Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican/Volume 1/Book 1/Chapter 7
CHAPTER VII.
1520—1521.
After a short and brilliant reign of four months, Cuitlahua, the successor of Montezuma, died of small pox, which, at that period, raged throughout Mexico, and he was succeeded by Guauhtemotzin, or, Guatemozin, the nephew of the two last Emperors. This sovereign ascended the Aztec throne in his twenty-fifth year, yet he seems to have been experienced as a soldier and firm as a patriot.
It is not to be imagined that the Aztec court was long ignorant of the doings of Cortéz. It was evident that the bold and daring Spaniard had not only been unconquered in heart and resolution, but that he even meditated a speedy return to the scene of his former successful exploits. The Mexicans felt sure that, upon this occasion, his advent and purposes would be altogether undisguised, and that when he again descended to the valley in which their capital nestled, he would, in all probability, be prepared to sustain himself and his followers in any position his good fortune and strong arm might secure to him. The news, moreover, of his firm alliance with the Tlascalans and all the discontented tributaries of the Aztec throne, as well as of the reinforcements and munitions he received from Vera Cruz, was quickly brought to the city of Mexico; and every suitable preparation was made, by strengthening the defences, encouraging the vassals, and disciplining the troops, to protect the menaced empire from impending ruin.
Nor was Cortéz, in his turn, idle in exciting the combined forces of the Spaniards and Indians for the last effort which it was probable he could make for the success of his great enterprise.
His Spanish force consisted of nigh six hundred men, forty of whom were cavalry, together with eighty arquebusiers and crossbowmen. Nine cannon of small calibre, supplied with indifferent powder, constituted his train of artillery. His army of Indian allies is estimated at the doubtless exaggerated number of over one hundred thousand, armed with the maquahuatil, pikes, bows, arrows, and divided into battalions, each with its own banners, insignia and commanders. His appeal to all the members of this motley array was couched in language likely to touch the passions, the bigotry, the enthusiasm and avarice of various classes; and, after once more crossing the mountains, and reaching the margin of the lakes, he encamped on the 31st of December, 1520, within the venerable precincts of Tezcoco, "the place of rest."
At Tezcoco, Cortéz was firmly planted on the eastern edge of the valley of Mexico, in full sight of the capital which lay across the lake, near its western shore, at the distance of about twelve miles. Behind him, towards the sea-coast, he commanded the country, as we have already related, while, by passes through lower spurs of the mountains, he might easily communicate with the valleys of which the Tlascalans and Cholulans were masters.
Fortifying himself strongly in his dwelling and in the quarters of his men, in Tezcoco, he at once applied himself to the task of securing such military positions in the valley and in the neighborhood of the great causeway between the lakes as would command an outlet from the capital by land, and enable him to advance across the waters of Tezcoco without the annoyance of enemies who might sally forth from strongholds on his left flank. On his right, the chain of lakes, extending farther than the eye can reach, furnished the best protection he could desire. Accordingly, he first of all reduced and destroyed the ancient city of Iztapalapan,—a place of fifty thousand inhabitants, distant about six leagues from the town of Tezcoco,—which was built on the narrow isthmus dividing the lake of that name from the waters of Chalco. He next directed his forces against the city of Chalco, lying on the eastern extremity of the lake that bore, its name, where his army was received in triumph by the peaceful citizens after the evacuation of the Mexican garrison. Such were the chief of his military and precautionary expeditions, until the arrival of the materials for the boats or brigantines which Martin Lopez, and his four Spanish assistant carpenters, had already put together and tried on the waters of Zahuapan; and which, after a successful experiment, they had taken to pieces again and borne in fragments to Tezcoco.
Early in the spring of 1521, Cortéz entrusted his garrison at Tezcoco to Sandoval, and, with three hundred and fifty Spaniards, and nearly all his Indian allies, departed on an expedition designed to reconnoitre the capital. He passed from his stronghold northwardly around the head of the lakes north of Tezcoco,—one of which is now called San Cristoval,—and took possession of the insular town of Xaltocan. Passing thence along the western edge of the vale of Anahuac or Mexico, he reached the city of Tacuba, west of the capital, with which so many disastrous recollections were connected on his first sad exit from the imperial city. During this expedition the troops of the conqueror were almost daily engaged in skirmishes with the guerilla forces of the Aztecs; yet, notwithstanding their constant annoyance and stout resistance, the Spaniards were invariably successful and even managed to secure some booty of trifling value. After a fortnight of rapid marching, fighting and reconnoitering, Cortéz and his men returned to Tezcoco. Here he was met by an embassy from the friendly Chalcans and pressed for a sufficient force to sustain them against the Mexicans, who despatched the warriors of certain neighboring and loyal strongholds to annoy the inhabitants of a town which had exhibited a desire to fraternize with the invading Spaniards. Indeed, the Aztecs saw the importance of maintaining the control of a point which commanded the most important avenue to their capital from the Atlantic coast. The wearied troops of Cortéz were in no plight to respond to the summons of the Chalcans at that moment, for their hurried foray and incessant conflicts with the enemy had made them anxious for the repose they might justly expect in Tezcoco. Nevertheless, Cortéz did not choose to rely upon his naval enterprise alone; but, conscious as he was of holding the main key of the land as well as water, he despatched, without delay, his trusty Sandoval with three hundred Spanish infantry and twenty horse to protect the town of Chalco and reduce the hostile fortifications in its vicinity. This duty he soon successfully performed. But the Aztecs renewed the assault on Chalco with a fleet of boats, and were again beaten off with the loss of a number of their nobles, who were delivered by the victors to Sandoval whom Cortéz had sent back to support the contested town as soon as the news of the fresh attack reached him.
By this time the brigantines were nearly completed, and the canal dug by which they were to be carried to the waters of the lake, for, at that time, the town of Tezcoco was distant from its margin. He dared not trust these precious materials for his future success beyond the shelter of his citadel in Tezcoco, since every effort had been already made by hostile and marauding parties to destroy them; and he was therefore obliged to undergo the trouble of digging this canal, about half a league in length, in order to launch his vessels when the moment for final action arrived.
Nor was his heart uncheered by fresh arrivals from the old world. Two hundred men, well provided with arms and ammunition, and with upwards of seventy horses,—coming most probably from Hispaniola,—found their way from Vera Cruz to Tezcoco, and united themselves with the corps of Cortéz.
In the meantime the Emperor again directed his arms against his recreant subjects of Chalco, which he seemed resolved to subdue and hold at all hazards, so as effectually to cut off the most important land approach to his capital. Envoys arrived in the Spanish camp with reports of the danger that menaced them, and earnest appeals for efficient support. This time, Cortéz resolved to lead the party destined for this service, and, on the 5th of April, set out with thirty horsemen, three hundred infantry and a large body of Tlascalans and Tezcocans, to succor a city whose neutrality, at least, it was important, as we have already shown, should eventually be secured. He seems to have effected, by his personal influence in Chalco and its neighborhood, what his lieutenant Sandoval had been unable to do by arms, so that, he not only rendered a large number of loyal Aztecs passive, but even secured the co-operation of additional auxiliaries from among the Chalcans and the tribes that dwelt on the borders of their lake.
Cortéz was not, however, content with this demonstration against his near neighbors, but, resolved, now that he was once more in the saddle, to cross the sierra that hemmed in the vale of Anahuac, on the south, and to descend its southern slopes on a visit to the warmer regions that basked at their feet. Accordingly he prosecuted his southern march through large bodies of harassing skirmishers, who hung upon the rear and flanks of his troop, and annoyed it with arrows and missiles, which they hurled from the crags as his men thrided the narrow defiles of the mountains. Passing through Huaxtepec and Jauhtepec, he arrived on the ninth day of his march, before the strong town of Guauhnahuac, or Cuernavaca, as it is now known in the geography of Mexico. It was the capital of the Tlahuicas, and an important and wealthy tributary of the Aztecs. Here too he encountered hostile resistance which he quickly overcame. His name as a successful warrior had preceded him among these more effeminate races, and the trembling lords of the territory soon submitted to his mercy. Departing from Cuernavaca, Cortéz turned again northwards, and ascending the sierra in a new direction re-entered the valley of Anahuac or Mexico, by the main route which now penetrates the southern portion of its rim. From the summits of these mountains, where the cool air of the temperate clime sings through the limbs and tassels of hardy pines, Cortéz swooped down upon Xochimilco, or the "field of flowers," where he was again encountered by guerillas and more formidable squadrons from the Aztec capital which was but twelve miles distant. Here, again, after several turns in the tide of fortune, the Spaniards were triumphant and obtained a rich booty. From Xochimilco the little band and the auxiliaries advanced, among continual dangers, around the western margin of the lakes, and, skirting the feet of the mountains, attained, once more, the town of Tacuba.
The conqueror had thus circled the valley, and penetrated the adjacent southern vale, in his two expeditions. Wherever he went, the strange weapons of his Spaniards, the singular appearance of his mounted men, and his uniform success, served to inspire the natives with a salutary dread of his mysterious power. He now knew perfectly the topography of the country,—for he was forced to be his own engineer as well as general. He had become acquainted with the state of the Aztec defences, as well as with the slender hold the central power of the empire retained over the tributary tribes, towns, and districts which had been so often vexed by taxation to support a voluptuous sovereign and avaricious aristocracy. He found the sentiment of patriotic union and loyalty but feeble among the various populations he visited. The ties of international league had every where been adroitly loosened by the conqueror, either through his eloquence or his weapons; and, from all his careful investigations, both of character and country, he had reason to believe that the realm of Mexico was at length almost within his grasp. The capital was now encircled with a cordon of disloyal cities. Every place of importance had been visited, conquered, subdued, or destroyed in its moral courage or natural allegiance. But Tacuba was too near the capital to justify him in trusting his jaded band within so dangerous a neighborhood.
Accordingly, he did not delay a day in that city, but, gathering his soldiers as soon as they were refreshed, he departed for Tezcoco by the northern journey around the lakes. His way was again beset with difficulties. The season of rain and storm in those lofty regions had just set in. The road was flooded, and the soldiers were forced to plough through mud in drenched garments. But as they approached their destination, Sandoval came forth to meet them, with companions who had freshly arrived from the West Indies; and, besides, he bore the cheering news that the brigantines were ready to be launched for the last blow at the heart of the empire.