While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Preparations For The Attack On
The City Of Mexico. Building And Transportation Of Brigantines. Siege Laid To
The City. Assault By The Spaniards, And Their Repulse. Sacrifice Of Prisoners.
Capture Of Guatimozin, And Conquest Of The Capital.
"And Aztec
priests, upon their teocallis,
Beat the wild war-drum, made of serpents
skin."
Longfellow.
On the death of Montezuma, his brother
Cuitlahua, governor of Iztapalapa, had taken
the supreme command over the Aztecs. He had
been prime mover in the revolt, which
resulted in the expulsion of the Spaniards
from the city, and it was by his orders that
their flight had been so fiercely followed
up. At the present juncture, he sent heralds
to propose a treaty of peace with the
friendly tribe by whose hospitality the
Spanish army was now supported, proposing
the destruction of the whites, who had
brought such woes upon the whole country. A
portion of the Tlascalan assembly looked
approvingly upon the suggestion, but the
older and wiser members, reflecting upon the
known treachery of the Mexicans, and their
former acts of oppression, refused to listen
to it.
Cortez, perceiving discontent to be rife
among his men, determined not to remain
idle, but to keep their attention constantly
employed. Some, who were pining for ease and
quiet, he allowed to take ship for Cuba,
while by every argument he appealed to the
honor and valor of his veterans, urging them
not to desist at the first failure, but to
stand by their general and reinstate their
fallen fortunes. He engaged in bloody
conflicts with Mexican tribes on either side
of Tlascala, with, the most distinguished
success; and taking possession of the town
of Tepeaca, a few leagues distant,
established his head-quarters there.
By singular good fortune, several ships,
bringing fresh troops to support Narvaez,
arrived from Cuba, and the adventurers,
learning the true position of affairs,
readily joined the popular leader. Another
expedition, sent by the governor of Jamaica
to form a settlement farther up the coast,
only contributed to swell the resources of
Cortez; those engaged in the undertaking
deeming it more profit able to unite with
the followers of so renowned a general, than
to undergo the dangers and hardship of
establishing themselves unassisted among
hostile savages.
Cortez determined to make every preparation
for a renewed attack* upon the city of
Mexico. Returning to Tlascala, he set
himself to equip and furnish his troops, and
to train the Indian allies in the art of
war. Gunpowder was manufactured; the sulphur
being procured from the neighboring volcano
of Popocatapetl. The most important part of
his schemes, however, was the building a
number of small vessels, or brigantines, by
means of which his troops could be made
independent of the narrow and dangerous
causeys. These vessels he ordered to be made
in separate pieces, of such a size that they
could be transported over the mountains by
the Indian carriers: the stores and rigging
were brought from the coast by the same
means of conveyance.
On the 28th of December Cortez led his army
forth from Tlascala. The Spanish force was
less than that with which the first invasion
was undertaken, but was superior in martial
equipments. The whole army consisted of
about six hundred whites, and ten thousand,
or upwards, of Tlascalans. They marched
direct for Tezcuco, on the great lake of
Mexico. No opposition was made during the
march, and the city was yielded to them
without a struggle, nearly all the
inhabitants deserting it in their boats.
Here it was determined to await the
completion and arrival of the brigantines.
While all these formidable preparations were
going on, important changes had taken place
in the Aztec monarchy. Cuitlahua, or
Quetlavaca, had perished by that terrible
scourge, the small-pox, which was introduced
from the old country by one of Narvaez's
ships, and which spread over all Mexico,
carrying off thousands of the natives. The
new emperor Guatimozin, a brave and noble
youth, was nephew and successor to
Montezuma. The beauty and gallant bearing of
this prince excited the admiration of all
beholders; while his intelligence and valor,
combined with the hatred which he bore
towards the whites, made him an enemy to be
dreaded. He had devoted his whole attention,
since his accession, to fortifying and
defending his capital. The unserviceable
inhabitants were sent into the country,
while warriors from all sides were called to
rally round the Aztec banner within the
city.
The remainder of the winter and the early
months of spring were occupied by the
Spaniards in sallies against neighboring
towns and districts; the reduction of the
disaffected; the conciliation of those
inclined to cooperate with the besiegers;
and, above all, the completion and
transportation of the vessels. We must pass
over the skirmishes and battles, which
occurred during this period. It would be
little more than a repetition of scenes of
cruelty, horror, and bloodshed. The spirit
of the Aztecs was unsubdued, and their new
emperor haughtily refused to listen to any
terms of treaty, although Cortez
commissioned sundry prisoners of rank to
endeavor to move him. Success in occupying
many strong and populous towns, together
with the arrival of fresh recruits, served
to encourage the Spaniards in the hopes of
final triumph. Thousands of natives were
employed in digging a canal by which the
little fleet should be launched. The beams
and planks of the vessels ready to be
joined, with all the paraphernalia of
nautical outfit, were carried in state by an
immense con course of Tlascalans, charged
with the burden, or acting as a guard of
protection. Diaz says that no less than
eight thousand men served in each of these
capacities, while two thousand more followed
with provisions. About the last of April
(1521) the thirteen brigantines, fitted for
service, were launched into the canal.
The addition of an armed flotilla, which,
urged by wind and oars, could bear down upon
and scatter the frail canoes of the natives,
proved of incalculable advantage. The size
of the vessels, the thunder of their
cannons, their speed, and the skill with
which they w r ere managed and con trolled,
must have filled the Mexicans with
amazement.
Near the end of May a regular system of
siege was entered upon, by the occupation of
the three great approaches to the city. The
inhabitants were unwearied in their at
tacks, and a degree of vigilance and courage
on the part of the Spaniards, scarce equaled
in any age or country, only preserved them
from utter destruction. " For ninety-three
days together," says Diaz, " we were
employed in the siege of this great and
strong city, and every day and every night
we were engaged with the enemy. Were I to
extend my narrative to every action which
took place, it would be almost endless, and
my history would resemble that of Amadis and
the other books of chivalry."
Every expedient, of driving sunken palisades
to entangle the vessels; of pitfalls for the
cavalry; and of cutting gaps in the causeys,
was resorted to by the besieged, and per
severed in with a determination and
obstinacy only rivaled by the stern temper
of the obdurate invaders.
There was necessarily great suffering on
both sides, exclusive of the horrors of
actual warfare, from the scar city of
provision. Maize was the principal resort;
but the hordes of Indian allies sustained
existence by a more foul repast, feeding
upon the bodies that were every where
scattered over the causeys, or floating in
the lake ghastly memorials of each day s
slaughter. Knowing the insufficiency of
their own supplies, the Spaniards dared not
for bid this practice.
Cortez at last determined upon an assault
from three different quarters, with his
whole force. Fierce battles had already been
fought within the city walls; the great
Teocally had been a second time carried by
storm, and its officiating priests thrown
from its summit; the royal palace, with its
adjoining buildings, and the old fortress
where the Spaniards had formerly quartered,
had been destroyed; but no general assault
had been made. After some discussion, in
which the hazard of risking so much upon a
single onslaught was fully discussed, the
general deter mined to undertake it, and
issued his orders for a simultaneous advance
the march over the causeys to be protected
by the cooperation of the brigantines.
The three divisions under Cortez, Alvarado,
and Sandoval, were put in motion on the
ensuing morning. Orders were given that each
party should secure a safe retreat by
thoroughly filling up all gaps in the
causeys as they made their way towards the
heart of the city. Neglect of this prudent
arrangement proved most disastrous. An
advanced force, under Alderete, encouraged
by the little show of resistance, pressed on
nearly to the great square, leaving behind
them a breach in the causey, (through which
the water from the canal on either side was
flowing to a depth of two fathoms) with very
slight and inefficient means for recrossing.
As Cortez came up to this spot, he began to
suspect that his men were entrapped; he saw
that the causey had been narrowed, and at
once perceived the terrible confusion that
must ensue, in case of precipitate retreat.
While endeavoring to atone for this
carelessness by filling the dike, Cortez and
his followers heard the blast of the horn of
the Aztec emperor, Guatimozin, followed by a
deafening yell from his enraged warriors,
and shortly after, Alderete s party were
seen crowding the causey in their flight
from an overwhelming mass of the natives. At
the gap a scene of terrible slaughter
ensued. Men and horses, floundering in the
deep mud to which the way was reduced,
thrust into the water by the pres sure of
their own numbers, and seized by the enemy,
whose canoes filled the canals, presented a
miserable scene of hopeless disorder. Cortez
himself was nearly borne away captive, in
his endeavors to rescue the drowning
sufferers from the dike. Six stout warriors
laid hold of him, and would have secured him
as a notable offering to their idols, but
for the self-sacrificing devotion of his
officers and men. His whole surviving party
were obliged to retreat, making their way
back to the camp under the protecting fire
of the brigantines.
The division under Alvarado was also driven
from the city, after having made some
hopeful advance, driving in their first
opponents. The second body of natives who
stopped their progress, threw down five
Spanish heads, saying that they were those
of Cortez and his officers. In the retreat
the great drum was heard sounding from the
summit of the principal teocalli: "Its
mournful noise was such as may be imagined
the music of the infernal gods, and it might
be heard at the distance of almost three
leagues." Diaz, who gives this description,
says that the enemy were then sacrificing
ten of the Spaniards hearts to their gods.
This was just before the blast of the royal
horn a signal which roused the Aztecs to an
indescribable pitch of fury and courage.
Sandoval fared little better than the rest,
and the Spanish army, completely foiled,
returned to the several encampments,
frightfully reduced in numbers, deprived of
many of their invaluable horses, and, above
all, dispirited by the thought that sixty or
more of their brethren were alive in the
hands of the enemy, destined victims at
their infernal orgies.
As night approached, the booming of the
great drum on the temple aroused the
attention of the Spaniards, and, looking
towards the city, they could distinctly
perceive several of their unfortunate
companions led up for sacrifice, decked out
in gaudy plumes and coronals. A strong light
thrown by the fires on the platform upon
their white and naked bodies made the
sickening sight too palpably distinct, while
the shrieks of the victims rose above even
the rude din of barbarous music and exultant
shouts. The ceremony was followed by a
furious attack upon the Spanish camps.
Not even scenes like this could shake the
indomitable resolution of these men of iron.
They continued to occupy the three causeys
by which alone the city could be approached,
except in boats, and using every endeavor to
cut off supplies of provisions, made a
steady and in trenched advance upon the
capital. For ten successive nights they
witnessed the butchery of the Spanish
prisoners upon the green stone of sacrifice,
without the power to render them the least
assistance. As their hearts were torn out
and burned before the idol, the priests drew
the mangled remains down the stone steps.
Some of the Indians, mid their taunts and
revilings, averred that the Spanish flesh
was "too bitter to be eaten; and truly, it
seems that such a miracle was wrought." "Let
the reader think," says the old chronicler,
Diaz, " what were our sensations on this
occasion. Oh heavenly God! said we to
ourselves, do not suffer us to be sacrificed
by these wretches."
To add to the Spaniards distress, the great
body of their Indian allies deserted them at
this crisis. They had begun to lose their
confidence in the invincibility of the
whites; and the prediction of the Mexican
priests, that within eight days the
besiegers should be destroyed, had its
effect upon their superstitious minds.
Ixtilxochitl, the Tezcucan chief, who had
been raised by Cortez to the government of
the city on its abdication by his enemies,
remained faithful.
When the eight days were passed, these
fickle allies began to return, with fresh
confidence, to the assistance of the
besiegers. With determined energy the
Spaniards forced their passage, foot by
foot, towards the centre of the cap ital.
Securing their way behind them, and
demolishing the buildings as they proceeded,
they more than recovered from their grand
reverse. The miserable inhabitants were
reduced to the utmost extremity by famine.
Crowded together in the quarter of the city
to which they were driven, they perished by
thousands, but nothing seemed to tame their
fierce and unyielding spirit. Guatimozin
refused to listen to terms, although Cortez
repeatedly sent embassies of prisoners,
proposing a peaceable cession of the place.
Stores and men were added to the Spanish
resources, by the arrival at Villa Rica of a
vessel belonging to a fleet fitted out by De
Aillon, which was mostly destroyed on the
reefs of Florida.
After the three divisions of the army had
worked their way completely through the
city, and Guatimozin and his people were
confined in a limited district on the lake,
the fury of their sallies seemed
undiminished. When they were finally unable
longer to keep their monarch in safety, a
last attempt was made to effect an escape in
the piraguas or large canoes.
The brigantines were immediately dispatched
to intercept and destroy the flotilla, which
now spotted the lake. The natives fought
desperately, as usual, attacking the armed
vessels of the Spaniards, regardless of the
destruction occasioned by the artillery.
Sandoval, who commanded in this service,
dispatched Garcia Holguin, with the swiftest
of the brigantines, to the spot where the
emperor would probably steer, with orders to
take him prisoner alive, if possible.
The attempt was successful, and the royal
barge was taken, containing Guatimozin, his
beautiful wife, (a daughter or niece of
Montezuma,) and his chief followers. Being
brought before Cortez, the king addressed
his conqueror in terms of proud but
despairing submission, bidding him draw his
poniard, and put an end to the life of a
monarch who had striven to the last for his
people, but in vain. Cortez endeavored to
reassure him by caresses and kind words,
ordering the queen and attendants to be
treated with courtesy and respect.
While this scene was enacting, and during
the previous day, a work of such fearful
carnage had been going on in the Mexican
quarters as no pen can describe. No one can
presume to enumerate those who fell. Diaz
reports as follows: "What I am going to
mention is truth, and I swear and say amen
to it. I have read of the destruction of
Jerusalem, but I cannot conceive that the
mortality there exceeded this of Mexico; for
all the people from the distant provinces,
which belonged to this empire, had
concentrated themselves here, where they
mostly died. The streets, the squares, the
houses, and the courts of the Taltelulco,
(where the Mexicans were last entrenched,)
were covered with dead bodies; we could not
step without treading on them; the lake and
canals were filled with them, and the stench
was intolerable."
It is due to the Spanish general to say that
he endeavored repeatedly to stay this
butchery; but his Indian allies could not be
restrained, now that an opportunity was
presented for safely wreaking their
vengeance on their hereditary foes.
The capture of Guatimozin, which consummated
the conquest of the city, took place on the
thirteenth of August 1521. All contention
immediately ceased when this was
accomplished. Diaz says: "We felt like so
many men just escaped from a steeple where
all the bells were ringing about our ears.
This was owing to the continual noise of the
enemy for ninety -three days shouting,
calling, whistling, as signals to attack us,
&c. Then, from the temples and adoratories
of their accursed idols, the timbals and
horns, and the mournful sound of their great
drum, and other dismal noises were
incessantly assailing our ears, so that day
or night we could hardly hear each other
speak."
By Guatimozin s request, the city was
cleared of its in habitants, that it might
be effectually purified. The causeys were
crowded for three successive clays and
nights with a horde of such miserable,
diseased, and helpless wretches, creeping
slowly away from their former proud capital,
"that it was misery to behold them."
The booty discovered by the conquerors in no
degree equaled their anticipations. It was
supposed that great quantities of gold had
been thrown into the lake, and divers were
employed in the search for it, but with
little effect. The unfortunate Guatimozin,
and the lord of the city of Tacuba were put
to the torture, with the assent of Cortez,
to extort from them information as to the
places where they had concealed their
treasures. Cortez objected to this piece of
barbarity, but permitted it that the
suspicion might not rest upon him of having,
by connivance, appropriated the plunder to
his own use.
The young monarch, in this extremity,
preserved his dignity and composure,
enduring the cruelties of his tormentors
with Indian fortitude. "When the barbarous
inflictions of the Spaniards drew forth
groans or complaints from his companion in
suffering, Guatimozin silenced him with the
calm interrogative, "Think'st thou, then,
that I am taking my pleasure in my bath? "
Nothing was gained by the inhuman
transaction, although the emperor told of a
place in the lake where gold had been
thrown, and the lord of Tacuba confessed
that he had stores at a house in the
country. These declarations were probably
made merely for the purpose of escaping
present anguish.
This site
includes some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes
reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. These
items are presented as part of the historical record and should not be
interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes
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Indian Races of North and South America, By Charles De Wolf Brownell, 1865
