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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

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… was much longer than when on the living body, and I certainlyshould not have believed this if I had not seen it with my own eyes three days after, when our division had likewise advanced up to thisspot. Among these heads I recognized those of three of my companions in arms. At this melancholy sight the tears rolled from our eyes, and we allowed these sorrowful remains of our fellow-countrymento hang there for the present, until twelve days after, when we took them down with others we found elsewhere in these temples, and buried them in a church we founded, which is now called the Church of the Martyrs. Alvarado, with his division, had fought his way up to the Tlatelulco, but found so formidable a body of Mexican troops stationed there for the defence of the temples and idols, that it tookhim a couple of hours' hard fighting before he had entire possession ofit. Here our cavalry was of the greatest assistance to us, as they wereless restricted in their movements on this open space, and charged the crowded ranks of the enemy with much success. As the enemy attacked us in great numbers from three differentpoints, our three companies also fought in detached bodies, and oneof these, commanded by Guiterrez de Badajoz, was ordered by Alvarado to make an attempt on the great temple of Huitzilopochtli. This company fought most valiantly with the enemy, and particularly withthe priests, who lived in great numbers in houses near the temple, andour men were beaten back down the steps of this building again, up which they had advanced to a considerable distance. Alvarado seeing this, now also commanded the two other companies who were fighting away in another direction to assist the other in storming the temple.The body of the enemy's forces we thus suddenly quitted, instantlyfollowed us, yet this did not deter us from ascending the steps of thetemple. By heavens! it was a most terrific piece of labour to takethis elevated and strongly-fortified building, and much might be said in praise of our courage for attempting it. We were all dreadfullywounded, yet we were determined to gain the summit to plant ourstandard there, and set fire to the idols. When we had accomplishedthis, we had still to fight about with the Mexicans at the foot of the temple until night came on; for owing to their immense numbers itwas impossible to give them an entire defeat. [Pg 103] While we were accomplishing this splendid deed of arms on thetemple of Huitzilopochtli, Cortes was hotly engaged with the enemyin another quarter of the town, at a great distance from us. When hesaw the flames issuing on a sudden from the summit of the chieftemple, and our standard waving there, he expressed his joy aloud,and all his troops would gladly have been with us at that moment.But they found too many difficulties to surmount, as the distance betweenus was a good mile, and a number of bridges and canals intervening,all of which they must have forced. Besides this they everywhere met with so determined an opposition that it was quite impossiblefor them to fight their way into the heart of the city. It wasnot till four days after, when the three divisions had cleared the streetsof the enemy and could meet together without any further obstacle,that they likewise advanced up to this temple, and Quauhtemoctzin found himself obliged to retire with the whole of his forces into apart of the city which lay in the midst of the lake, after we had levelledall his palaces to the ground. But even from this quarter the Mexicanscontinued their attacks upon us, and when we commenced our retreattowards nightfall they followed us with greater fierceness than onformer occasions. Cortes, finding that day after day passed away without the Mexicans seeming any way inclined to sue for peace, determined to try if hecould not gain some decisive victory over them by suddenly fallingupon them from an ambush. For this purpose he selected thirty horseand one hundred of the most active foot soldiers from the three divisions;these troops were ordered to conceal themselves with 3000Tlascallans very early one morning in some extensive buildings whichbelonged to one of the Mexican grandees. Cortes then marched asusual with the remaining troops along the causeway into the city, thecavalry clearing the streets in advance, followed by the musketeersand crossbow-men. When he had arrived at a bridge which lay acrossa broad canal, and was defended by a vast body of the enemy, he [Pg 104] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 74/282
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… ordered his men to make a sudden retreat, and our allies to move off the causeway. The Mexicans, who imagined Cortes was retreating from fear, fell upon his rear with great impetuosity; but as soon as he saw the enemy had passed the houses in which we lay concealed,he fired a cannon, which was the signal previously agreed upon; andwe rushed forth from our ambush with the cavalry at our head, andfell in our turn upon the enemy's rear. Cortes then faced about with his men and our Tlascallan friends, and attacked the enemy in front.A terrible slaughter now ensued in the ranks of the Mexicans, and they never after showed any inclination to molest us when we marchedback to our encampments in the evening. Alvarado, with his division, had in a similar manner attempted toentrap the enemy by an ambush, but he was not equally successful. As for myself I was not with my division on this occasion, Corteshaving purposely selected me to join his troops in the ambush above-mentioned. We had now entire possession of the Tlatelulco, and Cortes orderedour three companies to fortify themselves on this large square, to save the men the trouble of marching thither every morning from the encampmentwhich was two miles off. Here we lay quietly for three days without doing anything worthy of notice, and Cortes, in thehopes that the Mexicans would now certainly sue for peace, would notallow any more houses to be pulled down, nor any further attacks to be made on the other parts of the city. He then forwarded another message to the Mexican monarch, in which he desired him to surrender,and assured him he would have nothing to fear for his own person; on the contrary, he would meet with the most honorabletreatment, and that he should continue in possession of his dominionsand cities as heretofore. This message our general accompanied by a supply of provisions, consisting in maize-cakes, fowls, venison, figs,and cherries, as he knew the monarch had scarcely any food left.Quauhtemoctzin, on receiving this message, called a council of war composed of his chief officers, in which it was agreed that the monarchshould return this answer to Cortes: "He, Quauhtemoctzin, was now very desirous of putting an end to the war, and wished to have apersonal interview with Cortes in the space of three days, to settle the terms of peace." [Pg 105] Four distinguished Mexicans accordingly arrived in our camp withan answer to that effect. We really now thought Quauhtemoctzinearnestly desired peace, and for this reason Cortes sumptuously regaledthese four ambassadors, and presented them on leaving with a further supply of provisions for their monarch, who returned this civility by sending other ambassadors with a present of two splendid mantlesfor our general, with the assurance that he would meet Cortes accordingto his promise. But this message which Quauhtemoctzin had sent was a mere blindto gain time in order to repair the bridges and deepen the canals, andget in a fresh supply of arms; and, to be short, the three days expired, but no Quauhtemoctzin made his appearance. His courtiers continually cautioned him not to put any trust in Cortes, and supportedtheir arguments by reminding him of his uncle Motecusuma's miserable end; they assured him that Cortes would exterminate the whole of the Mexican nobility, and they advised him to excuse himselffor not meeting Cortes, under the pretence of ill health. They faithfullypromised him to march out to a man against the teules, and theydespaired not of gaining a decisive victory over us some day or other,for this had been promised them by their gods. When the three days had passed by and Quauhtemoctzin did notmake his appearance, we concluded that we had been imposed uponby the Mexicans, who, however, did not leave us much time to vexourselves about it, for all of a sudden they renewed the attack upon us with their accustomed fierceness, so that we were scarcely able tomaintain our ground. The same befell the divisions of Alvarado andSandoval, and it was as if the war had only just commenced. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 75/282
Page 1 and 2:
1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenb
Page 3 and 4:
Page 5 and 6:
Page 7 and 8:
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24: 1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenb
Page 73: 1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenb
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
Page 181 and 182:
Page 183 and 184:
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
Page 189 and 190:
Page 191 and 192:
Page 193 and 194:
Page 195 and 196:
Page 197 and 198:
Page 199 and 200:
Page 201 and 202:
Page 203 and 204:
Page 205 and 206:
Page 207 and 208:
Page 209 and 210:
Page 211 and 212:
Page 213 and 214:
Page 215 and 216:
Page 217 and 218:
Page 219 and 220:
Page 221 and 222:
Page 223 and 224:
Page 225 and 226:
Page 227 and 228:
Page 229 and 230:
Page 231 and 232:
Page 233 and 234:
Page 235 and 236:
Page 237 and 238:
Page 239 and 240:
Page 241 and 242:
Page 243 and 244:
Page 245 and 246:
Page 247 and 248:
Page 249 and 250:
Page 251 and 252:
Page 253 and 254:
Page 255 and 256:
Page 257 and 258:
Page 259 and 260:
Page 261 and 262:
Page 263 and 264:
Page 265 and 266:
Page 267 and 268:
Page 269 and 270:
Page 271 and 272:
Page 273 and 274:
Page 275 and 276:
Page 277 and 278:
Page 279 and 280:
Page 281 and 282:
show all

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?