Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/689

Linan advanced through Querétaro into Guanajuato, incorporating all the troops possible, and encouraging them by placing a price on the heads of Mina and his followers.^[1] This leader had just met with a repulse—his first—in an attack on Leon,^[2] and had retired into Fort Sombrero with 650 men, to whom were added some 300 women, children, and laborers. Shortly after, on July 30th, Liñan appeared before it at the head of about 4,000 men,^[3] and a train of artillery, with which he at once invested Ihe place, maintaining a constant and wasteful fire upon it—wasteful because the natural features of the fort afforded protection. It stood on a cudgel-headed

córtes of April 10, 1813, had set a bad precedent by declaring it derogatory to confirm a capitulation with insurgents. Bustamante, who was at the time a prisoner at Ulúa, testifies to the maltreatment of these men, and to Spanish breach of honor. Cuad. Hist., iv. 362-7; also in his Abispa de Chilpancingo, i. See feeling in U. S. thereat, Niles' Reg., xiv. 135, xvi. 237, xix. 396-7. Mier, who figured as apostolic prothonotary, was whisked off to the inquisition cells at Mexico, but suffered no great injury. He escaped three years later, became a deputy, and died in 1827, age 64. Payno has given his biography. Mier, Vida, Mex. 1865, 1-112, etc., full of adventures. His writings I have referred to under page 451, this volume. Arredondo was reproved by the viceroy for not shooting the prisoners, but leaving the responsibility to him. Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., vi. 894-5, 856-7; Mendíbil, Resúmen Hist., 325-7; Atleta, Feb. 4, 1830, 185-6. Mier, Declaracion, 811-13, etc., describes the miserable fort at Soto la Marina. A few of the men, withdrawn to a battery at the mouth of the river, were included as prisoners, but a foraging party was shot down. The party numbered at one time 135 fighters. Mier assumes that the capitulation was subject to viceregal approval. Arredondo claims, in Gaz. de Mex., 1817, viii. 715-16, 695-6, that 300 persons were taken. This included the villagers and their families. Bustamanto maintains that Arredondo must have lost 300 in killed alone. Pap. Var., clix. pt xxxvi. Sardá escaped from Ceuta and became a general under Bolívar, Revista Cien., ii. 166.

1. On his $500; on theirs $100. Not a very munificent offer.
2. He attacked it with 500 men during the night of July 27th, but the garrison, just reënforced, obtained warning, and he was obliged to retire with a loss of 100 men, including 21 prisoners, who were shot. Mina nevertheless liberated those taken by his force. Robinson, ii. 6, etc.
3. The official statement reproduced in Robinson, ii. 7-8, indicates 3,541 and 12 guns, but Solorzano claims that there were 5,000 with 20 guns, which may include later reënforcements. Torrente, Hist. Rev., ii. 381, admits 3,500, but Liñan's report in Gaz. de Mex., 1817, viii. 967-8, lessens the number. Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., iv. 396. The nature and distribution of the forces are given on adjoining pages. There were four main divisions; one under Brigadier Loaces, who occupied a position on the range commanding the entrance, and with him the headquarters of Liñan; another under Negrete, with troops reluctantly supported by Cruz of Nueva Galicia, was extended along the south; a third, under Ruiz, guarded the east and the approaches to the brook; while the fourth body, under Rafols, maintained communications with Guanajuato. Querétaro had been strengthened with new fortifications.