of a score of horsemen, intervened and entreated him to surrender, representing that resistance would be useless. Finding himself unsupported by his men, he laid aside his weapon, and with undisturbed serenity yielded himself a prisoner. Well might he have cursed Allende, and the want of watchfulness and generalship that brought them all to such a pass, after wresting the management from his hands.
So Elizondo's treachery triumphed. In his power were now all the great chiefs and originators of the revolution.[1] Never was plot more perfidiously planned, or more successfully accomplished. Leaving his prisoners securely bound and in charge of a strong force, Elizondo at the head of 150 men now marched against the main body, consisting of some 1,500, a league behind. The fighting was all on one side. The artillerymen in the van were slain, a portion of the troops which followed passed over to Elizondo, and the rest were dispersed. About forty of the revolutionists were slain, 893 taken prisoners, and all their guns, equipage, and treasure fell into the hands of the victors.[2]
The only person of note who escaped was Iriarte,[3] who fled at the first attack upon the artillery. This,
- ↑ The captured leaders consisted of four members of regular orders, eight of the secular clergy, and 49 officers of all grades. An official list can be found in Negrete, Mex. Sig. XIX., iii. 144-5, and Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., ii. 418-9.
- ↑ This account is mainly from the report of the provisional governor Herrera, in Gaz. de Mex., 1811., ii. 360-3, the same source which supplied Calvillo, Alaman, and Negrete. According to Vela, the amount of treasure captured in silver bars and coin was about 2,000,000 dollars. Gaz. de Mex., 1811 ii. 321. Important documents in Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., ii. 416-24, 489-90; 517-18, have also been consulted. Elizondo met with his death not long after. In 1813 he went on an expedition to Texas, and in Sept. was mortally wounded while in bed by one of his lieutenants, who, it is asserted, was losing his reason by witnessing the executions ordered by Elizondo. The name of this avenger of Hidalgo was Serrano. Elizondo died on the bank of the river San Marcos, and was there buried. Bastamante, Cuad. Hist. , i. 349-50.
- ↑ Gaz. de Mex., 1811, ii. 320. Negrete, however, considers it doubtful whether Iriarte accompanied the retreating chiefs. 'Es punto, pues, que no se puede resolver con datos fehacientes si iria ó no.' Mex. Sig. XIX., iii. 136-7. Rayon's statement, however, that Allende took Iriarte with him, and that the latter returned, removes all doubt. Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., v. 588.
