The world's leading conquerors

by Wilson Lloyd Bevan

The colony Cortez succeeded in establishing received the name of Vera Cruz, because they had reached the spot on Holy Saturday; the words Villa Rica were added to mark the fertility of the surrounding country. Visits were made to neighboring pueblos with profitable results. At Cempoala twenty of the leading men, accompanied by their chief, presented themselves; there were the usual valuable offerings, and Cortez took care to promise his aid in defending and helping his new acquaintances. The chief complained of the oppression of Montezuma, explaining that his people had only lately been conquered and had been deprived of much treasure. They were obliged to carry out his orders, he said, because the Aztec was the lord of great cities, lands, vassals, and armies of warriors. Before leaving the pueblo, Cortez spoke of his philanthropic mission as the representative of the Emperor Charles V, promising that after he had returned to his fleet he would see that their grievances were remedied.

The impression made by the benevolent stranger was so great that at Cempoala 400 natives were offered by the chief of the pueblo as pack-carriers—men of great endurance, the chronicler says, who could carry fifty pounds weight five leagues. This was a great relief to the Spaniards, who had hitherto been obliged to transport the valuables they collected from the villages through which they passed on their own shoulders in small sacks. Other pueblos were treated to the same successful diplomacy.

The more Cortez heard of the country, the more he was convinced that the real objective of the expedition must be Montezuma and his capital. The presents received by the adventurers and the tales they heard showed that their journey must, if their hopes were to be realized, have its termination in Mexico. When the second installment of presents came from the Aztec capital, the astute commander remarked to some of his men nearby, in admiration of the valuable articles so freely placed in his hands, that the Aztec overlord must be great and rich. “If God wills,” he said, “some day we shall have to go and see him.” This pious aspiration fell on no unwilling ears, and the opportune moment came sooner than even the most sanguine adventurer could have hoped, for Cortez soon succeeded in forming an alliance with thirty pueblos, contiguous to his own settlement, all of them ready to follow him as their leader in an expedition which was to free them from the burdensome yoke of Aztec despotism. The fighting force now available must have been considerable, for we know that one pueblo, Quiahuistlan, half a league distant from Vera Cruz, offered to supply 5000 men.

In the meantime, a ship had arrived from Cuba with seventy Europeans and nine horses. The expedition had now been three months in Mexico, and the demand to push on to Montezuma’s city was general. Cortez sent home an account of his experiences, in which he drew up a formal accusation against the Cuban governor, Velasquez, fortifying his own claims by a rich present in excess of the value of the royal fifth, the statutory portion. “It is the first we have sent,” the commander said to his comrades in excusing and explaining a generosity that had to be collected from their hoards. This act of loyalty was an additional stimulus to the adventurers, who saw in their march to the interior an easy method of recuperating their losses. When the commissioners were about to leave for Spain, some of Cortez’ men proposed to accompany them. Cortez arrested them immediately. Two were put to death; one, a pilot, was deprived of his feet, and the common seamen received each two hundred lashes. Father Diaz would have been punished, too, had not Cortez respected his habit. One of the victims who was executed was Pedro Excudero, who had made charges against Cortez in Cuba before the expedition sailed.

To prevent the recurrence of such attempts at desertion and also to add to his men the crews of the vessels, Cortez resolved to destroy the fleet in the harbor, with the exception of one small boat which was to carry the commissioners back to Spain. The proposal was arranged not to come from the commander himself, because, if he had taken the initiative, he might have been obliged to pay off the seamen out of his own pocket. So, as Herrera, one of the adventurers, says, “if anyone asked him to pay the money, he could retort that the advice was ours, and that we were all involved in settling up the accounts.”

Cortez knew that he would meet with no mercy at Velasquez’ hands; his only chance, therefore, was to remain in Mexico, and that the destruction of the fleet rendered certain. The daring plan was carried out secretly at night by the master of one of the ships, an intimate friend of the commander. The crews had been removed beforehand, and the explanation made by Cortez’ envoy in Spain, Montejo, was that the ships were old and on the point of foundering before they were scuttled. This plausible statement was not more convincing than the rest of the envoy’s argument, and the Royal Senate of the Indies condemned Cortez’ conduct as “contrary to righteousness and justice.” He had acted also contrary to the commands of the governor of Cuba, who, in the meantime, as the case was being discussed by the home authorities, asked that capital sentence be passed. Cortez’ view finally prevailed because of the fortunate outcome of his march, and in 1522 Velasquez was directed not to send to New Spain any people or armed forces.

After scuttling the ships Cortez returned to Cempoala to arrange for the expedition. The chieftains of the pueblo advised that the route by the way of Tlaxcala should be taken because the people of that place were their friends and mortal enemies of the Aztecs. A start was made on the 16th of August with 400 Spaniards, 15 horses, and 5 pieces of artillery. In all the chronicles of the expedition there is a discreet reserve as to the number of Indian allies. It seems to have been a fixed policy to obscure this point. But the native contingent must have been very large, for at each pueblo where the expedition sojourned one hears of the acquisition of native warriors; at Ixtacamaxtitlan, a small place, the chief gave 300 soldiers.

On reaching Tecoac in Tlaxcala the invaders found that the attitude of the people was distinctly hostile; in a preliminary skirmish thirty warriors preferred to die rather than yield. The inhabitants of the pueblo were then cut to pieces, as they refused to retire or surrender. This was on the last day of August; the next day there was a hot battle, in which the Spaniards seem to have been saved by their native allies from destruction. Diaz del Castillo says that Cortez thanked them profusely, and adds that the Spaniards were panic-stricken by the wild shouts of their opponents. There was soon after another battle, where the escape of the Spaniards was due to the existence of dissensions in the Indian camp; the people of the pueblo refused to stand by one another. Much damage was done in the second ranks of their warriors by the fire of the artillery, but fifty of the Spaniards were wounded, and one was killed, together with all the horses. Cortez estimated his enemies at 149,000, plainly an impossible figure.

Marauding expeditions were made against the defenseless pueblos, whose fighting men were with the Tlaxcalan army. Women and children were put to the edge of the sword without mercy, and the dwellings were burnt to the ground. Fifty emissaries appeared on the 7th of September to ask for peace, bringing with them presents of food and plumage ornaments. Some were suspected of treachery, and all fifty, by Cortez’ orders, had their hands cut off. The same day the Spanish camp was attacked by 10,000 men, warriors of the greatest valor, but even this danger was repelled because the plan was known beforehand. The situation of the Spaniards was almost desperate, for they had lost a hundred and fifty of their number, and the survivors were worn out by anxiety and by the constant physical fatigue. There was depression in the camp, some proposing return to Vera Cruz, where the natives were friendly and where help could be had from Cuba. But the commander’s spirit did not falter. He sent three of his leading captives to Tlaxcala to ask for a peaceful passage through their country to Mexico. After deliberation the proposal was granted, although there was opposition, especially on the part of the young chief Xicotencatl, who declared that in another night attack he could take the camp and slay all the Spaniards. The peace party carried the day, and Cortez entered the pueblo on the 23d of September, receiving a royal welcome from the inhabitants, who gave him valuable assistance and an enduring loyalty.

After a month’s stay Cortez set out again with 5000 of these new allies, “men much experienced in warfare,” as he himself allows. In the neighborhood of Cholula he sent the inhabitants word, on receiving their envoys, that they must become vassals of the Spanish crown, saying if no reply were received within three days, he would attack and destroy them. This menace had its effect, and great hospitality was shown to the Spaniards and their allies. The streets and roofs were crowded with people as the army entered the town, and they were lodged in several large halls. The drain on the stores of the natives was so great that on the third day they brought only water, rushes, and wood. The scantiness of these offerings was to Cortez a demonstration that the townspeople were disaffected and were plotting against their guests. He issued an order therefore that all the chief men of the place should assemble in the court of the temple of Quetzalcohuatl. Suspecting no harm, they obeyed. To strike terror into the natives, Cortez planned to murder the principal men and the priests; but there were a great many other warriors of the pueblo in the inclosure so crowded together they could not move. At the entrance were stationed the Spaniards, who, at a given signal, rushed on the unarmed mass. Some were mowed down; some burnt themselves alive, while others cast themselves down from the temple pyramid, the raised platform on which the altar was placed. In two hours, according to Cortez, 3000 met their death. The massacre was continued in the streets for five hours; none were spared until the pueblo was deserted. The carnage continued the next day, gladly shared in by the Tlaxcalans, who had come in to take their part of the pillage. It was the commander’s intention to demolish the place altogether, and the cruel work took two days more.