History of Mexico (Bancroft)/Volume 4/Chapter 9

by Hubert Howe Bancroft

 

CHAPTER IX.

THE ROYALISTS RECAPTURE GUANAJUATO.

1810.

Allende Returns to Guanajuato — Preparations for Defence — The First Attack — Calleja's Plan — He Takes Allende's Batteries — Calleja, the Avenger — His Proclamation — An Execution Scene in the Alhóndiga — A General Pardon Extended — The Government Reorganized — Calleja Marches for Guadalajara — Hidalgo at Valladolid — And at the Cerro del Molcajete — Hidalgo's Reception at Guadalajara — Establishes a Government — Rayon's Biography — Letona's Mission and Death — The 'Dispertador Americano' and Printing-press — Preparations for War.

When Allende arrived at Celaya he found there a body of two thousand insurgent horsemen under Toribio Huidrobo, and about thirty dragoons of the regiment of la Reina. These troops were almost destitute of arms; but the importance of defending Guanajuato was so great that, uniting them with his other forces, he hastened thither. He took with him eight pieces of artillery; and as a number of cannon had been cast in the mean time, he hoped, by erecting batteries in commanding positions, to frustrate any attempt upon the city by Calleja, who would doubtless make its capture his first object. Allende, with all the forces he could muster, entered Guanajuato on the evening of the 13th of November, accompanied by the principal leaders, who preferred to follow his fortunes rather than cast their lot with Hidalgo, whose popularity with them was diminishing daily.^[1] His arrival was celebrated by the intendente Gomez with enthusiastic demonstrations. The bells were rung and guns fired; but as in formal procession the authorities and principal citizens entered the municipal hall to receive the insurgent leader a ghastly spectacle presented itself. Allende's horsemen dashed into the plaza, and drawing up in front of the building, exposed to view a hacked and blood-stained corpse lashed to the back of a mule. An unfortunate creole, named Manuel Salas, a native of Dolores, had taken part with Calleja when he passed through that town, and having fallen into the hands of the insurgents had been brought by them to Guanajuato and put to death at the entrance of the city. Having given the members of the ayuntamiento ample time to reflect upon the significance of this portentous exhibition, the body was paraded through the streets as a warning.^[2] The ayuntamiento felt conscious that this action of Allende was intended to intimidate them, but although, in conjunction with the other authorities, its members sallied forth to meet him, they claim to have preserved their dignity and allegiance by not giving to their procession the character of an official reception.

Allende then made his preparations to engage Calleja. According to despatches written by him to Hidalgo on the 19th and 20th of November, I gather that when those leaders separated they made an agreement that they should support each other against Calleja. It was now no longer doubtful that the latter would march against Guanajuato, and Allende strongly urged Hidalgo to come to his aid as soon as possible. He, moreover, sent instructions to Iriarte, who was now at San Luis Potosí, to join him at once. The forces at Allende's disposal were in all respects inadequate to cope with the royalists, and deficient as they were in discipline and arms, he could only hope to maintain his position by means of his artillery if no assistance arrived.^[3] But both Hidalgo and Iriarte neglected to come, and Allende's

Plan of Battle-Field.

letters to the former show bitterness. His last communication even charges Hidalgo with the intention of collecting money at Guadalajara and escaping with it by way of San Blas. But Hidalgo, informed of the successes in Nueva Galicia, had determined to go to Guadalajara, and had left Valladolid before Allende had written him.

Meanwhile batteries were placed by Allende on no less than ten different heights commanding the Marfil road, besides two outlying points which occupied hills on its left at a place known by the name of Rancho Seco. In the narrowest part of the road, with infinite labor, fifteen hundred holes were drilled for blasts. These were connected by a single fuse, the intention being to fire it as Calleja's troops passed. The design, however, became known to the royalist leader and proved ineffectual.

Calleja, whose movements were never marked by rapidity, left Querétaro on the 15th of November, and passing through Celaya, Salamanca, and Irapuato, reestablished obedience in those towns, and reorganized their governments. On the 23d he arrived at the rancho de Molineros, distant four leagues from Guanajuato, and on the following morning advanced to the entrance of the Cañada de Marfil, intending to reconnoitre; but being interrupted by the batteries at Rancho Seco, he decided to attack at once. Accordingly he threw out on his left a strong body of cavalry and infantry under General Empáran, with the two fold object of occupying the Silao road and executing a flank attack, while Captain Linares charged the positions from the front. The assault was successful. Ill served and badly directed, the artillery of the insurgents did no execution; indeed, so miserably had the cannon been mounted that they could only be fired in the one direction pointed; and the royalists, charging up the slope at places out of the line of fire, quickly routed the insurgents, capturing four pieces of artillery and a number of prisoners. The facility with which this success had been accomplished induced Calleja to follow up his advantage the same day, it being as yet only eleven o'clock.

His plan was to assault in detail the ten positions occupied by the enemy on each side of the Marfil road, upon which they had trained their artillery. For this purpose he divided his army into two columns, one of which was placed under the command of Flon, who was instructed to dislodge the insurgents from the heights on the right of the road; while the other was led by Calleja in person against the batteries on the left. Both generals were successful, and one after the other the enemy's positions were taken with little loss to the assailants. Flon, though severely bruised in the left shoulder by a slung stone, gained the heights on the right, and finally drew up his forces on the hill of San Miguel and the height of las Carreras, both of which positions commanded the city. Meanwhile Calleja, advancing up the Marfil road some little distance, turned off to the left by that leading to the real de minas of Santa Ana, thus avoiding; the defile where the blasts had been prepared.^[4] While his infantry dislodged the enemy from their positions the cavalry scoured the glens and more level ground, cutting off the retreat of the insurgents, slaughtering them without mercy, and driving them in their panic over the precipices.^[5] This series of assaults lasted for more than six hours; the difficulties encountered by the loyalists being from the steepness of the heights, rather than from opposition of the enemy, whose want of arms rendered them incapable of making a stand. Shortly after five o'clock, Calleja encamped for the night on the hill of Valenciana.

The result of the day's fighting was the capture of twenty-two pieces of artillery,^[6] the dispersion of a body variously estimated at 10,000 to 70,000 Indians,^[7] and the investment of the city on the north and south. Of the number of revolutionists slain it is impossible to form any estimate with certainty. The ayuntamiento places it at 8,000,^[8] but this is doubtless an exaggeration, and Alaman's estimate of 1,500 is probably not wide of the mark.^[9] The loss on the side of the royalists was insignificant; according to Calleja's first report to the viceroy it was limited to four killed and seven wounded;^[10] the casualties in the column led by Flon raised the number of wounded to about a score, a convincing proof of the want of forethought displayed by the insurgent leaders in presuming that Calleja would necessarily march up the Marfil road, and in mounting their cannon so as to be immovably directed.

Had Allende been supported by Hidalgo and Iriarte, and had Calleja been assailed in the rear according to the plan proposed to Hidalgo,^[11] it is not improbable that the royalists would have been defeated. As it was, Allende despaired of success from the first, and with unusual apathy assigned the direction of the batteries and troops to Jimenez, remaining himself in the city.^[12] When the news arrived of the capture of the outlying batteries at Rancho Seco, he endeavored to arouse the inhabitants by ordering sounded the general call to arms; but this had the effect only to increase the consternation. The more respectable families took refuge in the churches and convents, or barricaded themselves in their houses, while a large portion of the populace betook themselves to the hills. Allende was helpless to awaken resistance. As height after height was stormed by the victorious royalists, and aware that all was lost, accompanied by his brother officers and a few horsemen, he fled from the city in the direction of San Luis Potosi, taking with him what treasure he had remaining.^[13]

And now the Alhóndiga de Granaditas is again brought forward in the history of this unfortunate city as the scene of another appalling massacre. No longer restrained by the interference of military chiefs, early in the afternoon the populace throng the streets with demonstrations of mingled fear and anger. They collect in dense crowds about the alhóndiga, and with threatening gestures and inflamed eyes regard the building in which the Spaniards left by Hidalgo are imprisoned, and for whose blood they are athirst. As yet, however, they are restrained by the presence of the guard commanded by Captain Mariano Covarrubias. But as Allende and his party turn the corner to take the road leading to the mines,^[14] one of them cries out, "Why do you not finish with them?" indicating the captives. The words act on the mob like fire on saltpetre.^[15] Under apprehension that Calleja is already at hand, they think only of vengeance, and with wild yells, and clubs and brandished knives, they rush toward the gateway. All efforts to oppose them are useless. The soldier's sword and the priest's entreaty alike fail. Maríano Liceaga, after wounding several of them with his sabre, is stretched senseless on the ground; the cura Juan de Dios Gutierrez and other ecclesiastics are thrust aside; the guard is overpowered;^[16] and the maddened crowd throw themselves upon their victims. The work begins, and the alhóndiga again becomes hideous with mutilated corpses, stripped of every shred of clothing. A few of the captives barricade themselves in some of the storerooms, and manage to escape during the temporary dispersion of their assailants from a cry raised that the royalists are upon them.^[17]

While Calleja halted at Valenciana he confirmed the magistrate of that town in his office, although he had received his appointment from Hidalgo. He also supplied him with copies of the proclamation extending pardon to those who returned to their allegiance, and of the edict of the inquisition issued against Hidalgo, instructing him to publish them. Chovell and other residents, fearing for their lives, were meditating flight, but learning of these measures, they remained in their houses. At daylight on the following morning Calleja resumed his march against the city, but before doing so he had received intelligence of the massacre in the alhóndiga,^[18] and had caused the immediate arrest of Chovell and other persons living in Valenciana. The insurgents had planted a heavy cannon on the cerro del Cuarto,^[19] and during the evening of the 24th and early hours of the following day had maintained a vigorous fire with Flon, who replied from the hill of San Miguel. As Calleja advanced, the insurgents' gun was trained on his line of march, but the royalists, having placed two cannon in a favorable position, succeeded in dismounting it at the first discharge. This was the last effort at resistance; and Calleja and Flon entered the city simultaneously. So enraged was Calleja at the barbarous murder of the Spaniards that he issued orders to his troops to put the city to fire and sword, and numbers of the inhabitants were slaughtered in the streets. He soon, however, countermanded the order,^[20] recognizing that many innocent persons would be put to death.^[21] He did not, however, intend that vengeance for the dead should terminate with this first ebullition of wrath; he would proceed with the punishment in a more deliberate and formal manner. During the day he made proclamation,^[22] setting forth that although, influenced by humanity, he had suspended his order of extermination, such an atrocious crime could not be left without expiation, and he demanded all arms to be delivered up on the following day, under pain of death. Other items of the proclamation were to the effect that all persons were expected to give information of secreted weapons, and of those known to have favored the insurgent cause; persons congregating in the streets in greater number than three would be dispersed by shot, and those who engaged in seditious speech would be punished with death without respect of person.

But while this proclamation might leave the inhabitants to suppose themselves exempt from further punishment, Calleja was planning merciless retaliation. There should now be a grand massacre on the royalist side, wide-extended and direful, such as would do honor to the cause. On the morning of the 26th the carpenters of Guanajuato were employed in erecting gallows in all the principal thoroughfares of the city, and in the plazas of the neighboring mining towns. ^[23] While this was being done, from those arrested the previous day between sixty and seventy were drawn for examination.^[24] These were sent to Flon, who had occupied the alhóndiga, and who was in structed to pass sentence upon them. Twenty-three were sentenced to death, among whom were the intendente Gomez, the unfortunate Rafael Dávalos, under whose directions the insurgents' cannon had been constructed,^[25] and three military officers who had espoused the revolutionary cause. The examinations were of the briefest, and the executions immediate, the place being within the walls of the alhóndiga. The description of the scene as given by Manuel Gomez Pedraza, an eye-witness, is harrowing. After the sentence of death had been passed by the conde de la Cadena, the condemned were hurriedly shrived by a priest in one of the storerooms, then led to the door way which had been bricked up by Riaña, and there blindfolded and shot. As victim after victim fell, their dead bodies being dragged aside to make room for their companions, the pavement became covered with fragments of skulls, scattered brains, entrails, and blood. By this human debris, progress was impeded, and before the horrible work was done the floor had to be cleared of its slippery and loathsome covering. ^[26] The gallows came into play next.

But in the economy of revenge, it will not do to ignore the benefits of spectacular exhibitions. So at nightfall following, eighteen prominent men are dragged out and hanged by torchlight in the plaza. It seems as if the curse of Sodom has fallen on the place. Round this plaza, like an amphitheatre, the houses stand tier above tier on the surrounding hills, so that the people can sit in them and look down upon the tragedy as at a play. Are these cattle or swine, that are being butchered for the market? Or has the old Aztec rite been revived among these christians? No, it is no mediæval or barbaric slaughter, but a nineteenth-century sacrifice of human beings on the altar of liberty! The air is thick with tyranny and blood. The stillness of an unpeopled world pervades the scene, there being heard only the low-voiced exhortation of the priest, or the cry of some faint hearted wretch for mercy.^[27] On the 28th eight more persons, among whom was the hapless Chovell, met the same fate in the plazuela in front of the alhóndiga, and on the following day four more were doomed to die. But the gloom of despair which had settled upon the city, the spiritless state of abjection to which the population had been reduced, and the meek surrender of every article of use that might serve as a weapon pacified at last the avenger; and in the afternoon the ringing of the bells announced that Calleja had proclaimed a general pardon. Too late, however, was the mercy extended for two of the four last condemned, who had suffered but a few minutes before; the remaining two, in the very act of taking as they supposed their last look at earth and sky, with the halters round their necks, were allowed the benefit of the pardon, and released.

These executions have been regarded by writers of the independent party as acts of unmitigated barbarity, but I see little to choose between them and the doings of the revolutionists. If we condemn the massacres of one, we must those of the other. Even though Hidalgo fights for liberty and Calleja for tyranny, if we are disposed to overlook the barbarity of the former in letting loose his Indians on the Spaniards, we must not expect otherwise in regard to the latter than that he will retaliate as opportunity offers. Men are so made. It is idle to argue the point on which side of this war the greatest cruelty was displayed. So far there is not difference enough apparent to talk about; both sides were about as blood-thirsty as they could be.

The extension of the pardon was hailed by the people with demonstrations of joy. Crawling forth from their houses and hiding-places, they crowded into the plaza in front of the royal buildings in which Calleja had made his abode.^[28] The royalist leader addressed them from the balcony, enlarging upon the great clemency which had been extended to them; the subjugated populace meanwhile sending forth loud acclamations of allegiance to the king and obedience to his general.

In reorganizing the government of the province, Calleja appointed Fernando Perez Marañon intendente ad interim;^[29] he reinstated Miguel Arizmende in his office of alcalde, from which he had been deposed by Hidalgo, and caused a new election for another to be held. All other offices which had become vacant were provisionally filled by Calleja's nominees. This done, Calleja decided to march against Guadalajara, and left Guanajuato with all his forces on the 9th of December, having previously despatched a convoy to Mexico with the king's silver and that of private persons, amounting in all to six hundred bars. He also sent the machinery and dies of Hidalgo's mint, and, as a trophy of his victory, the heavy piece of artillery taken on the cerro del Cuarto, which the insurgents had vainly named El defensor de la América. With this convoy went most of the principal families of Guanajuato, deeming their future residence in that city unsafe, from the fact that no garrison or other protection was left in the place, except a company of armed citizens. This abandonment of Guanajuato by the more wealthy inhabitants completed its ruin. The mortality occasioned by war and typhus fever, which raged in the city during this period, the departure of great numbers of the populace with the insurgent leaders and the flight of others, caused within a few months a depopulation amounting to over 25,000. The mining and agricultural industries were for years next to nothing, and stillness and stagnation reigned in the once busy and thriving city.^[30]

At Silao, a town five leagues from Guanajuato, Calleja halted his army for several days. While at this place, on the 12th of December, with the object of preventing further atrocities, he published a singular edict. After exhorting all to unite with the authorities, clergy, and honest citizens in preserving the peace, he declared that in every town in which soldiers, servants of the government, municipal and other authorities, or honest citizens, whether creole or European, should be assassinated, four of the inhabitants, with out distinction of person, should be selected by lot for each man murdered, and without further formality be put to death.^[31] It was but an idle threat, however, no attempt being made to carry it out. From Silao, Calleja advanced to Leon, and proceeded by way of Lagos toward Guadalajara.

Except that Hidalgo was at Celaya on the 13th of November, nothing is known of his movements after the flight from Aculco until we find him at Valladolid, where he arrived on the 14th or 15th of the same month.^[32] On the 14th he received intelligence of the late successes of Torres. The importance of this news, and the disagreements which had arisen between Torres and the other insurgent leaders, relative to priority of command, were undoubtedly the reasons which induced Hidalgo to abandon the arrangements made with Allende. During the few days that he remained in Valladolid, he published his reply to the citation of the inquisition already mentioned, and issued a proclamation exhorting sons of the soil to desert the European cause and take part with the independents.^[33] On the 17th he left Valladolid for Guadalajara. But before his departure he issued orders which show how far the gentle priest was carried away by the spirit of his purpose. The royalists had glutted their vengeance; it was now his turn. At dead of night on the 13th of November, forty of the European prisoners, who were told that they were to be sent to Guanajuato, were marched to the barranca de las Bateas, three leagues from Valladolid,^[34] and after being butchered, their stripped bodies were cast into the depths, and left as food for beasts and birds of prey. On the 18th another band of victims was under similar circumstances conducted to the cerro del Molcajete, and there met with the same fate.^[35] Notwithstanding late reverses, Hidalgo was enthusiastically received wherever he went. The hope of liberty, once having been harbored in the breasts of the people, could never be relinquished. The march to Guadalajara was triumphal; and at every town the people sallied forth to welcome the apostle of independence and do him honor. At Zamora, solemn mass was held, thanksgivings were offered, and contributions poured into his coffer. During the few days he remained in Valladolid he displayed a wonderful energy. Besides the writing he had to do, and the political matters to regulate, he organized a force of 7,000 cavalry and 250 infantry, with several pieces of artillery. With these troops he approached the capital of Nueva Galicia. On the 24th of November he arrived at the hacienda of Atequiza, a few leagues from the city. Here all the authorities, municipal corporations, and distinguished citizens had made preparations to meet him. These, in twenty-two carriages, arrived at the hacienda, and a duly appointed commission offered him congratulations, placed all Nueva Galicia at his disposal, and invited him to the capital. Thence he proceeded to San Pedro Analco, about a league from Guadalajara, and was entertained with a sumptuous dinner. His entry into the city was arranged to take place on the 26th, and the joyful demonstrations and formal expressions of honor on that occasion soothed his greatly harassed mind and revived his hopes. Had he been a crowned monarch, his reception could not have been more brilliant. The streets, crowded with the inhabitants, were adorned with hangings and devices of bright colors; the troops of Torres were drawn up in two long lines reaching to the gateway of the cathedral, in the atrium of which was stationed the battalion of provincial infantry to salute the chief with military honors.

As the cortege entered the city and passed along the dense lines of people on either side, from thousands of voices rang the welcoming Viva! mingled with salvoes of artillery, the reports of soaring rockets, and the silvery sound of bells and soft-toned marimbas.^[36] At the door of the cathedral an altar had been placed, beside which stood Dean Escandon in canonical robes to present Hidalgo with holy water. This ceremony being performed, accompanied by many of the chapter, the revolutionary leader proceeded to the presbytery, where a solemn te deum was chanted. Thence he went in state to the palace, and, in the grand saloon, beneath a richly ornamented dorsel, received the authorities, civil corporations, and ecclesiastical communities.^[37]

Hidalgo, thus installed, proceeded to decide existing differences between the military leaders, and to organize a formal government. The first having been arranged, he appointed two ministers to take charge of public affairs, José María Chico,^[38] with the title of minister of grace and justice, and Ignacio Lopez Rayon, with that of secretary general.^[39]

Ignacio Lopez Rayon, who became a prominent revolutionary general at a later date, was born at the mining town of Tlalpujahua, Michoacan, in the year 1773. At an early age he displayed a studious turn of mind, and his parents, who were in moderate circumstances, were enabled to cultivate his taste for learning. His early education he received at the college of Valladolid, where he concluded a course of philosophy. He thence removed to the college of San Ildefonso in Mexico city, where he studied jurisprudence and took his lawyer's degree. Having successfully practised his profession for some time in the capital, the death of his father recalled him home; he then devoted himself to mining operations. In August 1810 he betrothed María Ana Martinez de Rulfo, a member of one of the principal families in that district. When Hidalgo entered the province in October 1810, Rayon espoused the revolutionary cause, and on the 24th issued a proclamation in Tlalpujahua, inviting Americans to join the just and holy enterprise.^[40] After the first events at Guanajuato and Valladolid, he proposed to Hidalgo a plan for the avoidance of similar excesses. His purpose had before this been reported to Venegas, and a detachment of soldiers was sent to arrest him, but he escaped as they came in sight. Hidalgo was at this time at Maravatio, at no considerable distance from Tlalpujahua, and Rayon immediately repaired thither, openly joined his standard, and was appointed his secretary-in-chief. He accompanied Hidalgo to the monte de Las Cruces, Aculco, and in the remainder of his movements to Guadalajara.^[41]

Hidalgo's object was to establish a national independent government; and besides the appointment of ministers of state, he reorganized the audiencia by the appointment of oidores,^[42] and nominated Pascasio Letona as envoy plenipotentiary to the United States, with the object of making, if possible, a treaty of alliance and commerce with that republic.^[43] But these efforts were doomed to failure. The unfortunate Letona, having proceeded on his journey as far as Molango in la Huasteca, Vera Cruz, excited suspicion by trying to change a gold ounce, and was arrested. His baggage was examined, his credentials as a revolutionary ambassador were discovered secreted in his saddle, and the justice of the town sent him with his papers to Mexico. Letona, well knowing the fate awaiting him, took poison before arriving at the capital, and was buried at Guadalupe. It was indeed dangerous to serve Mexico at this juncture.

While Hidalgo remained in Guadalajara he issued several edicts which he deemed essential to the cause. He proclaimed the emancipation of slaves, the restoration of their lands to the Indians,^[44] and prohibited pillage and all excess on the part of his followers ^[45]—all wise and humane measures, and proving that he did not delight in robbery and murder, as his enemies have charged. The possession of Guadalajara supplied Hidalgo with a powerful means of advancing the cause of the revolution by extending more widely and generally the principles upon which it was based, and by placing within reach of the reading public his replies to proclamations of the royalists, and his refutations of attacks upon himself. For there was in this city a printing-press. When the revolution broke out there were but few printing-presses in all New Spain, one at each of the cities of Mexico, Puebla, Guadalajara, and Vera Cruz;^[46] and all being under the control of the government, the independents not only found great difficulty in publishing accounts of their operations, but were also unable to contradict false representations, issue appeals, or counteract the exhortations to loyalty widely spread by Venegas. This obstacle was now removed, and Hidalgo established a periodical which he called the Despertador Americano, and caused it widely to be circulated.^[47] Replies to numerous proclamations, pamphlets, and other papers that had been issued by the opposite party were now published, and among them Hidalgo's memorable one to the citation of the inquisition which he had lately penned in Valladolid.^[48]

All the while his attention was closely given to military preparations. The arsenal at San Blas supplied him with cannon and munitions of war, and he caused no less than forty-four pieces of artillery to be transported thence with incredible labor over a most difficult road to Guadalajara. He ordered a large number of men to be recruited; and to supply the want of fire-arms, quantities of grenades and iron-pointed rockets were manufactured. Every preparation to meet Calleja in the field was energetically made; but there was still lacking the one great element of success, discipline. While the father-patriot is here striving to strengthen himself as best he is able with poor officers and worse soldiers, let us glance at the progress of the revolution in other parts.

 

 

1. Those who accompanied Allende were Juan and Ignacio Aldama, Mariano Jimenez, Joaquín Arias, Mariano Abasolo, and Juan Ocon. Liceaga, Adic. y Rectific., 149. Negrete, however, doubts that there existed at this time any ill feeling between Hidalgo and Allende. Alex. Siglo XIX., ii. 313.
2. Guan. Pub. Vind. Ayunt., 43-4.
3.  

   A. Positions occupied by the insurgents.
   B. The royalist army before the attack.
   —— —— March of column led by Calleja.
   — — — March of column led by Flon.
   This plan is obtained from that formed by Calleja's staff according to his orders, and published by Torrente, being reproduced by Bustamante in his Cuad. Hist., i. 100.

4. Bustamante states that information of this plan of the insurgents was given by a regidor of Guanajuato 'que merecía el mejor concepto entre sus conciudadanos,' and that his correspondence with Venegas was intercepted by Villagran, but too late to be of any benefit to Allende. Cuad. Hist., i. 100. Alaman reasonably assumes that the regidor intimated at was Fernando Perez Marañon; but throws considerable doubt upon the statement of Bustamante, remarking that, 'Sus noticias cuando no espresa de qué orígen las toma merecen muy poca confianza.' Hist. Mej., ii. 47. Negrete considers it improbable that Marañon gave the information. Mex. Siglo XIX., ii. 320.
5. 'La caballería. . . cortaba á los enemigos en las cañadas y los persequia en su huida pereciendo muchos a sus manos, quedando el campo lleno de cadáveres, y otros precipitados en las barrancas de este pièlago de montañas.' Calleja, in Gaz. de Mex. (1810), i. 1057.
6. According to the detailed report of Calleja, dated December 12th. In a previous report, written at 12 o'clock on the night of the 25th, he states that 25 pieces of artillery were taken. These cannon were made by order of Hidalgo during his campaign in the direction of Mexico; they were cast by the engineer Rafael Dávalos, who also assisted Casimiro Chovell, superintendent of the Valenciana mines and works, in sinking the blasts on the Marfil road. Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 29.
7. Calleja states that the inhabitants of Guanajuato estimated their number at 70,000. Gaz. de Mex. (1810), i. 1059. Alaman considers this a great exaggeration, remarking that there could not have been even half the number, 'pues no concurrió á la accion mas que la gente reunida en algunos puntos comarcanos, y una parte de la plebe de la ciudad y de las minas.' Hist. Mej., ii. 48. Liceaga conjectures that the insurgents did not number more than 10,000. Adic. y Rectific., 154.
8. Guan. Pub. Vind. Ayunt., 54.
9. The bodies of a considerable number of the fallen were never recovered from the barrancas, the shafts of old mines, and other inaccessible places. The cura of Marfil, who was charged with the collection and burial of the remains, reports on the 10th of December that the total number interred was 246, but thinks he succeeded in collecting only a small proportion. Bustamante, Cuad. Hist, i. 108-9. Liceaga considers that scarcely 400 insurgents fell. Adic. y Rectific., 154.
10. Gaz. de Mex. (1810), i. 994.
11. 'No puede ni debe V. ni nosotros pensar en otra cosa, que en esta preciosa ciudad. . .y así sin pérdida de momentos ponerse en marcha. . .y atacarlo con valor por la retaguardia, dándonos aviso oportuno de su situacion para hacer nuestra salida, y que cerrado por todas partes, quede destruido y aniquilado, y nosotros con un complete triunfo.' Allende, Carta, in Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 37-8.
12. According to Alaman; Id., ii. 49. Negrete, on the other hand, asserts that Allende during the engagement passed from point to point as they were attacked, with the greatest activity. Mex. Siglo XIX., ii. 321.
13. According to Liceaga he left about two o'clock in the afternoon. Adic. y Rectific., 153. Bustamante states that Allende remained in the city till the following morning, directing the fire of a heavy piece of artillery placed on the cerro del Cuarto. This is denied by both Liceaga, Ib., and Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 49. Calleja states that he left with about 40 followers. Gaz. de Mex. (1810), 994. Negrete says that he could not have had more than 2,000. Mex. Siglo XIX., ii. 405.
14. See plan of the alhóndiga and surroundings in previous chapter.
15. Alaman is the authority for the statement that the crowd received this encouragement. He refers to the evidence in the trial of Covarrubias, whose cousin, Benigno Bustamante, supplied him with the above particulars. Allende, Aldama, and Chico, however, in the declarations taken at their trials, imputed the massacre exclusively to the voluntary action of the populace, which tends to prove that they were unaware of the fury incited by their comrade, who was probably riding in their rear. Hist. Mej., ii. 50. Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., i 100-1, followed by Liceaga, records that a negro named Lino, a native of Dolores, incited the people to commit the deed by representing to them that Calleja had gained the victory, and was advancing upon the town with the intention of putting them all to death. Abad y Queipo states that Allende gave the order for the massacre—which is contrary to Allende's persistent efforts to suppress outrages—accusing him also of never placing himself within reach of a bullet. He forgets his own cowardly flight and desertion of his flock. Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., i. 839. Compare Ansorena, Defensa, 17.
16. Liceaga states that a portion of the guard took part with the assailants. Ut sup., 155.
17. Those who thus escaped took refuge in the convent of Belen and private bouses. The number of those slain is not accurately known. There were in the alhóndiga at the time 247 captives, many of them being creoles who favored the royalist cause. Of these, Bustamante states that a few over 30 escaped. Cuad. Hist., i. 101. According to the report supplied afterward by Marañon to Calleja, only 138 recognized bodies received burial, 'habiendo muchos quo habiéndoseles visto entre los presos, no se supo despues de ellos; por la que se supuso estar entre los muchos cadáveres que se sepultaron sin ser conocidos.' Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. app. 6-7. A list of the principal victims, as well as of those who escaped, is given in Liceaga, Adic. y Rectific., 156-7. Pedraza states that more than 200 were slain. Celeb. N. Indep., 1.
18. Captain Linares on the previous evening, fearing that some such catastrophe might occur, had urged Calleja to march at once upon the city; Linares made this statement frequently to Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 53, believing that the lives of the captives might have been saved. But the massacre was perpetrated in the afternoon of the 24th, and Calleja did not arrive at Valenciana until after five o'clock.
19. This battery is said to have been directed by a man from the U. S., 'estaba servido por un norte americano.' Liceaga, Adic. y Rectific., 161-2.
20. 'Me obligaron à mandar á las tropas que entrasen á sangre y fuego en la ciudad, y en efecto muchos fueron acuchillados en las primeras calles; pero movido de sentimientos de humanidad. . .y que no pereciese una multitud de personas honradas que en confusion salieron á favorecerse del exército, mandé suspenderlo.' Calleja, in Gaz. de Mex. (1810), i. 994.
21. Among others, Agustin Calderon, an uncle of Alaman's, and by no means a partisan of the revolutionists, was killed in the calle de los Pozitos. Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 54.
22. A copy of it is found in Gaz. de, Mex. (1810), i. 997-8. 23
23. 'Horcas que hizo poner (á mas de la que está en la plaza mayor) enfrente
    ⁠hist. mex. vol. iv. 15 de Granaditas, en la plazuela de S. Fernando, en la de la Compañia, en la de S. Diego, en la de S. Juan, en la de Mexiamora, y una en cada plaza de las minas principales.' The plazas in Guanajuato were little more than streets, some what wider than the ordinary tortuous thoroughfares. Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., i. 104.
24. Manuel Gomez Pedraza, who was captain of a company, states that Calleja placed under his charge, with instructions to deliver them to Flon, 60 or more prisoners, 'no hago memoria del número.' Celeb. N. Independ., 1.
25. The temerity of Gomez and others implicated in the revolution in not effecting their escape is inexplicable. Dávalos carried his rashness to such an extent as to walk in the street among the troops. He was arrested, and would have escaped but that, after having had the good fortune to obtain his release, a paper was discovered secreted in the sleeve of his coat, by the soldier who was untying the cord with which his arms were bound. The document was taken to a commanding officer, and proved to be an account of the cannon cast by Dávalos. This discovery decided his fate. Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 56.
26. 'Para ejecutar esta operacion, se trajeron de la calle algunos hombres, y con sus mismas manos echaron la sangre y las entrañas despedazadas de los fusilados en grandes bateas, hasta desembarazar el lugar de aquellos estorbos para seguir la horrible matanza.' Celeb. N. Independ., 3.
27. Alaman says: 'Muchos años han trascurrido desde entónces, y nunca se ha podido debilitar en mi espíritu la profunda impresion que en él hizo aquella noche de horror.' Hist. Mej., ii. 59.
28. Guan. Pub. Vind. Ayunt., 56-7.
29. The appointment of Marañon, approved by the viceroy, Gaz. de Mex., 1810, i. 1001, and the high terms in which Calleja speaks of him, led some to think that he was in communication with Venegas. Alaman does not see sufficient reason for such conclusion. Calleja thus recommends Marañon to the viceroy: 'A sus notorias circunstancias de honradéz, fidelidad y patriotismo, agrega la de obtener la aceptacion y confianza de este insolente y atrevido pueblo.' These expressions seem to indicate that Marañon gave information to Calleja of the insurgents' operations, as stated by Bustamante. Consult note 4 of this chapter.
30. Liceaga, Adic. y Rectific., 177
31. Gaz. de Mex., 1810, i. 1063.
32. Negrete, Mex. Siqlo XIX., ii. 396.
33. 'Si quereis ser felices, desertad de las tropas de los europeos, y venid á uniros con nosotros; dejad que se defiendan solos los ultramarinos y vereis esto acabado en un dia.' Negrete, Mex. Siglo XIX., ii. 259.
34. This barranca was in the gaping crater of an extinct volcano. It was also called 'cerro pelon,' because destitute of trees. In that country hills reft with the cavity of an extinct volcanic crater were called cerro de la Batea, or cerro del Molcajete. Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 40.
35. According to Alaman, 44 Europeans were massacred on this occasion. Among the first victims was the asesor and acting intendente José Alonzo Gutierrez de Teran, who displayed great fortitude. Id., 41. Hidalgo states that the total number was about 60. Hern, y Dávalos, Col. Doc., i. 14. The two men under whose command the orders were executed were Manuel Muñiz, captain of the provincial infantry regiment of Valladolid, and Padre Luciano Navarrete, who acquired an infamous notoriety for his cruelty. Id., i. 839. It was an ecclesiastic also who made out the death lists, and thereby obtained the name of Padre Chocolate, because he said the victims were going to take chocolate that night. The intendente Ansorena, it is asserted by Alaman, who gained his information from Mucio Valdovinos, conducted the arrangement for the departure and execution of the two bodies of Spaniards. See Doc. i., in Hist. Mex., ii. ap. Alaman's statements were replied to by the son of Ansorena, the licentiate José Ignacio de Ansorena. In this pamphlet, published in 1850, he defends his father's memory by maintaining that he was ignorant of the purpose for which the prisoners were removed. He assails Mucio Valdovinos with some acerbity, but his arguments amount to simple personal statements without the production of any evidence. Ansorena, Defensa. This met with a retort from Valdovinos, who produces some evidence, but hardly to more effect than that the popular opinion was that Ansorena was fully implicated. Valdovinos, Content., pp. 55. This provoked a second pamphlet, written by José Maríano Ansorena; and with it the tedious and inconclusive controversy ends. Ansorena, Respuesta. Negrete points out the contradictions observable between Alaman's account and that of Valdovinos, and believes that the butcheries were committed on one day, or two consecutive days, the 17th and 18th, and that Hidalgo was not in Valladolid at the time. Mex. Sig. XIX., ii. 271.
36. For a description of this musical instrument, see my Native Races, i. 664. To defray the expenses of Hidalgo's reception, the ayuntamiento appropriated 1,000 pesos of the fondo de Propios. This sum the regidores were compelled by Calleja to refund. Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., ii. 492-9.
37. Hernandez y Dávalos, Col, Doc., i. 123-4.
38. He was also made president of the audiencia of Guadalajara. Chico was a native of Guanajuato, his father, although a European, being a supporter of the revolution. Hidalgo made him his secretary, and was accompanied by him from Guanajuato all through the campaign. Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 81-2.
39. 'Secretario de estado y del despacho, lo que parece que le daba las facultades de un ministro universal.' Ib.
40. Gaz. de Mex., 1811, ii. 103.
41. Gallo y Hom. Ilust. Mex., in. 395-8; Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., i. 146-7.
42. The new audiencia was composed of Chico, president, and José" Ignacio Ortiz de Salinas, Pedro Alcantara de Avendaño, Francisco Solorzano, and Ignacio Mestas, oidores. Zerecero, Mem. Rev. Mex., 172.
43. A copy of Letona's credentials, dated Dec. 13, 1810, can be found in Bustamante, Campañas de Calleja, 79-81, and in many other works. Pascasio Ortiz de Letona was a native of Guatemala, and was a devoted student of the natural sciences, especially of botany. He was residing in Guadalajara as protégé of the royal official Salvador Batres, and was made a mariscal de campo by Hidalgo. Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 83.
44. Already mentioned in chap, v., this volume.
45. In this proclamation he points out that these robberies were carried on without discrimination, the property of Americans, 'mis amados americanos,' being frequently appropriated. Copy of document in Negrete, Mex. Sig. XIX., ii. 399; Mex. Refut. Art. de Fondo, 25-6.
46. The one at Vera Cruz was worked but a short time. Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., i., iii. preface.
47. A copy of the first number is given in Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., ii. 309-12. It was issued on the 20th of Dec. 1810.
48. Hidalgo states in his deposition taken at his trial that only two manifests published in the Despertador Americano were written by him, the reply mentioned in the text and another 'cuyo objeto es probar que el Américano debe gobernarse por Américano, asi como el Alemán por Alemán, etc. Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., i. 12.