ganization of volunteer troops of horse supported by subscription; but this force proved a failure.[1] He then appointed Juan Bautista de la Torre, a captain of the regiment of Tres Villas, military commander of Toluca, and assigned to him a strong body of regulars.[2]
To describe all the operations of Torre would be entering into monotonous details of similar events. He proceeded against the rebels early in January, and during that and the three succeeding months gained a number of victories,[3] by which he reduced the valleys of Toluca and Temascaltepec. About the beginning of April, however, the inhabitants of Jocotitlan again rose in revolt. The viceroy ordered Torre to chastise them and clear the highway to Valladolid of guerrilla bands. On the 15th., after two hours and a half of incessant firing, Torre entered Jocotitlan, "having had the particular pleasure of leaving four hundred dead upon the field," which he believed would act as a restraint upon "the enemies of God,[4] the king, and the country."
Zitácuaro, in Michoacan, still remained in the power of the insurgents under Benedicto Lopez, who had sustained various defeats at the hands of Torre. The town, surrounded by lofty hills on all sides, can only be approached by three deep and narrow canons, namely, those of San Mateo, Tuxpan, and los Laureles;[5] and Lopez, driven from place to place in the less rugged valley of Toluca, had taken refuge
- ↑ The name of guerrilla volante was given to this force. According to Mora, the outrages committed by it were worse than those of the insurgents. Mej. y sus Rev., iv. 182.
- ↑ Torre was a native of Spain, being born in the mountains of Santander.
- ↑ Consult Gaz. de Mex., 1811, ii. 43, 212-10, 221-7, 232-8, 265-75.
- ↑ Torre displayed a strange mixture of merciless severity and religious faith in a merciful saviour. He persecuted the insurgents, not only as rebels, but as wretches cast outside the pale of the church by excommunication. His cruelty and fanatical piety are well illustrated in a proclamation which he addressed to the inhabitants of Temascaltepec on the 11th of March. While offering them the choice of the indulto or death, he concludes by wishing them, with the lord's grace, all happiness. Id., 1811, ii. 238.
- ↑ Bustamante, Campañas de Calleja, 137. See map previously given.
