History of Mexico (Bancroft)/Volume 3/Chapter 11

by Hubert Howe Bancroft

 

CHAPTER XI.

THE PROVINCE OF VERA CRUZ.

1683-1803.

Extent of the City of Vera Cruz — Entrepôt of Commerce — Character OF the Population — Prosperity of the People — Its Inhabitants — Its Trade — Scarcity of Water — The Black-vomit — The Port of Vera Cruz — The Fortress of San Juan de Ulúa — Its Garrison — The Works Cost Nearly Forty Millions of Pesos — Cessation of Buccaneering Raids — The Towns of Córdoba, Jalapa, and Orizaba.

There are few records as to the condition of the Province of Vera Cruz for some twenty or thirty years after the sack of its capital. About 1730 the city contained perhaps three thousand Spaniards, mulattoes, and negroes, apart from its garrison; the remainder of its heterogeneous population including people from all the western nations of Europe. The city was about one sixth of a league in length and half that distance in width. Most of the inhabitants were mulattoes; some of them being wealthy, for money was readily made at this entrepôt of commerce, and even the negro slaves could accumulate enough to purchase their freedom.

In the middle of the sixteenth century Vera Cruz was but an insignificant port, serving as a landing-place for the bands of adventurers who came to the shores of New Spain. At the opening of the nineteenth century it was the commercial emporium of a territory whose vast resources, little developed as they are even to this day, had excited the envy of the world. At the latter date its population was estimated at over thirty-five thousand, of whom about twenty thousand were permanent residents.^[1] The inhabitants were quiet, orderly, and peaceable. Business dishonesty was unknown, and property of all kinds was secure, few precautions being needed to insure its safety. There were no beggars in the streets, and few criminals in the public jail; the poorer classes were all employed in some useful occupation, and among the rich were not a few who had acquired immense fortunes in commercial pursuits. The government employes, both civil and military, performed their duties faithfully and were accorded the consideration due to their rank. The church was well supported, and the religious orders were among the largest property-holders in the province.^[2] At this period the trade ot Vera Cruz probably exceeded thirty million pesos a year. Apart from commerce the city had little to depend upon. So limited was the area of cultivated land in its vicinity^[3] that nearly all the leading articles of consumption were brought from a distance. Stock-raising was the chief occupation in the surrounding country, and hides and dried fish the only commodities exported from the province. Much of the prosperity now enjoyed was due to the measures adopted by Cárlos III. in 1778 with a view to facilitate commerce between Spain and her colonies. Many of the restrictions which had aimed at a monopoly of trade, and had served only to divert it into the hands of foreigners, were now removed, and no community was more greatly benefited thereby than that of Vera Cruz, which was still the only port of entry on the northern seaboard of New Spain. In 1795 a tribunal of commerce^[4] was established there by royal decree, and its operations were of great benefit both to the city and the province. At the opening of the nineteenth century the city had attained the full growth of her prosperity, and more substantial buildings were erected than during the two preceding centuries. The madrepore stone, called by the natives piedra múcura, and found in abundance on the reefs

in the harbor, supplied an excellent material, and came into general use. Before this time the houses were built for the most part of wood, although during the preceding century and a half the city had several times been partly destroyed by fire.^[5]

The streets of Vera Cruz were regularly laid out, their direction corresponding with that of the cardinal points of the compass. Their pavement was commenced in 1765 and completed in 1776. In April of the following year they were lighted for the first time by order of the municipality. In 1790 a cemetery was opened outside the walls of the city, and by order of the viceroy the burial of the dead in church vaults was forbidden. To this practice and to the scantiness and poor quality of the water^[6] may be attributed in part the pestilences from which the inhabitants were seldom free. The rich obtained their supply from cisterns built on their own premises, the poor from an aqueduct^[7] which was usually empty during two or three months in the year, when they were dependent on a single well sunk near the bastion of Santa Bárbara. Another cause of the prevalence of disease was the overcrowding of the houses, which were packed so closely together in the poorer quarters of the town as to impede the circulation of the air.

The rains set in at Vera Cruz about the 20th of March and lasted for six months, being followed by violent north-west winds which continued almost throughout the dry season, raising the sand in such clouds as often to obstruct the sight and render breathing difficult. September and October were the most unhealthy months, and it was then that the sickness known as the black-vomit was the most deadly. This scourge was supposed to have been introduced by an English slave-ship in the year 1699, but was more probably an endemic disease due to the causes already mentioned, and to the malaria generated by decaying animal and vegetable matter.^[8] At the close of the last and the beginning of the present century so great was the havoc wrought by this malady that it was proposed to abandon the site of Vera Cruz and remove to Jalapa.

The port of Vera Cruz was neither safe nor commodious, being but a roadstead, sheltered on the east side by a few small and widely separated reefs and islands. On the north it was entirely exposed, and from September to March was swept by violent north winds, which made the anchorage unsafe. The island of San Juan de Ulúa is less than a mile distant from the city, only its south-west point on which the fort was built being above high-water mark. On the leeward side of this island, facing the city, vessels made fast by cable ropes to huge bolts and rings let into the walls of the fort. Here the depth of water was six or eight fathoms, and from this point passengers and freight were transferred to the mainland in boats. Opposite the city, and at about the same distance, was a small reef called Lavandera, near which was also an anchoring ground for merchant craft. Five or six miles to the south-east are the islands of Verde and Sacrificios, where were the quarantine ground and the station for ships of war. The harbor was entered by two channels, the best one being on the north side, between Ulúa and the mainland, with a depth of four to five fathoms and a width of four hundred varas. The other channel lay between the island of Sacrificios and the Pájaro reef, and was of the same depth and width.

A larger and more sheltered harbor, named Anton Lizardo, was situated a few leagues to the south-east of Vera Cruz,^[9] and there appears to be no good reason why the latter was selected, except that the island of San Juan de Ulúa was a favorable spot for the construction of a fortress. No attempt was made to

San Juan de Ulúa.

improve it, and at the close of the eighteenth century it remained in the same condition as when first discovered by Grijalva in 1518. There are no reliable data as to the exact time when the fortress of San Juan de Ulúa was erected; but the works must have been commenced between the years 1582 and 1625. At the former date the island was occupied only by sailors and merchants; at the latter the fortress is mentioned by the traveller Gage, in connection with his visit to Vera Cruz, and appears to have been then well advanced. It was probably the strongest fort in the New World, and until the improvements made in modern warfare was considered almost impregnable, being often termed the San Juan de Acre of America. In 1746 it was mounted with one hundred and twenty guns and three mortars. In 1780 it contained one hundred brass cannon and about fifty pieces of ordnance made of iron, the latter being of heavy calibre.^[10] The main building was in the shape of a parallelogram, with a bastion at each of its angles. The one at the southwest corner was named the bastion of San Pedro and was completed in 1633. It was surmounted by a high tower on which was a revolving light. On the south-east corner was the bastion of San Crispin, completed in 1710. Here was built a lookout tower whence vessels were sighted and communication maintained with the city by a system of signals. Others named Our Lady del Pilar and Santa Catalina were finished in 1778 and 1799 respectively. The curtain and the flanks of the bastions facing seaward were covered with stakes of hard wood sharpened at the end and rising a foot and a half out of the water, so that at high tide vessels could not approach within musket shot. Within the fort were seven large cisterns, containing nearly a hundred thousand cubic feet of water, and below it were damp, narrow dungeons, where notorious criminals were confined. Few who were once incarcerated there came forth alive.

At the middle of the eighteenth century the garrison appears to have been smaller than at the time of the sack of Vera Cruz by buccaneers in 1683, consisting of only 120 artillerymen, 150 troops drawn from the naval battalion of the city, the latter being relieved every month, and 30 sailors. A band of convicts was also stationed there and employed on the works. At this time there were quartered in the city a naval battalion of 600 men, an infantry regiment 1,000 strong, 300 dragoons, and 30 artillerymen. A militia regiment with ten companies, two of them being composed of mulattoes and two of negroes, added 1,000 additional troops to the defensive force, and the firing of a cannon would at any time summon 700 or 800 lancers from the adjacent towns and haciendas.^[11] In 1741 a plan was drawn up by the engineer, Felix Próspero, for constructing a wall around the city, and the work was completed five years later. The wall was built of hewn stone brought from Campeche; it was six feet high, and was surmounted by a strong double stockade of the same height. It contained seven gates, one of them being for the accommodation of shipping and fishermen, and one for the special use of the viceroys. On the inner side was a banquette for infantry; on a tongue of land at the extreme north was afterward constructed the bastion of La Concepcion mounted with sixteen heavy guns, and commanding the north channel with the adjacent coast; on the extreme south was the bastion of Santiago, mounting twenty-six guns, and containing the arsenal and naval stores. Between these two bastions, and facing the land side, smaller ones protecting the main avenues of approach were erected at intervals.^[12] After the capture of Habana by the English in 1762 much apprehension was felt as to the safety of Vera Cruz.^[13] The defences of the city and of San Juan de Ulúa were strengthened, and new ones erected on other portions of the coast. The island fortress was ordered to be repaired at a cost of over a million and a half, and the port of Anton Lizardo was to be fortified at an expense of a million and a quarter pesos. A fort was also begun at San Cárlos de Perote, this point being intended for an arsenal and as a storing place for treasure, Jalapa being now considered unsafe. Additional troops were despatched from Spain, and in December 1774 a military commission met at Vera Cruz to consider such further measures as might be necessary for defence. The result was very unfavorable. It was reported that the city was untenable, and that Ulúa, which was supposed to he impregnable, could only be held for a few days, and would require a garrison of 1,700 infantry and 300 artillerymen, together with a force of sailors sufficient to man a number of armed boats.^[14] It was even recommended that on the approach of an enemy the bastions should be blown up and the inhabitants sent into the interior, taking with them their effects. The report of the commissioners does not appear to have been heeded, and at the close of the century, when Europe was at war and the Spanish American possessions were at any time liable to attack, the garrisons of the city and fortress were even smaller than those stationed there sixty years before.^[15] Notwithstanding the enormous sums expended on coast defences, the fortress of Ulúa alone having cost nearly forty millions of pesos, the people of New Spain, besides being in constant fear of the armaments of hostile powers, were still in dread of corsairs. In November, 1788, a royal decree was issued in answer to the viceroy's petition ordering two brigantines to be constructed for coast-guard service against pirates and smugglers.^[16] Of course the operations of the former were now confined to the more thinly populated portions of the coast; for such raids, except made by licensed freebooters under the name of privateersmen, were long since discountenanced by the nations of Europe.

After the beginning of the war between England and Spain, in 1796, it was believed that an expedition was being prepared for an attack on Vera Cruz, and during the following year eight thousand troops were cantoned at Jalapa, Córdoba, and Perote in readiness for action; but England had now sufficient occupation for all her forces on land and sea, in the long protracted struggle with the great Napoleon. A few months later all the encampments were broken up, excepting one of six hundred men who were stationed on the plain near Buena Vista in the vicinity of Vera Cruz, and so great was the mortality among this corps that it soon became necessary to remove the survivors into the city.

Until 1629 the offices of corregidor of Vera Cruz and governor of Ulúa were vested in the same person, but in that year they were separated, the commander of the fortress receiving a salary of one thousand one hundred pesos a year. Later the former received the title of governor, but in 1730 his civil functions were the same, though he received from the viceroy the rank of lieutenant captain-general and military governor. Between 1730 and 1733 it was ordered that this official should also have authority over the garrison of Ulúa, a resident commander of the fortress being appointed as his subordinate.^[17] After the establishment of intendencias in 1787 the powers of the former were greatly enlarged, the offices of governor and intendente being afterward combined.^[18]

At the close of the eighteenth century the intendencia of Vera Cruz contained a population of about one hundred and fifty-four thousand.^[19] The second town in importance was Córdoba, founded, it will be remembered, in 1618.^[20] In 1746 it contained over seven hundred families.^[21] About thirty years later its population was about the same. Most of the houses were of stone; the streets were wide and well paved, and a plentiful supply of water was obtained from the mountain streams in its neighborhood. In the center of the plaza was a large fountain, and on one side of it stood the cathedral, the three remaining sides being adorned with Gothic arches. The surrounding vegetation was rich and of many hues, and on its deep soil of red clay^[22] were produced most of the tropical and subtropical fruits. The raising of tobacco and sugar, of which plantations were first established early in the seventeenth century, was still the leading industry, but here, as elsewhere in New Spain, nature was so prodigal of her gifts hat little effort was needed on the part of man, and many of the Spaniards grew wealthy almost without exertion.^[23] Although in 1790 an earthquake demolished or damaged

Vera Cruz Province.

nearly all the buildings, the town appears to have steadily increased in prosperity, for in 1810 it contained at least eight thousand inhabitants.^[24]

Among the most flourishing towns in the province was Jalapa, where, between 1720 and 1777, the annual fair was held, on the arrival of the fleet from Spain, being transferred there from Vera Cruz. Before the former date half a dozen commercial houses, established by merchants in the capital, had monopolized the entire trade of the surrounding district, but within a few years afterward goods to the value of thirty millions of pesos changed hands at each fair. This increased circulation of wealth caused people to abandon their simple habits, and to adopt the dress and amusements and most of the vices of the Spaniards in the Old World. In 1794 Jalapa was declared a city^[25] and together with Córdoba and Orizaba was a favorite summer resort for the merchants of Vera Cruz.

Orizaba stood on the high road from Mexico to Vera Cruz, being distant about thirty-eight leagues from Coat of Arms of Jalapa. the latter city and forty-six from the capital. It was situated in a beautiful valley and surrounded with forest-clad mountains, high above which towered the snow-capped volcano of Orizaba. So luxuriant was the surrounding vegetation that a square league of land sufficed for the pasturage of about seven thousand sheep.^[26] Here was a halting-place for caravans laden with merchandise, and the point where goods in transit were appraised. In 1777 its population numbered about forty-five hundred, of whom it was estimated that nearly three thousand were of Spanish descent.^[27]

 

 

1. Of the floating population 3,640 were seamen, 7,370 muleteers, and 4,500 passengers, troops, servants, and non-resident tradesmen. Lerdo de Tejada, Apunt. Hist., 366. In old Vera Cruz there was in 1777 a population of 777 persons, of whom only 39 were Spaniards. Vera Cruz, Fabrica, in Mex. Doc. Ecles., MS., i. no. ii. fol. 10. At this date the population of the new city was estimated by the traveller De Menonville, in Pinkerton's Col. Voy., xiii. 777, at 6,000 to 7,000. If this be so it had increased more than five-fold within 30 years. The writer affirms that at the time of his visit the houses were built entirely of stone brought from Campeche, and that he saw the ruins of at least 20 buildings that had lain there for fifty years, the walls of which were of masonry; but why stone should be brought from Campeche when there was excellent material in the neighborhood he does not explain. Speaking of the city he remarks that not the slightest culture embellishes the neighborhood. 'The men,' he continues, 'are, generally speaking, lofty minded and proud; either from this being the specific character of their nation, or owing to their excessive wealth in a country where gold stamps so much value on its possessor. They comprehend trade very well, but here, as elsewhere, their natural indolence, and their rooted habits, and superstition, render them irremediably averse from labour. Incessantly they are seen with their chaplets and relics on their arms and round their neck; their houses are filled with statues and paintings of saints; and their life is a series of devotional practices. The women live recluse in their apartments above stairs, to avoid being seen by strangers; though it is by no means difficult to perceive that, but for the restrictions placed on them by their husbands, they would be far more easy of access. Within doors they wear over the shirt nothing but a small silk corset, laced with a gold or silver cord. Still, though so simple their dress, they wear a gold necklace, bracelets at the wrist of the same metal, and at their ears pendants of emeralds of greatest value. Generally speaking, the fair in this city are not handsome; for however rich their dress they show a deficiency of grace and fancy, and, under an apparent reserve, are strongly inclined to lasciviousness. The only amusements are the nevería, a sort of coffee-house, whither the genteeler sort repair to take ice-creams, and some imitations of bull-fights for the vulgar; unless indeed under this denomination be comprised the processions and flagellations of the holy week.'
2. In 1746 Vera Cruz contained seven convents belonging to the Dominican, Franciscan, Augustinian, and Merced orders, two hospitals, and a Jesuit college. There were also two chapels outside the walls. Villa-Señor, Teatro, i. 271. Although there were more priests in Vera Cruz than were needed, many of the towns in the district had none, and in 1802 had not been visited by the bishop of Puebla, to whose diocese they belonged, for 47 years. The first hospital was established by two Jesuits on the island of San Juan de Ulúa. During the rule of the Marquis of Montesclaros a hospital was founded in Vera Cruz and named after the marquis. It was abandoned in 1805. The next one founded in the city was the military hospital of San Cárlos, completed in 1764. One named Our Lady of Loreto was built for the accommodation of women, and one for convalescents was commenced in 1784 and placed in charge of the Bethlehemite nuns. The last three, together with the public hospital of San Sebastian, existed in 1807. Lerdo de Tejada, Apunt. hist., 377-8.
3. Elsewhere in the province agricultural products were considerable, including among other items 300,000 fanegas of corn a year, 243,750 arrobas of cotton, and 80,000 arrobas of sugar. Lerdo de Tejada, Apunt. Hist., 365-6.
4. 'Consulado.' In 1784 the office of 'comandancia del resguardo de todas las rentas' was created in Vera Cruz by order of the crown, the regulations adopted being the same as those in force at Cádiz.
5. The fire of 1618, spoken of on page 27 of this volume, is not even mentioned by Miron in Noticia Instructiva, although there is no doubt that it occurred; but he speaks of two others that happened in 1606 and 1608.
6. As early as 1703 an attempt was made to bring water into the city from the river Jamapa. In 1795 a dam was built and an aqueduct constructed for some distance, but the work was abandoned. Though surveys have since been made and revenues assigned for the purpose, nothing has been accomplished, Lerdo de Tejada, Apunt. Hist., 322-6.
7. Constructed by Malibran in 1726.
8. Humboldt, Essai, i. 276-9. In 1803, the eminent Spanish physician Florencio Perez de Comoto declared that the disease had not been introduced from any foreign country. The presence of foreigners, of whom large numbers died of yellow fever, was, however, believed to aid the development of the germs of this disease, and such was the experience in all places subject to it. In 1825 the legislature offered a reward of 100,000 pesos to any one who should discover a remedy.
9. Anton Lizardo was the harbor in which the French fleet anchored in 1838 and the Americans in 1847-1848.
10. Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Teatro, i. 274—5; Informe del Comand. de Ulúa, July 29, 1780, in Col. Diario, MS., 504r-6.
11. Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Teatro, i. 273-4. According to this authority the military staff was composed of the governor, the king's lieutenant, an adjutant, a sargento mayor, and three engineers. In May 1727 the viceroy, Casa Fuerte, framed the first ordinance regulating the strength of the garrisons at Vera Cruz and Ulúa, in imitation of a similar one issued nine year's previously for the city and fortress of Habana. At this date the garrison was somewhat smaller, and that of the city consisted mainly of cavalry.
12. Id., 271-2.
13. When intelligence arrived of the capture, the viceroy ordered that munitions of war be at once forwarded to Vera Cruz, and that all available troops be immediately put in motion for that point. When it was known that there was no imminent danger of attack, he withdrew his forces to Jalapa and Perote where the climate was more healthy. The next year peace was declared.
14. De Menonville says that at the time of his visit in 1777 the fortress was mounted with 300 guns of from 12 to 36 pound calibre, and that it was exposed to attack on the south-east corner, where was a landing-place much nearer the fort than the principal one, and where vessels might anchor under the curtain, the fire from which would be of no avail. Pinkerton's Col. Voy., xiii. 779. In 1780 Viceroy Mayorga inspected the defences of the city and fortress, and changed the plan of defence adopted by his predecessor.
15. At the beginning of the 19th century the combined garrisons of the city and fortress consisted of the permanent battalion of Vera Cruz, organized in 1793, its strength being 1,000 men, a company of veteran artillery, and two of militia, 310 men, and the regiment of Vera Cruz lancers, enrolled in 1767, nominally 1,000 strong. Lerdo de Tejada, in Doc. Hist. Mex., Apunt. Hist., 383-4. In 1784 the garrison of Vera Cruz was reënforced by two infantry regiments from Mexico, Id., 309; but these appear to have been soon withdrawn, for in Gac. Mex., ii. 290, it is stated that in 1786 the garrison of Vera Cruz mustered only 1,360 men.
16. They arrived in Vera Cruz about two years afterward. Later a schooner was built for the same purpose.
17. Reales Cédulas, MS., ii. 233-4. It is there stated that Antonio de Benavides was the first one vested with these powers. He was appointed about the year 1734.
18. The intendente was also subdelegado of the city of Vera Cruz and its district. Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, 164. The first intendente of Vera Cruz was Pedro Corvalan, appointed in 1788. [In Id., i. 165, Cervalan.] In 1792 Pedro Gorostiza held that office. Id., 164. In 1795 Diego Garcia Panes received the appointment. Gomez, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii. tom. vii. 4.36; and in 1798—Plan de Defensa de San Juan de Ulúa, in Col. de Diario, MS., 510.
19. Distributed among 372 poblados. Cancelada, Ruina de la Nueva España, 73-5. Lerdo de Tejada states that there were 2 cities, 5 villas, 147 pueblos, 60 haciendas, and 157 ranchos. Apunt. Hist., 365-6. It extended from the bay of Términos to Tampico, a distance of 210 leagues, with a varying width of 25 to 35 leagues. Its boundaries are defined in Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, i. 150-1, and remained the same until 1824.
20. See p. 27, this vol.
21. Two hundred and sixty Spanish families, 126 of mestizos, 60 of mulattoes and negroes, and 263 of Indians. The town had now an alcalde mayor. Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Teatro, i. 265.
22. The depth was at least ten feet.
23. The principal industry was sugar-raising, and at this date there were more than 30 sugar-mills in Córdoba, worked mainly by Indians.
24. Eight thousand to 10,000, of whom five eighths were Spaniards. Diario Mex., xii. 233-4.
25. In 1746 there were 786 resident families of Spaniards, mestizos, and Indians. Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, i. Later the population appears to have decreased, for Humboldt states that in 1803 its population was only 1,300.
26. A traveller passing through the province of Vera Cruz in 1777 states that within the space of a Spanish league he counted 11 flocks of sheep, each numbering over 600. Thiery, ii. 71.
27. In the town were several tanneries, and factories for the making of coarse cloth. A large quantity of tobacco was raised in its neighborhood. Pinkerton’s Mod. Geog., iii. 214.