this success had been accomplished induced Calleja to follow up his advantage the same day, it being as yet only eleven o'clock.
His plan was to assault in detail the ten positions occupied by the enemy on each side of the Marfil road, upon which they had trained their artillery. For this purpose he divided his army into two columns, one of which was placed under the command of Flon, who was instructed to dislodge the insurgents from the heights on the right of the road; while the other was led by Calleja in person against the batteries on the left. Both generals were successful, and one after the other the enemy's positions were taken with little loss to the assailants. Flon, though severely bruised in the left shoulder by a slung stone, gained the heights on the right, and finally drew up his forces on the hill of San Miguel and the height of las Carreras, both of which positions commanded the city. Meanwhile Calleja, advancing up the Marfil road some little distance, turned off to the left by that leading to the real de minas of Santa Ana, thus avoiding; the defile where the blasts had been prepared.[1] While his infantry dislodged the enemy from their positions the cavalry scoured the glens and more level ground, cutting off the retreat of the insurgents, slaughtering them without mercy, and driving them in their panic over the precipices.[2] This series of assaults lasted for more than six hours; the difficulties encountered by the loyalists being from the steepness of the heights, rather than from opposition of the enemy, whose
- ↑ Bustamante states that information of this plan of the insurgents was given by a regidor of Guanajuato 'que merecía el mejor concepto entre sus conciudadanos,' and that his correspondence with Venegas was intercepted by Villagran, but too late to be of any benefit to Allende. Cuad. Hist., i. 100. Alaman reasonably assumes that the regidor intimated at was Fernando Perez Marañon; but throws considerable doubt upon the statement of Bustamante, remarking that, 'Sus noticias cuando no espresa de qué orígen las toma merecen muy poca confianza.' Hist. Mej., ii. 47. Negrete considers it improbable that Marañon gave the information. Mex. Siglo XIX., ii. 320.
- ↑ 'La caballería. . . cortaba á los enemigos en las cañadas y los persequia en su huida pereciendo muchos a sus manos, quedando el campo lleno de cadáveres, y otros precipitados en las barrancas de este pièlago de montañas.' Calleja, in Gaz. de Mex. (1810), i. 1057.
