was derived from the sun, the enemy planned a night attack;
but Cortés suspected it, and assaulted them in their own
ambush. Cortés now had an opportunity to display his
double-facedness and his wiles. He received embassies both
from Montezuma and from the senate of the Tlascalans. He
cajoled each, and played off his friendship for the one in
cementing an alliance with the other. But to Tlascala and
Mexico he would go, so he told them. The Tlascalans were not
averse, for they thought it boded no good to the Aztecs, if he
could be bound to themselves. Montezuma dreaded the contact,
and tried to intimidate the strangers by tales of the horrible
difficulties of the journey. Presently the army took up its
march for Tlascala, where they were royally received, and
wives in abundance were bestowed upon the leaders. Next they
passed to Cholula, which was subject to the Aztecs."
J. Winsor,
Narrative and Critical History of America,
volume 2, chapter 6.
MEXICO: A. D. 1519 (October).
The Massacre at Cholula.
The march to Mexico.
"The distance from Tlascala to Chololan [or Cholula] is but
from 15 to 20 miles. It was a kind of holy place, venerated
far and wide in Anahuac; pilgrimages were made thither, as the
Mahometans go to Mecca, and Christians to Jerusalem or Rome.
The city was consecrated to the worship of Quetzalcoatl, who
had there the noblest temple in all Mexico, built, like all
the temples in the country, on the summit of a truncated
pyramid. The traveller of the present day beholds this pyramid
on the horizon as he approaches Puebla, on his route from Vera
Cruz to Mexico. But the worship of the beneficent Quetzalcoatl
had been perverted by the sombre genius of the Aztecs. To this
essentially good deity 6,000 human victims were annually
immolated in his temple at Chololan. … The Spaniards found
at Chololan an eager and, to all appearance at least, a
perfectly cordial welcome." But this hospitality masked, it is
said, a great plot for their destruction, which Montezuma had
inspired and to aid which he had sent into the neighborhood of
the city a powerful Mexican army. The plot was revealed to
Cortez—so the Spanish historians relate—and "he took his
resolution with his accustomed energy and foresight. He made
his dispositions for the very next day. He acquainted the
caciques of Chololan that he should evacuate the city at break
of dawn, and required them to furnish 2,000 porters or
'tamanes,' for the baggage. The caciques then organized their
attack for the morrow morning, not without a promise of the
men required, whom, in fact, they brought at dawn to the great
court in which the foreigners were domiciled. The conflict
soon began. The Spaniards, who were perfectly prepared,
commenced by massacring the caciques. The mass of Chololans
that attempted to invade their quarters were crushed under the
fire of their artillery and musketry, and the charges of their
cavalry. Hearing the reports, the Tlascalans, who had been
left at the entrance of the city, rushed on to the rescue. …
They could now glut their hatred and vengeance; they
slaughtered as long as they could, and then set to work at
plunder. The Spaniards, too, after having killed all that
resisted, betook themselves to pillage. The unfortunate city
of Chololan was thus inundated with blood and sacked. Cortez,
however, enjoined that the women and children should be
spared, and we are assured that in that he was obeyed, even by
his cruel auxiliaries from Tlascala. … To the praise of
Cortez it must be said that, after the victory, he once more
showed himself tolerant: he left the inhabitants at liberty to
follow their old religion on condition that they should no
longer immolate human victims. After this signal blow, all the
threats, all the intrigues, of Montezuma, had no possible
effect, and the Aztec emperor could be under no illusion as to
the inflexible intention of Cortez. The latter, as soon as he
had installed new chiefs at Chololan, and effaced the more
hideous traces of the massacre and pillage that had desolated
the city, set out with his own troops and his Indian
auxiliaries from Tlascala for the capital of the Aztec empire,
the magnificent city of Tenochtitlan."
M. Chevalier,
Mexico, Ancient and Modern,
part 2, chapter 4 (volume 1).
MEXICO:
The Capital of Montezuma as described
by Cortés and Bernal Diaz.
"This Province is in the form of a circle, surrounded on all
sides by lofty and rugged mountains; its level surface
comprises an area of about 70 leagues in circumference,
including two lakes, that overspread nearly the whole valley,
being navigated by boats more than 50 leagues round. One of
these lakes contains fresh, and the other, which is the larger
of the two, salt water. On one side of the lakes, in the
middle of the valley, a range of highlands divides them from
one another, with the exception of a narrow strait which lies
between the highlands and the lofty Sierras. This strait is a
bow-shot wide, and connects the two lakes; and by this means a
trade is carried on between the cities and other settlements
on the lakes in canoes without the necessity of travelling by
land. As the salt lake rises and falls with its tides like the
sea, during the time of high water it pours into the other
lake with the rapidity of a powerful stream; and on the other
hand, when the tide has ebbed, the water runs from the fresh
into the salt lake. This great city of Temixtitan
[Tenochtitlan—Mexico] is situated in this salt lake, and from
the main land to the denser parts of it, by whichever route
one chooses to enter, the distance is two leagues. There are
four avenues or entrances to the city, all of which are formed
by artificial causeways, two spears' length in width. The city
is as large as Seville or Cordova; its streets, I speak of the
principal ones, are very wide and straight; some of these, and
all the inferior ones, are half land and half water, and are
navigated by canoes.
{2162}
All the streets at intervals have openings, through which the
water flows, crossing from one street to another; and at these
openings, some of which are very wide, there are also very
wide bridges, composed of large pieces of timber, of great
strength and well put together; on many of these bridges ten
horses can go abreast. … This city has many public squares,
in which are situated the markets and other places for buying
and selling. There is one square twice as large as that of the
city of Salamanca, surrounded by porticoes, where are daily
assembled more than 60,000 souls, engaged in buying and
selling; and where are found all kinds of merchandise that the
world affords, embracing the necessaries of life, as for
instance articles of food, as well as jewels of gold and
silver, lead, brass, copper, tin, precious stones, bones,
shells, snails, and feathers. … Every kind of merchandise is
sold in a particular street or quarter assigned to it
exclusively, and thus the best order is preserved. They sell
everything by number or measure; at least so far we have not
observed them to sell any thing by weight. There is a building
in the great square that is used as an audience house, where
ten or twelve persons, who are magistrates, sit and decide all
controversies that arise in the market, and order delinquents
to be punished. … This great city contains a large number of
temples, or houses for their idols, very handsome edifices,
which are situated in the different districts and the suburbs.
… Among these temples there is one which far surpasses all
the rest, whose grandeur of architectural details no human
tongue is able to describe; for within its precincts,
surrounded by a lofty wall, there is room enough for a town of
500 families. Around the interior of this enclosure there are
handsome edifices, containing large halls and corridors, in
which the religious persons attached to the temple reside.
There are full 40 towers, which are lofty and well built, the
largest of which has 50 steps leading to its main body, and is
higher than the tower of the principal church at Seville. The
stone and wood of which they are constructed are so well
wrought in every part that nothing could be better done. …
This noble city contains many fine and magnificent houses;
which may be accounted for from the fact that all the nobility
of the country, who are the vassals of Muteczuma, have houses
in the city, in which they reside a certain part of the year;
and, besides, there are numerous wealthy citizens who also
possess fine houses."
H. Cortés,
Despatches [Letters] (translated by G. Folsom),
letter 2, chapter 5.
"We had already been four days in the city of Mexico, and
neither our commander nor any of us had, during that time,
left our quarters, excepting to visit the gardens and
buildings adjoining the palace. Cortes now, therefore,
determined to view the city, and visit the great market, and
the chief temple of Huitzilopochtli. … The moment we arrived
in this immense market, we were perfectly astonished at the
vast numbers of people, the profusion of merchandise which was
there exposed for sale, and at the good police and order that
reigned throughout. … Every species of goods which New Spain
produces were here to be found; and everything put me in mind
of my native town Medina del Campo during fair time, where
every merchandise has a separate street assigned for its sale.
… On quitting the market, we entered the spacious yards
which surround the chief temple. … Motecusuma, who was
sacrificing on the top to his idols, sent six papas and two of
his principal officers to conduct Cortes up the steps. There
were 114 steps to the summit. …Indeed, this infernal temple,
from its great height, commanded a view of the whole
surrounding neighbourhood. From this place we could likewise
see the three causeways which led into Mexico. … We also
observed the aqueduct which ran from Chapultepec, and provided
the whole town with sweet water. We could also distinctly see
the bridges across the openings, by which these causeways were
intersected, and through which the waters of the lake ebbed
and flowed. The lake itself was crowded with canoes, which
were bringing provisions, manufactures and other merchandise
to the city. From here we also discovered that the only
communication of the houses in this city, and of all the other
towns built in the lake, was by means of drawbridges or
canoes. In all these towns the beautiful white plastered
temples rose above the smaller ones, like so many towers and
castles in our Spanish towns, and this, it may be imagined,
was a splendid sight."
Bernal Diaz del Castillo,
Memoirs (translated by Lockhart),
chapter 92 (volume 1).
MEXICO:
The same as viewed in the light of modern historical criticism.
"In the West India Islands the Spanish discoverers found small
Indian tribes under the government of chiefs; but on the
continent, in the Valley of Mexico, they found a confederacy
of three Indian tribes under a more advanced but similar
government. In the midst of the valley was a large pueblo, the
largest in America, surrounded with water, approached by
causeways; in fine, a water-girt fortress impregnable to
Indian assault. This pueblo presented to the Spanish
adventurers the extraordinary spectacle of an Indian society
lying two ethnical periods back of European society, but with
a government and plan of life at once intelligent, orderly,
and complete. … The Spanish adventurers who captured the
pueblo of Mexico saw a king in Montezuma, lords in Aztec
chiefs, and a palace in the large joint-tenement house
occupied, Indian fashion, by Montezuma and his
fellow-householders. It was, perhaps, an unavoidable
self-deception at the time, because they knew nothing of the
Aztec social system. Unfortunately it inaugurated American
aboriginal history upon a misconception of Indian life which
has remained substantially unquestioned until recently. The
first eye-witnesses gave the keynote to this history by
introducing Montezuma as a king, occupying a palace of great
extent crowded with retainers, and situated in the midst of a
grand and populous city, over which, and much besides, he was
reputed master. But king and kingdom were in time found too
common to express all the glory and splendor the imagination
was beginning to conceive of Aztec society; and emperor and
empire gradually superseded the more humble conception of the
conquerors. … To every author, from Cortes and Bernal Diaz
to Brasseur de Bourbourg and Hubert H. Bancroft, Indian
society was an unfathomable mystery, and their works have left
it a mystery still. Ignorant of its structure and principles,
and unable to comprehend its peculiarities, they invoked the
imagination to supply whatever was necessary to fill out the
picture. …
{2163}
Thus, in this case, we have a grand historical romance, strung
upon the conquest of Mexico as upon a thread; the acts of the
Spaniards, the pueblo of Mexico, and its capture, are
historical, while the descriptions of Indian society and
government are imaginary and delusive. … There is a strong
probability, from what is known of Indian life and society,
that the house in which Montezuma lived, was a joint-tenement
house of the aboriginal American model, owned by a large
number of related families, and occupied by them in common as
joint proprietors; that the dinner [of Montezuma, in his
palace, as described by Cortes and Bernal Diaz] … was the
usual single daily meal of a communal household, prepared in a
common cookhouse from common stores, and divided, Indian
fashion, from the kettle; and that all the Spaniards found in
Mexico was a simple confederacy of three Indian tribes, the
counterpart of which was found in all parts of America. It may
be premised further that the Spanish adventurers who thronged
to the new world after its discovery found the same race of
Red Indians in the West India Islands, in Central and South
America, in Florida, and in Mexico. In their mode of life and
means of subsistence, in their weapons, arts, usages, and
customs, in their institutions, and in their mental and
physical characteristics, they were the same people in
different stages of advancement. No distinction of race was
observed, and none in fact existed. … Not a vestige of the
ancient pueblo of Mexico (Tenochtitlan) remains to assist us
to a knowledge of its architecture. Its structures, which were
useless to a people of European habits, were speedily
destroyed to make room for a city adapted to the wants of a
civilized race. We must seek for its characteristics in
contemporary Indian houses which still remain in ruins, and in
such of the early descriptions as have come down to us, and
then leave the subject with but little accurate knowledge. Its
situation, partly on dry land and partly in the waters of a
shallow artificial pond formed by causeways and dikes, led to
the formation of streets and squares, which were unusual in
Indian pueblos, and gave to it a remarkable appearance. …
Many of the houses were large, far beyond the supposable wants
of a single Indian family. They were constructed of adobe
brick, and of stone, and plastered over in both cases with
gypsum, which made them a brilliant white; and some were
constructed of a red porous stone. In cutting and dressing
this stone flint implements were used. The fact that the
houses were plastered externally leads us to infer that they
had not learned to dress stone and lay them in courses. It is
not certainly established that they had learned the use of a
mortar of lime and sand. In the final attack and capture, it
is said that Cortes, in the course of seventeen days,
destroyed and levelled three-quarters of the pueblo, which
demonstrates the flimsy character of the masonry. … It is
doubtful whether there was a single pueblo in North America,
with the exception of Tlascala, Cholula, Tezcuco, and Mexico,
which contained 10,000 inhabitants. There is no occasion to
apply the term 'city' to any of them. None of the Spanish
descriptions enable us to realize the exact form and structure
of these houses, or their relations to each other in forming a
pueblo. … It is evident from the citations made that the
largest of these joint-tenement houses would accommodate from
500 to 1,000 or more people, living in the fashion of Indians;
and that the courts were probably quadrangles, formed by
constructing the building on three sides of an inclosed space,
as in the New Mexican pueblos, or upon the four sides, as in
the House of the Nuns, at Uxmal."
L. H. Morgan,
Houses and House-life of the American Aborigines
(United States Geographical and Geological Survey of
Rocky Mountain Region:
Contribution to North American Ethnology, volume 4),
chapter 10.
MEXICO: A. D. 1519-1520.
Captivity of Montezuma, Cortés ruling in his name.
The discomfiture of Narvaez.
The revolt of the capital.
When Cortés had time to survey and to realize his position in
the Mexican capital, he saw that it was full of extreme
danger. To be isolated with so small a force in the midst of
any hostile, populous city would be perilous; but in Mexico
that peril was immeasurably increased by the peculiar
situation and construction of the island-city—Venice-like in
its insulation, and connected with the mainland by long and
narrow, causeways and bridges, easily broken and difficult to
secure for retreat. With characteristic audacity, the Spanish
leader mastered the danger of the situation, so to speak, by
taking Montezuma himself in pledge for the peace and good
behavior of his subjects. Commanded by Cortés to quit his
palace, and to take up his residence with the Spaniards in
their quarters, the Mexican monarch remonstrated but obeyed,
and became from that day the shadow of a king. "During, six
months that Cortes remained in Mexico [from November, 1519,
until May, 1520], the monarch continued in the Spanish
quarters, with an appearance of as entire satisfaction and
tranquillity as if he had resided there, not from constraint,
but through choice. His ministers and officers attended him as
usual. He took cognizance of all affairs; every order was
issued in his name. … Such was the dread which both
Montezuma and his subjects had of the Spaniards, or such the
veneration in which they held them, that no attempt was made
to deliver their sovereign from confinement, and though
Cortes, relying on this ascendant which he had acquired over
their minds, permitted him not only to visit his temples, but
to make hunting excursions beyond the lake, a guard of a few
Spaniards carried with it such a terrour as to intimidate the
multitude, and secure the captive monarch. Thus, by the
fortunate temerity of Cortes in seizing Montezuma, the
Spaniards at once secured to themselves more extensive
authority in the Mexican empire than it was possible to have
acquired in a long course of time by open force; and they
exercised more absolute sway in the name of another than they
could have done in their own. … Cortes availed himself to
the utmost of the powers which he possessed by being able to
act in the name of Montezuma. He sent some Spaniards, whom he
judged best qualified for such commissions, into different
parts of the empire, accompanied by persons of distinction,
whom Montezuma appointed to attend them both as guides and
protectors. They visited most of the provinces, viewed their
soil and productions, surveyed with particular care the
districts which yielded gold or silver, pitched upon several
places as proper stations for future colonies, and endeavoured
to prepare the minds of the people for submitting to the
Spanish yoke." At the same time, Cortes strengthened his
footing in the capital by building and launching two brigantines
on the lake, with an equipment and armament which his royal
prisoner caused to be brought up for him from Vera Cruz.
{2164}
He also persuaded Montezuma to acknowledge himself a vassal of
the King of Castile, and to subject his kingdom to the payment
of an annual tribute. But, while his cunning conquest of an
empire was advancing thus prosperously, the astute Spanish
captain allowed his prudence to be overridden by his religious
zeal. Becoming impatient at the obstinacy with which Montezuma
clung to his false gods, Cortes made a rash attempt, with his
soldiers, to cast down the idols in the great temple of the
city, and to set the image of the Virgin in their place. The
sacrilegious outrage roused the Mexicans from their tame
submission and fired them with an inextinguishable rage. At
this most unfortunate juncture, news came from Vera Cruz which
demanded the personal presence of Cortes on the coast.
Velasquez, the hostile governor of Cuba, to whom the
adventurer in Mexico was a rebel, had sent, at last, an
expedition, to put a stop to his unauthorized proceedings and
to arrest his person. Cortes faced the new menace as boldly as
he had faced all others. Leaving 150 men in the angry Mexican
capital, under Pedro de Alvarado, he set out with the small
remainder of his force to attack the Spanish intruders. Even
after picking up some detachments outside and joining the
garrison at Vera Cruz, he could muster but 250 men; while
Narvaez, who commanded the expedition from Cuba, had brought
800 foot soldiers and 80 horse, with twelve pieces of cannon.
The latter had taken possession of the city of Zempoalla and
was strongly posted in one of its temples. There Cortes
surprised him, in a night attack, took him prisoner, in a
wounded state, and compelled his troops to lay down their
arms. Nearly the whole of the latter were soon captivated by
the commanding genius of the man they had been sent to arrest,
and enlisted in his service. He found himself now at the head
of a thousand well armed men; and he found in the same moment
that he needed them all. For news came from Mexico that
Alvarado, thinking to anticipate and crush a suspected
intention of the Mexicans to rise against him, had provoked
the revolt and made it desperate by a most perfidious, brutal
massacre of several hundred of the chief persons of the
empire, committed while they were celebrating one of the
festivals of their religion, in the temple. The Spaniards at
Mexico were now beleaguered, as the consequence, in their
quarters, and their only hope was the hope that Cortes would
make haste to their rescue,—which he did.
W. Robertson,
History of America,
book 5 (volume 2).
ALSO IN:
H. H. Bancroft,
History of the Pacific States,
volume 4, chapters 17-23.
MEXICO: A. D. 1520 (JUNE-JULY).
The return of Cortes to the Mexican Capital.
The battle in the city.
The death of Montezuma.
The disastrous Retreat of the Spaniards.
The alarming intelligence which came to him from the Mexican
capital called out in Cortés the whole energy of his nature.
Hastily summoning back the various expeditions he had already
sent out, and gathering all his forces together, he "reviewed
his men, and found that they amounted to 1,300 soldiers, among
whom were 96 horsemen, 80 cross-bowmen, and about 80
musketeers. Cortez marched with great strides to Mexico, and
entered the city at the head of this formidable force on the
24th of June, 1520, the day of John the Baptist. Very
different was the reception of Cortez on this occasion from
that on his first entry into Mexico, when Montezuma had gone
forth with all pomp to meet him. Now, the Indians stood
silently in the doorways of their houses, and the bridges
between the houses were taken up. Even when he arrived at his
own quarters he found the gates barred, so strict had been the
siege, and he had to demand an entry." The Mexicans, strangely
enough, made no attempt to oppose his entrance into the city
and his junction with Alvarado; yet the day after his return
their attack upon the Spanish quarters, now so strongly
reinforced, was renewed. "Cortez, who was not at all given to
exaggeration, says that neither the streets nor the terraced
roofs ('azoteas') were visible, being entirely obscured by the
people who were upon them; that the multitude of stones was so
great that it seemed as if it rained stones; and that the
arrows came so thickly that the walls and the courts were full
of them, rendering it difficult to move about. Cortez made two
or three desperate sallies, and was wounded. The Mexicans
succeeded in setting fire to the fortress, which was with
difficulty subdued, and they would have scaled the walls at
the point where the fire had done most damage but for a large
force of cross-bowmen, musketeers, and artillery, which Cortez
threw forward to meet the danger. The Mexicans at last drew
back, leaving no fewer than 80 Spaniards wounded in this first
encounter. The ensuing morning, as soon as it was daylight,
the attack was renewed. … Again, and with considerable
success, Cortez made sallies from the fortress in the course
of the day; but at the end of it there were about 60 more of
his men to be added to the list of wounded, already large,
from the injuries received on the preceding day. The third day
was devoted by the ingenious Cortez to making three movable
fortresses, called 'mantas,' which, he thought, would enable
his men, with less danger, to contend against the Mexicans
upon their terraced roofs. … It was on this day that the
unfortunate Montezuma, either at the request of Cortez, or of
his own accord, came out upon a battlement and addressed the
people." He was interrupted by a shower of stones and arrows
and received wounds from which he died soon after. The
fighting on this day was more desperate than it had been
before. The Spaniards undertook to dislodge a body of the
Indians who had posted themselves on the summit of the great
temple, which was dangerously near at hand. Again and again
they were driven back, until Cortez bound his shield to his
wounded arm and led the assault. Then, after three hours of
fighting, from terrace to terrace, they gained the upper
platform and put every Mexican to the sword. But 40 Spaniards
perished in the struggle. "This fight in the temple gave a
momentary brightness to the arms of the Spaniards and afforded
Cortez an opportunity to resume negotiations. But the
determination of the Mexicans was fixed and complete. … They
would all perish, if that were needful, to gain their point of
destroying the Spaniards. They bade Cortez look at the
streets, the squares, and the terraces, covered with people;
and then, in a business-like and calculating manner, they told
him that if 25,000 of them were to die for each Spaniard, still
the Spaniards would perish first. …
{2165}
It generally requires at least as much courage to retreat as
to advance. Indeed, few men have the courage and the ready
wisdom to retreat in time. But Cortez, once convinced that his
position in Mexico was no longer tenable, wasted no time or
energy in parleying with danger. Terror had lost its influence
with the Mexicans, and superior strategy was of little avail
against such overpowering numbers. … Cortez resolved to quit
the city that night [July 1, 1520]. … A little before
midnight the stealthy march began. The Spaniards succeeded in
laying down the pontoon over the first bridge-way, and the
vanguard with Sandoval passed over; but, while the rest were
passing, the Mexicans gave the alarm with loud shouts and
blowing of horns. … Almost immediately upon this alarm the
lake was covered with canoes. It rained, and the misfortunes
of the night commenced by two horses slipping from the pontoon
into the water. Then the Mexicans attacked the pontoon-bearers
so furiously that it was impossible for them to raise it up
again." After that, all seems to have been a confused struggle
in the darkness, where even Cortez could do little for the
unfortunate rear-guard of his troops. "This memorable night
has ever been celebrated in American history as 'la noche
triste.' In this flight from Mexico all the artillery was
lost, and there perished 450 Spaniards, … 4,000 of the
Indian allies, 46 horses, and most of the Mexican prisoners,
including one son and two daughters of Montezuma, and his
nephew the King of Tezcuco. A loss which posterity will ever
regret was that of the books and accounts, memorials and
writings, of which there were some, it is said, that contained
a narrative of all that had happened since Cortez left Cuba.
… In the annals of retreats there has seldom been one
recorded which proved more entirely disastrous."
Sir A. Helps,
Spanish Conquest in America,
book 10, chapters 7-8 (volume 2).
MEXICO: A. D. 1520-1521.
The retreat to Tlascala.
Reinforcements and recovery.
Cortes in the field again.
Preparations to attack Mexico.
"After the disasters and fatigues of the 'noche triste,' the
melancholy and broken band of Cortez rested for a day at
Tacuba, whilst the Mexicans returned to their capital,
probably to bury the dead and purify their city. It is
singular, yet it is certain, that they did not follow up their
successes by a death blow at the disarmed Spaniards. But this
momentary paralysis of their efforts was not to be trusted,
and accordingly Cortez began to retreat eastwardly, under the
guidance of the Tlascalans, by a circuitous route around the
northern limits of lake Zumpango. The flying forces and their
auxiliaries were soon in a famishing condition, subsisting
alone on corn or on wild cherries gathered in the forest, with
occasional refreshment and support from the carcase of a horse
that perished by the way. For six days these fragments of the
Spanish army continued their weary pilgrimage, and, on the
seventh, reached Otumba." At Otumba their progress was barred
by a vast army of the Aztecs, which had marched by a shorter
road to intercept them; but after a desperate battle the
natives fled and the Spaniards were troubled no more until
they reached the friendly shelter of Tlascala. The Tlascalans
held faithfully to their alliance and received the flying
strangers with helpful hands and encouraging words. But many
of Cortez' men demanded permission to continue their retreat
to Vera Cruz. "Just at this moment, too, Cuitlahua, who
mounted the throne of Mexico on the death of Montezuma,
despatched a mission to the Tlascalans, proposing to bury the
hatchet, and to unite in sweeping the Spaniards from the
realm." A hot discussion ensued in the council of the
Tlascalan chiefs, which resulted in the rejection of the
Mexican proposal, and the confidence of Cortez was restored.
He succeeded in pacifying his men, and gave them employment by
expeditions against tribes and towns within reach which
adhered to the Mexican king. After some time he obtained
reinforcements, by an arrival of vessels at Vera Cruz bringing
men and supplies, and he began to make serious preparations
for the reconquest of the Aztec capital. He "constructed new
arms and caused old ones to be repaired; made powder with
sulphur obtained from the volcano of Popocatopetl; and, under
the direction of his builder, Lopez, prepared the timber for
brigantines, which he designed to carry, in pieces, and launch
on the lake at the town of Tezcoco. At that port, he resolved
to prepare himself fully for the final attack, and, this time,
he determined to assault the enemy's capital by water as well
as by land." The last day of December found him once more on
the shores of the Mexican lake, encamped at Tezcoco, with a
Spanish force restored to 600 men in strength, having 40
horses, 80 arquebuses and nine small cannon. Of Indian allies
he is said to have had many thousands. Meantime, Cuitlahua had
died of smallpox—which came to the country with the
Spaniards—and had been succeeded by Guatemozin, his nephew, a
vigorous young man of twenty-five. "At Tezcoco, Cortéz was
firmly planted on the eastern edge of the valley of Mexico, in
full sight of the capital which lay across the lake, near its
western shore, at the distance of about twelve miles. Behind
him, towards the sea-coast, he commanded the country, …
while, by passes through lower spurs of the mountains, he
might easily communicate with the valleys of which the
Tlascalans and Cholulans were masters." One by one he reduced
and destroyed or occupied the neighboring towns, and overran
the surrounding country, in expeditions which made the
complete circle of the valley and gave him a complete
knowledge of it, while they re-established the prestige of the
Spaniards and the terror of their arms. On the 28th of April
the newly built brigantines, 12 in number, were launched upon
the lake, and all was in readiness for an attack upon the
city, with forces now increased by fresh arrivals to 87 horse
and 818 Spanish infantry, with three iron field pieces and 15
brass falconets.
B. Mayer,
Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican,
book 1, chapters 6-8 (volume 1).
MEXICO: A. D. 1521 (May-July).
The siege of the Aztec capital begun.
"The observations which
Cortes had made in his late tour of reconnaissance
had determined him to begin the siege by
distributing his forces into three separate camps,
which he proposed to establish at the extremities
of the principal causeways," under three of his
captains, Alvarado, Olid and Sandoval. The
movement of forces from Tezcuco began on the
10th of May, 1521.
{2166}
Alvarado and Olid occupied Tacuba,
cut the aqueduct which conveyed water
from Chapoltepec to the capital, and made an
unsuccessful attempt to get possession of the
fatal causeway of "the noche triste." Holding
Tacuba, however, Alvarado commanded that
important passage, while Sandoval, seizing the
city of Iztapalapan, at the southern extremity
of the lake, and Olid, establishing himself near the
latter, at Cojohuacan, were planted at the two
outlets, it would seem, of another of the causeways,
which branched to attain the shore at
those two points. When so much had been accomplished,
Cortés, in person, set sail with his
fleet of brigantines and speedily cleared the lake
of all the swarm of light canoes and little vessels
with which the unfortunate Mexicans tried vainly
though valorously to dispute it with him. "This
victory, more complete than even the sanguine
temper of Cortés had prognosticated, proved the
superiority of the Spaniards, and left them,
henceforth, undisputed masters of the Aztec sea.
It was nearly dusk when the squadron, coasting
along the great southern causeway, anchored off
the point of junction, called Xoloc, where the
branch from Cojohuacan meets the principal dike.
The avenue widened at this point, so as to afford
room for two towers, or turreted temples, built
of stone, and surrounded by walls of the same
material, which presented altogether a position
of some strength, and, at the present moment,
was garrisoned by a body of Aztecs. They were
not numerous; and Cortés, landing with his soldiers,
succeeded without much difficulty in dislodging
the enemy, and in getting possession of
the works." Here, in a most advantageous
position on the great causeway, the Spanish
commander fortified himself and established his
headquarters, summoning Olid with half of his
force to join him and transferring Sandoval to
Olid's post at Cojohuacan. "The two principal
avenues to Mexico, those on the south and the
west, were now occupied by the Christians.
There still remained a third, the great dike of
Tepejacac, on the north, which, indeed, taking
up the principal street, that passed in a direct
line through the heart of the city, might be
regarded as a continuation of the dike of Iztapalapan.
By this northern route a means of escape
was still left open to the besieged, and they
availed themselves of it, at present, to maintain
their communications with the country, and to
supply themselves with provisions. Alvarado,
who observed this from his station at Tacuba,
advised his commander of it, and the latter
instructed Sandoval to take up his position on the
causeway. That officer, though suffering at the
time from a severe wound, … hastened to
obey; and thus, by shutting up its only
communication with the surrounding country,
completed the blockade of the capital. But Cortés
was not content to wait patiently the effects of a
dilatory blockade." He arranged with his
subordinate captains the plan of a simultaneous
advance along each of the causeways toward the
city. From his own post he pushed forward with
great success, assisted by the brigantines which
sailed along side, and which, by the flanking fire
of their artillery, drove the Aztecs from one
barricade after another, which they had erected
at every dismantled bridge. Fighting their way
steadily, the Spaniards traversed the whole
length of the dike and entered the city;
penetrated to the great square; saw once more their
old quarters; scaled again the sides of the
pyramid-temple, to slay the bloody priests and to
strip the idols of their jewels and gold. But the
Aztecs were frenzied by this sacrilege, as they
had been frenzied by the same deed before, and
renewed the battle with so much fury that the
Spaniards were driven back in thorough panic
and disarray. "All seemed to be lost;—when
suddenly sounds were heard in an adjoining
street, like the distant tramp of horses galloping
rapidly over the pavement. They drew nearer
and nearer, and a body of cavalry soon emerged
on the great square. Though but a handful in
number, they plunged boldly into the thick of
the enemy," who speedily broke and fled, enabling
Cortés to withdraw his troops in safety. Neither
Alvarado nor Sandoval, who had greater difficulties
to overcome, and who had no help from
the brigantines, reached the suburbs of the city;
but their assault had been vigorously made, and
had been of great help to that of Cortés. The
success of the demonstration spread consternation
among the Mexicans and their vassals, and
brought a number of the latter over to the
Spanish side. Among these latter was the prince
of Tezcuco, who joined Cortés, with a large
force, in the next assault which the latter made
presently upon the city. Again penetrating to
the great square, the Spaniards on this occasion
destroyed the palaces there by fire. But the
spirit of the Mexicans remained unbroken, and
they were found in every encounter opposing as
obstinate a resistance as ever. They contrived,
too, for a remarkable length of time, to run the
blockade of the brigantines on the lake and to
bring supplies into the city by their canoes. But,
at length, when most of the great towns of the
neighborhood had deserted their cause, the
supplies failed and starvation began to do its work
in the fated city. At the same time, the Spaniards
were amply provisioned, and their new
allies built barracks and huts for their shelter.
Cortés "would gladly have spared the town and
its inhabitants. … He intimated more than
once, by means of the prisoners whom he released,
his willingness to grant them fair terms of
capitulation. Day after day, he fully expected
his proffers would be accepted. But day after
day he was disappointed. He had yet to learn
how tenacious was the memory of the Aztecs."
W. H. Prescott,
History of the Conquest of Mexico,
book 6, chapters 4-5.
MEXICO: A. D. 1521 (July).
Disastrous repulse of the Spaniards.
"The impatience of the soldiers grew to a great height, and
was supported in an official quarter—by no less a person than
Alderete, the king's treasurer. Cortez gave way, against his
own judgment, to their importunities" and another general
attack was ordered. "On the appointed day Cortez moved from
his camp, supported by seven brigantines, and by more than
3,000 canoes filled with his Indian allies. When his soldiers
reached the entrance of the city, he divided them in the
following manner. There were three streets which led to the
market-place from the position which the Spaniards had already
gained. Along, the principal street, the king's treasurer,
with 70 Spaniards and 15,000 or 20,000 allies, was to make his
way. His rear was to be protected by a small guard of
horsemen. The other two streets were smaller, and led from the
street of Tlacuba to the market-place.
{2167}
Along the broader of these two streets Cortez sent two of his
principal captains, with 80 Spaniards and 10,000 Indians; he
himself, with eight horsemen, 75 foot-soldiers, 25 musketeers,
and an 'infinite number' of allies, was to enter the narrower
street. At the entrance to the street of Tlacuba he left two
large cannon, with eight horsemen to guard them, and at the
entrance of his own street he also left eight horsemen to
protect the rear. … The Spaniards and their allies made
their entrance into the city with even more success and less
embarrassment than on previous occasions. Bridges and
barricades were gained, and the three main bodies of the army
moved forward into the heart of the city." But in the
excitement of their advance they left unrepaired behind them a
great breach in the causeway, ten or twelve paces wide,
although Cortez had repeatedly enjoined upon his captains that
no such dangerous death-trap should be left to catch them in
the event of a retreat. The neglect in this case was most
disastrous. Being presently repulsed and driven back, the
division which had allowed this chasm to yawn behind it was
engulfed. Cortez, whose distrust had been excited in some way,
discovered the danger, but too late. He made his way to the
spot, only to find "the whole aperture so full of Spaniards
and Indians that, as he says, there was not room for a straw
to float upon the surface of the water. The peril was so
imminent that Cortez not only thought that the Conquest of
Mexico was gone, but that the term of his life as well as of
his victories had come, and he resolved to die there fighting.
All that he could do at first was to help his men out of the
water; and, meanwhile, the Mexicans charged upon them in such
numbers that he and his little party were entirely surrounded.
The enemy seized upon his person, and would have carried him
off but for the resolute bravery of some of his guard, one of
whom lost his life there in succouring his master. … At last
he and a few of his men succeeded in fighting their way to the
broad street of Tlacuba, where, like a brave captain, instead
of continuing his flight, he and the few horsemen who were
with him turned round and formed a rear guard to protect his
retreating troops. He also sent immediate orders to the king's
treasurer and the other commanders to make good their
retreat."
Sir A. Helps,
The Spanish Conquest in America,
book 11, book 1 (volume 2).
"As we were thus retreating, we continually heard the large
drum beating from the summit of the chief temple of the city.
Its tone was mournful indeed, and sounded like the very
instrument of Satan. This drum was so vast in its dimensions
that it could be heard from eight to twelve miles distance.
Every time we heard its mournful sound, the Mexicans, as we
subsequently learnt, offered to their idols the bleeding
hearts of our unfortunate countrymen. … After we had at
last, with excessive toil, crossed a deep opening, and had
arrived at our encampment, … the large drum of
Huitzilopochtli again resounded from the summit of the temple,
accompanied by all the hellish music of shell trumpets, horns,
and other instruments. … We could plainly see the platform,
with the chapel in which those cursed idols stood; how the
Mexicans had adorned the heads of the Spaniards with feathers,
and compelled their victims to dance round the god
Huitzilopochtli; we saw how they stretched them out at full
length on a large stone, ripped open their breasts with flint
knives, tore out the palpitating heart and offered it to their
idols. Alas! we were forced to be spectators of all this, and
how they then seized hold of the dead bodies by the legs and
threw them headlong down the steps of the temple, at the
bottom of which other executioners stood ready to receive
them, who severed the arms, legs, and heads from the bodies,
drew the skin off the faces, which were tanned with the beards
still adhering to them, and produced as spectacles of mockery
and derision at their feasts; the legs, arms, and other parts
of the body being cut up and devoured. … On that terrible
day the loss of the three divisions amounted to 60 men and 7
horses."
Bernal Diaz del Castillo,
Memoirs,
chapter 152 (volume 2).
MEXICO: A. D. 1521 (August).
The last days of the Siege.
The taking of the ruined city.
The end of the Aztec dominion.
"Guatemozin's victory diffused immense enthusiasm among the
Aztecs and those who remained united to them. The priests
proclaimed that the gods, satiated by the sacrifice of the
Spanish prisoners, had promised to rid the country of the
foreigners, and that the promise would be fulfilled within
eight days. This intelligence spread alarm among the allies of
the Spaniards. They deserted in great numbers—not to go over
to the Aztecs, whose anger they dreaded, but to return to
their homes. Cortez had good watch kept in the camp. The
sorties of the besieged were repulsed; the eight days passed
without the Spaniards having lost more than a few marauders.
The allies, seeing that the oracle was wrong, came back to
their former friends. The aggressive ardour of the besieged
grew cooler, and they soon found themselves assailed by the
plagues that ordinarily attack troops massed in a city—not
only famine, but epidemic diseases, the result of want and
overcrowding. … Famine pinched them more cruelly day after
day. Lizards and such rats as they could find were their
richest nourishment; reptiles and insects were eagerly looked
for, trees stripped of their bark, and roots stealthily sought
after by night. Meanwhile, Cortez, seeing that there was no
other means of bringing them to submission, pursued the work
of destruction he had resolved on with so much regret. …
Heaps of bodies were found in every street that was won from
them; this people, so punctilious in their customs of
sepulture, had ceased to bury their dead. … Soon there was
left to the besieged but one quarter, and that the most
incommodious of all, forming barely an eighth of the city,
where there were not houses enough to give them shelter. …
The 13th August, 1521, had now arrived, and that was to be the
last day of this once flourishing empire. Before making a
final assault, Cortez once more invited the emperor to his
presence. His envoys came back with the 'cihuacoatl,' a
magistrate of the first rank, who declared, with an air of
consternation, that Guatemozin knew how to die, but that he
would not come to treat. Then, turning towards Cortez, he
added: 'Do now whatever you please.' 'Be it so,' replied
Cortez; 'go and tell your friends to prepare; they are going
to die.' In fact, the troops advanced; there was a last mêlée,
a last carnage, on land and on the lake. …
{2168}
Guatemozin, driven to the shore of the lake, threw himself
into a canoe with a few warriors, and endeavoured to escape by
dint of rowing; but he was pursued by a brigantine of the
Spanish fleet, taken and brought to Cortez, who received him
with the respect due to a crowned head. … The Aztec empire
had ceased to exist; Spanish sway was established in Mexico.
The Cross was triumphant in that fine country, and there was
no sharer in its reign. The number of persons that perished in
the siege has been differently estimated. The most moderate
calculation puts it at 120,000 on the side of the Aztecs. Very
many Indians fell on the side of the besiegers. The historian
Ixtlixochitl says there were 30,000 dead of the warriors of
Tezcuco alone. All that were left alive of the Aztecs were, at
the request of Guatemozin, allowed to leave the city in
freedom, on the morning after it was taken. … They dispersed
in all directions, everywhere spreading a terror of the
Spaniards, and the feeling that to resist them was impossible.
That conviction must have been established speedily and
firmly, for there was no further attempt at resistance, unless
it were at one point, in the territory of Panuco, near the
Atlantic Ocean."
M. Chevalier,
Mexico, Ancient and Modern,
part 2, chapters 8-9 (volume 1).
ALSO IN:
H. Cortes,
Despatches [Letters] MEXICO,
translated by G. Folsom,
letter 3, chapter 5.
MEXICO: A. D. 1521-1524.
The rebuilding of the capital.
The completion and settlement of the Conquest.
"The first ebullition of triumph was succeeded in the army by
very different feelings, as they beheld the scanty spoil
gleaned from the conquered city;" and Cortés was driven, by
the clamors and suspicions of his soldiers, to subject his
heroic captive, Guatemozin, to torture, in the hope of
wringing from him a disclosure of some concealment of his
imagined treasures. Its only result was to add another infamy
to the name and memory of the conquerors. "The
commander-in-chief, with his little band of Spaniards, now
daily recruited by reinforcements from the Islands, still
occupied the quarters of Cojohuacan, which they had taken up
at the termination of the siege. Cortés did not immediately
decide in what quarter of the Valley to establish the new
capital which was to take the place of the ancient
Tenochtitlan. … At length he decided on retaining the site
of the ancient city, … and he made preparations for the
reconstruction of the capital on a scale of magnificence which
should, in his own language, 'raise her to the rank of Queen
of the surrounding provinces, in the same manner as she had
been of yore.' The labor was to be performed by the Indian
population, drawn from all quarters of the Valley, and
including the Mexicans themselves, great numbers of whom still
lingered in the neighborhood of their ancient residence. …
In less than four years from the destruction of Mexico, a new
city had risen on its ruins, which, if inferior to the ancient
capital in extent, surpassed it in magnificence and strength.
It occupied so exactly the same site as its predecessor that
the 'plaza mayor,' or great square, was the same spot which
had been covered by the huge 'teocalli' and the palace of
Montezuma; while the principal streets took their departure as
before from this central point, and, passing through the whole
length of the city, terminated at the principal causeways.
Great alterations, however, took place in the fashion of the
architecture." Meantime, Cortés had been brought into much
danger at the Spanish court, by the machinations of his
enemies, encouraged by Bishop Fonseca, the same minister who
pursued Columbus with hostility. His friends in Spain rallied,
however, to his support, and the result of an investigation,
undertaken by a board to which the Emperor Charles V. referred
all the charges against him, was the confirmation of his acts
in Mexico to their full extent. "He was constituted Governor,
Captain-General, and Chief Justice of New Spain, with power to
appoint to all offices, civil and military, and to order any
person to leave the country whose residence there he might
deem prejudicial to the interests of the Crown. This judgment
of the council was ratified by Charles V., and the commission
investing Cortés with these ample powers was signed by the
emperor at Valladolid, October 15th, 1522. … The attention
of Cortés was not confined to the capital. He was careful to
establish settlements in every part of the country which
afforded a favourable position for them. … While thus
occupied with the internal economy of the country, Cortés was
still bent on his great schemes of discovery and conquest." He
fitted out a fleet to explore the shores of the Pacific, and
another in the Gulf of Mexico—the prime object of both being
the discovery of some strait that would open one ocean to the
other. He also sent Olid in command of an expedition by sea to
occupy and colonize Honduras, and Alvarado, by land, at the
head of a large force, to subdue Guatemala. The former, having
partly accomplished his mission, attempted to establish for
himself an independent jurisdiction, and his conduct induced
Cortés to proceed to Honduras in person. It was in the course
of this expedition that Guatemozin, the dethroned Mexican
chief, who had been forced to accompany his conqueror, was
accused of a plot against the Spaniards and was hung to a
tree. 'We have the testimony of Bernal Diaz, one of the
Spaniards on the spot, that the execution "was most unjust,
and was thought wrong by all of us." "Within three short years
after the Conquest [Cortés] had reduced under the dominion of
Castile an extent of country more than 400 leagues in length,
as he affirms, on the Atlantic coast, and more than 500 on the
Pacific; and, with the exception of a few interior provinces
of no great importance, had brought them to a condition of
entire tranquillity."
W. H. Prescott,
History of the Conquest of Mexico,
book 7, chapters 1-3.
ALSO IN:
H. H. Bancroft,
History of the Pacific States,
volume 5 (Mexico, volume 2), chapters 1-8.
MEXICO: A. D. 1535-1540.
Introduction of Printing.
See PRINTING, &C: A. D. 1535—1709.
MEXICO: A. D. 1535-1822.
Under the Spanish viceroys.
"Antonio de Mendoza, Conde de Tendilla, was the first viceroy
sent by Charles V. to New Spain. He arrived in the autumn of
1535. … He had a well-balanced and moderate character, and
governed the country with justice and generosity combined. He
… set himself to reform the abuses which had already
appeared, protected the Indians from the humiliations which
the newly arrived Spaniards were disposed to put upon them; he
stimulated all branches of agriculture, and finding the
natives were already well informed in the cultivation of land,
he encouraged them in this pursuit by all possible efforts. …
{2169}
To the religious orders in Mexico is due in great measure the
firm base upon which the government of Spain was established
there. The new viceroy fully recognized this, and encouraged
the foundations of colleges and schools already undertaken by
them. In every way he promoted the prosperity and growth of
the country, and had the satisfaction in the course of his
government, which lasted 15 years, to see everything bear the
marks of his judgment and enterprise. It was he who founded
two cities [Guadalajara and Valladolid] which have reached
great importance. … Cortés was away when the Viceroy Mendoza
arrived in Mexico. He still retained his title as governor,
with the same powers always conferred upon him; but his long
absences from the capital made it necessary, as he fully
recognized, that some other strong authority should be