cided not to give battle, but effect a retreat under cover of a show of resistance.[1] Calleja, undeterred by the difficulties presented by the enemy's position, commenced the attack with three columns of infantry,[2] on the morning of the 7th of November. For some twenty minutes the royalists pushed on,[3] exposed to the sluggish fire of the insurgents, whose cannon-balls flew high above their heads. Unscathed they reached the foot of the steep on which the enemy was posted, but when the stormed columns had scaled the heights, the foe had fled. Meanwhile Calleja had marked the disorder in the revolutionary ranks, caused, as he supposed, by his well directed fire; and thereupon ordered the cavalry on his right flank to attack the enemy's left, which could only be done by a long detour.
Doubtless it would have pleased him—as he affirmed that he did[4]— to commit great slaughter by his cavalrymen who pursued the enemy two and a half leagues over the hills and through the glen; but the truth is, they did not kill a hundred.[5] He lost, however, only
- ↑ Hidalgo published at Celaya on the 13th of Nov. a circular giving an account of the affair, assigning as a reason for his not engaging the enemy his want of ammunition. He says: 'Solo se entretubo un fuego lento y a mucha distancia, entro tanto se daba lugar a que se retirara la gente sin experimentar quebranto, como lo verifico.' Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc. ii. 221. A quantity of cannon-balls and grape-shot and 120 cans of powder were left on the field. Bustamante, Campañas de Calleja, 22. Zerecero regards the sudden flight of the insurgents as a skilfully executed retreat, which the leaders considered necessary in the present condition of their troops, and to effect which they were willing to sacrifice their artillery. Mem. Rev. Mex., 114, 117.
- ↑ Calleja boasts of the coolness and precision displayed by his well drilled troops. Gaz. de Mex. (1810), i. 968. At the same time Zerecero was informed by his uncle, José Azpeitia, an officer in the regiment of la Corona, that those troops, and a part of the second battalion of la Columna, were wavering in their allegiance when the order was given to advance. Mem. Rev. Mex., 115. Bustamante inclines to this opinion. 'He hablado,' he says, 'con persona presencial de este suceso, la cual me ha asegurado que los cuerpos principales del ejercito real estuvieron vacilantes y á punto de pasarse.' Cuad. Hist., i. 91-2.
- ↑ García Conde timed the duration of the firing, and states: 'En veinte y dos minutos sesó el fuego.' Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc. Indep., ii. 275.
- ↑ Calleja estimated the entire loss to the insurgents in killed, wounded, and prisoners at 10,000. 'Pasa de cinco mil,' he says, 'el número de los tendidos en el campo.' And he adds this pious reflection: 'Dexando el campo lleno de cadáveres, y el espectáculo horrible que presentaba, y de que son responsables ante Dios y los hombres, los traidores Hidalgo, Allende y sus sequaces.' Gaz. de Mex. (1810), i. 909.
- ↑ Manuel Perfecto Chavez, the justice of Aculco, in an official despatch
