No Soldier To Maltreat Any Of Our
Allies In Their Persons Or Properties.
3.
No soldier to be absent from
quarters on any pretence. 4. Every soldier to keep his arms, both
offensive and defensive, in the best order. 5. No soldier to stake his
horse or arms in gaming. 6. No soldier to sleep out of his armour, or
without his arms beside him, except when disabled by wounds or sickness.
Lastly, the penalty of death was denounced for sleeping on guard, for a
sentinel quitting his post, for absence from quarters without leave, for
quitting the ranks in the field, or for flight in battle.
At this time our allies of Tlascala arrived under the command of
Xicotencatl the younger, who was accompanied by his two brothers. Some of
the warriors of Huexotzinco and Cholula came along with the Tlascalans,
but not in any great numbers[12], yet the alacrity of our allies was such
that they joined us a day previous to that which was appointed by Cortes.
They marched in with great military parade, each of the chiefs carrying a
standard with their national device, a white spread eagle, and they were
all in high spirits, shouting out, Castilla! Castilla! Tlascala! Tlascala!
From the arrival of their van, till the rear came in, took up three hours.
Cortes received them with great courtesy, promising to make them all rich
on their return to their native country, and dismissed them with many
compliments to their respective quarters.
Cortes made the following arrangement of our land army for the investment
of Mexico, distributing our forces in three separate divisions, under the
respective commands of Alvarado, De Oli, and Sandoval, reserving to
himself to act where his presence might be most necessary, and taking in
the mean time the command of the fleet. Pedro de Alvarado, under whom I
served, had 150 infantry, 30 cavalry, 18 musketeers and crossbow-men, and
8000 Tlascalans, and was ordered to take post at Tacuba, having three
captains under his command, his brother Jorge de Alvarado, Pedro
Guttierrez, and Andres de Monjara, having each a company of 50 infantry,
with a third of the musketeers and crossbow-men, the cavalry being
commanded by Alvarado in person. - Christoval de Oli commanded the second
division, having under him Andres de Tapia, Francisco Verdugo, and
Francisco de Lugo, with 175 infantry, 30 cavalry, 20 musketeers and
crossbows, and 8000 of our Indian allies. This division was ordered to
take post at Cuyoacan or Cojohuacan. - The third division, under the
command of Gonzalo de Sandoval, who had under him captains Luis Marin and
Pedro de Ircio, consisted of 150 infantry, 24 cavalry, 14 musketeers and
crossbows, and above 8000 Indian warriors, was to take post at Iztapalapa.
The division of Alvarado and De Oli were ordered to march from Tezcuco by
the right, going round the northern side of the lake, and the third, under
Sandoval, by the left, to the south end of the lake; and his march being
much shorter, he was ordered to remain in Tezcuco until Cortes should sail
out with the fleet[13].
Before setting out on their march, Alvarado and De Oli directed our Indian
allies to go on a day before us, that we might not be interrupted by their
numbers, and ordered them to wait for us when they reached the Mexican
territory. While on their march, Chichimecatl remarked that Xicotencatl,
the commander in chief of the Tlascalans was absent; and it was found that
he had secretly gone off from Tezcuco for Tlascala on the preceding night,
in order to take possession of the territory and property of Chichimecatl,
thinking this a good opportunity during the absence of that chief and his
warriors, and being in no apprehension of any opposition, now that
Maxicatzin was dead. Chichimecatl returned immediately to Tezcuco, to
inform Cortes of what had taken place; and our general sent five chiefs of
Tezcuco and two Tlascalan chiefs, to request Xicotencatl to return. He
answered, that if his old father and Maxicatzin had listened to him, they
would not have been now domineered over by Cortes and the Spaniards, and
absolutely refused to go back. On this haughty answer being reported to
Cortes, he immediately sent off an alguazil with four horsemen and five
Tezcucan chiefs, ordering them to seize and hang Xicotencatl wherever they
could find him. Alvarado interceded strongly for his pardon, but
ineffectually; for though Cortes seemed to relent, the party who arrested
Xicotencatl in a town subject to Tezcuco, hung him up by private orders
from Cortes, and some reported that this was done with the approbation of
the elder Xicotencatl, father to the Tlascalan general. This affair
detained us a whole day, and on the next the two divisions of Alvarado and
De Oli marched by the same route, halting for the night at Aculma or
Alcolman, a town belonging to the state of Tezcuco, where a very ruinous
quarrel was near taking place between our two commanders and their
divisions. De Oli had sent some persons before to take quarters for his
troops, and had appropriated every house in the place for his men, marking
them by setting up green boughs on the terraces; so that when Alvarado
arrived with his division, we had not a single house for us to lodge in.
Our soldiers were much irritated at this circumstance, and stood
immediately to their arms to fight with those of De Oli, and the two
commanders even challenged each other; but several of the more prudent of
the officers on both sides interposed, and a reconciliation was effected,
yet Alvarado and De Oli were never afterwards good friends. An express was
sent off immediately to apprize Cortes of this misunderstanding, who wrote
to all the people of any influence in the two divisions, greatly
condemning the circumstances of this disagreement, which might have
produced fatal consequences to our whole army, and earnestly recommended a
reconcilement. We continued our march for two days more, by several
Mexican cities, which were abandoned by their inhabitants; and passing
through Coatitlan, Tenajoccan and Itzcapuzalco, where our allies waited
for us, we proceeded for Tacuba, otherwise called Tlacopan.
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