Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Tecum-Uman

TECUM-UMAN (tay-coom), last king of Quiche, d. near Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, in 1524. He was the son of King Kicab-Tanub, who died during a war with his neighbors the Zutuhiles and Manies, and Tecum-Uman, hearing of the approach of the Spaniards, tried to form an alliance with his former enemies against the invaders. Only the Mames accepted his offer, and with their auxiliary troops Tecum-Uman is said, by the Spanish chroniclers, to have gathered an army of 230,000 warriors; but they could not resist the superior arms and discipline of Alvarado's army of 450 Spaniards and about 5,000 auxiliary Mexican Indians. The first battle, in the ford of the river Tilapa, 24 Feb., 1524, was sharp and not decisive, but a few days afterward Tecum-Uman was totally defeated on Olintepeque river, and it was afterward called Xequigel, or river of blood. Tecum-Uman retired with the rest of his army, but was overtaken in a valley between Quezaltenango and Totonicapan, where he made the last desperate stand, and was killed by the lance of Alvarado.