want of arms rendered them incapable of making a stand. Shortly after five o'clock, Calleja encamped for the night on the hill of Valenciana.
The result of the day's fighting was the capture of twenty-two pieces of artillery,[1] the dispersion of a body variously estimated at 10,000 to 70,000 Indians,[2] and the investment of the city on the north and south. Of the number of revolutionists slain it is impossible to form any estimate with certainty. The ayuntamiento places it at 8,000,[3] but this is doubtless an exaggeration, and Alaman's estimate of 1,500 is probably not wide of the mark.[4] The loss on the side of the royalists was insignificant; according to Calleja's first report to the viceroy it was limited to four killed and seven wounded;[5] the casualties in the column led by Flon raised the number of wounded to about a score, a convincing proof of the want of forethought displayed by the insurgent leaders in presuming that Calleja would necessarily march up the Marfil road, and in mounting their cannon so as to be immovably directed.
Had Allende been supported by Hidalgo and Iriarte, and had Calleja been assailed in the rear ac-
- ↑ According to the detailed report of Calleja, dated December 12th. In a previous report, written at 12 o'clock on the night of the 25th, he states that 25 pieces of artillery were taken. These cannon were made by order of Hidalgo during his campaign in the direction of Mexico; they were cast by the engineer Rafael Dávalos, who also assisted Casimiro Chovell, superintendent of the Valenciana mines and works, in sinking the blasts on the Marfil road. Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 29.
- ↑ Calleja states that the inhabitants of Guanajuato estimated their number at 70,000. Gaz. de Mex. (1810), i. 1059. Alaman considers this a great exaggeration, remarking that there could not have been even half the number, 'pues no concurrió á la accion mas que la gente reunida en algunos puntos comarcanos, y una parte de la plebe de la ciudad y de las minas.' Hist. Mej., ii. 48. Liceaga conjectures that the insurgents did not number more than 10,000. Adic. y Rectific., 154.
- ↑ Guan. Pub. Vind. Ayunt., 54.
- ↑ The bodies of a considerable number of the fallen were never recovered from the barrancas, the shafts of old mines, and other inaccessible places. The cura of Marfil, who was charged with the collection and burial of the remains, reports on the 10th of December that the total number interred was 246, but thinks he succeeded in collecting only a small proportion. Bustamante, Cuad. Hist, i. 108-9. Liceaga considers that scarcely 400 insurgents fell. Adic. y Rectific., 154.
- ↑ Gaz. de Mex. (1810), i. 994.
