The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

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1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo written by himself, containing a true an… allof which they faithfully adhered. After this, ambassadors arrived fromanother township, which lay in the midst of the lake, and was called Mizquic, though we called it Little Venice. The inhabitants of thisplace had never been upon intimate terms of friendship with the Mexicans, and now utterly detested them. An alliance with these people, from their situation in the midst of the lake, was of the utmost importanceto us, and we also flattered ourselves we should, throughthem, gain the friendship of the other townships which lay on the lake.These ambassadors accordingly were most courteously received by our general, and he dismissed them with the most flattering assurances ofour friendship and protection. During this interview Cortes received information that a large bodyof Mexican troops were marching against the four townships which hadbeen the first to solicit our friendship. The inhabitants there durst not venture of themselves to bid any defiance to the enemy, but intendedto fly to the mountains, or seek refuge with us in Tezcuco. They beggedso hard for assistance, that Cortes at length complied with their request, and marched thither with twenty horse, two hundred foot, thirteencrossbow-men, and ten musketeers, accompanied by Alvarado and Oli.These towns lay about nine miles from Tezcuco, and were threatened with total destruction by the Mexicans for having concluded peace with us. In particular they were afraid of losing the crops of maise in frontof the lake, which were now ready for harvesting, and from which theinhabitants of Tezcuco and the four townships had thought to supply us. The Mexicans declared they were coming to cut this maise, as it was their property, and those townships had always till then cultivatedthose lands for the papas of Mexico; and indeed many lives had alreadybeen lost in disputes respecting these fields. [Pg 10] Cortes, being now well acquainted with the true state of the case, sent word to the inhabitants of those places that they had nothing to fear,but to remain quietly at home, and send him word when they were desirous of harvesting their maise crops. He would then despatch anofficer, with several horse, to protect the reapers. With this they wereperfectly satisfied, and we returned to Tezcuco. When we found that our stock of maise was nearly all gone, we sentnotice of it to those townships, and they immediately commenced reapingtheir crops; and we marched thither to protect them, with ten horse,one hundred foot, and a few musketeers and crossbow-men, besidesthe Tlascallan troops, and we took up our position on the maise plantations. I myself was twice present on these expeditions. On one occasion we had a very sharp skirmish with the Mexicans, a large body of whomhad arrived in upwards of 1000 canoes, and secreting themselves among the maise plantations, had commenced carrying off our allies. Weinstantly fell upon them, and though they fought courageously, yet wecompelled them to take to their canoes again. In this skirmish we had one man killed and twelve wounded, of the Tlascallans from fifteen totwenty were killed, and five were carried off alive. The day following this skirmish we learnt that the townships Chalcoand Tlalmanalco, with their dependent villages, were desirous of makingpeace with us, but were prevented from doing so by the Mexican garrisons stationed there. They complained bitterly of the treatment whichthey suffered from them; their wives were dragged away, and if handsome were often violated in the presence of their parents and husbands. About this time our carpenters in Tlascalla had proceeded so far withthe building of the brigantines, that the timber was ready to be puttogether; we were therefore very awkwardly situated, from being so closely bound to Tezcuco, where we had no time to make any arrangements for transporting the brigantines hither; for now the inhabitants of this township, then those of Mizquic, or Little Venice, then againothers which stood in alliance with us, came to beg assistance againstthe Mexicans; besides this, many of our Tlascallan friends longed toreturn home with their booty, consisting in gold, salt, and other matters, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 14/282
1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo written by himself, containing a true an… but durst not venture, on account of the insecurity of the road, as theMexican troops were spread in all directions. Under these circumstances, Cortes deemed that the inhabitants ofTlalmanalco and Chalco, before all others, required our more immediate assistance, that they might be enabled to form an alliance with us. The other townships might defend themselves as well as they could for thepresent, as it would not do to leave Tezcuco without any troops; indeedthe utmost vigilance was necessary in that town. Lugo and Sandoval therefore received instructions to march out, with fifteen horse, twohundred foot, a few crossbow-men and musketeers, besides our friends of Tlascalla. They were to dislodge the Mexican troops from Chalcoand Tlalmanalco, and clear the road leading to Tlascalla and Vera Cruz,along which the enemy had stationed small detachments. [Pg 11] Information of all this was previously conveyed to the inhabitants of Chalco by some trustworthy men of Tezcuco, that they might fall uponthe Mexicans at the same moment with our troops. Nothing couldhave been more agreeable to the wishes of the inhabitants of Chalco,and they accordingly held themselves in readiness to rise up againstthe enemy at the proper time. Sandoval composed his rearguard of five horse, an equal number ofcrossbow-men, and the greater part of the Tlascallans, who had all their booty with them. As the Mexicans had everywhere sent out scoutsand spies to watch our movements, our present march to Chalco wasno secret to them. They had therefore collected a strong body of theirtroops, and fell upon our rearguard, which was chiefly composed ofTlascallans. It may easily be supposed that our five horse and fewcrossbow-men could not stand long against these overpowering numbers;two were very soon killed, and the rest wounded. Sandoval hadindeed hastened to their assistance with the first alarm, had succeededin driving back the Mexicans, and killing seven of their men; yet theymanaged to gain their canoes, and retreat to a place of safety, whichwas the more easy for them to do, as the whole of the population ofthis district was subject to the Mexicans. Sandoval was uncommonly vexed when he found the five horses andtheir riders covered with wounds, two crossbow-men killed, and the restall wounded. He severely reproached them for not having defendedthemselves better, and for the little protection they had proved to ourTlascallan friends. He could easily see, he added, that they had butrecently arrived from Spain, and knew very little about fighting. His first care now was to provide for the safety of the Tlascallans andtheir baggage, and to despatch the letters Cortes had given him to Vera Cruz. In these letters our general had given the commandant of that town an account of all our conquests, and of his determination to besiegeMexico, and blockade it on all sides; the letter closed by desiring himto observe the utmost vigilance, and with orders to send all those ofhis men who were sufficiently strong for service to Tlascalla, where theywere to remain until the road should be cleared of the enemy. [Pg 12] After Sandoval had despatched his messengers with these letters, and conducted our Tlascallan friends to where they were out of the enemy'sreach, he marched back to Chalco, which was not very far distant. Onthis march he was particularly on his guard, since he was well awarethat Mexican troops were lurking about in all directions, and lay concealedin every house. He had indeed not advanced far along a leveltract of country, covered with maguey and maise plantations, before he was vigorously attacked. The enemy, on this occasion, carried,besides their usual weapons, long pikes, which were especially intended against the charge of our horse upon their line. Sandoval, however, twice broke through their dense ranks, and, with the Spanish troopsand small body of allies we had still left, he drove the enemy completelyout of the field. Five Spaniards, six horses, and many of our allies,were wounded. This time the enemy received a severe retribution forthe fresh attack https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 15/282
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The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

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