolled down the steps. The private soldiers swore
they would buy horses with golden harness. The cross-bowmen
would use none but golden arrows. All were to have their
fortunes made.
"When the tables were taken away, the soldiers danced in
their armor with the ladies, as many of them as there were,
but the disproportion in numbers was very great. This scene
was truly ridiculous. I will not mention the names; suffice
it to say, a fair field was open for satire. Father Olmedo
thought what he observed at the feast and in the dances too
scandalous, and complained to Sandoval. The latter directly
told Cortez how the reverend father was scolding and
grumbling.
"Cortez, discreet in all his actions, immediately went to
Father Olmedo, and, affecting to disapprove of the whole
affair, requested that he would order a solemn mass and
thanksgiving, and preach a sermon to the soldiers of the
moral and religious duties. Father Olmedo was highly pleased
at this, thinking it had originated spontaneously from
Cortez, and not knowing that the hint had been given him
by Sandoval. Accordingly, the crucifixes and the image of
Our Lady were borne in solemn procession, with drums and
standards. The Litany was sung during the ceremony. Father
Olmedo preached and administered the sacrament, and we
returned thanks to God for our victory."
But now came the hour for discontent and murmuring. The excitement was
over, the din of arms was hushed, the beautiful city was entirely
destroyed, and two hundred thousand of the wretched inhabitants, whose
only crime against the Spaniards was that they defended their wives,
their children, and their homes, were festering in the grave. In
counting up their gains, these guilty men found that the whole sum
amounted to but about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Their
grievous disappointment vented itself in loud complainings, and was
soon turned into rage. They accused Guatemozin of having secreted the
treasure which had been hoarded up, and demanded that he should be put
to the torture to compel him to disclose the place of concealment.
Cortez, for a time, firmly refused to yield to this atrocious demand;
but the clamor of the disaffected grew louder and louder, until at
last Cortez was accused of being in agreement with Guatemozin, that he
might appropriate to his own use the secreted treasure.
Thus goaded, Cortez infamously consented that the unhappy captive
monarch should be put to the torture. The cacique of Tacuba, the
companion of Guatemozin, and his highest officer, was put to the
torture with him. A hot fire was kindled, and the feet of the wretched
victims, drenched in oil, were exposed to the burning coals.
Guatemozin had nothing to reveal. He could merely assert that the
treasures of the city were thrown into the lake. With extraordinary
fortitude he endured the agony, adding additional lustre to a name
already ennobled by the heroism with which he conducted the defense.
His companion died upon this bed of agony. In the extremity of his
torment, he turned an imploring eye toward the king. Guatemozin, it is
recorded, observing his look, replied, "Am I, then, reposing upon a
bed of flowers?" Cortez, who had reluctantly yielded to this atrocity,
at last interposed, and rescued the imperial sufferer. Cortez has much
to answer for before the bar of this world's judgment. For many of
his criminal acts some apology may be framed, but for the torture of
Guatemozin he stands condemned without excuse. No voice will plead his
cause. Cortez seemed to be fully aware that it was not a creditable
story for him to tell, and in his dispatches to the King of Spain he
made no allusion to the event.
It was a grievous disappointment to Cortez that so little treasure was
obtained, for his ambition was roused to send immense sums to the
Spanish court, that he might purchase high favor with his monarch by
thus proving the wealth and grandeur of the kingdom he had subjugated.
Cortez himself accompanied a party of practiced divers upon the lake,
and long and anxiously conducted the search; but the divers invariably
returned from the oozy bottom of the lake empty-handed: no treasure
could be found.
It has before been mentioned that the empire of Mexico consisted of a
conglomeration of once independent nations, which had been in various
ways annexed to the mammoth empire. It was somewhat like Austria,
having many Hungarys and Polands ripe for revolt. Cortez had adroitly
availed himself of these disaffections in accomplishing his wonderful
conquest. The Zempoallans and Tlascalans augmented his ranks with
fierce warriors nearly two hundred thousand in number. There were many
provinces of the empire on the north and the west which as yet no
European foot had ever entered. It was a question whether these remote
provinces would band together in hostility to the Spaniards, and thus
indefinitely protract the conflict, or whether, seeing the capital in
ruins and their monarch a captive, they would admit the hopelessness
of the strife, and yield to their conquerors.
Far and wide, through the valleys and over the mountains, the tidings
of the annihilation of the Mexican army was borne by the Indian
runners, awakening consternation every where in view of the resistless
power of the victors. Some, however, who were restive under the
Mexican yoke, were not unwilling to exchange masters. To the
great relief and joy of Cortez, day after day, envoys flocked
to his presence from powerful nations to proffer allegiance and
implore clemency. Cortez received them all with great courtesy
and hospitality, and took not a little pleasure in witnessing the
amazement with which these embassadors contemplated the power, to
them supernatural, which the Spaniards wielded. The brigantines
spread their sails and plowed their way, with speed which no canoe
could equal, over the foamy waters of the lake. The cavalry wheeled
and charged in all those prompt and orderly evolutions to which
the war-horse can be trained. And when the heavy artillery uttered
its roar, and shivered the distant rock with its thunder-bolt, the
envoys, amazed, bewildered, and appalled, were prepared to make any
concessions rather than incur the displeasure of such fearful foes.
The power of Cortez was now unquestioned, and Mexico was in the dust
before him. Still, the conqueror was in great perplexity respecting
the light in which his conduct was viewed in the court of his stern
monarch, Charles V. While engaged in the slaughter of two or three
hundred thousand people, while overrunning nations and establishing
new governments, he was acting not only without authority from his
government, but in direct opposition to its commands. Velasquez, the
governor of Cuba, was invested with authority by the voice of the
emperor, and yet Cortez had set his power at defiance. By the
command of the emperor, expeditions had been fitted out to prosecute
discoveries and to acquire dominion in Mexico, and yet Cortez had
audaciously made war upon these bands marching under the banner of
Spain. He had slain many, taken the rest prisoners, and constrained
them, by bribes and menaces, to join his marauding army. Cortez well
knew that this was treason, and that he was liable to answer for it
with his life. He well knew that Velasquez, mortified and exasperated,
had made bitter complaints against him at court, and that there was
no one there effectually to plead his cause.
Under these circumstances, Cortez awaited with much solicitude the
next arrival from Spain. In the mean time, he made every possible
effort to transmit gold and silver to the Spanish monarch, and with
untiring zeal urged his discoveries, that he might ennoble himself and
win the gratitude of his sovereign by adding to the wealth, the
dominion, and the fame of his native kingdom. Wishing to assume that
he was acting humbly as the servant of his king, he sent him, in the
form of dispatches, a minute account of all his movements.
As a specimen of these dispatches, the reader will peruse with
interest the following account of the last two days of the siege. This
dispatch is dated from the _City of Cuyoacan_ (_Mexico_), _May 15th,
1522_. This city was on the main land, at the end of one of the
causeways which led to the island capital. The letter is thus humbly
addressed:
"Most high and potent Prince; most catholic and invincible
Emperor, King, and Lord."
This narrative of the siege is so minute as to occupy one hundred and
fifty closely-printed octavo pages, and gives a circumstantial account
of the proceedings of each day. The closing paragraphs only are here
extracted. The narrative which Cortez gives sometimes differs, in
unimportant particulars, from that recorded by other historians of
the campaign, who were eyewitnesses of the scenes which they
described.
"As soon as it was day, I caused our whole force to be in
readiness, and the heavy guns to be brought out. The day
before, I had ordered Pedro de Alvarado to wait for me in
the square of the market-place, and not to attack the enemy
until I arrived. Being all assembled, and the brigantines
drawn up ready for action on the right of the houses
situated on the water, where the enemy were stationed, I
directed that when they heard the discharge of a musket, the
land force should enter the small part of the city that
remained to be taken, and drive the enemy toward the water,
where the brigantines lay. I enjoined much upon them to look
for Guatemozin, and endeavor to take him alive, as in that
case the war would cease. I then ascended a terrace, and,
before the combat began, addressed some of the nobles whom I
knew, asking them for what reason their sovereign refused to
come to me when they were reduced to such extremities,
adding that there was no good cause why they should all
perish, and that they should go and call him, and have no
fears.
"Two of the principal nobles then went to call the emperor.
After a short time they returned, accompanied by one of the
most considerable of their personages, Ciquacoacin, a
captain and governor over them all, by whose counsels the
whole affairs of the war were conducted. I received him with
great kindness, that he might feel perfectly secure and free
from apprehensions. At last he said that 'the emperor would
by no means come into my presence, preferring rather to die;
that his determination grieved him much, but that I must do
whatever I desired.' When I saw that this was his settled
purpose, I told the noble messenger to return to his
friends, and prepare for the renewal of the war, which I was
resolved to continue until their destruction was complete.
So he departed.
"More than five hours had been spent in these conferences,
during which time many of the inhabitants were crowded
together upon piles of the dead; some were on the water, and
others were seen swimming about or drowning in the part of
the lake where the canoes were lying, which was of
considerable extent. Indeed, so excessive were the
sufferings of the people, that no one could imagine how they
were able to sustain them; and an immense multitude of men,
women, and children were compelled to seek refuge with us,
many of whom, in their eagerness to reach us, threw
themselves into the water, and were drowned among the mass
of dead bodies. It appeared that the number of persons who
had perished, either from drinking salt water, from famine
or pestilence, amounted altogether to more than fifty
thousand souls.
"In order to conceal their necessitous condition from our
knowledge, the bodies of the dead were not thrown into the
water, lest the brigantines should come in contact with
them, nor were they taken away from the places where they
had died, lest we should see them about the city; but in
those streets where they had perished we found heaps of dead
bodies so frequent, that a person passing could not avoid
stepping upon them; and when the people of the city flocked
toward us, I caused Spaniards to be stationed through all
the streets to prevent our allies from destroying the
wretched persons who came out in such multitudes. I also
charged the captains of our allies to forbid, by all means
in their power, the slaughter of these fugitives; yet all my
precautions were insufficient to prevent it, and that day
more than fifteen thousand lost their lives. At the same
time, the better classes and the warriors of the city were
pent up within narrow limits, confined to a few terraces and
houses, or sought refuge on the water; but no concealment
prevented our seeing their miserable condition and weakness
with sufficient clearness.
"As the evening approached and no sign of their surrender
appeared, I ordered the two pieces of ordnance to be leveled
toward the enemy, to try their effect in causing them to
yield; but they suffered greater injury when full license
was given to the allies to attack them than from the cannon,
although the latter did them some mischief. As this was of
little avail, I ordered the musketry to be fired. When a
certain angular space, where they were crowded together, was
gained, and some of the people thrown into the water, those
that remained there yielded themselves prisoners without a
struggle.
"In the mean time, the brigantines suddenly entered that
part of the lake, and broke through the midst of the fleet
of canoes, the warriors who were in them not daring to make
any resistance. It pleased God that the captain of a
brigantine, named Garci Holguin, came up behind a canoe in
which there seemed to be persons of distinction; and when
the archers, who were stationed in the bow of the
brigantine, took aim at those in the canoe, they made a
signal that the emperor was there, that the men might not
discharge their arrows. Instantly our people leaped into the
canoe, and seized in it Guatemozin and the Lord of Tacuba,
together with other distinguished persons who accompanied
the emperor.
"Immediately after this occurrence, Garci Holguin, the
captain, delivered to me, on a terrace adjoining the lake,
where I was standing, Guatemozin, with other noble
prisoners. As I, without showing any asperity of manner,
bade him sit down, he came up to me and said, in his own
tongue,
"'That he had done all that was incumbent on him in defense
of himself and his people, until he was reduced to his
present condition; that now I might do with him as I
pleased.' He then laid his hand on a poniard that I wore,
telling me to strike him to the heart.
"I spoke encouragingly to him, and bade him have no fears.
Thus, the emperor being taken a prisoner, the war ceased at
this point, which it pleased God our Lord to bring to a
conclusion on Tuesday, St. Hippolytus's day, the thirteenth
of August, 1521; so that from the day in which the city was
first invested, the 3d of May in that year, until it was
taken, seventy-five days had elapsed, during which time your
majesty will see what labors, dangers, and calamities your
subjects endured, and their deeds afford the best evidence
how much they exposed their lives."
For three hundred years, while Mexico remained under Spanish rule, the
anniversary of this victory was regularly celebrated with all the
accompaniments of national rejoicing.