Nothing now remained but retreat; and sullenly the small remnant of Olmos' command, ill-provided with food and overladen with baggage, turned their backs upon the stronghold of Uspantan to fight their way homeward. Day by day they pressed onward, constantly assailed by the enemy posted in ambuscade along the route. The final struggle occurred on approaching the district of Chichicastenango. Here three thousand of the enemy had collected to dispute with them a mountain pass through which lay their only line of retreat. No hope for the Spaniards now, unless they could cut their way through this dense throng of warriors. Provisions and baggage were cast aside and each soldier, grasping his weapons, prepared for the conflict which was to determine his destiny. The fight was obstinate and bloody, but sword and arquebuse prevailed as usual against the rude arms of the natives, and at length the Spaniards rested unopposed on the opposite side of the range, the survivors finally reaching Utatlan, haggard and gaunt with famine.
WAR AT CHICHICASTENANGO.
Orduña, recognizing that his indiscretion had been the cause of this disaster, hastened to repair his mistake. He met with much difficulty in raising a sufficient force, as he had already made himself unpopular with most of the colonists, but at the beginning of December he left the city accompanied by forty foot-soldiers, thirty-two horse, and four hundred Mexican and Tlascaltec allies,[VI‑27] the latter commanded by Spanish officers. As Orduña had little faith in his own abilities as a leader, and his soldiers had none, the command of this force was intrusted to the treasurer Francisco de Castellanos, a man of spirit and ability. On arriving in Chichicastenango Orduña sent envoys to Uspantan with a summons to surrender.[VI‑28] The reply was of a practical nature: the emissaries were immediately put to death.
The natives must now be brought under subjection by force of arms, and Orduña sent forward Castellanos with the greater portion of the troops to undertake the fighting, while he himself remained in safe quarters at Chichicastenango.[VI‑29] The latter first directed his march against the important stronghold of Nebah. On arriving at the river Sacapulas he found for some time an impassable obstacle, on account of the precipitous nature of the ravine down which it flowed. By moving up stream, he discovered at last a spot where he could descend, and throwing a bridge over the river made good his crossing. Ascending the opposite slope, he encountered on the summit a body of five thousand warriors gathered there from Nebah and neighboring towns. They retired on his approach, and took up a position at a narrow mountain pass, whence they were driven only after a sharp and protracted struggle.
Castellanos then advanced without further opposition to Nebah, which like many other Indian towns he found to be a natural stronghold. Such reliance did the natives place on the protection of the precipices which surrounded it, that they did not think it necessary to post sentinels, and all collected to defend its only entrance. This over-confidence wrought their destruction. While the assault was being made, a few Tlascaltecs and Mexicans succeeded, by clinging to tendrils and creepers, in scaling the height in the rear of the town. Then approaching unobserved they set fire to some houses. The conflagration spread; the defence was soon abandoned; and the Spaniards rushing through the narrow entrance were soon masters of the town. On the following day all the inhabitants were branded; and such was the effect of the fall of this fortress, that the neighboring villages as well as the large town of Chahúl surrendered without opposition.
BRANDING OF PATRIOTS.
The Spaniards then marched on Uspantan, where ten thousand warriors belonging to that district, aided by an equal number of allies, disdained submission. This place was also practically impregnable, and again but for excess of confidence the garrison might have remained in security. But when they saw the little army under Castellanos impudently sitting down before their door, the men of Uspantan resolved to go forth and sweep them from the earth. The Spaniards took up their position, the infantry being divided into two equal bodies, and stationed on the wings, while the horsemen occupied the centre somewhat in advance. As soon as the onset was made and the assailants were engaged with the cavalry, the foot, rapidly deploying to right and left, fell upon the enemy's flanks simultaneously and overthrew them with great slaughter. So many prisoners of high position were taken that the submission of Uspantan and the allied towns was secured, and Castellanos, having branded and reduced to slavery a large number of his captives, returned to Santiago about the beginning of 1530.
During the same year the confusion caused by Orduña's maleadministration held out a hope to the stubborn Cuzcatecans of even yet winning back their independence, and once more they rose in revolt. Diego de Rojas was sent by the captain general with a small force to aid the Spanish settlers in that part of the province in suppressing the insurrection. His efforts were successful; but when about to accept the surrender of a fortress that lay beyond the river Lempa he heard the unwelcome news that a party of Spaniards were approaching from the south. Rojas determined to reconnoitre in person, and his curiosity was soon gratified, for while doing so he was made prisoner with a number of his followers. The intruders proved to be a party of two hundred men despatched by Pedrarias Dávila, under Martin Estete, for the purpose of making possession of Salvador and making that province an appendage to Nicaragua. If a man of ability had been in charge of this expedition it is not improbable that its purpose might have been accomplished; but Estete, though by name a soldier, had neither courage nor military skill. In the hour of trial he deserted his men; and it has already been related that about half of his force joined the colonists of Guatemala.
At the foot of a precipitous mountain range near Gracias á Dios is the circus of Copan, where lie the ruins of an ancient town which are yet an object of interest to travellers. Fuentes, writing about the close of the seventeenth century, describes it as a space surrounded by pyramids of stone, eighteen feet in height, at the base of which were sculptured figures attired in Castilian costume. The place was garrisoned by thirty thousand troops well supplied with provisions, and was guarded, at the only point where approach was possible, by a deep fosse and a barricade of earth, pierced with loop-holes. To this stronghold Hernando de Chaves, who had been ordered to quell an uprising in the adjoining province of Chiquimula, now resolved to lay siege. Drawing up his forces in front of it he approached within bow-shot of the town at the head of a small band of horse and demanded its surrender. He was answered with flights of arrows directed with such good aim that he was glad to make his escape.
On the following morning an assault was made upon the intrenchment, but without success; and though the attack was renewed again and again during the day, and the arquebuses and cross-bows of the Spaniards spread havoc among the defenders, at nightfall no impression had been made, and Chaves was compelled to draw off his forces sorely discomfited. He had exceeded his orders and was acting on his own responsibility in attempting the subjugation of Copan. He was compelled to admit his rashness; but the question was now which way should he turn in his present dilemma? To capture the stronghold with his slender force was all but impossible, while failure and retreat would bring disgrace upon the Spanish arms and dishonor on himself. When brooding over the difficulties of his position the welcome news was brought that a spot had been discovered where the depth and width of the fosse were comparatively small, and on the following day he again led his men to the attack. The struggle was long and doubtful. The Spaniards obstinately refused to withdraw, though time after time, as they attempted to scale the rampart, they were repelled by lance-thrusts, or crushed under falling rocks.