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!
Seizure And Imprisonment Of
Montezuma. Execution Of Qualpopoca And His Companions. Ominous Prospects.
Expedition Of Pamphilo De Narvaez. Success Of Cortez Against Him. Return To
Mexico. Outrage By Alvarado, And Consequent Troubles. Death Of Montezuma. The "Noche
Triste." Battle Of Obtumba, And Arrival At Tlascala.
"And sounds
that mingled laugh, and shout, and scream,
To freeze the blood in one discordant jar,
Rung to the pealing thunderbolts of war."
Campbell.
Cortez was not yet satisfied; he felt his
situation to be precarious, and that his
object would not be fully accomplished until
he had acquired complete mastery over the
inhabitants of the imperial city. While he
was on his march to Mexico, Juan de
Escalente, commander of the garrison left at
Vera Cruz, had, with six other Spaniards,
perished in a broil with the natives. One
soldier was taken prisoner, but dying of his
wounds, his captors carried his head to
Montezuma. The trophy proved an object of
terror to the king, who trembled as he
looked on the marks of manly strength which
its contour and thick curled beard
betokened, and ordered it from his presence.
Cortez knew of these events when at Cholula,
but had kept them concealed from most of his
people. He now adduced them, in select
council of his officers, as reason with
other matters for the bold step he purposed.
This was to seize the person of Montezuma.
On the eighth day after the arrival at the
city, Cortez took with him Alvarado,
Velasquez de Leon, Avila, Sandoval, and
Francisco de Lujo, and, ordering a number of
his soldiers to keep in his vicinity,
proceeded to the royal palace. He conversed
with Montezuma concerning the attack on the
garrison at the coast, and professed belief
in the Mexican prince s asseverations that
he had no part in it; but added that, to
quiet all suspicion on the part of the great
emperor of the East, it would be best for
him to re move to the Spanish quarters!
Montezuma saw at once the degradation to
which he was called upon to submit, but
looking on the fierce Spaniards around him,
and hearing an interpretation of their
threats to dispatch him immediately if he
did not comply, he suffered himself to be
conducted to the palace occupied by his
false friends.
To hide his disgrace from his subjects, the
unhappy monarch assured the astonished
concourse in the streets that he went of his
own free will. Cortez, while he kept his
prisoner secure by a constant and vigilant
guard, al lowed him to preserve all the
outward tokens of royalty.
Meanwhile, Qualpopoca, the governor of the
district where Juan de Escalente lost his
life, was sent for, together with his
associate officers. When they arrived,
Cortez was allowed by Montezuma to punish
them at his own discretion, and the inhuman
monster caused them to be burned alive in
the sight of the populace. The fuel used for
this purpose consisted of the royal stores
of arrows, darts, and other warlike
implements. Still further to quell the
spirit of the king, fetters were placed upon
his ankles during the execution of this
cruel sentence.
The people of Mexico could not be blinded to
the true position of their sovereign, and it
was not long before ominous signs appeared
of a general determination to avenge his
wrongs, and vindicate the insulted honor of
the nation. The young lord of the ancient
and powerful city of Tezcuco was foremost in
arousing this spirit of resistance, but by
artifice and treachery he fell into the
hands of the Spaniards, and his brother was
proclaimed governor in his stead.
The king was brought so low as to consent to
acknowledge himself a subject of the Spanish
emperor; and he delivered up to Cortez
treasures of gold and silver, to the amount,
according to computation, of more than six
mil lions of dollars, as a present to his
new sovereign. But a small portion of this
wealth was reserved to be sent to Spain; the
rest was divided among the conquerors, the
chiefs and officers appropriating the lion s
share.
The next movement was to establish the
Christian ceremonies of worship upon the
very site so long venerated as the palace of
the great god of war. After strong
opposition, a portion of the area on the
summit of the chief temple was set apart for
the Spaniards use in the solemnities of
their religion, while the blood-stained idol
and the stone of sacrifice maintained their
old position.
At these sacrilegious innovations, the whole
populace became more and more exasperated.
Montezuma warned his oppressors of the storm
that would break upon them, declaring that
if he should but give the sign, his whole
people would rise as one man to release him
and destroy the hated whites. The
unfortunate monarch seems to have been
distracted and overcome by emotions of the
most conflicting nature. For some of the
Spanish officers he had contracted no small
degree of personal attachment, while he must
have felt continually galled by the
restraint placed upon his person, and by the
consciousness that he was now but a tool in
the hands of the proud invaders of his
dominions. The mildness and dignity of his
demeanor excited sympathy and respect from
his jailers, and Cortez exacted the utmost
deference and respect towards his captive
from all around him.
The prudent general saw the necessity for
every precaution against an attack from the
natives, and, to guard against his retreat
being cut off, on such a contingency, had
two vessels built and furnished from the
stores saved from the dismantled fleet.
Living upon an island, it was in the power
of the natives at any time to destroy the
bridges and causeys, by which alone there
was communication with the main.
At this crisis, when all his energies were
required to resist the fury of an outraged
multitude of barbarians around him, Cortez
heard of danger from another source, which
moved him more deeply than any hostilities
on the part of the Mexicans.
The jealous Cuban governor, Velasquez,
enraged at his presumption in throwing off
the authority under which he had sailed,
fitted out a formidable armament, to
overthrow the newly acquired power of
Cortez. The fleet, under the command of
Pamphilo de Narvaez, reached the Mexican
coast, and news of its arrival were conveyed
to Cortez in the month of May 1520.
With his usual decision and promptness, the
general divided his forces, and leaving the
larger portion under Alvarado to maintain
possession of the capital, he marched to
check the advance of Narvaez. By the
boldness of a night attack, followed up by
the most consummate policy in winning over
the good wishes, and exciting the cupidity
of the newly-arrived army, he converted his
enemies to friends, and, placing the leader
in confinement, hastened back to the city
with his powerful auxiliaries. His return
was timely indeed. Alvarado had been guilty
of an act of barbarity, (whether caused by
avarice, by a supposed necessity, or by a
desire to ape the valiant achievements of
his master, cannot now be ascertained,)
which had brought down upon him and his
garrison the fury and indignation of the
whole Aztec nation.
Upon an occasion of great public ceremonials
at the Teocalli, or temple, at which were
gathered a great con course of the nobility
and chiefs, the Spaniards, placing a guard
at the gates of the outer wall, mingled with
the unarmed company, and, at an appointed
sign, fell upon and murdered every Mexican
present.
A general rush upon the Spanish quarters,
which followed this event, was only checked
by the appearance of Montezuma himself upon
one of the towers of the building, who,
knowing doubtless that his own life could
scarcely be preserved in such a melee,
requested his subjects to for bear. They
therefore contented themselves with
besieging the garrison, and cutting off
supplies of food and wholesome water.
It was on St. John s day in the month of
June, that Cortez reentered the city. The
streets were silent and deserted, and with
doubt and apprehension he proceeded to the
Spanish palace. The soldiers of the garrison
were overjoyed at the sight of the recruits,
and received their brethren with open arms.
Cortez saw the folly of Alvarado s conduct,
and in his first mood of indignation and
petulance, at the probable frustration of
his plans, he indulged in contemptuous
treatment of his royal captive.
The state of ominous silence observed in the
city did not continue long. News came in
that the Indians were destroying the
bridges; and a body of four hundred men,
under De Ordas, who were sent out to
reconnoiter, were driven back, with a loss
of twenty-three of their number. Such crowds
of natives poured forth from their places of
concealment, that the streets were choked
with the living mass, while from balcony and
roof-tops, a storm of weapons and missiles
of every description rained upon the heads
of the Spanish troops.
Surrounding the quarters of the Spaniards,
and using every endeavor to burn the wooden
portion of the buildings, the wild horde of
enraged Mexicans continued the assault, with
desperate fury, till nightfall.
Cortez attempted a sally with the first dawn
of the following day, but he soon found that
he had an enemy to encounter of far
different spirit from those who had here
tofore opposed him. Diaz says, "If we had
been ten thousand Hectors of Troy, and as
many Roldans, we could not have beaten them
off. Some of our soldiers who had been in
Italy, swore that neither among Christians
nor Turks had they ever seen such
desperation as was manifested in the attacks
of those Indians." The artillery in vain
swept them down, for thousands were ready to
rush over the fallen bodies of their
comrades, and continue the battle with
augmented fierceness. The Spaniards were
finally forced to retreat. Various
expedients were tried by the indefatigable
Spanish general to quell the insurrection,
and to dislodge the assailants, who shot
their weapons from every high building in
the vicinity of the garrison. Moving towers
of wood were constructed, to be drawn
through the street by companies of
Tlascalans, while Spanish warriors from the
interior discharged volleys of musketry upon
the Indians. Many hundred houses were
destroyed by fire, but, being principally of
stone, no general conflagration ensued.
As a last resort, the great king himself,
decked in his robes of state, was taken to
the tower from which he had before succeeded
in quieting the angry populace. The
multitude listened with deferential awe, but
when they heard again the palpable falsehood
that he staid among the Spaniards by his own
free will, reverence gave way to contempt
and indignation. Revilings and reproaches
were followed by a shower of stones and
arrows. The attendant soldiers in vain
interposed their shields to protect the
emperor: he fell, severely wounded upon the
head by a stone. The crowd now retired
appalled at the sacrilege that they had
committed. But the work was done: the
miserable Montezuma, overcome with rage,
mortification, and despair, would accept of
no assistance, either surgical or spiritual,
from the Spaniards. In three days, says de
Soils, "lie surrendered up to the devil the
eternal possession of his soul, employing
the latest moments of his breath in impious
thoughts of sacrificing his enemies to his
fury and revenge."
For the particulars of the various sorties,
the ceaseless fighting, and, above all, the
terrible scene at the storming of the holy
temple, the reader must refer to more
extensive treatises than this; suffice it
that, weakened by continual fatigue, and day
by day less able to resist the assaults of
the enemy, the* Spaniards finally concluded
to evacuate the city. One Botello, a soldier
who was reputed a necromancer, as he "spoke
Latin, and had been at Home," announced a
certain night as the only time when the army
could escape utter destruction.
Cortez, whether moved by superstition or
aware of its influence with the army, and
hopeless of longer maintaining a hold on the
capital under existing circumstances, made
preparations to march. He attempted to blind
his proceedings by pretended treaties with
the Mexicans, pro posing to evacuate the
city peaceably within eight days, while, at
the same time, he was ordering every thing
for an instantaneous departure. A portable
bridge was pre pared to afford the means for
crossing the gaps in the causey made by the
enemy.
On the night of the first of July (1520),
the general brought out the immense
treasures of gold stored in his chamber,
and, having separated the portion allotted
to the crown, told the soldiery to take what
they would, but cautioned them against
encumbering themselves.
It was near midnight, and dark and rainy,
when the troops were put in motion. They
were in the act of passing the first breach,
over the portable bridge, when the alarm was
given that the "Teules were going," and the
cry of "Taltelulco, Taltelulco, (out with
your canoes)" resounded over the water. The
Spaniards were doomed to greater disaster
and misery on this night, known as the "noche
triste," or night of sorrow, than they had
ever yet experienced. An innumerable horde
of dusky figures beset the causey, and
attacked the fugitives in front, flank, and
rear.
By a complication of misfortune, the bridge
broke, and from the struggling mass of men
and horses, the few who could obtain footing
on the causey were mostly killed, or their
cries for help were heard by their
companions as they were borne off in the
canoes of the enemy, doomed victims for
sacrifice. The cavalry, who were in advance,
hastened forward, hopeless of relieving
those whose retreat had been cut off, and
who were blindly contending in the darkness
with the fierce and enraged Aztecs.
Alvarado, dismounted and wounded, came up
with the advance, on foot, accompanied by
three soldiers and eight Tlascalans. He
reported the destruction of the rear-guard,
together with their leader, Velasquez de
Leon. According to some accounts, Alvarado
had made his escape by an extraordinary leap
over the gap, but Diaz denies the
possibility of the act.
The wearied and disabled remnant of the
proud army of Cortez pursued their route
towards the friendly district of Tlascala,
followed by detached companies of Mexicans,
who attacked the fugitives in the rear, and,
with insulting shouts, bade them hasten to
the doom that awaited them.
Near a place called Obtumba, the Indians
were found arrayed upon a plain in countless
hosts, to obstruct the inarch, and finish
the work so successfully commenced on the
night of the retreat. There was no way to
avoid a general engagement, and every
Spaniard nerved himself for the desperate
struggle. We quote from Bernal Diaz " Oh
what it was to see this tremendous battle!
how we closed foot to foot, and with what
fury the dogs fought us! such wounding as
there was amongst us with their lances and
clubs, and two-handed swords, while our
cavalry, favored by the plain ground, rode
through them at will. Then to hear the
valiant Sandoval how he encouraged us,
crying out, Now, gentlemen, is the day of
victory; put your trust in God; we shall
survive, for he pre serves us for some good
purpose.
The royal standard was taken its bearer
being slain, and the whole multitude were
put to flight, and hewn down by hundreds in
their retreat. The Spaniards pushed on to
Tlascala, not without misgivings as to the
reception they should meet with in their
present crippled and suffering condition.
These fears proved groundless: the friendly
Tlascalans embraced them affectionately;
wept over their loss; and gently rebuked
them for trusting the treacherous Mexicans.
During the " noche triste," and upon the
march to Tlascala, eight hundred and seventy
Spaniards are recorded to have perished in
battle, or to have been doomed, as
prisoners, to a far more terrible fate. Of
their Tlascalan allies more than a thousand
were slain. Only four hundred and forty of
the Spanish troops reached Tlascala, and
these were many of them wounded and
disabled, and were ill supplied with arms.
Some accounts state that the Mexican army,
at Obtumba, numbered two hundred thousand
men, and that twenty thousand of these fell
in the engagement or were slaughtered in
their tumultuous retreat.
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Indian Races of North and South America, By Charles De Wolf Brownell, 1865
