History of Mexico (Bancroft)/Volume 4/Chapter 16

by Hubert Howe Bancroft

 

CHAPTER XVI.

PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

1812.

Capture of Tehuacan — Massacre of Prisoners — Curates of Maltrata and Zongolica Join the Revolution — Orizaba Captured and Retaken — Revolutionary Plans at Vera Cruz and Perote — Communication Reopened by Royalists — Insurgent Operations — Capture of Pachuca with Immense Booty — Cruel Shooting of Prisoners — Towns Recaptured by Royalists — Arrest of Leonardo Bravo and Companions — Their Execution — Noble Deed of Nicolás Bravo — Venegas Offers Pardon to Penitent Rebels, and a Reward for Morelos' Capture — Venegas and Calleja at Enmity — Rayon's Unsuccessful Attack on Toluca — Defeat at Tenango — Dispersion of the Supreme Junta.

Military operations had resulted more favorably for the royalist arms in the interior than in the eastern and southern provinces, owing, it would seem, to the fact that in the former locality the insurrectionary forces were in independent parties, more or less numerous, but nearly always acting without combination, which, though obstructing the public highways, interrupting traffic, and living by plunder, rarely attempted to assail fortified towns, or to confront their royalist foe in an open field. To the east and south of Mexico military affairs had been more skilfully conducted by the insurgent chiefs, who acted more in concert, and whose troops had been kept well in together and were better disciplined. Hence the rapid progress made by the revolution in these regions, and its strong and menacing attitude at the end of September 1812 toward the viceregal government. Prior to his departure from Chilapa for Cuautla and Izúcar in the latter end of 1811, Morelos directed his active lieutenant, Trujano, to spread the insurrection throughout the Miztec country, and parties wore accordingly despatched in all directions, appropriating to their own uses the grain, live-stock, and every other available thing belonging to the Spaniards or to those of royalist proclivities. One of those parties, commanded by Colonel Figueroa, paid a visit to Tehuacan, a rich city and the commercial centre of the provinces of Puebla, Oajaca, and Vera Cruz. The place had been abandoned by the Spaniards and authorities, and Figueroa entered it unopposed; but having no force to hold it, he went harvesting in the haciendas and farms of the surrounding country; upon which the Spaniards returned with seventy-five soldiers and two pieces of artillery, erected intrenchments, and organized volunteer companies. The insurgents, however, again made their appearance, and in February surrounded the city. Tho number of the besiegers increased rapidly, and the beleaguered in the latter part of April and beginning of May found themselves reduced to the last extremity. Their water supply had been cut off, and most of the garrison had perished. Despairing of any relief, the city capitulated under a guarantee that the lives of tho Spaniards and other royalists would be spared; to which stipulation, according to custom, not the slightest attention was subsequently paid.^[1] While independents were concentrating around Tehuacan, Mariano de las Fuentes Alarcon, curate of Maltrata,^[2] raised a force and declared for independence, having cast a cannon with the metal of the large church bell. Besides keeping a watch on Orizaba, he captured every train having merchandise for the royalists. He put men under Miguel Moreno,

Puebla and Southern Vera Cruz.

who with great activity began to plunder and desolate the neighboring haciendas, daily augmenting his force. Lieutenant-colonel Miguel Paz comandante at

Orizaba, on being apprised of these doings, despatched a force to bring away from Aculcingo the church paraments and the frightened priest. His force was attacked by the insurgents, who dispersed the cavalry and compelled the infantry to retreat to Orizaba.^[3]

Before long the villa of Orizaba found itself seriously menaced by the united forces of the curate of Zongolica, Juan Montezuma y Cortés,^[4] and Alarcon. The place had a garrison of 400 or 500 men under Lieutenant-colonel José Manuel Panes. Its only defence was a stockade on the Santa Catalina bridge, half a league from the villa, manned by 100 infantry, thirty cavalry, and a few artillerymen to manage one gun. The independents attacked on the 22d of May, and again on the 28th. They had no difficulty in entering the villa by the Angostura gate. Panes at first concentrated in the Carmen convent, but having neither provisions nor water he evacuated the place and went to Cordoba, after destroying the ammunition he could not carry away, the Carmelites, who were mostly Spaniards, and the rest of the Europeans accompanying him.^[5] The curate of Zongolica, now having the rank of colonel, tried to intercept the royalists on the Escamela bridge; but being attacked by the major of the Tlascala regiment, he fled to the Tuxpango sugar-mill, leaving with the custom house guards his baggage. Marching by night, Panes reached Cordoba early next morning.

At 5 o'clock in the afternoon of the 28th Alarcon and Moreno entered Orizaba. Their men were poorly armed and had but little ammunition, which they consumed that night in salutes to the virgin of Guadalupe. They were soon joined by Montezuma, Francisco Leiva, Padre Sanchez, and Arroyo, the total force being now 1,500 men. Hoping to capture Córdoba, a demand for its surrender was sent to Panes, and refused. Presently, however, the independents learned that a large force of royalist regular troops was coming upon them. A general retreat then set in, the curate of Zongolica, who was the first to move, returning to his town. The viceroy had ordered Llano,^[6] on his return from Cuautla, to march from Puebla with 2,265 men, and attack the insurgents intrenched at Tecamachalco and Tepeaca, being specially desirous of securing 52,000 bales of tobacco which were at Orizaba and Cordoba.^[7] In the morning of May 30th the independents tried to check Llano's advance at the town of Amozoque but were repulsed.^[8] They made a second attempt on the Acatlan and Santiago hills, and a third on the parapets of Tepeaca, but were defeated with the loss of six guns. From Tepeaca, Llano advanced rapidly upon Orizaba, and took it on the 11th of June.^[9] At first he resolved to put the population to the sword, but was prevented through the intercession of the friars of San José de Gracia. Without loss of time he advanced on Córdoba, and Panes returned to Orizaba, but being suspected of insurgent proclivities was superseded by Colonel Andrade.

On the 25th Llano started on his return to Puebla, having in charge 4,098 bales of tobacco. Several parties of independents, commanded by Father Sanchez, Osorio, El Bendito, Manchorro, and others, took up positions on the heights of Aculcingo to interrupt his passage and to capture the tobacco. Llano, however, dislodged them from every place, and arrived at Puebla without loss on the 28th. The tobacco reached Mexico on the 5th of July under a strong escort.

There were many thrilling adventures, many sad episodes, during the war for independence. In March of this year there was lodged in the castle of San Juan de Ulúa José Mariano de Michelena, who, though holding only the rank of captain, had much political influence, and in later years became a prominent statesman. At first he was immured in a dark cell dug out of the rock, and was given only a board for his bed; but his health becoming thereby greatly impaired, the comandante of the fort asked General Urrutia to allow him to be removed to the adjutant's quarters, the petitioner being responsible for his safety. The request was granted; and thus the prisoner came to be placed in relations with the officers of the garrison and with his friends. Among his visitors was a popular young treasury clerk, Cayetano Perez, an enthusiast on behalf of his country's freedom. Putting their heads together, Michelena and Perez soon hit upon a plan to get possession of the castle, and of the men-of-war. They would take a day when a heavy norther was blowing, so that the other ships could not get at them, but they could get at the other ships.^[10] The plan appeared well conceived, and promised success; but alas! in the execution all was lost. Being detected, Perez and several others were arrested on the 18th of March, and hurriedly tried. Perez and five others were sentenced to death, and executed on the 29th of July.^[11] One Molina, to save his own life, accused Michelena, but was unable to prove his words, as Perez, the only one having knowledge of the details, had refused to divulge them. Michelena, Merino, and others, however, being suspected, were sent to Spain, where the first named continued his military career, and rose to be a lieutenant-colonel.

While the royalists were recovering Tepeaca, Tecamachalco, and Orizaba, the independents had been intent on some important places garrisoned by viceregal forces. A conspiracy was planned by a sergeant in Perote—where Olazábal had remained after his loss of the train at Nopalucan—to surrender the fortress. All the leading officers, with Castro Terreño and Olazábal at their head, were to be killed. The plot was detected on the 8th of June, and the conspirators being arrested and tried by court-martial, all were sentenced to death and eight days afterward shot in the castle moat.^[12]

It was now midsummer, and at the capital no news had come from Vera Cruz for three months. Even the ingenuity of the merchants could not invent means to get a letter through.^[13] Further than this, smokers were suffering. Paper was getting scarce at the cigar factory; and the viceroy finally ordered Llano to march with his division to Jalapa, escorting a consignment of flour to Vera Cruz, and bringing back some paper. Llano deemed a small detachment sufficient for the merchandise service; and he would occupy himself meanwhile in bringing under viceregal subjection the towns in the vicinity of Jalapa.^[14] Leaving Puebla on the 3d of July, on the way to Perote Llano was attacked at Tepeyahualco by insurgents, who were defeated and put to flight with the loss of five guns, by Lieutenant-colonel José Moran of the cavalry. Llano found Jalapa beset by the enemy, and provisions scanty. The whole province was in a state of insurrection, and communications so interrupted that in Jalapa, as in Mexico and Puebla, nothing was known of affairs in Vera Cruz. From some insurgent prisoners he learned that Vera Cruz was surrounded by foes, who swarmed up to its very suburbs; that a regiment of the Castilla infantry from Spain and another from Campeche had been unable to cut their way through to the interior, though they had made several sallies; and that a permanent court-martial had been established under Colonel Daoiz, recently arrived from Spain. Llano saw at once that he had to abandon his original plans, and in spite of the deadly season he must go on to the much infected seaport. Taking troops native to that region that he found in Jalapa,^[15] he set out with the flour on the 24th of July, and after some fighting reached Vera Cruz the 30th. He found the once famous Castilla regiment reduced to a few dying men.^[16] On his return to Jalapa, Llano escorted 2,000 mules laden with merchandise, a large number of passengers in vehicles, and forty boxes of mail matter from Spain. At Perote he was joined by Olazábal with a few detachments. From Ojo de Agua, near Puebla, he sent to Castro Terreño on the 27th of August triplicates of his reports to the viceroy, nothing having been hitherto known of his movements owing to his despatches having been intercepted.^[17] The expedition arrived in Mexico on the 5th of September.

The plains of Apam, common to the provinces of Mexico and Puebla, had been but scantily garrisoned since Soto's division marched to Izúcar in December 1811. Owing to this, Tulancingo was assailed, about the middle of February, by 3,000 cavalry and 300 infantry under generals Anaya, Cañas, and Serrano, and colonels Osorno, Olvera, and Guarneros; but the assailants were beaten off by Captain Las Piedras with his small force of a little over 100 men of regular troops, and the royalist auxiliaries.^[18] The hostile parties extended their raids to the city of Tezcuco, whose small garrison made several sallies and prevented their capturing the place. Of all other places, however, most desired was Pachuca, a mining centre, having Spaniards to kill and silver bars to capture. On the 23d of April Serrano undertook the attack with 500 men, and two pieces of artillery managed by Vicente Beristain, a brother of the archdeacon of Mexico.^[19] They soon had possession of all the houses but three, which were held by Madera, and the conde de Casa Alta, who commanded the royalist forces. During the whole of that day the three houses were under fire, particularly the one owned by Villaldea, a rich miner. Night came on, when some of the houses caught fire, and altogether the people were badly frightened. The religious of the apostolic college finally mediated to obtain terms of capitulation, which the insurgents granted.^[20] Next day news came that Vicente Fernandez with a force from Tlahuelilpan was approaching to relieve Pachuca. With some difficulty Madera satisfied the insurgents that there had been no treachery on his part; and to convince them, he went with a priest of the apostolic college to request Fernandez to retire. But during the conference the latter chief noticed that insurgents were occupying positions in his rear; indeed, they had opened fire on his men. He therefore beat a retreat, and the insurgents used this as a pretext to arrest all the Spaniards and convey them to Sultepec.^[21] The viceroy, in ignorance of the occurrences at Pachuca, on the 25th of April despatched 300 men with two howitzers to bring away the silver bars, and provide the place with coin and tobacco; but the force only reached San Cristóbal and returned on the 27th.

The repeated losses thus sustained by the royalists in the last two months greatly troubled Venegas, who in his correspondence with Calleja clearly intimated that the capture of Cuautla was a question of life or death. Had the insurgents acted together under one or more leaders, and on some uniform plan, while the government troops were kept so fully occupied by Morelos, the triumph of the cause would have been at once assured. But the men were not at hand for the emergency; that is, men capable of bringing that too watery mass into a state of concretion, such as to make it serviceable; and the result was that Calleja was allowed to take the place, dispersing the forces engaged in its defence, and leaving the royalist army free to operate in various directions, and to recover the lost towns. All this time that Morelos was nobly struggling for high principles, for liberty, humanity, freedom of thought, and independence of country, large numbers of so-called revolutionists were occupying themselves in labors little better than those of banditti, robbing, murdering, drinking, and gambling. The government was thus enabled to extricate itself from the painful situation late events had placed it in, and again to resume the offensive.

A few days after the siege of Cuautla had begun, there was a movement against the independent cause in the region known as tierra caliente del Sur, in the provinces of Mexico and Puebla. That part of the country had been occupied by Morelos after he defeated a number of royalist commanders, but his control of it was not continuous or assured. There were many towns still recognizing the viceregal authority; and as soon as Morelos found himself pent up in Cuautla, unable to detach any portion of his forces, his agents were soon expelled from the places where he had appointed them.^[22]

The commander of the fifth division of southern militia, Francisco Páris, when on his way to reoccupy the district of Tlapa toward the end of March 1812, was requested by Brigadier Bonavía, commanding at Oajaca, to keep within call, as the city was in danger, a large force of insurgents having entered the Mizteca country. That trouble being over, he again began his march, when a second detention occurred, caused by the insurgents having besieged Régules at Yanhuitlan. Caldelas was despatched to Régules' aid, but as the insurgents raised the siege and went to Huajuapan, those officers invested that town. March and April having passed, it was too late for the expedition to Tiapa, and Páris, aware that Régules and Caldelas had met at Huajuapan, concluded to take up a position at Ayutla, to watch the departure or flight of Morelos, who on being pursued must go by way of Tlapa if he retreated to the coast of Tecpan. He must pass, too, through Ayutla, and there Páris hoped to place him in check^[23] While there, the inhabitants of Chilapa, said to have been intensely loyal to the crown, on hearing of the approach of a royalist party from Ayutla, with the giant Martin Salmeron leading, struck a blow for the royal cause, seizing Francisco Montezuma, the subdelegado, and others of insurgent antecedents, and sent them as prisoners to Páris at Ayutla. Their example was followed at Tixtla, Mochitlan, Petaquillas, Quechultenango, and other neighboring towns; in consequence of which the independent chief Máximo Bravo, finding his position at Chilparicingo untenable, after the artillery and a few muskets had been taken to El Veladero, took refuge at the hacienda of Chichihualco, belonging to his family.^[24] Páris placed Captain Manuel del Cerro in command at Chilapa, and Captain Añorve was also ordered there with a force to support him. Both officers at once organized volunteer companies armed with the muskets that had been hidden when Morelos came. The same measures were adopted at Chilpancingo; indeed, immediately after Morelos escaped from Cuautla and his army became dispersed, there was a general movement throughout all that country in favor of the royal cause.

Among the officers thus dispersed were Leonardo Bravo, José Mariano de la Piedra, and Colonel Manuel Sosa with twenty men, whose whole armament consisted of seven muskets, three fowling-pieces, two pairs of pistols, and five sabres. Journeying south through the valley of Cuernavaca, they arrived, worn out with fatigue, on the 5th of May, three days from Cuautla, at the hacienda of San Gabriel, the property of the archroyalist Gabriel de Yermo, the greater portion of whose laboring men had been serving as teamsters and otherwise to Calleja's army. But the few left to take care of the hacienda were neither less loyal to the crown nor less attached to their employer. They had kept concealed, to meet an emergency, a four-pounder, some muskets, and ammunition for a few days' defence. Led by a Philippine Islander named Domingo Perez, or El Chino, they disarmed the few soldiers and fell upon Bravo and his companions. Bravo and Sosa attempted to defend themselves; the former was thrown down and bound and the latter killed on the spot. Piedra quietly surrendered.^[25] The three were taken to the city of Mexico and there tried, their judge being that bitter enemy of the creoles, Oidor Bataller. Indeed, once consigned to his merciless justice, their fate was sealed; all three were shot on the 14th of September, in the campo del ejido.

Bravo's son Nicolás was the pride of his life. And the father was no less worshipped by the son. They were both men of a generous nature, no less lofty in their aims than self-sacrificing and brave in their methods of achieving them. Had they been anciently of Rome, they would have outdone all the Romans in deeds of true nobility. They were on the side of independence because they loved liberty, and would see their country delivered from this most hateful oppression. Gladly would the viceroy have showered on them his richest gifts had they been willing to serve Spain; but they preferred death with their country delivered, for they knew that some must die, and that thereby deliverance would come.

The viceroy desired specially to win to his side the chivalrous Nicolás, for there was no fairer specimen of youthful manhood to be found on the planet. He had already risen high as an insurgent leader, and enjoyed the fullest confidence and affection of Morelos. Venegas even offered Leonardo Bravo his life if he would prevail upon his son and brothers to abandon the revolution arid accept amnesty.^[26] But the Bravos were not the stuff slaves are made of. Leonardo spurned the offer. And so he died.^[27]

It happened at this time that Nicolás Bravo had well secured in his camp three hundred Spaniards who were his prisoners. Some of them were officers from Spain; some were wealthy hacendados; all of them loved life, as indeed had Leonardo Bravo. Nicolás Bravo's power over these prisoners was absolute. The humane Morelos, even, had told the young chieftain to have them shot, and so avenge his father's death. Venegas expected no less; and it shows at once the value placed upon a Bravo by the viceroy, and his indifference to human life, when he refused any number of captured Spaniards in exchange for Leonardo, as Morelos had offered.

But Nicolás could now have his just revenge; the custom of the war allowed it, and his general awarded it. Three hundred for one; and these not Indians or serfs, but good and pure blue-blooded Spaniards; after all, it was not such a mean price the cause would have for his dear old father's life. Calling them before him, he said:

"Your lives are forfeit. Your master, Spain's minion, has murdered my father, murdered him in cold blood for choosing Mexico and liberty before Spain and her tyrannies. Some of you are fathers, and may imagine what my father felt in being thrust from the world without one farewell word from his son—ay! and your sons may feel a portion of that anguish of soul which fills my breast, as thoughts arise of my father's wrongs and cruel death.

"And what a master is this you serve! For one life, my poor father's, he might have saved you all, and would not. So deadly is his hate that he would sacrifice three hundred of his friends rather than forego this one sweet morsel of vengeance. Even I, who am no viceroy, have three hundred lives for my father's. But there is yet a nobler revenge than all. Go, you are free! Go find your vile master, and henceforth serve him, if you can!"

The inhabitants of Tasco, who were royalists, following the example of the Chilapans, roused themselves to action for the king; those of Iguala and Tepecuacuilco did the same. Royalist companies were hurriedly organized in the haciendas and towns of the cañada de Cuernavaca, who engaged in a hot war on the independents. Thus the whole country from La Cruz del Marqués to the approaches of the port of Acapulco now recognized the viceregal government. The Indians dwelling in the towns near Cuautla, after the place was occupied by Calleja, presented themselves with their curas, petitioning for amnesty, which was granted them.

Viceroy Venegas, with the view of winning the inhabitants of the south to the royal cause, proclaimed on the 11th of May that the course of Morelos at Cuautla, in preferring to suffer misery rather than surrender, was an inhuman act. He depicted him as a cruel man, who had forced the people of Cuautla to perish from famine. These and many other things did he say to blacken Morelos' character. The proclamation ended with a tender of general pardon and forgetfulness of the past to all who would forsake the independent ranks, together with a reward for the capture of Morelos.^[28] It carried with it likewise the threat of certain and pitiless punishment to all who refused. The offer of amnesty was accompanied for greater effect with a pastoral letter of the ecclesiastical chapter ruling the diocese of Mexico after Archbishop Lizana's death. After the fall of Cuautla, there being no further need in this vicinity for Calleja and his army, he returned to Mexico, Llano's division going to Puebla. Fourteen days after his victory, on the 16th of May, Calleja, being quite ill, entered Mexico in a carriage. The artillery, standards, and other military trophies taken at Cuautla were carried in triumph. The prisoners were in the centre of the division. Notwithstanding the apparent satisfaction with the result of the Cuautla campaign and the air of triumph given it, the acerbity existing between Venegas and Calleja became still more imbittered with the fiasco of Morelos' escape; and the former did not miss the opportunity to wound his rival's feelings.^[29] The army of the centre was dissolved, and Calleja resigned. The troops were in corporated in the garrison of the capital, and there after were under the immediate orders of the mayor general, Conde de Alcaraz,^[30]

Venegas now set himself about recovering the places the independents had seized; and to that end he formed a plan of campaign from which he expected brilliant results. But the point about which he felt particular anxiety at this time was Toluca. Soon after the supreme junta settled in Sultepec, leaving his colleagues Liceaga and Verdusco there, the president, Rayon, had placed himself at the head of a respectable number of troops, with his headquarters at the hacienda of La Huerta, and early in April appeared before Toluca with the view of taking the city. The comandante, Porlier, having only 700 men was forced to concentrate them in the town to meet the emergency, also putting the citizens under arms to aid in the defence. Rayon fortified the surrounding positions, cut off communications with Mexico, and constantly threatened the town, against which he made several vigorous though unsuccessful assaults.^[31] The viceroy, as before stated, had not lost sight of the place, and after allowing the army of the centre two days' rest, despatched about 1,500 men—of whom a number were taken out of jail, and others from among the insurgent prisoners—under Colonel Joaquin del Castillo y Bustamante, with seven guns. Castillo tried on the 19th of May to force the pass of Lerma, and failed. The city of Lerma was situated in the middle of the lake formed by the Rio Grande, communicating with Toluca on one side and with the road to Mexico on the other by means of two narrow causeways, one of which was defended by cuts and parapets supported by artillery. Throwing a bridge over the first cut, the assailants captured the parapets, when they encountered other intrenchinents that Castillo had no knowledge of; and the consequence was a precipitate retreat with heavy loss to their en campment in the hacienda of Jajalpa.^[32]

The insurgents gave this affair an undue importance, and Rayon was much censured for not taking advantage of his victory.^[33] Castillo being reenforced with 400 men, two field-guns, and a howitzer, made a second attack, when Rayon abandoned the position in the night of the 22d of May, retreating with his force and artillery to the strong position of Tenango. Castillo tarried in Lerma only long enough to destroy its defences, reaching Toluca on the 26th of May. After driving away the prowling bands that kept supplies from the town, and having increased his force from the garrison, he marched against Tenango, camping on the 2d of June in the hacienda of San Agustin, from which he could see the hill surmounted with artillery and defended by a large army. Castillo then moved his camp opposite the town. During the night of June 5th he directed Enriquez with the cazadores de Lovera and the grenadiers and cazadores de Méjico and Tres Villas to ascend the hill by the Tenancingo road, while Calvillo distracted the enemy's attention by threatening to assail the town, and Aguirre feigned an attack on the Veladero, a point defended by the cura Correa. No precautions against surprise had been taken by the insurgents, and the first intimation they had of an attack was when they saw close upon their batteries Enriquez with his troops guided by Vicente Filisola at the head of the cazadores de Méjico. At the sound of the trumpets of the cazadores de Lovera, which the insurgents heard for the first time, a panic seized them, and without making the slightest resistance they turned and fled. Calvillo then occupied the town, and Aguirre captured the Veladero.^[34] The insurgents sustained a heavy loss. Among the killed were colonels Camacho and Anaya. The royalist casualties were only a few wounded.

The defeat at Tenango deeply affected the friends of the revolution in the cities occupied by the viceregal government, and greatly lowered the prestige of the cause. Indeed, the members of the secret clubs had expected the forces at Tenango to march on the capital, and so end the struggle. Now all was bitter disappointment.

The victorious Castillo hastened to take advantage of the enemy's defeat, despatching next day José Calafat to occupy the fortified towns of Tenancingo and Tecualoya. Calafat found them both abandoned, and was met by the curates and inhabitants, who manifested great joy at his coming.^[35]

Other heavy blows the cause of independence suffered at this time, not the least of which was the discovery by the viceregal government that there were persons in the capital laboring against it. An insignificant party of royalist lancers, thirty-six in number, returning from Lerma to Cuajimalpa, encountered in the monte de las Cruces an insurrectionary party of 500 infantry and cavalry with two guns, commanded by a Frenchman named Laylson and three priests. The royalists made a dash and dispersed the party, slaying several and taking five prisoners, besides the guns, several muskets, ammunition, six mules laden with clothing, twenty saddled horses, and Laylson's papers, among which was Rayon's correspondence with the Guadalupe club.^[36] Among Rayon's captured letters were a number revealing the political relations between members of that society and the chiefs of the revolution. Several persons were arrested on the 30th of June, but were released after a few days' imprisonment.

The royalist commander, Castillo y Bustamante, after taking Tenango rested a few days, and then returned to Toluca, where he began active preparations for a campaign against Sultepec, hoping to capture the members of the revolutionary junta. The district affording large resources, and the junta having no reason to fear surprise from the viceroy's troops, Liceaga and Verdusco had busied themselves in providing war material, while indulging in the formulas of government.^[37] There was much dissension among the members, Rayon's failure at Toluca contributing to bad feeling; for Rayon laid the responsibility of the failure on Liceaga for not keeping him supplied with ammunition. Liceaga, on his side, in a letter to Rayon, showed much displeasure at the appointment of Cos as vicario castrense.^[38] Rayon's defeat at Tenango still more increased the ill feeling, and tended toward the dispersion of the junta, which soon followed. Rayon, foreseeing that Castillo would soon come against them, prevailed on his colleagues at Tiripitio to separate, Liceaga going to Guanajuato as general of the northern provinces, and Verdusco to Michoacan as general of the western division, while Morelos should have command of the south, and Rayon himself retire to his own home, Tlalpujahua, to fortify it, and carry on thence operations in the province of Mexico.^[39] All were to raise as many troops as possible.

These measures accomplished, they were again to meet at such place as should be agreed upon. Informed that Castillo had begun his march from Toluca on the 16th of June, Rayon departed next day for Tlalpujahua, taking with him the printing materials, artillery, and everything of value that could be transported. Liceaga and Verdusco did the same soon after, the former bound to the Bajío of Guanajuato, as before stated, and the latter to Huétamo. The enemy used every effort to capture them, but the natural difficulties of a march in the sierra, rendered still worse by heavy rains, greatly favored the revolutionists, as it took the royalists four days to travel forty-eight miles, the distance between Toluca and Sultepec; so that when they reached the latter place on the 20th of June, it was found abandoned. Several priests and a few citizens who had previously kept in concealment, fearing persecution, reported themselves to the royalists, and through their influence the population of the town returned. Castillo destroyed the factories of cannon and gunpowder; granted amnesty to all insurgents who petitioned for it; organized a military court; and had all prisoners sentenced by it shot. He reëstablished the local government; gathered a considerable quantity of artillery and other arms and ammunition that the independents had left, and sent them to Mexico. The trophies, showing the advantages lately gained, which included thirty-one pieces of artillery captured at Tenango and found in Sultepec, were conveyed in triumph through the capital.^[40] Castillo then divided his force into several columns, one of which under Enriquez was sent in pursuit of the revolutionary junta, which having had so much the start could not be overtaken. Enriquez, however, succeeded in coming up with Rayon's artillery and capturing five guns.

One party under José Calafat went to Zacualpan, placed itself in communication with troops at Tasco, and kept that mining district well provided. Rafael Calvillo, acting with great activity, sent detachments to Tejupilco and places near Zitácuaro, and brought under subjection all the towns of the sierra. Aguirre and Pardo with other parties kept up an active warfare against insurgents. Castillo himself extended operations in the direction of Ixtlahuaca, left garrisons in the important places, and returned to Toluca. Several unimportant encounters followed. It may be said, however, that from this time the whole valley of Toluca for thirty leagues as far as Ixtlahuaca, was subject to the viceroy's authority, and communication was open with Mexico.

 

 

1. The insurgent chiefs commanding the besiegers were José Sanchez de la Vega, vicar of Clacotepec the same who repulsed royalist brigadier, Llano, at Izúcar, the cura Tapia, the Franciscan friar Ibargüen, Ramon Sesma, Machorro, Arroyo, and others. The parish priest and other respectable ecclesiastics were present at the signing of the stipulations. After the garrison laid down their arms, on the 6th of May, the Spaniards were confined in the public jail, and their shops and dwellings were sacked. Hundreds of families were thus reduced to beggary. Next day the Spaniards were stripped of their clothes, bound in groups of three, and by the guerrilla Arroyo conveyed on foot to Techamachalco, where three of them were shot, the son of the subdelegado Sanchez, one of the victims, being compelled to be present at his father's execution. Hearing that the people of Techamachalco were on the point of rising to oppose the executions, Arroyo had the other prisoners, forty-three in number, taken out and shot. One of the unfortunates was a Frenchman named Basil Mazas, a man noted for his acts of benevolence and charity. A few days before, the Spaniards who capitulated in San Andrés Chalchicomula had been shot by order of the priest Sanchez de la Vega. Gaz. de Mex. 1812, iii. 774-7; Bustamante, Cuad. Hist. ii. 130-1; Alamas Hist. Mej. iii 222-5.
2. From its position between Tehuacan and Orizaba, where the hill of the same name terminates, it was at the time almost the only passage between Puebla and Orizaba, Córdoba, and Jalapa, the road over Aculcingo not having yet been made.
3. Paz's report to General Cárlos Urrutia, commander at Vera Cruz, on the 24th of March, Gaz. de Mex., 1812, iii. 417-20.
4. He held as a descendant of Montezuma a cacicazgo in Tepeji de las Sedas. Bustamante, who knew him well, says he was a perfect image of the emperor, but would make a better preacher than soldier. Cuadro Hist., ii. 135-6. Alaman did not know how the descent came. Hist. Mej., iii. 226. It was he who sent the lawyer Argüelles to confer with Rosains and Osorno.
5. Panes' reports, in Gaz. de Mex., 1812, iii. 781-8, 794-6; Orizava, Ocurrencias, 4-15; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, i. 386.
6. In order that Llano might attend to the campaign, the viceroy appointed the mariscal de campo, conde de Castro Terreño, a grandee who had come to Mexico for other purposes, military and civil governor of Puebla, a position that he accepted out of consideration for the viceroy. Arechederreta, Apunt. Hist., May 25, 1812; Alaman, Hist. Mej., iii. 164.
7. This was about all the viceroy had to raise revenue from at this time. The number of the royalist force as given in the text was found in the office of the viceroy's secretary. Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., ii. 136.
8. Llano's report to the viceroy is dated June 3d. Gaz. de Mex., 1812. iii. 711-16.
9. June 10th he assaulted the batteries placed by the curate Alarcon on the hills of Huilapa, and dislodged the insurgents. The next day he met with the same success at the entrance of La Angostura. Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., ii. 137; Mendíbil, Res. Hist., 131-2; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, i. 387.
   hist. mex., vol. iv. 26
10. Michelena detailed on the 2d of Oct. 1830, the plan to Alaman, who also obtained a narrative from Manuel Perez, a brother of Cayetano. The scheme was to win over the most reliable officers of the Vera Cruz regiment, being sure of the artillery detachment, who would do what they were asked to by their commander, Pedro Nolasco Valdés, he being interested in the success of the plan. Perez's part was to seize the bastions and gate of the pier, for which he had made arrangements beforehand. The undertaking at this part was deemed practicable. Alaman, Hist. Mej., iv. 88-90, ap., 3-5.
11. The five others were José Evaristo Molina, José Ignacio Murillo, Bartolomé Flores, José Nicasio Arizmendi, and José Prudencio Silva. Six years after the independence was secured, the state congress had a tablet placed in the town hall, commemorative of the event, and containing the names of tho six victims.
12. Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., ii. 144-5, gives the text of a letter found in the correspondence of the conde de Castro Terreño with Venegas, supposed to have been written in Jalapa to Gen. Dávila in Vera Cruz. Among those executed was Vicente Acuña, who had been banished by the junta de seguridad, and had returned under the general amnesty. Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 233.
13. Arechederreta, Apunt. Hist., said early in July that the last advices were of April 10th.
14. Llano's reports of his expedition to Vera Cruz are in Gaz. de Mex., 1812, iii. 831-2, 921, 925-9; Bustamante, Cuadro Hist., ii. 142-6.
15. Before setting out he marched against a rebel junta at Naulingo, which hurried away at his approach, on the 18th of July, leaving five guns and some other arms.
16. It originally had 1,300 men, 500 of whom perished of the black-vomit; the other 800 reached Jalapa. From Campeche came also 1,300, of whom 500 reënforced the garrison of Orizaba, and the rest remained at Vera Cruz.
17. His despatches were intercepted at El Cármen, and out of revenge he now burned the town. Gaz. de Mex., 1812, iii. 921.
18. Olvera was shot dead by the chaplain. It is noticed that several priests joined hotly in the fighting. Gaz. de Mex., 1812, iii. 207-11.
19. The place was in charge of Lieutenant-colonel Madera, who had brought a few men from Tulancingo. From the capital had been sent 25 dragoons under Sub-lieutenant Juan José Andrade, but he went over to the enemy. Riofrio, MS., in Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 577.
20. The terms of capitulation were: All arms and valuables of the royal treasury, including upwards of 200 bars of silver, were to be surrendered, and in consideration thereof the lives of the soldiers and Spaniards were guaranteed, and passports were to be given the latter to go where they pleased. The troops were left free to join the revolution if they desired; many of the men and one Spaniard, named Videgaray, did so. Bustamante, Cuadro Hist., i. 369-73.
21. Madera was left free and joined Las Piedras at Tulancingo. He was never again trusted with a command. The conde de Casa Alta, though carried to Sultepec, was suspected of having gone there not unwillingly because he was of the family of the late viceroy Iturrigaray, and had been his master of the horse. His subsequent conduct strengthened the suspicion. The count certainly remained with the independents till his death, which occurred shortly after from disease in a small town of Michoacan. The insurgents divided the booty; a portion of the bars were sent to Rayon, and a portion reserved for Morelos; some were coined by Osorno under Beristain's direction, at Zacatlan. It was stated that Serrano paid one silver bar for a pair of fancy shoes of the kind used by the country people at their feasts. The infringement of the capitulation at Pachuca, sustained by the junta at Sultepec, was an evidence that Doctor Cos' plan de guerra really had no weight with the existing powers. The Spaniards, with the exception of three who escaped, were shot. It was alleged that they had attempted to escape. Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 577-81; iii. 152-3; Zamacois, Hist. Mej., viii. 348-52; Gaz. de Mex., 1812, iii. 717-20.
22. Most of the sugar estates in that country were owned by Spaniards, who, besides affording to a large number of inhabitants the means of earning a livelihood, had attached them by continued acts of kindness. Morelos had caused the seizure of estates, and placed in them overseers to receive the produce, whose value was applied to the support of the independent forces. But the employés and servants, when they saw that Morelos could send no support to the overseers, forthwith expelled them, and the control of the estates reverted to their owners. Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 534-5.
23. See his report from Ometepec, April 11th, in Gaz. de Mex., 1812, iii. 898-904.
24. See Calleja's letter to the viceroy enclosing one of Máximo Bravo to his brother, the brigadier Miguel Bravo, of April 29, 1812, from Zumpango. Gaz. de Mex., 1812, iii. 491-4.
25. Calleja in his despatch of May 6th speaks of the capture of Piedra, Bravo, and Perez, the last named a lieutenant-colonel who with a small party of twelve, also fugitives from Cuautla, fell into the hands of the San Gabriel men a few days after the others. Gaz. de Mex., 1812, iii. 488, 722-4; Negrete, Mex. Sig. XIX., v. 13; Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., ii. 73. An extract of the proceedings at the trial of Bravo and Piedra, published in the Diario de Mejico, Sept. 24th, shows the former to have been only a brigadier, and the latter to have had no military rank, though he had been employed collecting tithes under authority of Morelos, whose compadre he was. All the prisoners were sent to a place of safety in the barranca of Tilzapotla. Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 535-7.
26. Nicolás Bravo, though authorized by Morelos to save his father's life by accepting the proffered boon, declined, saying that he had lost faith in viceregal pledges, for he remembered the brothers Orduña at Tepecuacuilco. The viceroy on his part refused the exchange tendered him by Morelos of a number of Spanish prisoners for Leonardo Bravo. Alaman, Hist. Mej., iii. 250-01; Meníibil, Resúmen Hist., 140-1; Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., ii. 161-2; Negrete, Mex. Sig. XIX., v. 191-5, 312-3.
27. The Mexican government on the 19th of July, 1823, ordered a monument erected to the memory of the old patriot. The governor and ayuntamiento of the district of Mexico decreed Sept. 14, 1827, that the monument should be paid for out of the public funds; and the corner-stone was laid two days later by the junta patriotica of the capital. Mex. Col. Ord. y Dec., ii. 149-51; Cor. Fed. Mex. (1812, Sept. 21), 2-3.
28. 'Si hubiese alguno de vosotros que logre aherrojar la fugitiva fiera. . .el gobierno os ofrece una recompensa honrosa, útil, y proporcionada,' for liberating the world of 'uno de los mayores monstruos que ha abortado.' Gaz. de Mex., 1812, iii. 503-5.
29. Venegas, answering Calleja's confidential letter wherein he exaggerated his victory at Cuautla, thus slurs him: 'Let us be thankful to that good natured clergyman for having spared us the shame of raising the siege.' Among the imputations against Calleja, perhaps not the least well grounded was that of the enormous expenditures he incurred on his expeditions. The expenses of the Cuautla siege, according to official documents, amounted to two million dollars, an enormous sum, obtained in the usual way by exactions. Mendíbil, Resumen Hist., 118-19.
30. The viceroy, with the double view of utilizing the troops, and of de priving Calleja of their support, diminished the garrison, despatching many parties into the country. He was well informed of what was taking place in Calleja's house. Negrete, Mex. Sig. XIX., v. 13-14.
31. On the 18th of April Rayon lost in one of his failures a portion of his artillery, and had to retire to Amatepec, between Toluca and Lerma, and set fire to the hacienda La Garcesa. Negrete, Mex. Sig. XIX., v. 41-2.
32. This reverse was attributed to lack of skill on Castillo's part, his occupation prior to the war having been that of a trader. Porlier had written that the reënforcements should be sent him by another route, but his letters had been intercepted. Alaman, Hist. Mej., iii. 142-5; Mendíbil, Resúm. Hist., 121-8; El Ilustrador Americano, no. 1, in Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., iv. 174-5.
33. The defenders of the pass were commanded by Juan Manuel Alcántara, a man who could neither read nor write, and who, according to Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., ii. 99, 122-8, sold to Canon Velasco for two horses the glory of having his name inserted in the newspapers of Sultepec as the hero of that action; evidently a false story that of the sale, Velasco's report to Rayon, giving Alcántara full credit for his defence of the position.
34. The insurgent account, not entitled to credence, says that only 500 men defended the hill and town, and that they lost barely 60 men from the 2d to the 6th. El Ilustrador Am., 1812, June 13, no. 6; Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., iv. 232. The royalists found much war material and provisions; also a quantity of printed matter, and Rayon's correspondence. The latter fled down a ravine; but the young men, among them two lawyers that left Mexico to join him and had not yet learned to run away, were taken, and together with the other prisoners were shot. Among those thus put to death was the vicar of the place, Father Tirado, who being fond of hunting had a fowling piece in his house. Bustamante, Cuadro Hist., ii. 125; Alaman, Hist. Mex., iii. 145-6; Rivera, Gob. Mex., ii. 41.
35. The Indians aided his men in taking down the intrenchments. Gaz. de Mex., 1812, iii. no. 250, 665-8.
36. The gallantry of the victors was highly appreciated in government circles, and a subscription of $2,793 was raised to give them a substantial reward. The lieutenant got $260; the ensign, $224; the sergeant, $108; the corporal, $88; each private, $57; two wounded privates, $87½ each. Gaz. de Mex., 1812, iii. 571, 596, 618-20, 668.
37. Padre Bringas, in his arguments against Doctor Cos' plans, says that Liceaga and Verdusco during the holy week observed the same ceremonial as the viceroy at the cathedral of Mexico; and that Verdusco presented him self to receive the communion in a general's uniform with a clergyman's stole. Alaman, on the authority of Father José María Salazar, a friar of San Diego, denies the statement, saying that Verdusco appeared simply in his ecclesiastical robe. Hist. Méj., iii. 150. Among the junta's acts was one appointing Doctor Cos vicario castrense, who removed several priests from their parishes, arrested and sentenced to the chain-gang some ecclesiastics, and granted marriage dispensations. This brought out an energetic decree of the diocesan chapter of Mexico, declaring his acts null, and fulminating censures. This same body recommended to the viceroy the removal of Father Correa from Nopala, and the deprivation of his prebend in the colegiata of Guadalupe from Doctor Velasco. Both priests were excommunicated for having joined the insurgents. Gaz. de Mex., 1812, iii. 709, 711.
38. Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., ii. 122; Bringas, Impugn.; Alaman, Hist. Méj., ii. 443-5.
39. An act to that effect was adopted on the 16th of June, and published by edict, and in El Ilustrador Americano of the 20th of June. Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., iv. 280-1; Negrete, Mex. Sig. XIX., v. 260-2; Alaman, Hist. Mej., iii. 149-53; Rivera, Gob. Mex., ii. 41.
    hist. mex., vol. iv. 27
40. Particulars are given in the commander's report from Toluca, August 8th. Gaz. de Mex., 1812, iii. 905-20.