Further essays at street combats showed this to be no idle threat; forty-six Spaniards were killed and persistent attempts were made to pull down the walls of their quarters, while missiles of all kinds were directed on the defenders day and night. In order to bring some relief to this perilous position, Cortez sent one of the prisoners to announce the death of Montezuma, and offered to give up the body, knowing that the burial ceremonies would keep his enemies occupied for several days. But the animosity of the people was not to be diverted from their prey. Cortez was afraid that the one causeway, that to Tlacopan, would be destroyed and the sole means of escape cut off. His men were discouraged; indeed, those who had belonged to Narvaez’ expedition were in a state of mutiny.
One of the Aztec priests and other leading men previously held as prisoners were sent to ask permission for the Spaniards to leave on condition that all the gold should be given up. Timbers were prepared to place across the ditches near the causeway, and a plan of escape was mapped out for the Europeans and their allies. The treasure was carefully guarded by the allies, but before the night appointed for the retreat all the Aztec prisoners were put to death. The soldiers also found a large quantity of gold which they divided among themselves. The exit from the city began just before midnight; there was a severe thunderstorm which kept the Europeans from being observed until they got past the first ditch; here they were seen by a native woman who was drawing water there. She gave the alarm, and before the second ditch was reached the Mexican warriors had gathered to annihilate their enemies. There was immediately a panic, and those who were carrying the gold were forced into the ditch. Diaz remarks laconically, “The gold killed them and they died rich.”
The only Europeans saved were those who carried small amounts of gold. On the mass of Indian allies drowning in the ditch the Spaniards threw their loads; using this living embankment a few of them made their way to safety. Everyone looked out for himself, and when Cortez was reproached for deserting his men, he replied that it was a miracle that anyone had crossed the causeway alive. It was some time before Alvarado, with the miserable surviving rear-guard of seven soldiers, all in a sad plight, reached the main body of the army at Tlacopan. (August, 1520.)
As long as they were in Aztec territory, there was little chance of escaping annihilation, for the disconsolate army after their night journey were set upon by the warriors of the neighboring pueblos. Their Tlaxcalan allies guided them along devious trails until they reached Totoltepec, where the fugitives found some temporary security in a temple, which they were glad to use as a fortress. Fortunately they were not actually pursued by the main body of the Aztec fighting men, who remained behind to collect the gold and jewels cast aside by the Spaniards, and to spoil the dead. Besides, a number of Spaniards had either by choice or by necessity remained in the city. According to one authority not all of Cortez’ soldiers were acquainted with the plan for the night journey; others preferred not to desert their treasures. It is computed that 270 Europeans kept up the fight in the city and then surrendered. During the rest of the retreat there were some sharp skirmishes, and because of their fatigue and discouragement the army’s power of resistance was soon exhausted. Thanks to their native allies, however, they were brought finally to a place of safety in the friendly pueblo of Tlaxcala. The losses had been terrible, nearly 1000 men had perished, besides 4000 of the Tlaxcalans and other natives. At Tlaxcala there was much mourning for the great calamity which had robbed the place of its best warriors, but there was no hesitation in offering Cortez their continued support in resuming the war against the Aztecs.
Cortez was careful to give instructions to his men to treat the inhabitants with consideration and not to rob them of their property. These orders did not cause so much dissatisfaction to the survivors as Cortez’ high-handed procedure in appropriating for himself whatever he could find of the gold that had been saved in the panic of the retreat. Many of the Spaniards spoke of returning to the coast to sail back to Cuba. Cortez’ iron will now stood him in good stead; he quieted his own men, and arranged to start immediately a campaign against Mexico by the help of the Tlaxcalans, promising as the price of their aid a part of all the conquests he made and various privileges and exemptions from tribute.
This offer proved an attractive one not only to the Tlaxcalans but to other natives who saw a further chance of securing their freedom from their Mexican overlords. Over 100,000 men were collected, either by promises or by methods of terrorism; any pueblo that resisted was sacked and the inhabitants massacred. Tepeacac, the center of resistance, was taken; its men were put to death, and the women and children set apart as slaves. As time went on, various individual adventurers appeared off the coast, and by degrees the losses in Europeans, in artillery, and in horses were made up. This good fortune caused so much satisfaction to the veterans of Cortez’ army and their commander that he resolved to undertake the seemingly hopeless task of besieging Mexico itself. Additional re-enforcements and the necessary war supplies were brought from Hispaniola, and in order to attack the Aztec capital in its most vulnerable point brigantines were prepared on the lake, since it was realized that it was impossible to force now an entrance over the causeways.
By the end of December all was ready. The Europeans numbered not quite 700 men, while the native contingent is placed by some at 150,000. From Tlaxcala, 10,000 were asked for, but many more volunteered. As the army proceeded, they found no great difficulty in occupying the places on their route. Some, like Texcoco, had been partially deserted by the inhabitants, who had the forethought to remove their goods. In disgust the Spaniards burnt the town and its palace where all the ancient records in picture scrolls of the Aztec kingdom were preserved. The ravages of the smallpox weakened the Aztec resistance, and among those who died was the implacable enemy of the Spaniards, Cuitlahuac, the brother of Montezuma, who had been chosen as his successor. His death at the end of November was a loss hard to repair. Even Diaz speaks of him as “a valiant man and very prudent.”
As their next chieftain they selected Cuauhtemoc, a cousin of Montezuma, a young man who, during the period of the Spanish occupation of Mexico, had distinguished himself by his active opposition to it. He had taken a leading rôle in the revolt that had brought about the evacuation of the capital, and he now set forward upon the work of defense with great intelligence. Orders were sent to the dependent pueblos to unite in repelling the European invasion, and the tribute was remitted. Care was taken to collect treasures and arms, and Mexico itself was placed in a state of defense by the construction of intrenchments and ditches. Cuauhtemoc’s plan of campaign consisted in concentrating all the available forces in the capital, yet offensive tactics were skilfully applied. His hand was seen when the Spaniards occupied Iztapalapa; here the inhabitants deserted the pueblo, and while their enemies were peacefully enjoying the spoil and resting in their quarters, the sluices were opened, and had not the natives of Texcoco warned Cortez in time all would have been drowned.
Desultory warfare continued for a time on the shores of the lake, Cortez’ policy being to exact vengeance for the hostility of the lake pueblos during the retreat. Many were razed to the ground and burnt. But strenuous operations did not begin until the brigantines were finished. For their construction Cortez was indebted to the skill and industry of the people of Tlaxcala, who at their own expense cut the wood, and transported it over mountainous defiles by bad roads to their own pueblo, where it was cut into shape for the vessels. Thence the pieces were carried eighteen leagues overland to Texcoco on the lake, where, fastened together, they were transformed into ships ready for navigation.
Futile attempts were made by the Aztecs to set fire to this navy, for they recognized the danger of an attack from the water, but there was no thought of surrender. Untiringly, night and day, they prepared for the siege, making new weapons to meet the attacks of cavalry, and constructing barricades in the streets. The Spaniards also had to do much preliminary work to enable the fleet to get into deep water; 8000 Indians were constantly employed in digging a channel from the shore sufficient to accommodate the draught of the brigantines.