Part 6 (1/2)
It was now the end of September. The army of Cortez had been gradually increased by recruits from among the natives to three thousand.
Immediately after this first battle with the Tlascalans, the whole army was a.s.sembled to offer thanks to G.o.d for the victory, and to implore his continued protection. The soldiers, with the fresh blood of the Tlascalans hardly washed from their hands, partook of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church.
The army now marched in close order. The Totonac allies, as well as the Spaniards, were drilled to perfect discipline, and all were inspired with intense zeal. With characteristic caution Cortez chose every night his place of halting, and with great vigilance fortified his encampment. There was something truly chivalrous in the magnanimity displayed by these barbarians. They seemed to scorn the idea of taking their enemies by surprise, but always sent them fair warning when they intended to make an attack. They had now the impression that the Spaniards had left their own country because it did not furnish sufficient food for them. They therefore sent to their camp an abundant supply of poultry and corn, saying, ”Eat plentifully.
We disdain to attack a foe enfeebled by hunger. It would be an insult to our G.o.ds to offer them starved victims; neither do we wish to feed on emaciated bodies.” We have before mentioned that it was the horrid custom of this people to offer as sacrifices to their G.o.ds prisoners taken in war, and then to banquet in savage orgies over the remains.
As Cortez moved cautiously on, adopting every precaution to guard against surprise, he suddenly emerged from a valley upon a widespread plain. Here he again encountered the enemy, drawn up in battle array, in numbers apparently overwhelming. It was now evening. As it was understood that the Tlascalans never attacked by night, considering it dishonorable warfare, the Spaniards pitched their tents, having posted sentinels to watch the foe with the utmost vigilance. The morning was to usher in a dreadful battle, with fearful odds against the invaders.
Two chiefs who had been taken prisoners in the late battle stated that the force of the Tlascalans consisted of five divisions of ten thousand men each. Each division had its own uniform and banner, and was under the command of its appropriate chief. It was a solemn hour in the Spanish camp. ”When all this was communicated to us,” says Diaz, ”being but mortal, and, like all others, fearing death, we prepared for battle by confessing to our reverend fathers, who were occupied during that whole night in that holy office.”
Cortez released his captive chiefs, and sent them with an amicable message to their countrymen, stating that he asked only an unmolested pa.s.sage through their country to Mexico, but sternly declaring, ”If this proposition be refused, I will enter your capital as a conqueror.
I will turn every house. I will put every inhabitant to the sword.” An answer was returned of the most implacable defiance. ”We will make peace,” said the Tlascalans, ”by devouring your bodies, and offering your hearts and your blood in sacrifice to our G.o.ds.”
The morning of the 5th of September dawned cloudless and brilliant upon the two armies encamped upon the high table-lands of the Cordilleras. At an early hour the Spanish bugles roused the sleeping host. The wounded men, even, resumed their place in the ranks, so great was the peril. Cortez addressed a few inspiriting words to the troops, and placed himself at their head. Just as the sun was rising he put his army in motion. Soon they arrived in sight of the Tlascalans. The interminable host filled a vast plain, six miles square, with their thronging mult.i.tudes. The native warriors, in bands skillfully posted, were decorated with the highest appliances of barbaric pomp. As the experienced eye of Cortez ranged over their dense ranks, he estimated their numbers at more than one hundred thousand. Their weapons were slings, arrows, javelins, clubs, and rude wooden swords, sharpened with teeth of flint.
The moment the Spaniards appeared, the Tlascalans, uttering hideous yells, and filling the air with all the inconceivable clamor of their military bands, rushed upon them like the on-rolling surges of the ocean. The first discharge from the native army of stones, arrows, and darts was so tremendous as to darken the sky like a thick cloud.
Notwithstanding the armor worn by the Spaniards was impervious to arrow or javelin, many were wounded.
But soon the cannon was unmasked, and opened its terrific roar. Ball and grape-shot swept through the dense ranks of the natives, mowing down, in hideous mutilation, whole platoons at a discharge. The courage displayed by the Tlascalans was amazing. It has never been surpa.s.sed. Though hardly able, with their feeble weapons, to injure their adversaries, regardless of death, they filled up the gaps which the cannon opened in their ranks, and all the day long continued the unequal fight.
Immense mult.i.tudes of the dead now covered the field, and many of the chiefs were slain. Every horse was wounded; seventy Spaniards were severely injured; one was dead, and nearly all were more or less bruised. But the artillery and the musketry were still plied with awful carnage. The commander-in-chief of the native army, finding it in vain to contend against these new and apparently unearthly weapons, at last ordered a retreat. The natives retired in as highly disciplined array as would have been displayed by French or Austrian troops. The victors, exhausted and bleeding, were glad to throw themselves upon the gory gra.s.s of the battle-field for repose. The cold wind at night, from the mountain glaciers, swept the bleak plain, and the soldiers s.h.i.+vered in their houseless beds. They did not sleep, however, until, in a body, they had returned thanks to the G.o.d of peace and love for their glorious victory. ”It truly seemed,” said Cortez, devoutly, ”that G.o.d fought on our side.”
It appears almost incredible that, in such a conflict, the Spanish army should have received so little injury. But Cortez made no account of any amount of loss on the part of his native allies. The Spaniards only he thought of, and they were protected with the utmost care.
Their artillery and musketry kept the natives at a distance, and their helmets and coats of mail no native weapon could easily penetrate. Their danger was consequently so small that we can not give them credit for quite so much heroism as they have claimed. The enterprise, in its commencement, was bold in the extreme; but it is easy to be fearless when experience proves that there is but little peril to be encountered. They fought one hundred thousand men for a whole day, and lost _one man_!
As night enveloped in its folds the bloodstained hosts, the untiring Cortez, having buried his dead, that his loss might not be perceived by the enemy, sallied forth with the horse and a hundred foot, and four hundred of the native allies, and with fire and sword devastated six villages of a hundred houses each, taking four hundred prisoners, including men and women. Before daybreak he returned from this wild foray to the camp.
During the night the Tlascalans had been receiving re-enforcements, and when the first dawn of morning appeared, more than one hundred and forty-nine thousand natives, according to the estimate of Cortez, made a rush upon the camp. After a battle of four hours they were again compelled to retreat. ”As we carried the banner of the cross,” says Cortez, ”and fought for our faith, G.o.d, in his glorious providence, gave us a great victory.”
Night again came. Again this indomitable man of iron sinews marched forth in the darkness, with his horse, one hundred Spanish infantry, and a large party of his allies, and set three thousand houses in flames, encountering no opposition, burning out only the women and children and the unarmed inhabitants. Cortez treated all the prisoners he took very kindly, and liberated them with presents. This humanity amazed the natives, who were accustomed to a procedure so very different.
The Tlascalans were now much disheartened, and were inclined to peace.
But they were quite at a loss to know how to approach the terrible foe. After much deliberation, they sent an emba.s.sage, composed of fifty of their most prominent men, bearing rich presents. Cortez suspected them of being spies. With cruelty, which will ever be an ineffaceable stigma upon his name, he ordered them all to be arrested, and their hands to be cut off. Thus awfully mutilated, these unhappy men were sent back to the Tlascalan camp with the defiant message,
”The Tlascalans may come by day or by night; the Spaniards are ready for them.”
Cortez himself relates this act of atrocious cruelty. Nothing can be said in its extenuation. There was even no _proof_, but only suspicion that they were spies. It is, indeed, not at all probable that, if such were the intention, fifty of the most prominent men of the nation would have been selected. It is, however, certain, that after this all farther idea of resistance was abandoned. The commander-in-chief of the Tlascalan army, with a numerous retinue, entered the Spanish camp with proffers of submission. This brave and proud chieftain, subdued by the terrors of the resistless engines of war worked by the Spaniards, addressed Cortez in the following language, which will command universal respect and sympathy.
”I loved my country,” said he, ”and wished to preserve its independence. We have been beaten. I hope that you will use your victory with moderation, and not trample upon our liberties. In the name of the nation, I now tender obedience to the Spaniards. We will be as faithful in peace as we have been bold in war.”
Cortez received this submission with great secret satisfaction, for his men, worn down with fatigue, were beginning loudly to murmur. A cordial peace was soon concluded. The Tlascalans were the inveterate foes of the Mexicans, and had long been fighting against them. They yielded themselves as va.s.sals to the King of Spain, and engaged to a.s.sist Cortez in all his enterprises. The two armies, which had recently met in such fierce and terrible encounter, now mingled together as friends and brothers. In one vast united band they marched toward the great city of Tlascala, and entered the capital in triumph.
It was, indeed, a large and magnificent city; more populous, and of more imposing architecture, Cortez a.s.serts, than the celebrated Moorish capital, Granada, in old Spain. An immense throng flocked from the gates of the city to meet the troops. The roofs of the houses were covered with spectators. Wild music, from semi-barbarian voices and bands, filled the air. Plumed warriors hurried to and fro, and shouts of welcome seemed to rend the skies, as these hardy adventurers slowly defiled through the crowded gates and streets of the city. The police regulations were extraordinarily effective, repressing all disorder.
The Spaniards were surprised to find barbers' shops, and also baths both for hot and cold water.
The submission of the Tlascalans was sincere and entire. They were convinced that the Spaniards were beings of a superior order whom it was in vain to resist. Cortez treated the vanquished natives with great courtesy and kindness. He took the Tlascalan republic under his protection, and promised to defend them from every foe.
The peril of Cortez at this juncture had been very great. The difficulty of obtaining sufficient food for his army, while ever on the march, called into requisition his utmost sagacity and exertions.
No man of ordinary character could have surmounted this difficulty.
Fatigue and exposure had placed many on the sick-list, and there were no hospital wagons to convey them along. Fifty-five Spaniards had died on the way. Cortez himself was seriously indisposed. Every night one half of the army kept up a vigilant watch, while all the rest slept on their arms. And Diaz records that they had no salve to dress their wounds but what was composed of the fat of the Indians whom they had slain. Whenever the enemy was defeated, he retired only to reappear in increasing numbers. Under these circ.u.mstances, it is not strange that many of the soldiers had thought of their homes, and that loud murmurs had been uttered. But this sudden peace dispelled all discontent. In the abundance and the repose of the great city of Tlascala, all past toil and hards.h.i.+p were forgotten.