Cortes Desired The Natives To
Inform Him When They Proposed To Cut Down This Corn, And Sent Upwards Of A
Hundred of our men and a large body of our allies to protect the reapers.
I was twice on that
Duty, and on one of these occasions, the Mexicans came
over to attack us in above a thousand canoes, and endeavoured to drive us
from the maize fields; but we and our allies drove them back to their
boats, though they fought with great resolution, killed one of our
soldiers and wounded a considerable number. In this skirmish, twenty of
the enemy were left dead on the field, and we took live prisoners.
Chalco and Tlalmanalco were two places of material importance to us at
this time, as they lay in the direct road between Tlascala and our
head-quarters at Tezcuco, but both of them were garrisoned by Mexican
troops; and though Cortes was at this time solicited by several important
districts to enable them to throw off the yoke of Mexico, he considered it
as of the first necessity to dislodge the Mexicans from these two towns,
on purpose to open a secure communication with our allies, and to cover
the transport of our ship timber from Tlascala. He sent therefore a strong
detachment of fifteen horse and two hundred infantry under Sandoval and De
Lugo, with orders to drive the Mexicans from that part of the country, and
to open a clear communication with Villa Rica. During the march, Sandoval
placed ten of his men as a rear guard, to protect a considerable number of
our allies who were returning home to Tlascala loaded with plunder.
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