The Mexicans Constantly Used The Most
Injurious Language Against Us; Saying That The Voracious Animals In The
Great Temple Had Been Kept Fasting For Two Days, That They Might Be Ready
To Devour Our Bodies, When We Were Sacrificed To Their Gods.
They assured
us at the same time that our allies were to be put into cages to fatten,
and that they would soon recover our ill got treasure.
Sometimes they
adjured us in the most plaintive terms to restore their king to liberty,
and they annoyed us without ceasing by flights of arrows, constantly
shouting and whistling. On the ensuing morning at day-break, having first
recommended ourselves to GOD, we sallied out from our quarters with the
turrets, such as I have seen in other places, and called _mantas_ or
_burros_. Our column was headed by a party of musketeers and crossbow-men,
and our cavalry on our flanks, occasionally charging the enemy. Our
purpose was to assail the great temple, which by its elevation and strong
enclosures, served as a citadel to the Mexicans, and we advanced therefore
in that direction, accompanied by our turrets; but the enemy resisted all
our efforts with the most determined obstinacy. I will not attempt to
relate all the circumstances of this desperate battle, or the difficulty
which we had to encounter in driving the enemy from a very strong house
which they occupied. The arrows of the Mexicans wounded many of our horses,
notwithstanding that they wore defensive armour; and when our cavalry
attempted at any time to charge or to pursue the enemy, they threw
themselves into the canals, while others sallied out from the houses on
both sides with long lances, assailing our people in the rear and on both
flanks. It was utterly impossible for us to burn the houses, or to pull
them down, as they all stood singly in the water, communicating only by
means of draw-bridges; and it was too dangerous for us to attempt reaching
them by swimming, as they showered vollies of stones upon us by slings,
and threw large stones upon our heads from the terraces of their house
tops. Even when a house was set on fire, it was very long of taking effect;
and even when we succeeded, the flames could not communicate to the other
houses, as they were all separated by canals, and their roofs were
terraced, not thatched.
At length we reached the great temple, into which four thousand of the
Mexicans immediately rushed, independent of other large bodies who were
previously stationed there for its defence. They defended their temple
with the most obstinate valour, and for some time prevented us from being
able to ascend, our turrets, musketry, and cavalry, being of no avail to
force them to give ground. The pavements of the temple courts were so
smooth, that the horses fell when our cavalry attempted to charge. They
opposed us in front from the steps of the great temple, and assailed us
with such fury on both flanks and in the rear, that though our guns swept
off a dozen or fifteen of them at every discharge, and though in each
charge of our infantry we killed many of them with our swords and lances,
they continually filled up the chasms we had made among them, and their
numbers and resolution were so great that we could not make any permanent
or effectual impression.
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