Landázuri remained in command of Michoacan, to the manifest advantage of royalist arms.
North-eastward in Guanajuato the insurgents confined themselves under the direction of Cos more distinctly to guerrilla movements, for which the mountainous country was well adapted. The most successful of the leaders was Matias Ortiz, known from his phlegmatic temperament as the Pachon, a name which acquired an enviable record for daring. A notable achievement was the defeat inflicted on the newly formed royalist regiment Moncada, which under the command of Vicente Bustamante had driven Cos into the fastnesses round Leon, and inflicted no little damage on other bands from its subsequent headquarters at San Felipe. On June 28th, while returning from an expedition with a captured herd, it was surprised and routed with considerable slaughter by Ortiz, Bustamante with six other officers being among the slain. The result was the abandonment of San Felipe, followed by that of several other posts.[1] Francisco Rayon shared in these triumphs by a decided success near San Juan del Rio, in Querétaro, wherein he overwhelmed one detachment at Galindo, and repulsed a larger reënforcement;[2] and his brother Rafael obtained a similar advantage near Celaya.[3]
These movements, however, were becoming more circumscribed as Iturbide, the new commander of the province, extended his energetic operations. Aware of Ramon Rayon's intention to seek the Cuitzeo region, he had in August called on Ordoñez of Queré-
- ↑ Ortiz surprised one at San Bartolo in July, and in August he defeated a party under Ignacio Juarez, near Villela. Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., ii. 298.
- ↑ From San Juan, of 100 dragoons. The eomandante at Galindo fell with 20 men, and 260 animals and some money were captured. Diario de Rayon, 646.
- ↑ At the hacienda San Antonio, which he captured in October in connection with the Indian chief Hilario Rodriguez, taking 500 animals and a quantity of supplies. Diario de Rayon, v. 649. Hilario is said to have tortured the comandante Gallardo before beheading him. He was overtaken and killed with four adherents soon after, his head being impaled as a warning. Gaz. de Mex., 1813, iv. 1178-9, 1190, 1196.
