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Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/336

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320
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE JUNTA DE ZITÁCUARO.

made arrangements with Cruz to send a portion of his forces in the same direction for the purpose of coöperating with Empáran, whom it was his intention to despatch to Lagos.[1] Calleja's plan was to occupy with the main divisions of his army the district extending from Lagos to Querétaro, thus keeping in subjection the most important part of the country, and being in a position to hasten quickly to the assistance of the forces operating on the north and south of this line. The carrying-out of this plan was, however, frustrated to some extent by the development of events which necessitated the employment of the heavy divisions of Empáran and Linares at other points, the latter being despatched to the relief of Valladolid, as already related, and the former being sent to Zitácuaro. The departure of these forces from Guanajuato exposed that province, and even Querétaro, to imminent risk; and Calleja, ordering Diego García Conde to move to San Felipe with the division he commanded at San Luis Potosí, and Miguel de Campo to station him self at Salamanca, hastened to Leon, whence he proceeded to Guanajuato, entering the city on the 20th of June.

When Calleja returned to San Luis Potosí after his victory at Calderon, he found himself in a vortex of insurrection. No sooner had the army of the centre marched from Guanajuato for Guadalajara than a number of insurgent bands sprung into existence in various parts of the province. The most prominent among their leaders was Albino García, commonly called El Manco,[2] who in the neighborhood of Salamanca and Santiago carried on hostilities with such daring and skill that he became one of the most celebrated guerrilla chiefs of the revolution. In the

  1. See Calleja's despatch of July 31, 1811, in Gaz de Mex., 1811, ii. 747-8.
  2. García was a native of Salamanca, a town situated in the southern part of the province. He derived this sobriquet of Manco from being crippled in one arm by a fall from his horse. Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 249.