nize him at the moment. As it was, his fate might have been sealed if Rosains and others had not come to the rescue.[1] This led to a rally which served to break the charge; the advantage was not followed up, and Iturbide retired in good order with two banners and four cannon, entering the city amid tumultuous ovation.[2]
The achievement might have been put down only as a display of bravery but for its effect. Added to the havoc suffered by the select forces of Galeana and Bravo, this charge and its attendant panic so demoralized the insurgents that they fled in all directions. The officers did their utmost to reassure the men; but finding this impossible, they spiked the guns and followed, seeking to collect the stragglers. A few still remained on the ill-omened hills of Santa María at daybreak, leading the royalists to suppose that their task was yet before them. They accordingly mustered in full strength for the assault, but soon divided into pursuing columns.
Learning that the main body of the revolutionists had gathered at Puruaran, forming with the remnant of Ramon Rayon's force a body of about 3,000 men, with twenty-three cannon, Llano marched against them, to cull the final laurels by a victory over disspirited troops. The latter awaited the assault, on the 5th of January, 1814, behind parapets of loose stones. In these, breaches were, made by a few well directed shots, and within half an hour the assailed were in full flight, this time intercepted by a detachment under Iturbide. The slaughter was very great.
- ↑ There is much contradiction on this point. Rosains claims in his Rel. Hist., 3-4, to have killed two assistants. The half-drunken troops took Morelos at first for Llano, because he had a dress like his, and happened most unusually to be mounted on a horse with Spanish trappings. Cuad. Hist., ii. 418.
- ↑ A reënforcement sent by Llano came only to support the retreat. Alaman thinks that Valladolid should have received the name of Iturbide, not that of Morelos, who had no claim to such honor. Hist. Méj., iv. 7-8. Morelos' birthplace was a rancho near Apatzingan, not this city, as some believe, though he passed some of his younger days here. See Bustamante, Cuadro, ii. 407-8. Negrete upholds Morelos. Mex. Siglo XIX., vi. 181.
