WAR WITH THE SURROUNDING TRIBES--SUCCESSES OF THE SPANIARDS--DEATH
OF MAXIXCA--ARRIVAL OF REINFORCEMENTS--RETURN IN TRIUMPH TO
TLASCALA
1520
The Spanish commander, reassured by the result of the deliberations in
the Tlascalan senate, now resolved on active operations, as the best
means of dissipating the spirit of faction and discontent inevitably
fostered by a life of idleness. He proposed to exercise his troops, at
first, against some of the neighboring tribes who had laid violent hands
on such of the Spaniards as, confiding in their friendly spirit, had
passed through their territories. Among these were the Tepeacans, a
people often engaged in hostility with the Tlascalans, and who, as
mentioned in a preceding chapter, had lately massacred twelve Spaniards
in their march to the capital. An expedition against them would receive
the ready support of his allies, and would assert the dignity of the
Spanish name, much dimmed in the estimation of the natives by the late
disasters.
The Tepeacans were a powerful tribe of the same primitive stock as the
Aztecs, to whom they acknowledged allegiance. They had transferred this
to the Spaniards, on their first march into the country, intimidated by
the bloody defeats of their Tlascalan neighbors. But, since the troubles
in the capital, they had again submitted to the Aztec sceptre. Their
capital, now a petty village, was a flourishing city at the time of the
Conquest, situated in the fruitful plains that stretch far away towards
the base of Orizaba.[247] The province contained, moreover, several
towns of considerable size, filled with a bold and warlike population.
As these Indians had once acknowledged the authority of Castile, Cortés
and his officers regarded their present conduct in the light of
rebellion, and, in a council of war, it was decided that those engaged
in the late massacre had fairly incurred the doom of slavery.[248]
Before proceeding against them, however, the general sent a summons
requiring their submission, and offering full pardon for the past, but,
in case of refusal, menacing them with the severest retribution. To this
the Indians, now in arms, returned a contemptuous answer, challenging
the Spaniards to meet them in fight, as they were in want of victims for
their sacrifices.
Cortés, without further delay, put himself at the head of his small
corps of Spaniards and a large reinforcement of Tlascalan warriors. They
were led by the younger Xicotencatl, who now appeared to bury his
recent animosity, and desirous to take a lesson in war under the chief
who had so often foiled him in the field.[249]
The Tepeacans received their enemy on their borders. A bloody battle
followed, in which the Spanish horse were somewhat embarrassed by the
tall maize that covered part of the plain. They were successful in the
end, and the Tepeacans, after holding their ground like good warriors,
were at length routed with great slaughter. A second engagement, which
took place a few days after, was followed by like decisive results; and
the victorious Spaniards with their allies, marching straightway on the
city of Tepeaca, entered it in triumph.[250] No further resistance was
attempted by the enemy, and the whole province, to avoid further
calamities, eagerly tendered its submission. Cortés, however, inflicted
the meditated chastisement on the places implicated in the massacre. The
inhabitants were branded with a hot iron as slaves, and, after the royal
fifth had been reserved, were distributed between his own men and the
allies.[251] The Spaniards were familiar with the system of
_repartimientos_ established in the islands; but this was the first
example of slavery in New Spain.{*} It was justified, in the opinion of
the general and his military casuists, by the aggravated offences of the
party. The sentence, however, was not countenanced by the crown,[252]
which, as the colonial legislation abundantly shows, was ever at issue
with the craving and mercenary spirit of the colonist.
{*} [It may have been the first instance of natives being reduced to
slavery by the Spaniards, but female slaves at least had been given to
them on several previous occasions by the Mexican chiefs. The present
case has also no connection with the system of _repartimientos_, by
which, after the conquest was effected, the soil and its inhabitants
were divided among the new possessors. In the case of the Tepeacans, no
attempt was made to enslave the adult males, whose services were not
needed, and who would have brought only embarrassment to their captors.
See Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 135.--K.]]
Satisfied with this display of his vengeance, Cortés now established his
headquarters at Tepeaca, which, situated in a cultivated country,
afforded easy means for maintaining an army, while its position on the
Mexican frontier made it a good _point d’appui_ for future operations.
The Aztec government, since it had learned the issue of its negotiations
at Tlascala, had been diligent in fortifying its frontier in that
quarter. The garrisons usually maintained there were strengthened, and
large bodies of men were marched in the same direction, with orders to
occupy the strong positions on the borders. The conduct of these troops
was in their usual style of arrogance and extortion, and greatly
disgusted the inhabitants of the country.
Among the places thus garrisoned by the Aztecs was Quauhquechollan,[253]
a city containing thirty thousand inhabitants, according to the
historians, and lying to the southwest twelve leagues or more from the
Spanish quarters. It stood at the extremity of a deep valley, resting
against a bold range of hills, or rather mountains, and flanked by two
rivers with exceedingly high and precipitous banks. The only avenue by
which the town could be easily approached was protected by a stone wall
more than twenty feet high and of great thickness.[254] Into this place,
thus strongly defended by art as well as by nature, the Aztec emperor
had thrown a garrison of several thousand warriors, while a much more
formidable force occupied the heights commanding the city.
The cacique of this strong post, impatient of the Mexican yoke, sent to
Cortés, inviting him to march to his relief, and promising a
co-operation of the citizens in an assault on the Aztec quarters. The
general eagerly embraced the proposal, and detached Cristóval de Olid,
with two hundred Spaniards and a strong body of Tlascalans, to support
the friendly cacique.[255] On the way, Olid was joined by many
volunteers from the Indian city and from the neighboring capital of
Cholula, all equally pressing their services. The number and eagerness
of these auxiliaries excited suspicions in the bosom of the cavalier.
They were strengthened by the surmises of the soldiers of Narvaez, whose
imaginations were still haunted, it seems, by the horrors of the _noche
triste_, and who saw in the friendly alacrity of their new allies
evidence of an insidious understanding with the Aztecs. Olid, catching
this distrust, made a countermarch on Cholula, where he seized the
suspected chiefs, who had been most forward in offering their services,
and sent them under a strong guard to Cortés.
The general, after a careful examination, was satisfied of the integrity
of the suspected parties. He, expressing his deep regret at the
treatment they had received, made them such amends as he could by
liberal presents, and, as he now saw the impropriety of committing an
affair of such importance to other hands, put himself at the head of his
remaining force and effected a junction with his officer in Cholula. He
had arranged with the cacique of the city against which he was marching,
that on the appearance of the Spaniards the inhabitants should rise on
the garrison. Everything succeeded as he had planned. No sooner had the
Christian battalions defiled on the plain before the town, than the
inhabitants attacked the garrison with the utmost fury. The latter,
abandoning the outer defences of the place, retreated to their own
quarters in the principal _teocalli_, where they maintained a hard
struggle with their adversaries. In the heat of it, Cortes, at the head
of his little body of horse, rode into the place, and directed the
assault in person. The Aztecs made a fierce defence. But, fresh troops
constantly arriving to support the assailants, the works were stormed,
and every one of the garrison was put to the sword.[256]
The Mexican forces, meanwhile, stationed on the neighboring eminences,
had marched down to the support of their countrymen in the town, and
formed in order of battle in the suburbs, where they were encountered by
the Tlascalan levies. “They mustered,” says Cortés, speaking of the
enemy, “at least thirty thousand men; and it was a brave sight for the
eye to look on,--such a beautiful array of warriors glistening with gold
and jewels and variegated feather-work.”[257] The action was well
contested between the two Indian armies. The suburbs were set on fire,
and, in the midst of the flames, Cortés and his squadrons, rushing on
the enemy, at length broke their array, and compelled them to fall back
in disorder into the narrow gorge of the mountain, from which they had
lately descended. The pass was rough and precipitous. Spaniards and
Tlascalans followed close in the rear, and the light troops, scaling the
high wall of the valley, poured down on the enemy’s flanks. The heat was
intense, and both parties were so much exhausted by their efforts that
it was with difficulty, says the chronicler, that the one could pursue,
or the other fly.[258] They were not too weary, however, to slay. The
Mexicans were routed with terrible slaughter. They found no pity from
their Indian foes, who had a long account of injuries to settle with
them. Some few sought refuge by flying higher up into the fastnesses of
the sierra. They were followed by their indefatigable enemy, until, on
the bald summit of the ridge, they reached the Mexican encampment. It
covered a wide tract of ground. Various utensils, ornamented dresses,
and articles of luxury, were scattered round, and the number of slaves
in attendance showed the barbaric pomp with which the nobles of Mexico
went to their campaigns.[259] It was a rich booty for the victors, who
spread over the deserted camp, and loaded themselves with the spoil,
until the gathering darkness warned them to descend.[260]
Cortés followed up the blow by assaulting the strong town of Itzocan,
held also by a Mexican garrison, and situated in the depths of a green
valley watered by artificial canals and smiling in all the rich
abundance of this fruitful region of the plateau.[261] The place, though
stoutly defended, was stormed and carried; the Aztecs were driven across
a river which ran below the town, and, although the light bridges that
traversed it were broken down in the flight, whether by design or
accident, the Spaniards, fording and swimming the stream as they could,
found their way to the opposite bank, following up the chase with the
eagerness of bloodhounds. Here, too, the booty was great; and the Indian
auxiliaries flocked by thousands to the banners of the chief who so
surely led them on to victory and plunder.[262]
Soon afterwards, Cortés returned to his headquarters at Tepeaca. Thence
he detached his officers on expeditions which were usually successful.
Sandoval, in particular, marched against a large body of the enemy lying
between the camp and Vera Cruz, defeated them in two decisive battles,
and thus restored the communications with the port.
The result of these operations was the reduction of that populous and
cultivated territory which lies between the great _volcan_, on the west,
and the mighty skirts of Orizaba, on the east. Many places, also, in the
neighboring province of Mixtecapan acknowledged the authority of the
Spaniards, and others from the remote region of Oaxaca sent to claim
their protection. The conduct of Cortés towards his allies had gained
him great credit for disinterestedness and equity. The Indian cities in
the adjacent territory appealed to him, as their umpire, in their
differences with one another, and cases of disputed succession in their
governments were referred to his arbitration. By his discreet and
moderate policy he insensibly acquired an ascendency over their counsels
which had been denied to the ferocious Aztec. His authority extended
wider and wider every day; and a new empire grew up in the very heart of
the land, forming a counterpoise to the colossal power which had so long
overshadowed it.[263]
Cortés now felt himself strong enough to put in execution the plans for
recovering the capital, over which he had been brooding ever since the
hour of his expulsion. He had greatly undervalued the resources of the
Aztec monarchy. He was now aware, from bitter experience, that, to
vanquish it, his own forces, and all he could hope to muster, would be
incompetent, without a very extensive support from the Indians
themselves. A large army would, moreover, require large supplies for its
maintenance, and these could not be regularly obtained, during a
protracted siege, without the friendly co-operation of the natives. On
such support he might now safely calculate from Tlascala and the other
Indian territories, whose warriors were so eager to serve under his
banners. His past acquaintance with them had instructed him in their
national character and system of war; while the natives who had fought
under his command, if they had caught little of the Spanish tactics, had
learned to act in concert with the white men and to obey him implicitly
as their commander. This was a considerable improvement in such wild and
disorderly levies, and greatly augmented the strength derived from
numbers.
Experience showed that in a future conflict with the capital it would
not do to trust to the causeways, but that, to succeed, he must command
the lake. He proposed, therefore, to build a number of vessels like
those constructed under his orders in Montezuma’s time and afterwards
destroyed by the inhabitants. For this he had still the services of the
same experienced shipbuilder, Martin Lopez, who, as we have seen, had
fortunately escaped the slaughter of the “Melancholy Night.” Cortés now
sent this man to Tlascala, with orders to build thirteen brigantines,
which might be taken to pieces and carried on the shoulders of the
Indians to be launched on the waters of Lake Tezcuco. The sails,
rigging, and iron-work were to be brought from Vera Cruz, where they had
been stored since their removal from the dismantled ships. It was a bold
conception, that of constructing a fleet to be transported across forest
and mountain before it was launched on its destined waters! But it
suited the daring genius of Cortés, who, with the co-operation of his
stanch Tlascalan confederates, did not doubt his ability to carry it
into execution.
It was with no little regret that the general learned at this time the
death of his good friend Maxixca, the old lord of Tlascala, who had
stood by him so steadily in the hour of adversity. He had fallen a
victim to that terrible epidemic, the smallpox, which was now sweeping
over the land like fire over the prairies, smiting down prince and
peasant, and adding another to the long train of woes that followed the
march of the white men. It was imported into the country, it is said, by
a negro slave in the fleet of Narvaez.[264] It first broke out in
Cempoalla. The poor natives, ignorant of the best mode of treating the
loathsome disorder, sought relief in their usual practice of bathing in
cold water, which greatly aggravated their trouble. From Cempoalla it
spread rapidly over the neighboring country, and, penetrating through
Tlascala, reached the Aztec capital, where Montezuma’s successor,
Cuitlahua, fell one of its first victims. Thence it swept down towards
the borders of the Pacific, leaving its path strewn with the dead bodies
of the natives, who, in the strong language of a contemporary, perished
in heaps like cattle stricken with the murrain.[265] It does not seem to
have been fatal to the Spaniards, many of whom, probably, had already
had the disorder, and who were, at all events, acquainted with the
proper method of treating it.
The death of Maxixca was deeply regretted by the troops, who lost in him
a true and most efficient ally. With his last breath he commended them
to his son and successor, as the great beings whose coming into the
country had been so long predicted by the oracles.[266] He expressed a
desire to die in the profession of the Christian faith. Cortés no sooner
learned his condition than he despatched Father Olmedo to Tlascala. The
friar found that Maxixca had already caused a crucifix to be placed
before his sick couch, as the object of his adoration. After
explaining, as intelligibly as he could, the truths of revelation, he
baptized the dying chieftain; and the Spaniards had the satisfaction to
believe that the soul of their benefactor was exempted from the doom of
eternal perdition that hung over the unfortunate Indian who perished in
his unbelief.[267]
Their late brilliant successes seem to have reconciled most of the
disaffected soldiers to the prosecution of the war. There were still a
few among them, the secretary Duero, Bermudez the treasurer, and others
high in office, or wealthy hidalgos, who looked with disgust on another
campaign, and now loudly reiterated their demand of a free passage to
Cuba. To this Cortés, satisfied with the support on which he could
safely count, made no further objection. Having once given his consent,
he did all in his power to facilitate their departure and provide for
their comfort. He ordered the best ship at Vera Cruz to be placed at
their disposal, to be well supplied with provisions and everything
necessary for the voyage, and sent Alvarado to the coast to superintend
the embarkation. He took the most courteous leave of them, with
assurances of his own unalterable regard. But, as the event proved,
those who could part from him at this crisis had little sympathy with
his fortunes; and we find Duero not long afterwards in Spain, supporting
claims of Velasquez before the emperor, in opposition to those of his
former friend and commander.
The loss of these few men was amply compensated by the arrival of
others, whom Fortune--to use no higher term--most unexpectedly threw in
his way. The first of these came in a small vessel sent from Cuba by the
governor, Velasquez, with stores for the colony at Vera Cruz. He was not
aware of the late transactions in the country, and of the discomfiture
of his officer. In the vessel came despatches, it is said, from Fonseca,
bishop of Burgos, instructing Narvaez to send Cortés, if he had not
already done so, for trial to Spain.[268] The alcalde of Vera Cruz,
agreeably to the general’s instructions, allowed the captain of the bark
to land, who had no doubt that the country was in the hands of Narvaez.
He was undeceived by being seized, together with his men, so soon as
they had set foot on shore. The vessel was then secured; and the
commander and his crew, finding out their error, were persuaded without
much difficulty to join their countrymen in Tlascala.
A second vessel, sent soon after by Velasquez, shared the same fate, and
those on board consented, also, to take their chance in the expedition
under Cortés.
About the same time, Garay, the governor of Jamaica, fitted out three
ships with an armed force to plant a colony on the Panuco, a river which
pours into the Gulf a few degrees north of Villa Rica. Garay persisted
in establishing this settlement, in contempt of the claims of Cortés,
who had already entered into a friendly communication with the
inhabitants of that region. But the crews experienced such a rough
reception from the natives on landing, and lost so many men, that they
were glad to take to their vessels again. One of these foundered in a
storm. The others put into the port of Vera Cruz to restore the men,
much weakened by hunger and disease. Here they were kindly received,
their wants supplied, their wounds healed; when they were induced, by
the liberal promises of Cortés, to abandon the disastrous service of
their employer and enlist under his own prosperous banner. The
reinforcements obtained from these sources amounted to full a hundred
and fifty men, well provided with arms and ammunition, together with
twenty horses. By this strange concurrence of circumstances, Cortés saw
himself in possession of the supplies he most needed; that, too, from
the hands of his enemies, whose costly preparations were thus turned to
the benefit of the very man whom they were designed to ruin.
His good fortune did not stop here. A ship from the Canaries touched at
Cuba, freighted with arms and military stores for the adventurers in the
New World. Their commander heard there of the recent discoveries in
Mexico, and, thinking it would afford a favorable market for him,
directed his course to Vera Cruz. He was not mistaken. The alcalde, by
the general’s orders, purchased both ship and cargo; and the crews,
catching the spirit of adventure, followed their countrymen into the
interior. There seemed to be a magic in the name of Cortés, which drew
all who came within hearing of it under his standard.[269]
Having now completed the arrangements for settling his new conquests,
there seemed to be no further reason for postponing his departure to
Tlascala. He was first solicited by the citizens of Tepeaca to leave a
garrison with them, to protect them from the vengeance of the Aztecs.
Cortés acceded to the request, and, considering the central position of
the town favorable for maintaining his conquests, resolved to plant a
colony there. For this object he selected sixty of his soldiers, most of
whom were disabled by wounds or infirmity. He appointed the alcaldes,
regidores, and other functionaries of a civic magistracy. The place he
called _Segura de la Frontera_, or Security of the Frontier.[270] It
received valuable privileges as a city, a few years later, from the
emperor Charles the Fifth,[271] and rose to some consideration in the
age of the Conquest. But its consequence soon after declined. Even its
Castilian name, with the same caprice which has decided the fate of more
than one name in our own country, was gradually supplanted by its
ancient one, and the little village of Tepeaca is all that now
commemorates the once flourishing Indian capital, and the second Spanish
colony in Mexico.
While at Segura, Cortés wrote that celebrated letter to the emperor--the
second in the series--so often cited in the preceding pages. It takes up
the narrative with the departure from Vera Cruz, and exhibits in a brief
and comprehensive form the occurrences up to the time at which we are
now arrived. In the concluding page, the general, after noticing the
embarrassments under which he labors, says, in his usual manly spirit,
that he holds danger and fatigue light in comparison with the attainment
of his object, and that he is confident a short time will restore the
Spaniards to their former position and repair all their losses.[272]
He notices the resemblance of Mexico, in many of its features and
productions, to the mother country, and requests that it may henceforth
be called “New Spain of the Ocean Sea.”[273] He finally requests that a
commission may be sent out, at once, to investigate his conduct and to
verify the accuracy of his statements.
This letter, which was printed at Seville the year after its reception,
has been since reprinted, and translated, more than once.[274] It
excited a great sensation at the court, and among the friends of science
generally. The previous discoveries in the New World had disappointed
the expectations which had been formed after the solution of the grand
problem of its existence. They had brought to light only rude tribes,
which, however gentle and inoffensive in their manners, were still in
the primitive stages of barbarism. Here was an authentic account of a
vast nation, potent and populous, exhibiting an elaborate social polity,
well advanced in the arts of civilization, occupying a soil that teemed
with mineral treasures and with a boundless variety of vegetable
products, stores of wealth, both natural and artificial, that seemed,
for the first time, to realize the golden dreams in which the great
discoverer of the New World had so fondly, and in his own day so
fallaciously, indulged. Well might the scholar of that age exult in the
revelation of these wonders, which so many had long, but in vain,
desired to see.[275]
With this letter went another to the emperor, signed, as it would seem,
by nearly every officer and soldier in the camp. It expatiated on the
obstacles thrown in the way of the expedition by Velasquez and Narvaez,
and the great prejudice this had caused to the royal interests. It then
set forth the services of Cortés, and besought the emperor to confirm
him in his authority, and not to allow any interference with one who,
from his personal character, his intimate knowledge of the land and its
people, and the attachment of his soldiers, was the man best qualified
in all the world to achieve the conquest of the country.[276]
It added not a little to the perplexities of Cortés that he was still in
entire ignorance of the light in which his conduct was regarded in
Spain. He had not even heard whether his despatches, sent the year
preceding from Vera Cruz, had been received. Mexico was as far removed
from all intercourse with the civilized world as if it had been placed
at the antipodes. Few vessels had entered, and none had been allowed to
leave, its ports. The governor of Cuba, an island distant but a few
days’ sail, was yet ignorant, as we have seen, of the fate of his
armament. On the arrival of every new vessel or fleet on these shores,
Cortés might well doubt whether it brought aid to his undertaking, or a
royal commission to supersede him. His sanguine spirit relied on the
former; though the latter was much the more probable, considering the
intimacy of his enemy, the governor, with Bishop Fonseca, a man jealous
of his authority, and one who, from his station at the head of the
Indian department, held a predominant control over the affairs of the
New World. It was the policy of Cortés, therefore, to lose no time; to
push forward his preparations, lest another should be permitted to
snatch the laurel now almost within his grasp. Could he but reduce the
Aztec capital, he felt that he should be safe, and that, in whatever
light his irregular proceedings might now be viewed, his services in
that event would far more than counterbalance them in the eyes both of
the crown and of the country.
The general wrote, also, to the Royal Audience at St. Domingo, in order
to interest them in his cause. He sent four vessels to the same island,
to obtain a further supply of arms and ammunition; and, the better to
stimulate the cupidity of adventurers and allure them to the expedition,
he added specimens of the beautiful fabrics of the country, and of its
precious metals.[277] The funds for procuring these important supplies
were, probably, derived from the plunder gathered in the late battles,
and the gold which, as already remarked, had been saved from the general
wreck by the Castilian convoy.
It was the middle of December when Cortés, having completed all his
arrangements, set out on his return to Tlascala, ten or twelve leagues
distant. He marched in the van of the army, and took the way of Cholula.
How different was his condition from that in which he had left the
republican capital not five months before! His march was a triumphal
procession, displaying the various banners and military ensigns taken
from the enemy, long files of captives, and all the rich spoils of
conquest gleaned from many a hard-fought field. As the army passed
through the towns and villages, the inhabitants poured out to greet
them, and as they drew near to Tlascala, the whole population, men,
women, and children, came forth, celebrating their return with songs,
dancing, and music. Arches decorated with flowers were thrown across the
streets through which they passed, and a Tlascalan orator addressed the
general, on his entrance into the city, in a lofty panegyric on his late
achievements, proclaiming him the “avenger of the nation.” Amidst this
pomp and triumphal show, Cortés and his principal officers were seen
clad in deep mourning in honor of their friend Maxixca. And this tribute
of respect to the memory of their venerated ruler touched the Tlascalans
more sensibly than all the proud display of military trophies.[278]
The general’s first act was to confirm the son of his deceased friend in
the succession, which had been contested by an illegitimate brother. The
youth was but twelve years of age; and Cortés prevailed on him without
difficulty to follow his father’s example and receive baptism. He
afterwards knighted him with his own hand; the first instance, probably,
of the order of chivalry being conferred on an American Indian.[279] The
elder Xicotencatl was also persuaded to embrace Christianity; and the
example of their rulers had its obvious effect in preparing the minds
of the people for the reception of the truth. Cortés, whether from the
suggestions of Olmedo, or from the engrossing nature of his own affairs,
did not press the work of conversion further at this time, but wisely
left the good seed, already sown, to ripen in secret, till time should
bring forth the harvest.
The Spanish commander, during his short stay in Tlascala, urged forward
the preparations for the campaign. He endeavored to drill the Tlascalans
and to give them some idea of European discipline and tactics. He caused
new arms to be made, and the old ones to be put in order. Powder was
manufactured with the aid of sulphur obtained by some adventurous
cavaliers from the smoking throat of Popocatepetl.[280] The construction
of the brigantines went forward prosperously under the direction of
Lopez, with the aid of the Tlascalans.[281] Timber was cut in the
forests, and pitch, an article unknown to the Indians, was obtained from
the pines on the neighboring Sierra de Malinche. The rigging and other
appurtenances were transported by the Indian _tamanes_ from Villa Rica;
and by Christmas the work was so far advanced that it was no longer
necessary for Cortés to delay the march to Mexico.