Hernando Cortez Part 9

Encouraged by these wonderful successes, and by the tame submission of the monarch, Cortez resolved upon the entire overthrow, by violence if necessary, of the whole system of idolatry, and to introduce Catholic Christianity in its stead. He had often, with the most importunate zeal, urged Montezuma to renounce his false G.o.ds and to embrace the Christian faith. But superst.i.tion was too firmly enthroned in the heart of the Mexican monarch to be easily supplanted. To every thing but this the monarch was ready to yield; but every proposition to renounce his G.o.ds he rejected with horror. Cortez at length firmly ordered his soldiers to march to the temples and sweep them clean of every vestige of paganism. This roused the priests. They seized their arms, and the alarm was spread rapidly through the streets of the city. Vast mult.i.tudes, grasping such weapons as they could get, a.s.sembled around the temples, resolved to brave every peril in defense of their religion. Matters a.s.sumed an aspect so threatening, that, for the first time, Cortez found it necessary to draw back. He contented himself with simply ejecting the G.o.ds from one of the shrines, and in erecting in their stead an image of the Virgin.

There were now many indications of approaching trouble. The natives were greatly provoked, and it was evident that they were watching for a favorable opportunity to rise against their invaders. Cortez practiced the most sleepless vigilance. Diaz speaks thus of the hardships he and his comrades endured:

"During the nine months that we remained in Mexico, every man, without any distinction between officers and soldiers, slept on his arms, in his quilted jacket and gorget. They lay on mats or straw spread on the floor, and each was obliged to hold himself as alert as if he had been on guard. This became so habitual to me, that even now, in my advanced age, I always sleep in my clothes, and never in any bed."

Just in this crisis alarming intelligence was received from the commander of the garrison at Vera Cruz. One of the ships of the delegation sent to Spain, of which we have previously spoken, had, contrary to the orders of Cortez, stopped at Cuba. In this way the indignant governor, Velasquez, learned that Cortez had renounced all connection with him, and had set up an independent colony. His anger was roused to the utmost, and he resolved upon summary vengeance. It so happened that Velasquez had just received from his sovereign the appointment of governor _for life_, and was authorized to prosecute discoveries in Mexico with very extensive and exclusive privileges and powers.

He immediately fitted out an armament consisting of nineteen ships, with eighty hors.e.m.e.n, fourteen hundred soldiers, and twenty pieces of cannon. This was, in that day, a formidable force. The commandant, Narvaez, was ordered to seize Cortez and his princ.i.p.al officers, and send them in chains to Cuba. He was then, in the name of Velasquez, to prosecute the discovery and the conquest of the country.

After a prosperous voyage, the fleet cast anchor in the Bay of St.

Juan de Ulua, and the soldiers were landed. Narvaez then sent a summons to the governor of Vera Cruz to surrender. Sandoval, the commandant, however, being zealously attached to Cortez, seized the envoy and his attendants, and sent them in chains to the capital, with intelligence of the impending peril. Cortez, with his wonted sagacity, received them as friends, ordered their chains to be struck off, condemned the severity of Sandoval, and loaded them with caresses and presents. He thus won their confidence, and drew from them all the particulars of the force, and the intentions of the expedition. Cortez had great cause for alarm when he learned that Narvaez was instructed to espouse the cause of Montezuma; to a.s.sure the Mexican monarch that the violence which he had suffered was unauthorized by the King of Spain, and that he was ready to a.s.sist Montezuma and his subjects in repelling the invaders from the capital. From peril so imminent no ordinary man could have extricated himself. Narvaez was already on the march, and the natives, enraged against Cortez, were in great numbers joining the standard of the new-comers. Already emissaries from the camp of Narvaez had reached the capital, and had communicated to Montezuma, through the n.o.bles, intelligence that Narvaez was marching to his relief. Montezuma was overjoyed, and his n.o.bles were elated with hope, as they secretly collected arms and marshaled their forces for battle.

Cortez immediately dispatched Father Olmedo to meet Narvaez to propose terms of accommodation. He was fully aware that no such terms as he proposed could be acceded to; but Olmedo and his attendants were enjoined, as the main but secret object of their mission, to do every thing they could, by presents, caresses, promises, and glowing descriptions of the greatness of Cortez, his power, and the glory opening before him, to induce the officers and soldiers of Narvaez to abandon his standard, and range themselves under the banner of Cortez.

At the same time, Cortez, leaving one hundred and fifty men, under Alvarado, to guard the fortified camp in the metropolis, set out by forced marches, with the rest of his force, to fall unexpectedly upon Narvaez. His strength did not exceed two hundred and fifty men. In a great emergency like this, the natives could not be trusted. As Cortez drew near his foe, he found that Narvaez was encamped upon a great plain in the vicinity of Zempoalla. A terrible tempest arose. Black clouds darkened the sky, and the rain fell in floods. The soldiers of Narvaez, drenched through and through by the unceasing torrents, demanded to be led to the shelter of the houses in Zempoalla. They deemed it impossible that any foe could approach in such a storm; but the storm, in all its pitiless fury, was the very re-enforcement which Cortez and his men desired. Black midnight came, and the careering tempest swept the deluged streets of Zempoalla, driving even the sentinels to seek shelter.

Cortez gathered his little band around him, and roused them, by a vigorous harangue, for an immediate attack. The odds were fearful.

Cortez had but two hundred and fifty men. Narvaez had fifteen hundred, with nineteen pieces of artillery and eighty hors.e.m.e.n. Giving the soldiers for their countersign the inspiring words, "The Holy Spirit,"

they rushed through the darkness and the raging storm upon the unsuspecting foe. They first directed their energies for the capture of the artillery. The party who made this attack was headed by Pizarro, "an active lad," says Diaz, "whose name, however, was at that time as little known as that of Peru." The guns were seized, after a short and not a very sanguinary struggle. They then, without a moment's delay, turned upon the hors.e.m.e.n. But the sleeping foe was now effectually aroused. A short scene of consternation, clamor, horror, and blood ensued. The companions of Cortez fought with the energies of despair. To them, defeat was certain death. The soldiers of Narvaez were bewildered. Many of them, even before the battle, were half disposed to abandon Narvaez and join the standard of Cortez, of whose renown they had heard such glowing accounts. Taken by a midnight surprise, they fought manfully for a time. But at length, in the hot and tumultuary fight, a spear pierced the cheek of Narvaez, and tore out one of his eyes. He was struck down and made a prisoner. This led to an immediate surrender. The genius of Cortez had most signally triumphed. Though many were wounded in this conflict, but two men on the side of Cortez were killed, and fifteen of the party of Narvaez.

The artful conqueror loaded the vanquished with favors, and soon succeeded in winning nearly all of them to engage in his service. With enthusiasm these new recruits, thus singularly gained, rallied around him, eager to march in the paths of glory to which such a leader could guide them.

This achievement was hardly accomplished ere a new peril menaced the victorious Spaniard. An express arrived from the Mexican metropolis with the intelligence that the Mexicans had risen in arms; that they had attacked the Spaniards in their quarters, and had killed several, and had wounded more; that they had also seized the two brigantines, destroyed the magazine of provisions, and that the whole garrison was in imminent danger of destruction.

Immediately collecting his whole force, now greatly augmented by the accession of the vanquished troops of Narvaez, with their cavalry and artillery, Cortez hastened back from Zempoalla to the rescue of his beleaguered camp. His army now, with his strangely acquired re-enforcement, amounted to over a thousand infantry and a hundred cavalry, besides several thousands of the natives, whom he recruited from his allies, the Totonacs.

The danger was so imminent that his troops were urged to the utmost possible rapidity of march. At Tlascala, two thousand of those fierce warriors joined him; but as he advanced into the territory of Montezuma, he met every where the evidences of strong disaffection to his cause. The n.o.bles avoided his camp. The inhabitants of cities and villages retired at his approach. No food was brought to him. The natives made no attempt to oppose a force so resistless, but they left before him a path of silence and solitude.

When the Spaniards arrived at the causeway which led to the city, they found, to their surprise, that the Mexicans had not destroyed the bridges, but throughout the whole length of this narrow pa.s.sage no person was to be seen. No one welcomed or opposed. Fiercely those stern men strode on, over the causeway and through the now deserted streets, till they entered into the encampment of their comrades.

The insurrection had been suddenly excited by an atrocious ma.s.sacre on the part of Alvarado. This leader, a brave soldier, but dest.i.tute either of tact or judgment, suspected, or pretended to suspect, that the Mexican n.o.bles were conspiring to attack him. One of their religious festivals was at hand, when all the princ.i.p.al n.o.bles of the empire were to be a.s.sembled in the performance of the rites of their religion, in the court-yard of the great temple. Suddenly Alvarado came upon them, when they were thus unarmed and unsuspicious, and, cutting them off from every avenue of escape, with musketry, artillery, and the keen sabres of his hors.e.m.e.n, mercilessly hewed them down. Nearly six hundred of the flower of the Mexican n.o.bility were ma.s.sacred. Though Cortez was very indignant with his lieutenant when he heard this story from his lips, and exclaimed, "Your conduct has been that of a madman," he was still enraged with the Mexicans for venturing to attack his garrison, and declared that they should feel the weight of Spanish vengeance.

In his displeasure, he refused to call upon Montezuma. Elated by the success with which he had thus far triumphed over all obstacles, and deeming the forces he now had under his command sufficient to sweep, like chaff before the whirlwind, any armies which the natives could raise, he gave free utterance to expressions of contempt for both prince and people. There had been a tacit truce between the two parties for a few days, and had Cortez disavowed the conduct of his subaltern, and pursued conciliatory measures, it is possible that the natives might again have been appeased. The insolent tone he a.s.sumed, and his loud menace of vengeance, aroused the natives anew, and they grasped their arms with a degree of determination and ferocity never manifested before.

Bernal Diaz in the following terms records this event:

"Cortez asked Alvarado for what reason he fell upon the natives while they were dancing and holding a festival in honor of their G.o.ds. To this Alvarado replied that it was in order to be beforehand with them, having had intelligence of their hostile intentions toward him from two of their own n.o.bility and a priest. Cortez then asked of him if it was true that they had requested of him permission to hold their festival. The other replied that it was so, and that it was in order to take them by surprise, and to punish and terrify them, so as to prevent their making war upon the Spaniards, that he had determined to fall on them by antic.i.p.ation. At hearing this avowal, Cortez was highly enraged. He censured the conduct of Alvarado in the strongest terms, and in this temper left him.

"Some say that it was avarice which tempted Alvarado to make this attack, in order to pillage the Indians of the golden ornaments which they wore at their festival. I never heard any just reason for the a.s.sertion; nor do I believe any such thing, although it is so represented by Bartholome de las Casas. For my part, I am convinced that his intention in falling on them at that time was in order to strike terror into them, and prevent their insurrection, according to the saying that the first attack is half the battle."

CHAPTER VIII.

BATTLE OF THE DISMAL NIGHT.

Augmented forces of Cortez.--The reconnaissance.--Success of the Mexicans.--The conflict continued.--Troops of Narvaez begin to murmur.--The sally.--Cortez obliged to retreat.--The conflagration.

--The desperate situation.--The appeal to Montezuma.--He is induced to interpose.--The dawn of the morning.--Attention of the natives.

--Address of Montezuma.--He is wounded.--He refuses nourishment.

--His death.--Raging of the battle.--The two Mexican n.o.bles.--Escape of Cortez.--Night and its scenes.--Endeavors to intimidate the natives.--Their heroism.--Defiance.--Cortez resolves to leave the city.--The moving towers.--The retreat.--The onset.--Arrival at the ca.n.a.l.--Imminent peril.--Filling the breach.--Slow advance.--The storm.--The causeway.--Mult.i.tude of the enemy.--Fury of the attack.

--Noche triste.--Separation of the Spaniards.--March to the rescue.

--Destruction of a part of the army.--Sorrow of Cortez.--They flee to a temple.--Condition of the party.--March over the mountains.

--Value of the horses.--Courage of Cortez.--Shouts of defiance.-- Appearance of the enemy.--Apprehensions of Cortez.--The attack.-- Superst.i.tion of the Mexicans.--The capture of the standard.--The natives flee.--Arrival at Tlascala.--Enmity of the Tlascalans against the Mexicans.--New disasters.--New designs of Cortez.--Efforts to collect recruits.--Preparations for building ships.--Remonstrance of his companions.--The foray.--Plunder.--The Governor of Cuba sends ships to Vera Cruz.--Expedition from the Governor of Jamaica.-- Collection of arms.--Equipping the fleet.--The vessels baptized.

The force which Cortez now had under his command, if we take into consideration the efficiency of European discipline and of European weapons of warfare, was truly formidable. In the stone buildings which protected and encircled his encampment, he could marshal, in battle array, twelve hundred Spaniards and eight thousand native allies; but they were nearly dest.i.tute of provisions, and the natives were rapidly a.s.sembling from all quarters in countless numbers. Cortez sent four hundred men out into the streets to reconnoitre. They had hardly emerged from the walls of their fortress before they were a.s.sailed with shouts of vengeance, and a storm of arrows and javelins fell upon them. Phrenzied mult.i.tudes thronged the streets and the house-tops, and from the roofs and the summits of the temples, stones and all similar missiles were poured down upon the heads of the Spaniards.

With great difficulty this strong detachment fought their way back to their fortified quarters, having lost twenty-three in killed, and a large number being wounded.

This success greatly emboldened the Mexicans, and in locust legions they pressed upon the Spanish quarters, rending the air with their unearthly shouts, and darkening the sky with their missiles. The artillery was immediately brought to bear upon them, and every volley opened immense gaps in their ranks; but the places of the dead were instantly occupied by others, and there seemed to be no end to their numbers. Never did mortal men display more bravery than these exasperated Mexicans exhibited, struggling for their homes and their rights. Twice they came very near forcing an entrance over the walls into the Spanish quarters. Had they succeeded, in a hand to hand fight numbers must have triumphed, and the Spaniards must have been inevitably destroyed; but the batteries of the Spaniards mowed down the a.s.sailants like gra.s.s before the scythe, and the Mexicans were driven from the walls. All the day long the conflict was continued, and late into the night. The ground was covered with the dead when darkness stopped the carnage.

The soldiers of Narvaez, unaccustomed to such scenes, and appalled by the fury and the number of their enemies, began to murmur loudly. They had been promised the spoils of an empire which they were a.s.sured was already conquered; instead of this, they found themselves in the utmost peril, exposed to a conflict with a vigorous and exasperated enemy, surrounding them with numbers which could not be counted.

Bitterly they execrated their own folly in allowing themselves to be thus deluded; but their murmurs could now be of no avail. The only hope for the Spaniards was in united and indomitable courage.

The energies of Cortez increased with the difficulties which surrounded him. During the night he selected a strong force of picked men to make a vigorous sally in the morning. To nerve them to higher daring, he resolved to head the perilous enterprise himself. He availed himself of all his knowledge of Indian warfare, and of all the advantages which European military art could furnish. In the early dawn, these troops, in solid column, rushed from the gates of their fortress; but the foe, greatly augmented by the fresh troops which had been pouring in during the night, were ready to receive him. Both parties fought with ferocity which has never been surpa.s.sed. Cortez, to his inexpressible chagrin, found himself compelled to retire before the natives, who, in numbers perfectly amazing, were crowding upon him.

Most of the streets were traversed by ca.n.a.ls. The bridges were broken down, and the Spaniards, thus arrested in their progress and crowded together, were overwhelmed with stones and arrows from the house-tops.

Cortez set fire to the houses every where along his line of march.

Though the walls of many of these buildings were of stone, the flames ran eagerly through the dry and combustible interior, and leaped from roof to roof. A wide and wasting conflagration soon swept horribly through the doomed city, adding to the misery of the b.l.o.o.d.y strife.

All the day long the battle raged. The streets were strewn with the bodies of the dead, and crimsoned with gore. The natives cheerfully sacrificed a hundred of their own lives to take the life of one of their foes. The Spaniards were, however, at length driven back behind their walls, leaving twelve of their number dead in the streets, and having sixty severely wounded.

Another night darkened over the bloodstained and smouldering city.

The Spaniards, exhausted by the interminable conflict, still stood fiercely behind their ramparts. The natives, in continually increasing numbers, surrounded them, filling the night air with shrieks of defiance and rage. Cortez had displayed personally the most extraordinary heroism during the protracted strife. His situation now seemed desperate. Though many thousands of the Mexicans had been slaughtered during the day, recruits flocked in so rapidly that their numbers remained undiminished. Cortez had received a severe wound in his hand which caused him intense anguish. His soldiers could hardly stand from their exhaustion. Many had been slain, and nearly all were wounded. The maddened roar of countless thousands of the fiercest warriors surging around their bulwarks almost deafened the ear. Every moment it was apprehended that the walls would be scaled, and the inundation pour in resistlessly upon them.

In this extremity Cortez decided to appeal to his captive Montezuma, and try the effect of his interposition to soothe or overawe his subjects. a.s.suming the tone of humanity, he affected to deplore the awful carnage which had taken place. He affirmed that the city must inevitably be destroyed entirely, and the inhabitants generally slaughtered, unless they could be induced to lay down their arms.

Montezuma, from one of the towers of the Spanish fortress, had watched, with a throbbing heart and flooded eyes, the progress of the fight as the flames swept through the streets, and destruction, like a scythe, mowed down his subjects. The amiable, beloved, perplexed sovereign was thus induced, though with much hesitation, to interpose.

He was adored by his people; but he believed that the Spaniards were enthroned by the voice of destiny, and that resistance would but involve the nation in a more b.l.o.o.d.y ruin.

Another morning dawned upon the combatants. In its earliest light the battle was again renewed with increasing fury. No pen can describe the tumult of this wild war. The yell of countless thousands of a.s.sailants, the clang of their trumpets, gongs, and drums, the clash of arms, the rattle of musketry, and the roar of artillery, presented a scene which had never before found a parallel in the New World.

Suddenly all the tumult was hushed as the venerated emperor, dressed in his imperial robes, appeared upon the walls, and waved his hand to command the attention of his subjects. At the sight of their beloved sovereign silence almost instantaneously prevailed, all bowed their heads in reverence, and many prostrated themselves upon the ground.

Montezuma earnestly entreated them to cease from the conflict, a.s.suring them that the Spaniards would retire from the city if the Mexicans would lay down their arms.

"The war will soon be over," a Mexican shouted from the crowd, "for we have all sworn that not a Spaniard shall leave the city alive."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FALL OF MONTEZUMA.]

As Montezuma continued his urgency, pleading for the detested Spaniards, the natives for a few moments longer continued to listen patiently. But gradually a sullen murmur, like a rising breeze, began to spread through the ranks. Reproaches and threats succeeded.

Indignation now overtopped all barriers, and a shower of stones and arrows suddenly fell upon the unhappy monarch. Cortez had taken the precaution to send a body-guard upon the wall with Montezuma, with bucklers for his protection; but so sudden and unexpected was the a.s.sault, that two arrows pierced his body, and a stone, striking him on the temple, felled him senseless to the ground before they could raise their shields. This was the last drop in the cup of bitterness which Montezuma was doomed to drain. The wounded monarch was conveyed to his apartment, crushed in spirit, and utterly broken-hearted.

Finally, resolved no longer to live, he tore the bandages from his wounds, and refused all nourishment. Silent, and brooding over his terrible calamities, he lingered, the picture of dejection and woe, for a few days, until he died.

In the mean time the battle was resumed with all its fury. Throughout the day it raged with the most intense ferocity. The Mexicans took possession of a high tower which commanded the Spanish quarters. It was necessary to dislodge them at any sacrifice. A detachment of chosen men was three times repulsed in its desperate a.s.sault. Cortez, aware that the safety of the army depended upon the result, ordered a buckler to be bound to his arm, as he could not grasp it with his wounded hand, and placed himself at the head of the attacking column.

Animated by his voice and example, the Spaniards forced their way up the steps of the temple, driving the Mexicans before them. Having reached the s.p.a.cious platform on the summit, a terrible strife ensued. Two young Mexican n.o.bles resolved to effect the destruction of Cortez by the sacrifice of their own lives. They seized him, dragged him to the battlements, and threw themselves over while clinging to his person, that they might thus dash him also upon the pavement beneath. But Cortez, by his wonderful strength and agility, shook them off, and thus broke from their grasp, though they both perished. The victorious Spaniards then set fire to the tower. Other sorties were made during the day, and the wretched city was as the crater of a volcano of flame and blood. The energies of both parties seemed to redouble with despair.

At last another night spread its veil over the infuriated combatants.

In its darkest watches, the indomitable Cortez made a sortie at the head of a strong band, and set three hundred buildings in flames. The lurid fire, crackling to the skies, illumined the tranquil lake, and gleamed portentously upon the most distant villages in the vast mountain-girdled valley. The tumult of the midnight a.s.sault, the shrieks of the women and children, and the groans of the wounded and the dying, blended dismally with the roar of the conflagration.

Cortez now summoned the Mexican chiefs to a parley. He stood upon the wall. The beautiful Marina, as interpreter, stood at his side. The native chiefs were upon the ground before him. The inflexible Spanish commander endeavored to intimidate his determined foes by threats.