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.[1] 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.[2] 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,[3] 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.[4]
- ↑ Negrete, Mex. Siqlo XIX., ii. 396.
- ↑ '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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ According to Alaman, 44 Europeans were massacred on this occasion. Among the first victims was the asesor and acting intendente José Alonzo
