Hernando Cortez

The natives flee

Arrival at Tlascala

The natives, with cries of rage, grief, and despair, in the wildest tumult, broke and fled to the mountains. Their gods had abandoned them. The victory of the Spaniards was complete. They record, though doubtless with exaggeration, for they had no leisure to stop and count the slain, that twenty thousand of their enemies were left dead upon that bloody field. With new alacrity the victors now pressed on, and the next day entered the territory of the Tlascalans.

Enmity of the Tlascalans against the Mexicans

Here they were received with the greatest kindness. The enmity of the Tlascalans against the Mexicans was so inveterate, and their desire to avenge the death of their countrymen so intense, that they still clung tenaciously to the Spanish alliance, with the hope that new resources might arrive which would enable the Spaniards to retrieve their fallen fortunes.

New disasters

In the hospitable city of Tlascala Cortez allowed his shattered battalions that repose which was now so indispensable. Nearly all his men were suffering severely from sickness, fatigue, and wounds. But here the Spanish chieftain learned of new disasters which had befallen him. A detachment of Spanish soldiers, who were marching from Zempoalla to the capital as a re-enforcement, had been cut off by the natives and entirely destroyed. A small party, who had been sent to convey some treasures from Tlascala to Vera Cruz, had also been surprised and destroyed among the mountains. When the life of every Spaniard was of so much importance, these were, indeed, terrible additional calamities.

New designs of Cortez

The companions of Cortez were now thoroughly disheartened, and were anxious to return to Vera Cruz, send a vessel to Cuba for some transports, and abandon the enterprise; but the indomitable warrior, though lying upon the bed in a raging fever, and while a surgeon was cutting off two of his mutilated and inflamed fingers, and raising a portion of the bone of his skull, which had been splintered by the club of a native, was forming his plans to return to Mexico and reconquer what he had lost. The resources at his command still appeared to him sufficient to form a nucleus around which to assemble a new army. The garrison at Vera Cruz, with its artillery and military stores, still remained unimpaired; the Tlascalans and Zempoallans continued firm in their alliance; and he still could assemble, notwithstanding his losses, as large a force as accompanied him in his first march into Mexico. He therefore resolved to make vigorous and prompt preparations to prosecute his enterprise anew. He wrote to his sovereign an account of the disasters he had encountered, saying, "I can not believe that the good and merciful God will thus suffer his cause to perish among the heathen."

Efforts to collect recruits

Preparations for building ships

With great energy and sagacity he aroused himself for this new effort. He made special exertions to secure the cordial co-operation of the Tlascalan chiefs, by distributing among them the rich spoil taken in his last battle. He dispatched four ships, selected from the fleet captured from Narvaez, to Hispaniola and Jamaica, to collect recruits and supplies. That he might secure the command of the lake, he prepared, with the ready aid of the Tlascalans, materials for building twelve vessels, to be conveyed in pieces by the men of burden to the lake, there to be put together and launched upon the waters.

Remonstrance of his companions

The companions of Cortez had, however, by far too vivid a recollection of the horrors of the dismal night to participate in the zeal of their commander. Murmurs against the enterprise grew louder and louder, until the camp was almost in a state of mutiny. They assembled, and appointed a delegation to wait upon their commander, and remonstrate against another attempt, with his broken battalions, to subjugate so powerful an empire. Respectfully, but firmly, they demanded to be taken back to Cuba. All the arguments and entreaties of Cortez were of no avail to change their minds or to allay their anxieties.

The foray

Plunder

We have before mentioned that a detachment of soldiers from Vera Cruz had been cut off by the natives. The assailing force was from one of the Mexican provinces in the vicinity of Tlascala, called Tepeaca. The soldiers, without much unwillingness, consented to march to their region, and chastise them for the deed. The enterprise would be attended with but little danger, and promised a large amount of booty. It was now the month of August. Cortez headed the expedition, and in the foray of a few weeks, after an enormous slaughter of the Tepeacans, reduced the province to subjection, and returned to Tlascala laden with plunder. Another foray was soon undertaken, and then another. Thus, for five months, while he was collecting recruits and accumulating supplies, he adroitly kept his men employed in various military expeditions till they again became accustomed to victory, and were ready to enter upon a wider field of glory, which should open before them more brilliant prospects for wealth. Fortune, it is said, helps those who help themselves. This inflexibility of purpose and untiring energy on the part of Cortez, was accompanied by what is usually termed the gifts of peculiarly good fortune.

The Governor of Cuba sends ships to Vera Cruz

The Governor of Cuba, unaware of the disaster which had befallen Narvaez, sent two ships after him with a supply of men and military stores. These vessels were decoyed into the harbor of Vera Cruz, the stores seized, and the men were easily induced to enter into the service of Cortez.

Expedition from the Governor of Jamaica

Collection of arms

The Governor of Jamaica fitted out an expedition of three ships to prosecute an expedition of discovery and conquest. They were very unfortunate, and, after many disasters, these ships, their crews being almost in a famishing state, cast anchor at Vera Cruz. They listened eagerly to the brilliant prospects which Cortez held out to them, and enlisted under his banner. At the same time, it also happened that a ship arrived from Spain, fitted out by some private merchants with military stores, and other articles for traffic among the natives. Cortez immediately purchased the cargo, and induced the crew to follow the example of the others, and join his army. At last, the agents he sent to Hispaniola and Jamaica returned, with two hundred soldiers, eighty horses, two battering-cannon, and a considerable supply of ammunition and muskets. Cortez had in these various ways now collected about him eight hundred and eighteen foot-soldiers, eighty-six horsemen, three battering-cannon, and fifteen field-pieces.

Equipping the fleet

The vessels baptized

He established his head-quarters at Tepeaca, on a small river which ran into the lake. The iron, the planks, the timber, the masts, the cordage, and the materials necessary to construct and equip a fleet of thirteen brigantines, were to be carried a distance of sixty miles, over rough roads, on the shoulders of men. Eight thousand men of burden were furnished by the Tlascalans for this work. Tepeaca was two miles from the shore of the lake, and the rivulet upon which it was situated was shallow. A large number of natives were employed for two months in deepening the channel, that the vessels might be floated down. Though the Mexicans made many attacks while the brigantines were being built, they were invariably repulsed. At length the fleet was finished, and the whole army was drawn up to witness, with all the accompaniments of religious and military pomp, the launching of the ships. Each vessel received a baptismal name and a blessing from Father Olmedo. They glided smoothly down the river, and were wafted out upon the lake, a fleet amply strong to set all the power of the Mexicans at defiance. A general shout of joy burst from the lips of the Spaniards and Tlascalans as they observed the triumphant success of this measure. All despondency now disappeared, and, sanguine of success, the whole army was eager again to march to the assault of the capital.

Chapter IX.
The Capital Besieged and Captured

Preparations for defense

Cuitlahua

While Cortez was thus vigorously preparing to renew the assault upon the city of Mexico, the Mexicans were no less busy in their preparations for defense. Upon the death of Montezuma, the crown passed to his more warlike brother Cuitlahua. By his energies the Spaniards had been driven from the metropolis, and he immediately, with great vigor, fortified the city anew, and recruited and drilled his armies, now familiar with the weapons of European warfare. He sent an embassy to the Tlascalans, urging alliance against a common foe, and endeavoring to incite them to rise and crush the Spaniards, who, without their alliance, would have been entirely helpless. The sagacity of Cortez, however, baffled these efforts, and he succeeded in binding the Tlascalans to him by still stronger ties.

Pestilence

Among other woes, the Spaniards had introduced the small-pox into Mexico. The terrible curse now swept like a blast of destruction through the land. The natives perished by thousands. Many cities and villages were almost depopulated. The fearful pestilence reached the Mexican capital, and the emperor, Cuitlahua, soon fell a victim to its ravages.

Guatemozin

Guatemozin, the son-in-law of Montezuma, was then, by the unanimous acclaim of his countrymen, placed upon the throne. He was a young man of high reputation for ability and force of character, and proved himself the worthy leader of his nation in this dreadful crisis of its fate. Guatemozin assembled all his forces in the capital, as the strongest point upon which they could stand upon their defense.

The brigantines

Cortez decided to make the assault by three divisions of the army, each marching over one of the causeways. Sandoval was to command on the north, Alvarado on the west, and Olid on the south. Cortez reserved to himself the command of the brigantines, which were to sweep the lakes, and drive the war-canoes of the natives from the causeways. Each brigantine was manned with twenty-five Spaniards, and armed with a cannon, whose shot would make fearful havoc among the frail and crowded canoes of the Mexicans.

The fleet is attacked

Guatemozin immediately foresaw how much he had to dread from this fleet, and decided that, at every hazard, he must attempt its destruction. He accordingly assembled an enormous mass of canoes, hoping by numbers to overpower the enemy. The day was calm; not a ripple disturbed the glassy surface of the water, when a fleet of canoes, in numbers which could not be counted, pushed out boldly into the lake to assail the brigantines lying at anchor.

The Spanish victorious

Dismay of the Mexicans

But just then, to the great joy of the Spaniards and to the dismay of the Mexicans, a fresh and favorable breeze arose, which would drive the brigantines resistlessly through the swarm of fragile boats which were approaching them. The sails were instantly spread, the cannon were loaded almost to the muzzle, and the work of death began. The heavy vessels crushed the canoes, overturned them, drove them one upon another in indescribable confusion, while the merciless shot pierced bones, and nerves, and sinews, and the surface of the lake was covered with the mutilated bodies of the dying and of the dead. The water was red with blood, and in a short time the fleet was destroyed; but few of the boats escaped. The Mexicans, from their house-tops, gazed with dismay upon this awful scene of carnage, and were oppressed with fearful forebodings that no degree of courage and no superiority of numbers could avail them against the terrible engines of destruction which European skill had framed.

Cortez's skill

Cortez was now completely master of the lake. He formed his brigantines into three divisions, to cover the assailants on the three causeways and to protect them from any attack by canoes. He thus also preserved communication, prompt and effective, between the different divisions of his army. The military skill displayed by Cortez in all these arrangements is of the highest kind. The conquest of Mexico was not achieved by accident, but by sagacity, persevering energy, and patient toil almost unparalleled.

The siege continued

The siege was now prosecuted with the most determined vigor. The approaches were made along the three causeways. The natives had broken down the bridges and reared a succession of formidable barricades, and as they were driven from one by the irresistible force of artillery, they retired, with firmness worthy of admiration, to the next, there to maintain their post to the last possible moment. The brigantines approached the sides of the causeways and opened a destructive fire upon the valiant defenders, where the Spaniards were exposed to no danger in return. Thus for nearly three months, by day and by night, on the land and on the water, the bloody strife was continued.

Obstinate resistance

Sortie by the Mexicans

Cortez was astonished at the obstinacy and efficiency of the resistance effected by the besieged. Gradually, however, the besiegers advanced, carefully filling up behind them the gaps in the causeway, that they might easily, if necessary, effect a retreat. They were taught the necessity of this precaution by a terrible repulse which they at one time encountered. Guatemozin, with a quick military eye, perceiving that the causeway occupied by one of the divisions of the Spaniards was impassable behind the Spaniards from trenches unfilled, and broken bridges, and the ruins of barricades, ordered the Mexican troops to retire, to lure the Spaniards forward. He then collected an enormous force, dispatching some in canoes along shallows which the brigantines could not approach, and then, at a signal from the great alarm drum on the summit of the temple, whose doleful tones could be heard for miles, the whole mass, with frantic rage, stimulated by hope, rushed upon the foe. The sudden assault, so impetuous, and sustained by such vast numbers, was quite successful. The Spaniards were driven back in confusion, horsemen and infantry crowding upon each other, till multitudes were forced, pell-mell, horses, and cannon, and men, into the chasms. Here the natives, in their light canoes, fell furiously upon them. More than twenty Spaniards were killed outright, and forty, mangled and bleeding, fell alive into the hands of the victors. There was no possible escape for the captives from their doom. They were to be sacrificed to the gods.

Preparations for sacrifice

Torturing the captives

This was an awful reverse, and the Spaniards were horror-stricken in contemplating the fate of their captured comrades. The capital was that night illuminated with great brilliance, and the splendor of the great pyramidal temple, blazing with innumerable torches, gleamed far and wide over the lake. It was an awful spectacle to the Spaniards, for they well knew the scenes which were transpiring on that lofty altar of idolatry. The preparations for the sacrifice could be distinctly seen, and the movements of the sacrificial priests. The white bodies of the victims could also be clearly discerned as they were stripped naked for the torture and the knife; and when the awful torture was applied, the shrieks of the wretched sufferers pierced the still night air, and penetrated the camp of the Spaniards. They listened appalled to those cries of agony, imagining that they could distinguish each victim by the sound of his voice.

This awful scene is thus described by Diaz:

The sacrifice

"On a sudden, our ears were struck by the horrific sound of the great drum, the timbrels, horns, and trumpets on the temple. We all directed our eyes thither, and, shocking to relate, saw our unfortunate countrymen driven by blows to the place where they were to be sacrificed, which bloody ceremony was accompanied by the dismal sound of all the instruments of the temple. We perceived that when they had brought the wretched victims to the flat summit of the body of the temple, they put plumes upon their heads, and made them dance before their accursed idols. When they had done this, they laid them upon their backs on the stone used for the purpose, where they cut out their hearts alive, and having presented them, yet palpitating, to their gods, they drew the bodies down the steps by the feet, where they were taken by others of their priests. Let the reader think what were our sensations on this occasion. O heavenly God! said we to ourselves, do not suffer us to be sacrificed by these wretches. Do not suffer us to die so cruel a death. And then, how shocking a reflection, that we were unable to relieve our poor friends, who were thus murdered before our eyes."

The Mexicans are elated by their victory

Shrewdness of Cortez

This victory elated the Mexicans exceedingly. They cut off the heads of the sacrificed Spaniards, and sent them to the adjacent provinces, to prove that their gods, now appeased by this signal offering of blood, had abandoned the enemy. The priests sent the assurance far and wide that victory was now certain, as the oracles had returned the response that in eight days the detested enemy should be entirely destroyed. This prediction exerted a great influence upon a superstitious people. Many of the natives who had joined Cortez deserted his cause, and even the Tlascalans began to waver. The prudence and shrewdness of Cortez again met the danger and averted it. For eight days he made no advance, but merely stood on the defensive. The predicted time having expired, he said, "You see that the gods have deceived the Mexicans. They have espoused our cause."

His allies

The fickle people immediately returned to their stations, and others joined them, so that Cortez, according to his own account, now found himself at the head of one hundred and fifty thousand Indians. Gomara and Herrera assert that there were not less than two hundred thousand. The number of defenders in the Mexican capital can not with accuracy be ascertained. It is estimated, however, from various considerations, that there must have been at least two hundred thousand.

The Spaniards, in this sanguinary and protracted siege, often suffered severely for want of food. With apparent reluctance, the historians of the expedition record that their Indian auxiliaries found quite an abundant supply for themselves in the bodies of their enemies. Some of them were rather ashamed to acknowledge that their auxiliaries were inveterate cannibals. Cortez, however, alludes to their horrible repasts quite in a tone of indifference.

Progress of the siege

The allies in the city

With greater caution the Spaniards now advanced, fortifying every point they gained, and preparing a smooth and unobstructed road in their rear. Their progress was exceedingly slow, and it was necessary to adopt every possible precaution against an enemy who had manifested such unexpected audacity and skill. As the Spaniards pushed forward, the Mexicans, contesting every inch of the way, sullenly retired, rearing barricade after barricade, and digging ditch behind ditch. But artillery and European science were sure, in the end, to triumph. Gradually the three divisions of the army forced their way across the causeways, and entered the streets of the city. But here the defense was, if possible, still more determined and sanguinary. Every street was a guarded defile, where every obstacle was interposed which Mexican military skill could devise. Every house was a fortress, from whose battlemented roof and loop-holed windows a shower of stones, arrows, and javelins fell upon the besiegers. As the Spaniards gained ground, step by step, they leveled every house, and left entire ruin and desolation behind them.

Sufferings of the Mexicans

Day after day and week after week of this unparalleled siege lingered along, every hour of which almost was a battle. The Mexicans fell in incredible numbers. The horrors of pestilence and famine in the pent-up city were soon added to the awful carnage and misery of war.

The brigantines swept the lake, cutting off nearly all supplies by water for the valiant yet starving defenders, while the armies on the causeways completely invested the city by land. Wan and haggard, these unhappy victims of European aggression, even when all hope of successful resistance had expired, heroically resolved to perish to the last man, and to bury themselves beneath the ruins of their city.

The public square

Even the heart of Cortez was touched with the almost unearthly misery he was inflicting upon an unoffending people. Again and again he sent to Guatemozin demanding capitulation; but the proud Mexican monarch rejected every overture with indignation and scorn. At length the three divisions of the army, from their three different points of attack, penetrated the city so far as to meet at the great public square. The whole western portion of the city was now in the power of the besiegers. The starving and dying defenders were shut up in a small section of less than one fourth of the capital.

Affairs in the Mexican camp

The Spaniards, now sure of success, pressed the siege with new ardor. Their forces had met, and were combined in the great square. The avenues connecting with the country were all open before them, so that they could freely go and come. The lake was swept by the brigantines, and, though a swift canoe could occasionally shoot along the shore, the natives could not venture, in the face of such a force, to cross the wide expanse of water. Affairs in the Mexican camp were now in the very darkest state of misery and gloom.

A desperate resolve

The Mexicans regarded their monarch with superstitious veneration. Upon his life all their destinies were suspended. His voice was omnipotent with the people. After long deliberation, the desperate resolve was adopted to send Guatemozin in a canoe across the broad waters of the lake, which like an ocean swept around the city, to the eastern shore. But Cortez, ever on the alert, anticipated this movement, and ordered the brigantines to maintain the most vigilant watch. The Mexicans, to deceive Cortez, sent an embassy to him to confer upon terms of capitulation. They hoped thus to engage his attention so that Guatemozin could escape unperceived, and, having roused all the distant provinces, who would spring to arms at his voice, could make an assault upon the rear of the foe.

Pursuit

The monarch captured

Sandoval was now placed in command of the brigantines. He observed one morning several canoes, crowded with people and plied by strong rowers, shoot from the city, and direct their course across the lake toward the eastern shore. The signal was instantly given for pursuit. Unfortunately for the Mexicans, a favorable breeze sprang up, and one of the brigantines soon drew near the largest boat. The cannon was loaded, and heavily shotted and aimed. The gunner stood ready with his lighted torch. In another moment the fatal discharge would have strewed the lake with the fragments of the boat and the mangled bodies of the slain. The Mexicans, regardless of their own lives, but intensely anxious for the safety of their sovereign, dropped their oars, and holding up their hands beseechingly, with cries and tears, besought the Spaniards not to fire, exclaiming that the emperor was there.

His dignity

Eagerly the precious prize was seized. The heroic Guatemozin with dignity surrendered himself into the hands of his victors, asking no favor for himself, but simply requesting that no insult might be offered to the empress or his children, who were in the boat with him. With much exultation, the captive monarch, who was but twenty-four years of age, was conveyed to the shore, and conducted into the presence of Cortez. Guatemozin retained his fortitude unshaken. Looking firmly upon his conqueror, he said, loftily,

Guatemozin's fortitude

"I have done what became a monarch. I have defended my people to the last extremity. Nothing now remains for me but to die. Take this dagger," he continued, placing his hand upon the one which Cortez wore at his side, "and plunge it into my bosom, and thus end a life which is henceforth useless."

Pretended magnanimity of Cortez

Cortez well knew how to act the part of magnanimity. He was by instinct a man of princely manners. Castilian grace and dignity ever shone pre-eminent in his movements. He endeavored to console his vanquished foe, whose bold defense commanded his respect.

"You are not my captive," said he, "but the prisoner of the greatest monarch of Europe. From his great clemency, you may hope not only that you may be restored to liberty, but that you may again be placed upon the throne which you have so valiantly defended."

The Mexicans surrender

Guatemozin had no confidence in the word of Cortez. He knew well the perfidy and the treachery which had marked every step of the invader's march thus far. Proudly disdaining to manifest any concern for his own fate, he plead only that Cortez would be merciful to his suffering people. The conqueror promised compassion if Guatemozin would command their instant surrender. This was promptly done, and the command was instantly obeyed. The Mexicans lost all heart as soon as they learned that their monarch was a prisoner. Cortez immediately took possession of the small portion of the city which still remained undestroyed.

Loss of the Spanish

Thus terminated this memorable siege, one of the most remarkable which has been recorded in the horrid annals of war. It had continued for seventy-five days of almost incessant conflict. Almost every hour the fiercest battle raged, as step by step the assailants, with the utmost effort and difficulty, crowded back the valiant defenders. No less than one hundred and fifty thousand Mexicans perished in this awful and atrocious siege. The Spaniards, who wished to make their loss appear as small as possible, admit that one hundred of the Spanish soldiers fell, and many thousands of their allies.

Appearance of the captured city

Nearly the whole capital was now but a mass of blackened and smouldering ruins. Its numerous squares, streets, and courts, but recently so beautiful in their neat order, and their embellishments of shrubbery and flowers, were now clotted with blood and covered with the mangled bodies of the slain. The sight was hideous even to those accustomed to all the revolting scenes which demoniac war ever brings in its train.

The ground was covered with the dead. Among the putrefying heaps some wretches were seen, wounded, bleeding, and crawling about in advanced stages of those loathsome diseases produced by famine and misery.

The air was so polluted with the masses of the dead, decaying beneath the rays of a tropical sun, that Cortez was compelled to withdraw his army from the city that the dead might be removed and the streets purified. For three days and three nights the causeways were thronged by endless processions of the natives bearing the mouldering corpses from the city. But the Spaniards were insensible to the woes which they had inflicted upon others in their exultation over their great victory. They had conquered the enemy. The capital was in their hands, and they had now but to collect the boundless treasures which they supposed were accumulated in the halls of Montezuma. It was on Tuesday, the 13th of August, 1521, that the conflict ceased. The mighty empire of Mexico on that day perished, and there remained in its stead but a colony of Spain.

Piety of Cortez

Searching for the treasures

On the very day of the capture Cortez searched every spot where treasure could be found, and having collected every thing of value, returned to his camp, "giving thanks," he says, "to our Lord for so signal a reward and so desirable a victory as he has granted us." He continued for three or four days searching eagerly for spoils, amid all the scenes of horror presented by the devastated city. All the gold and silver which were found were melted down, and one fifth was set apart for the King of Spain, while the rest was divided among the Spaniards according to their rank and services.

"Among the spoils obtained in the city," says Cortez, in his dispatch to Charles V., "were many shields of gold, plumes, panaches, and other articles of so wonderful a character, that language will not convey an idea of them, nor could a correct conception be formed of their rare excellence without seeing them."

Still the booty which was gained fell far short of the expectation of the victors. The heroic Guatemozin, when the hope of successful defense had expired, determined that the conquerors should not be enriched by the treasures of the empire. A vast amount was consequently sent out in boats, and sunk to the bottom of the lake. For a short time, however, exultation in view of their great victory caused both the commander and his soldiers to forget their disappointment; love of glory for a moment triumphed over avarice.

The native allies

Their carousals

The native allies had been but tools in the hand of Cortez to subjugate the Mexicans. The deluded natives had thus also subjugated themselves. They were now powerless, and the bond-servants of the Spaniards. Cortez allowed them to sack the few remaining dwellings of the smouldering capital, and to load themselves with such articles as might seem valuable to semi-barbarian eyes, but which would have no cash value in Spain. With this share of the plunder they were satisfied, and their camp resounded with revelry as those fierce warriors, with songs and dances, exulted over the downfall of their ancient foes. Cortez thanked them for their assistance, praised them for their valor, and told them that they might now go home. They went home, soon to find that it was to them home no more. The stranger possessed their country, and they and their children were his slaves.