_How the captain Sandoval marches to Chalco and Tlalmanalco, and
what he did there._
Sandoval set out with his troops on the 12th of March, 1521. The first
night he encamped at Chalco, and arrived the next morning early before
Tlalmanalco, where the caziques and inhabitants gave him a most hearty
welcome, and provided abundance of food for his troops; but the caziques
informed him he had still to march further on to the large township of
Huaxtepec, where a large body of Mexican troops was stationed, who would
be joined by all the warriors of the province.
Sandoval, on receiving this information, concluded that there was no
time to be lost, and immediately marched towards Chimalhuacan, which was
subject to Chalco, where he quartered his troops for the night. The
inhabitants of Chalco had sent out spies in every direction, and learnt
that the enemy was not far off, but lay in wait for the Spaniards in the
thickets and hollows of the mountains. Sandoval, who was an officer of
great determination and foresight, ordered his march as follows: the
musketeers and crossbow-men went in advance, the cavalry were to follow
three and three together, and when the former had discharged their
pieces, the horse were to charge the enemy's line at full gallop, and to
direct the point of their lances at the face, and continue the attack
until the enemy was put to flight. The infantry were to keep their ranks
firmly closed, and not to rush in upon the enemy until a signal for that
purpose was given. This order of attack Sandoval deemed necessary, as
the enemy's numbers were very great, and the nature of the ground
unfavorable for his manoeuvres; besides that, it was impossible to
discover whether the Mexicans had not dug pits or laid other snares to
entrap the Spaniards; so that it was quite necessary his small army
should keep close together in a body.
After Sandoval had marched a little further on he came up with the
Mexicans, who were advancing towards him in three distinct bodies, with
fearful yells and the horrible din of drums and shell trumpets, and
instantly fell upon our troops like so many furious lions. As soon as
Sandoval observed that the enemy intended to fall upon him in three
distinct bodies, he likewise changed his order of attack, and commanded
the cavalry to charge the foe without delay, and not wait for the rest
of the troops. He then placed himself at their head, encouraged his men
and rushed forward to the attack, under the cry of--"Santiago!" The
powerful shock which the enemy thus sustained certainly caused some of
them to recoil, but they immediately closed again and boldly advanced
against our horse, being greatly assisted by the unevenness of the
ground and a deep break, where it was difficult for our horse to
manoeuvre. Sandoval, perceiving the enemy's advantage, ordered his foot
to close their ranks again, placed the crossbow-men and musketeers in
front, and those who were armed with swords and shields on the flanks.
In this order they were again to advance to the attack as soon as they
heard a shot from the other side of the break, which would be a signal
to them that the cavalry had charged and driven the foe back on to the
level ground. Our allies were likewise ordered to follow the example of
the Spanish foot; this was accordingly done and the object accomplished.
In this attack the enemy had observed better order in their mode of
fighting, and our troops had many wounded. They certainly retreated, but
only to make a stand at another and more favorable position. Sandoval,
with the horse, followed close at their heels, but merely took three or
four prisoners, and lost Gonzalo Dominiguez, whose horse unfortunately
stumbled and fell with its whole weight upon him, and he expired a few
days after of the consequences.
I particularly mention the loss of Dominiguez, because he was one of the
most courageous men of our troops, and one of the best cavalry officers;
and considered equally brave in battle as Oli and Sandoval. Every one of
us deeply lamented the death of this excellent officer. Sandoval now
pursued the enemy with the whole of his troops up to the town of
Huaxtepec, where his further progress was arrested by an army of above
15,000 Mexicans, who completely hemmed him in on all sides. Numbers of
his men were wounded and five horses killed; but as the ground was level
here, he succeeded by a desperate charge of his cavalry to break the
enemy's line, and drove them back into the town. Here the Mexicans were
again about to make a stand behind some entrenchments which they had
thrown up; but the Spaniards and their allies allowed them no time to
rally, and our horse was so close at their heels, that at last they
shut themselves up in a strong part of the town where it was impossible
to get at them.
Sandoval concluded the enemy would remain quiet for the remainder of the
day: he therefore allowed his men to take a little rest, ordered the
wounded to be attended to, and provisions to be distributed, of which a
considerable booty had been made. Just as his men were in the midst of
their repast, two of the cavalry and other of the outposts came up in
all haste, crying out, "To arms! to arms! to arms! the Mexicans are
advancing in great numbers!" But as it was always the custom of our men
to have their weapons ready at hand, they instantly arranged themselves
in order of battle, and marched to a large open space, where the
conflict was renewed. Here again the Mexicans courageously maintained
their position for a short time behind some entrenchments which had been
thrown up, and wounded several of our men; but Sandoval attacked them so
vigorously with his cavalry, the musketeers, crossbow-men, and remaining
foot, that the enemy was completely beat out of the town, and offered no
further resistance that day.
Sandoval being now sure that he had gained a complete victory, offered
up thanks to the Almighty, and recreated himself in a garden of
extraordinary beauty, belonging to this township, in which there were
many spacious buildings, and altogether so many remarkable objects to be
seen, as were nowhere else to be found in New Spain. The whole of the
grounds were indeed laid out in a style worthy of a great monarch, and
it required some considerable time to visit all parts of it, as it was
above a mile long.
I was not present myself in this expedition, and did not see this garden
until twenty days after, when I accompanied Cortes on his excursion
through the different large townships which surround the lake. I had
been laid up with a severe wound in the throat, which I received from a
lance, in the battle of Iztapalapan, and had nearly cost me my life. The
scar is still visible.
But the reader will have already discovered, from my mode of describing,
that I was not present in this expedition; as I have never used the
expression--we did this, we marched thither; but always put--so and so
was done, our troops marched to this place, and to that place, and so
on. Nevertheless, everything took place exactly as I have related; for
at head-quarters the minutiae of every engagement soon become known, and
one cannot add to or suppress any facts.
When Sandoval on the following day found that the enemy had entirely
quitted the neighbourhood, he despatched five of the inhabitants, whom
he had taken prisoners in the late battles, two of whom were chiefs, to
the caziques of this township, desiring them to send him messengers of
peace, and assured them a free pardon for all the past. They, however,
sent word that they durst not comply with this summons, from fear of the
Mexicans. Offers of a similar nature, which Sandoval made to another
large township, met with no better success. This latter place was called
Acapalista,[9] and lay about eight miles from Huaxtepec. It was in vain
that Sandoval desired them to consider the difference between war and
peace, and to ask themselves what benefit their neighbours of Huaxtepec
had derived from all the Mexican troops they had harboured. He desired
them to drive away the Mexican garrison, or he would himself march
against them, and treat them as enemies. Their reply to this was as
follows: "He might come when he liked: they had made up their minds to
make a sumptuous repast off their bodies, and to offer up savoury
sacrifices to their gods."
The caziques of Chalco, who were with Sandoval being aware that there
was a much stronger body of Mexicans lying in Acapalista than had yet
appeared in the field of battle, and that they merely awaited a
favorable opportunity to renew the attack upon their town, urgently
requested him to march thither, and drive the enemy out of that town.
Sandoval at first refused to comply with their request, considering that
he himself, with many of his troops, and most of the horses, were
wounded, and that he did not wish to advance farther than Cortes had
ordered him; besides which, several cavaliers of Narvaez's troops urged
him to return to Tezcuco, and represented to him that Acapalista was a
town of great strength, where they might easily meet with a total
overthrow. But the captain Luis Marin strongly advised Sandoval to the
contrary, and thought he was not justified in returning before the work
was half finished, as the enemy would certainly renew the attack upon
Chalco, and thereby defeat the object of the expedition altogether. By
these arguments Sandoval was convinced of the necessity of marching
against this town, which lay only eight miles farther on, and he set out
for that place.
When he had arrived in the neighbourhood of the town, a large body of
Mexicans came advancing towards him, and attacked him so vigorously with
their lances, slings, and arrows, that three horses and several of his
men were instantly wounded, nor was Sandoval able to get at the enemy,
who immediately retreated to the rocks and the fortified heights above,
making a terrific noise with their drums, shell trumpets, and hideous
yells.
Sandoval now despatched a few horse in advance, to see whether the
Mexicans, in case he should attack the town itself, could march to its
assistance, and halted, with the rest of his troops, in the plain. As
the caziques of Chalco and the other Indian allies showed no desire to
come to an engagement with the enemy, Sandoval determined to put them to
the proof, and cried out to them: "Well, why do you stand looking idly
on there? Why don't you advance to the attack? Are we not come here to
protect you?" But they replied, they durst not attack this strong place,
and considered that the teules had come to do the hardest part of the
work for them.
Sandoval was soon convinced that there was not much dependence to be
placed in these Indians, and he therefore stormed the fortified heights
with the whole of his Spanish troops. Although numbers of his men were
wounded, and he himself severely so on the head, he continued to push
forward, and forced his way into the town, where considerable havoc was
made among the enemy's ranks, which was increased by the Chalcans and
Tlascallans, who now joined in the conflict with great intrepidity. Our
troops, indeed, gladly left the last part of the work to them, as soon
as the enemy was put to flight, for they felt compassion for the
inhabitants, and satisfied themselves by capturing some few pretty
females and other objects of value. The Spaniards even checked our
allies in their horrid cruelties, and rescued many a man and woman from
their grasp who otherwise would have been sacrificed to the idols.
The Mexicans had fled to some steep rocks beyond the town; and, as
numbers of them were wounded, they washed off the blood from their
bodies in a small brook, so that the very water was tinctured by it,
though for no longer a space of time than would take to repeat an Ave
Maria. Yet Gomara relates that the water was so completely mixed with
blood that our men would not quench their thirst at it.[10] But it was
not necessary for them to go to this brook for that purpose, as in the
town itself there were numbers of wells full of the purest water. After
this engagement, Sandoval marched back to Tezcuco, taking with him great
numbers of prisoners, among whom were many beautiful Indian females.
When Quauhtemoctzin received intelligence of this defeat of his troops,
he was excessively grieved; and the more so as the people of Chalco were
his subjects, and had now, for the third time, taken up arms against
him. He was, however, determined to be revenged; and while Sandoval was
marching back to Tezcuco, he assembled an army of upwards of 20,000 men,
and despatched these in 2000 canoes to Chalco. Here they arrived so
suddenly, that Sandoval had scarcely entered Tezcuco, and had but just
seen Cortes, when messengers arrived in canoes from Chalco to solicit
his immediate return. Cortes, who was speaking with Sandoval when this
message arrived, was so enraged that he would not hear his report to the
end; accused him of having neglected his duty, and commanded him to
return immediately to Chalco with those of his men who were not wounded.
Sandoval's feelings were greatly hurt at Cortes' reproaches; but what
grieved him more than all was, that he would not even listen to him. He,
however, instantly returned to Chalco, which he and his men reached
excessively fatigued by the weight of their arms and the great distance
they had marched. The Chalcans, in the meantime, had begged assistance
from their neighbours the Huexotzincans and Tlascallans on the first
information they received that the Mexicans intended to invade their
territory again; and these two powers had made such haste that they
arrived that very night, with an army of above 20,000 men. This inspired
the Chalcans with fresh courage; they attacked the Mexicans in the open
field, fought with uncommon bravery, and of the enemy's chief officers
alone they killed and captured as many as fifteen, without mentioning
the numbers they made prisoners. This defeat was most humbling to the
Mexicans, and they were much more ashamed of it than if they had
suffered it from us.
When Sandoval arrived in Chalco, he found the enemy was already
vanquished; and, as there was no fear of the Mexicans returning, he
marched back to Tezcuco, taking the prisoners along with him, and now
Cortes appeared highly delighted. Sandoval, however, had not forgotten
the harsh treatment he had so recently suffered from him, and
peremptorily refused, in his anger, to call upon him, although Cortes
had sent an invitation to him, and assured him that he had now been
informed of the true state of the case, and was convinced that no blame
could be attached to him. They subsequently became reconciled, and
Cortes strove, by every means in his power, to regain Sandoval's
friendship.