THE BATTLE OF CENTEOTL.
The squadrons move across the plain,
Beneath a rain
Of deadly missiles falling, falling.
Oh, could we gain
Those heights beyond, where guns are calling,
Of deeds appalling,
One to the other not in vain,
Then might we conquer in the fray,
And victors be e'er close of day.
The stream lying between the two armies was called the Rio Tardo, from
its slow-flowing current, and emerging from the interior mountains,
pursued its way in many windings to the sea. Centeotl was built on the
left bank, so that the loyalists were unable to occupy the town without
crossing the river, and to do so they would have had to force a passage
at the point of the sword. The battle took place about three miles from
the city, on a large plain streaked here and there with low ranges of
sandy hills, and intersected by the broad stream of the Rio Tardo.
On one of these ranges Don Hypolito had planted his artillery, and
swept the river with his heavy guns. He also disposed his infantry
along the banks, whence they kept up a regular fire of musketry on the
loyalists. The bridge at Centeotl had been destroyed prior to the
arrival of Benito, so that there was no way of crossing, save under
fire from the foot soldiers, or in the teeth of the battery posted on
the sandy ridges.
Behind this battery Xuarez held his cavalry in reserve, lest the
loyalists should accomplish the passage of the river, and the
combatants come to closer quarters. Between Centeotl and the position
he had taken up, he placed a line of some thousand horse, with the
object of preventing an attack by the besieged in his rear. In the
disposition of his troops, he showed a wonderful skill in taking
advantage of the capabilities of the ground, and General Benito saw
plainly that it would be with considerable difficulty that he could
effect a crossing of the Rio Tardo.
On his side there were no ranges of hills upon which he could post his
artillery, or by which he could protect his men. Nothing but a desolate
plain covered with brushwood incapable of offering the least shelter
against the devastating fire of the insurgents. His only way of
crossing the river was to silence the battery on the sandhills. With
this object, he brought up his field-guns, and opened a heavy cannonade
on the heights beyond. The rebels replied, and for over two hours this
cross fire went on without intermission on either side. Benito trusted
by this gunnery to deceive the insurgents as to his real purpose, which
was to attempt a crossing with five hundred horse three miles further
up the stream, near the ruins of the bridge. By doing so he could take
Xuarez in the rear, and while the rebels were employed in facing this
new danger from an unexpected quarter, hoped to cross the river with
his full force.
Don Hypolito evidently suspected this stratagem, for he kept a sharp
eye on the disposition of the loyalist army in the direction of
Centeotl. When he saw a body of horse move citywards to effect a
crossing, he at once sent a troop of cavalry to dispute the passage.
Benito seeing this, despatched a battery of six gatlings to support his
troops, trusting that under the cover of these guns playing on the
enemy they could force the stream. At once Xuarez brought up his
field-artillery, and in a short space of time the cannonading lower
down the river was being repeated further up at the ruins of the
bridge.
The right wing of the loyalist army, consisting entirely of infantry,
was thrown forward in the direction of Centeotl, and kept up a
fusillade, under cover of which the cavalry in scattered groups tried
to cross. The insurgents, however, could not be dislodged from the
opposite bank, and it was impossible to accomplish the passage under
their persistent musketry. For close on three miles along the banks of
the river this line of sharp-shooters extended, and at each end of the
line artillery thundered incessantly. Men on either side were dropping
every moment, and it seemed as though each army would annihilate the
other without either crossing the stream. For four hours the battle had
been raging without the combatants coming to close quarters, and
Xuarez's soldiers remaining ever on the defensive, began to grow
impatient. On the other hand, the Royalists trying to carry the passage
of the stream by dash after dash, were warming up to their work.
It would have been madness for Don Hypolito to cross the stream, and
with his few attack the many of the loyalists. The river was his great
safeguard, and so long as that interposed its waters between him and
the enemy, he felt comparatively safe, trusting to hold his position
until the arrival of the Indians from the north, whom he counted upon
taking the enemy in the rear. He saw plainly that his men were growing
weary of remaining solely on the defensive, and submitting to be cut to
pieces by the fire of Benito's artillery; but, until he saw a prospect
of being reinforced by the Indians, he was powerless to do anything but
stubbornly prevent the loyalists from fording the stream.
General Benito saw that the rebel leader was unaware of the
disaffection of the allies, and relied on their arriving shortly to
turn the tide of war in his favour. With a view, therefore, to
dishearten him, he ordered an Indian scout, attached to his staff, to
ford the river if possible, below the battery point, present himself to
Xuarez as a deserter from the loyalists, and inform him that the
Indians had retreated. The scout at once obeyed, and attempted to swim
the river, but just as he was close on the opposite bank, a rifle-shot
struck him, and it was with the greatest difficulty that he regained
the shore. Several rebel soldiers ran up to finish him with their
bayonets, but he implored them to take him to Xuarez, as he was in
possession of certain facts relating to the allies.
On being brought into the presence of the rebel leader, he had just
time to tell Don Hypolito of the uselessness of counting on the
Indians, and shortly afterwards expired. Xuarez thought at first it was
a device of the loyalists to gain time, but as hour after hour went on,
and no Indians appeared, he began to believe that he was indeed foolish
to depend upon help from that quarter. The full terror of his position
came on him at once. He saw that, deserted by the Indians, cut off from
Acauhtzin, the whole success of the rebellion against the Junta
depended upon his cutting the army of Benito to pieces. Janjalla was
behind him, and he several times thought of falling back on that town,
but the knowledge that it was being bombarded by the loyalist fleet
withheld him from committing such a folly. Centeotl was held in the
interests of the Junta. There was no chance of safety there, so he saw
that he must remain in his present position, and either tire out Benito
by holding his position stubbornly, or dash across the river with the
main portion of his troops, and try the fortune of war in a
hand-to-hand fight.
With characteristic boldness he decided on the latter of these
alternatives, and sent forward a thousand cavalry to cross the river,
and carry the war into the enemy's camp. Midway between the two
batteries, which still kept up their fire, he brought fifteen
field-guns to bear on the masses of infantry on the other bank, armed
only with their rifles, hoping to cut them to pieces, and thus afford
his cavalry a safe landing. Benito ordered five gatling guns to silence
the field battery, and prevent, if possible, the landing of the
insurgent cavalry. Unfortunately, his orders could not be accomplished
smartly enough, and before the gatlings could be brought into position,
the field-guns of Xuarez had opened a heavy fire on the infantry, under
cover of which five hundred horse-men crossed the stream. The landing
once effected, others followed, and the cavalry rode down the infantry
like sheep, while right and left the balls from the field-guns of
Xuarez cut passages in the crowded masses. For the moment the advantage
was decidedly with Don Hypolito.
At once a thousand cavalry, held in reserve behind the battery, were
hurled forward on the horsemen of the rebels. Five hundred had now
crossed the stream, and there held the loyalists at bay while their
comrades formed. The rebel regiment pierced like a wedge into the mass
of infantry, and met the cavalry of Benito some distance from the bank
of the river. What with these horsemen, and the incessant firing of the
field-guns, the infantry of Benito were thoroughly demoralised, and
flying in all directions. The cavalry of Xuarez, with admirable
discipline, formed into lines as soon as they crossed the river, and
steadily drove the horsemen of the loyalists backward.
Xuarez at once took advantage of this gain, and, behind his cavalry,
sent regiment after regiment of infantry with orders to carry the
battery of Benito by storm. In vain the foot-soldiers of the loyalists
were hurled against the advancing mass of rebel horse and foot now
marching steadily for the battery. They did not give way one inch.
Xuarez hoped to capture the battery, turn the guns against the
loyalists, and then bringing the rest of his troops across the stream.
This unexpected manoeuvre had taken Benito by surprise, and there was
but little doubt that if the battery were captured a panic would ensue
amongst his own men, and thus give Xuarez a decided advantage. The
columns of rebels pouring across the stream pierced the host of
loyalists like a wedge and bore steadily down on the battery which was
still under the heavy fire of the insurgent artillery posted on the
sandhills.
Things looked black at that moment for the loyalist army, but at this
critical juncture the troops of Benito succeeded in forcing the passage
of the stream further up near the city. What the Opposidores had done
in the centre of the line they did at its end, and, under cover of a
heavy fire from their gatlings, managed to cross the stream and capture
the field-guns of the enemy. These were at once utilised and turned on
the rebels, and in a few minutes were pouring a deadly fire into the
masses of cavalry and infantry sent to hold the bridge passage by
Xuarez. An officer galloped post-haste to Benito, informing him of the
crossing of the stream, and the General recognising that he might cut
off the forces of Xuarez on the left bank, sent to the bridge all the
soldiers he could spare, amounting to some fifteen hundred.
Meanwhile the cavalry of Xuarez, supported by several regiments of
infantry, were trying to carry the battery of the loyalists by storm.
Their own artillery was now silent, as so inextricably mingled were
rebels and loyalists round the battery that it was impossible for the
gunners of Xuarez to fire without cutting their own men to pieces. The
rebels were still steadily pouring, column after column, across the
stream in the rear of the cavalry, when suddenly their line was cut in
two by the victorious loyalists from the bridge.
These had utterly beaten the rebels defending the passage, by turning
their own guns on them, and now those latter were flying towards the
centre of the scene of operations, followed by a scattered body of
cavalry, cutting them down in all directions. The loyalist infantry
quickly crossed the river, and followed in the rear of the horsemen,
but, being on foot, were necessarily far behind. The rebels attempted
to re-form and reach the point where their columns were fording the
stream but, flushed with victory, the cavalry of Benito passed clean
through the mass, cutting off all further rebels from joining their
comrades on the opposite shore.
At the same time, owing to the deadly fire of the loyalist battery, the
invading soldiers of Xuarez were beginning to give way, and slowly fell
back inch by inch towards the point where they had crossed. They were
unable to get back, however, as the cavalry of Benito held them in
check on the opposite bank, and seeing this, the General threw forward
two regiments across the stream further up, where the bank, owing to
the clean sweep made by his cavalry, was undefended.
The rebels now found themselves between two masses of their foes,
between two fires, with nothing but the river between. They slowly
retreated before the infantry, pressing forward from the direction of
the battery, and falling back on the right bank of the river, found
themselves unable to cross in the teeth of the loyalist cavalry holding
the opposite bank, while the foot-soldiers behind fought viciously with
the rebels. The cavalry and infantry of Xuarez thus caught became
demoralized, and unable to keep a firm front to the loyalists, broke up
into terrified masses, which were either cut to pieces, or forced into
the stream, where they were shot down by their enemies on the opposite
bank.
It was now close on six o'clock, and, after five hours' incessant
fighting, the advantage was now with the army of the Junta. Benito held
the passage of the bridge near Centeotl, and from thence down to the
battery, the banks of the stream on both sides were held by his own
men. The enemy beaten on the right bank, were slowly falling back on
the left, and concentrating themselves round the hillocks, from which
thundered their artillery. Behind the battery, Xuarez still held three
thousand men in reserve, and these he brought forward, with the
intention of hurling them in one last effort of despair, against the
advancing masses of the loyalists.
General Benito no longer held back his army, but in person led his
soldiers across the river. In a miraculously short space of time the
combat was transferred from the right to the left bank of the Rio
Tardo, and the whole force of the loyalists, with the exception of the
corps of engineers attending to the battery, had crossed the river, and
were pressing forward to carry the citadel of Xuarez by storm.
What with killed and wounded, and prisoners taken, the number of
fighting men on either side was terribly reduced; yet, numerically
speaking, the advantage lay with the loyalists, who could oppose seven
thousand men to four thousand on the part of Xuarez. Confident in his
position, and in the shelter afforded by the sandhills, Don Hypolito
gathered his four thousand round the base of his batteries, and played
his guns with deadly effect on the advancing masses of the loyalists
over the heads of his own men. It was now a hand-to-hand struggle, and
though the loyalists had the advantage over the rebels in numbers, yet
as they were unable to bring their guns across the river, the combat
was more or less equalised. The deadly fire from the sandhills played
havoc with their ranks, and they were mowed down in hundreds. Having no
artillery to oppose these guns, and being unable to silence them by the
battery on the opposite bank, the only hope of thrashing the enemy lay
in carrying the sandhills by storm. This Benito, with desperate
courage, now proceeded to do.
As yet, Xuarez had managed to keep the loyalists in front, and
gathering his lines from the river bank to some distance into the
plain, desperately resisted the attempts of the attacking force to
break through and storm the battery. To protect his rear from the river
side, he sent two hundred cavalry to the back of the sandhills, to
guard the stream lest any straggling parties of loyalists should cross
at that point and assail him unexpectedly. He was now entirely on the
defensive, and, unless he succeeded in putting the loyalists to flight
with his artillery, saw not how he could hope to win the victory.
How bitterly did he regret the desertion of the Indians, the cause of
which disaffection he could not understand. With them coming from the
north, he might have effected a conjunction by crossing the river as he
had done, and thus captured the battery of Benito. As it was, however,
his soldiers had been beaten back, the loyalists had crossed the river,
and now his whole force was concentrated round the sandhills, upon
which was placed his artillery.
In his despair, Don Hypolito longed for the darkness, in the hope that
under cover of the night he might be enabled to fall back on Janjalla.
Long since he would have done this but for the timely information that
the town was blockaded by the warships of the Junta. It seemed like
madness to retreat into such a death-trap, and yet if it could hold out
against the bombardment until he arrived, he would at least have walls
behind which to fight. He regretted intensely that he had not captured
Centeotl and thrown himself therein to defend himself against the
loyalists. Surrounded by stone walls, he could hope to wear out the
troops of the Republic, and perhaps destroy them in detachments, but as
it was he had no shelter. His whole front was being assaulted by the
loyalists, and behind he had but his battery and a possible chance of
falling back on Janjalla in the night-time.
The whole plain from Centeotl to the point of action was now in the
hands of the loyalists, and seeing this the Jefe Politico of the city
threw open the gates and sent forward men with provisions and wine to
the wearied troops. Three hundred soldiers yet remained within the
walls, and these also marched out to join the army of the Republic, and
attack Xuarez in his last position. It was now past seven o'clock, and
the darkness was rapidly coming on. Don Hypolito hoped that the
loyalists would withdraw and renew the combat next day. In the
interval, his men could rest and sustain themselves with food or fall
back at once on Janjalla.
This respite, however, Benito declined to give. While the light lasted,
he determined to keep up the fight, and if possible dislodge Xuarez
from his position before the morning. Deeply did he regret that he had
no electric lights, by the glare of which to conduct the battle; but as
it was he took advantage of the clear twilight, and pushed forward his
men vigorously in attempting to break down the stubborn line of defence
offered by Don Hypolito.
It is questionable how long this state of things would have lasted, as
the rebels obstinately fought on, and though Benito hurled column after
column against them, not one inch would they yield. The artillery also,
from the heights above, was sweeping down his rearward troops. He sent
one thousand across the river again, to attempt the rear of the enemy,
under cover of the fire of fifteen gatlings, but Xuarez turned four
heavy guns on the passage of the river, and stopped the crossing with
ease.
"Carrajo!" muttered Benito, shutting up his glass in a rage, "they will
hold out till it is dark, and then we must stop. During the night they
will fall back on Janjalla."
"And into the hands of our men!" replied Jack, who was standing beside
the general. "No, Señor, Don Hypolito knows it is worse than useless to
retreat from his present position. When the morning dawns, you will
find him still on those hills."
"Bueno! All the same, Don Juan, I would like to finish him off
to-night."
"Then send scouts from Centeotl to see if our men are advancing from
Janjalla."
"It might be that the city is not taken."
"That is true. On the other hand, it might be that the city is."
Coincidences occur in real life as well as in novels and here occurred
a case in point. Tim, who had been to Centeotl to make inquiries,
galloped up to Benito at this moment and saluted.
"General," he said rapidly, "messengers have just arrived from
Janjalla. The city is in the hands of the Junta, and our troops, to the
number of two thousand, are pushing forward by forced marches."
"Janjalla in our hands?" cried Benito, joyfully. "Then Xuarez has no
refuge on which to fall back."
The army shouted on hearing this cheering news, and looked upon the
destruction of the rebels as a foregone conclusion, as indeed it was.
Xuarez heard the shouting, and, becoming aware of the cause by the
frequent cries of "Janjalla," ground his teeth with rage, as he saw how
fortune was against him.
"Señores," he said to his officers, "we are condemned to stay here.
There is now no hope of falling back on the seaport. We can but face
the enemy, and fight bravely. I should have heard of this fall before,
as my scouts are all over the country to Janjalla."
Nevertheless, in spite of this discouraging news, he urged his men to
fight bravely, hoping that the night would come, and force the
loyalists to withdraw for some hours. In that time his army could rest
and eat, while he himself might think of some plan by which to
circumvent the tactics of General Benito. He was quite ignorant that
two thousand men were marching from Janjalla to attack him in the rear.
The last glimmer of the sunset had long since died out of the sky, and
it was now comparatively dark. As yet, the reinforcements from Janjalla
had not arrived and Benito was almost on the point of ceasing the fight
till dawn, when the moon arose in the west. Her appearance was welcomed
by him with joy, for her light was quite brilliant enough to enable the
assaulting party to continue fighting; and incessantly pressing on the
wearied troops of Xuarez seemed the only chance of beating him from the
sandhills and scattering his army. Don Hypolito cursed the moon
audibly, for he saw that his last chance of escaping in the darkness
was gone. Nothing remained for him but to fight on doggedly.
Then his scouts arrived, and he learned that in an hour two thousand
men would attack him in the rear. With a cry of rage, he hurled his
field-glass down the hill.
"Fortune is against me," he muttered, biting his lip with wrath; "my
star goes down in blood. Attacked front and rear, I cannot hold out
much longer."
Yet he was too brave to give in, and, seeing that the town of Centeotl
was left defenceless, as its garrison had joined Benito, he hoped to
make a detour, and throw himself with his remaining troops into the
city. One thousand men he could leave to defend the battery and draw
off the attention of the loyalists, and with his remaining two thousand
march silently away to the south, then make a detour for the city. Then
the reinforcements would come up in vain, for he and his men would have
slipped away like an eel from between the two armies. He never thought
of the fate of the thousand men he was leaving behind. But at that
moment he would have given anything to gain time to reconstruct his
plans, and would have sacrificed a million lives so that his campaign
should not end in disaster.
This mad scheme to occupy Centeotl in the teeth of the enemy was
destined to fail for lack of time. Before he could move a single column
towards the city, the sound of distant firing was heard, and the
reinforcements came up in the rear at a quick trot. The whole force of
Xuarez was disposed along the front of the battery, protecting it from
the assaults of Benito's army. Undefended in the rear, save for two
hundred cavalry guarding the river, it offered itself freely to the
reinforcements for storming. Don Hypolito brought round troops rapidly
from the front to oppose this new danger. The cavalry dashed recklessly
between the battery and the advancing infantry from Janjalla. Three
guns, with depressed muzzles, rained down shot on the masses of
infantry. It was all in vain. The fresh troops, elated by the fall of
Janjalla, and the crossing of the river by General Benito, passed clean
over the thin line of cavalry drawn up to beat them back. A mass of men
obliterating man and horse, rolled upward towards the hastily formed
lines of weary soldiers, brought round from the front to protect the
rear. These succumbed in a few minutes, and the guns no longer being
able to do damage by reason of the enemy being directly under their
muzzles, the reinforcements swarmed up the slanting slope of the
sandhills with cries of victory.
Benito heard those cries, and at once guessed that the troops from
Janjalla were carrying the battery by storm. Hitherto he had been
holding five hundred cavalry and two thousand infantry in reserve.
These were now brought forward and hurled on the soldiers of Xuarez
massed at the foot of the sandhills. The rebels looked in front, and
saw this mass threatening to overwhelm them; they looked behind, and
lo! over the brow of the sandhills poured a black crowd of men over
whose heads floated the yellow standard of the Republic. The guns were
silenced, the gunners bayoneted, and the red flag of Xuarez dragged
from its pole at the top of the hill. Xuarez himself, surrounded by a
ring of his officers, waved his sword for a moment, and then the wave
of men passed over him. A cry spread throughout the host of rebels that
he was lost. The men at the base of the sandhills, seeing the wave of
men rolling downward, lost heart and broke up into scattered masses. On
came the army of Benito, and between the two forces the insurgents
crumpled up like paper.
In all directions they fled like sheep, and were chased for miles by
the victorious Republicans. Benito, a merciful man, strove to restrain
the zeal of his soldiers. It was all in vain, they were drunken with
victory, and sabred and shot the wretched fugitives without mercy. The
smoke hung heavily over the field of battle, and when it cleared away,
the victorious troops of the Junta saw the great standard of the
Republic floating proudly in the place lately occupied by the battery
of the enemy.
Don Hypolito had disappeared, his army, broken to pieces, was flying in
all directions. From the triumphant army massed round the sandhills,
rose a roar of joy which made the earth tremble. The wind which had
blown away the smoke, shook out the folds of the opal flag, and the
Cholacacans saluted the invincible banner with cheers.
"Viva el opale! Viva el Republica!"