We still continued to advance towards the centre of Mexico, regularly
destroying the houses on both sides of us, and
Carefully fortifying our
advanced post; and we now perceived a considerable relaxation in the
efforts of the enemy, who were not so eager as formerly to open up the
ditches; yet they continued to attack us with the utmost fury, as if
courting death. But we too had now serious cause of alarm, as our
gunpowder was almost entirely expended. At this critical moment, and most
fortunately for us, a vessel arrived at Villa Rica with soldiers and
ordnance stores, all of which, together with the men, were immediately
sent to Cortes by Rangel, who commanded at Villa Rica. This vessel
belonged to an armament which had been fitted out by Lucas Vasquez de
Aillon, and which had been destroyed or dispersed near Florida. On the
arrival of this reinforcement, Cortes and all the army determined to make
a grand push for the great square in that part of the city called
Tlaltelolco, as it would become an excellent place of arms, on account of
some principal temples and other strong buildings which were there
situated. For this purpose, each of our divisions continued their daily
efforts to advance in our usual cautious manner. Cortes got possession of
a small square in which were some temples, on the beams of which many of
the heads of our sacrificed companions were placed, their hair and beards
being much grown. I could not have believed this, if I had not myself seen
them three days afterwards, when our party had worked their way to the
same place, after having filled up three canals. In twelve days afterwards,
they were all reverently buried by us in that place where the Church of
the Martyrs is now built.
Our detachment under Alvarado continued to advance, and at last forced the
enemy from the barricades they had thrown up to defend the great square,
which cost us two hours hard fighting. Our cavalry was now of most
essential service in the large space which was now laid open, and drove
the enemy before them into the temple of the god of war, which stood in
the middle of the great square. Alvarado determined to gain possession of
the temple; for which purpose he divided his forces into three bodies, one
of which, commanded by Guttierrez de Badajoz, he ordered to gain
possession of the temple, while with the other two he occupied the
attention of the enemy below. A large force of the enemy, headed by the
priests, occupied the platform of the temple, with all its idol
sanctuaries and galleries, and repulsed the troops of Guttierrez, driving
them down the steps. The body to which I belonged was now ordered by
Alvarado to their support. We advanced boldly to the assault, and having
ascended to the platform, we drove the enemy from the post, of which we
took possession, setting fire to their abominable idols, and planting our
standard in triumph on the summit of the temple. The view of this signal
of victory greatly rejoiced Cortes, who would fain have joined us; but he
was still a quarter of a league from the place, and had many ditches to
fill as he advanced. In four days more, both he and Sandoval had worked
their way up to the great square of Tlaltelolco, where they joined us, and
thus communications from all our three attacks were opened up to the
centre of Mexico.
Our attack on the temple was truly perilous, considering the number of the
enemy, the height and difficulty of the ascent, and the fury with which
they continued to fight against us, even after we had attained the
platform and set their idols on fire, and it was night before we could
compel them to abandon the summit. The royal palaces were now levelled
with the ground, and Guatimotzin had retired with his troops to a more
distant quarter of the city towards the lake[10]. Still, however, the
enemy attacked us every day, and at night pursued us into our quarters;
and though apparently reduced to the last extremity, they made no offer
towards peace. Cortes now laid a plan for drawing the enemy into an ambush:
For this purpose, he one night placed 30 of our cavalry, with 100 of our
best foot soldiers, and 1000 Tlascalans, in some large houses which had
belonged to a principal nobleman of Mexico. Next morning he went in person
with the rest of our army to attack a post at a bridge, which was defended
by a large force of the Mexicans. After continuing the assault for some
time, Cortes slowly retreated with his men, drawing the enemy after him by
the buildings in which the ambush lay concealed. When he had led them to a
sufficient distance, he gave the concerted signal, by firing two guns in
quick succession. We immediately sallied out, and having thus enclosed the
enemy between us, we made a terrible havoc among them, and from that time
they never ventured to annoy us on our nightly retreat. Another trap was
laid for the enemy by Alvarado, which had not the same success; but as I
was now doing duty with the division which Cortes commanded in person, I
was not present, and cannot, therefore recount the particulars. Hitherto
we had continued to retreat every night to the posts we had established on
the causeways, which were at least half a league from the great temple;
but we now quitted these posts, and formed a lodgment for the whole army
in the great square of Tlaltelolco, where we remained for three days
without doing any thing worth notice, as Cortes wished to abstain from
destroying any more of the city, in hopes of prevailing on Guatimotzin to
accept of peace. He sent, therefore, a message, requesting him to
surrender, giving him the strongest assurances that he should continue to
enjoy the sovereignty, and should be treated with every honourable
distinction; and he accompanied this message with a considerable present
of provisions, such as fowls, game, bread, and fruit.
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