town.[1] On the following day the royalists took possession of the hill without difficulty, and also routed a strong body of insurgents, estimated at 10,000 or 12,000, which assailed their rear; but all attempts to take the town were prevented by the ditch, which was filled with water and defended by well trained infantry under cover of the barricade.[2] After nine hours' fighting, during which the troops suffered heavy loss, Empáran withdrew to Los Manzanillos, where his soldiers bivouacked, comfortless and disspirited.[3]
When the dull morning came with its leaden, rain-charged sky, the royalist leader recognized the hopelessness of any further attempt against Zitácuaro. The ground on which they had fought on the preceding day was inundated and was, indeed, an impassable swamp. Lacking means of crossing the moat, and without provisions or ammunition, Empáran cursed in his heart the viceroy who had forced him forward against his better judgment. Retreat was the only course left; and mustering into line, he retired through the canon to Toluca, his force reduced one half.[4] Here, prostrated by fatigue and exposure, the wound received on his head at the battle of Calderon
- ↑ Bustamante says that Empáran sent out two detachments to forage, one in the direction of San Mateo, and the other toward the town of San Francisco, and that the first was entirely destroyed by the Indians, while the other only saved itself by flight. Cuad. Hist., i. 224. Mora also follows this account. Mej. y sus Rev., iv. 186. Empáran, in his report to the viceroy, makes no mention of these reverses. Gaz. de Hex., 1811, ii. 598; nor does Alaman.
- ↑ Among the infantry were 200 soldiers of the regiment of Tres Villas and 100 deserters from the garrison at Valladolid. Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 365.
- ↑ Bustamante states that during the night great alarm was caused by a stratagem of Rayon's, who fastened paper lanterns to droves of donkeys, which were then driven toward the royalist camp. Cuad. Hist., i. 225. Mora enlarges upon this story, and says that Empáran's soldiers were thus thrown into panic. Mej. y sus Rev., iv. 188. Empáran, in his report, however, affirms, 'en la noche no se advirtiò cosa que mereciera atencion.' Gaz. de Mez., 1811, ii. 601.
- ↑ Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., i. 225. 'Logró por fin llegar a Toluca con poco menos de quinientos hombres, como consta de la revista que por órden del virey le pasó en esta ciudad el conde de Alcaraz.' Mora, Mej. y sus Rev., iv. 188. The accounts given by Alaman and Bustamante of this disaster differ considerably. The former follows in the main the report of Calleja given in Gaz. de Mex., 1811, ii. 597-694.
