The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2)

CHAPTER CXXVI

How the Mexicans made war upon us, and the battles we fought with them.

Cortes, on his march to Mexico, had often bragged to his officers of the great authority and power he then possessed. They should see how the inhabitants would come out from all parts to meet him, and receive him with every splendour; that he was now complete master of Mexico, and Motecusuma and his grandees would not dare to dispute his commands henceforth, but would bring him gold in abundance.

But when Cortes found how the aspect of affairs had changed at Tezcuco, that no one stirred a foot to give the splendid reception he had boasted of, that none of the principal personages showed themselves, that even the worst of provisions were brought him with great reluctance, and found this ill feeling towards us show itself even more strongly in Mexico, and that although he had returned with additional troops, the inhabitants no longer furnished him with provisions, his pride turned into moroseness and anger, so much so that when Motecusuma sent two of his grandees to announce that he was desirous of paying Cortes a visit, as he had something to communicate to him, he said, "He might go to the devil! since he would not allow any weekly markets to be held, nor any provisions to be sent us."

When our other chief officers, Leon, Oli, Avila, and Lugo heard this, they said to him, "Moderate your anger, general, and remember what great honours this monarch has heaped upon us, the kindnesses we have received from him, and how amiable his disposition is: for, had he not existed, the Mexicans would long ago have feasted on our bodies; nor ought you to forget that he has sought your alliance by offering you his daughter in marriage."

These words carried with them the idea of a reproach, and, consequently, only served the more to embitter his feelings, and he burst out as follows: "Why should I stand upon any further ceremony with this dog? Did he not secretly connive with Narvaez, and now refuses us provisions?"

"Our opinion is," returned the other officers, "that he does nothing more than his present situation would prompt him to do, and that he acts most prudently."

Cortes, however, relied upon the strength of his troops, and would not allow his anger to be pacified in any way, but commissioned the two Mexican grandees to tell their master that he must issue immediate orders for the re-opening of the markets, otherwise he should find himself obliged to take other steps. Both these Mexicans had understood the reviling language used by Cortes against their monarch, and also how our other officers had remonstrated with him on that account. They knew these officers well; for they had by turns been captains of the guard which was placed over their monarch's person, and knew they were greatly attached to him. They therefore repaired, either in the bitterness of their hearts, or because the attack upon us had already been determined upon, and related to Motecusuma what they had heard; and scarcely a quarter of an hour had elapsed before one of our men came running up heavily wounded. He had been at Tlacupa, a town near Mexico, to fetch thence some women belonging to Cortes' household, and the daughter of Motecusuma, whom Cortes had given in charge of the king of Tlacupa, her relative, when we marched against Narvaez. This man also related that he had found the town of Tlacupa and the high road filled with warriors. They took the women away and wounded him in two different places. If he had not escaped out of their hands, they would have thrown him into a canoe, and have sacrificed him to their gods. They had also destroyed one of the bridges over the causeway.

When Cortes and some of us soldiers heard this, we began to look very serious, for those among us who had been several times engaged with the Indians knew, from experience, with what vast crowds they always entered the field of battle, and, although our numbers had been greatly augmented, and that there was little doubt but we should defend ourselves courageously, yet we were well aware of our dangerous position. We soldiers also knew that we should run great risk of losing our lives either from hunger or from the advantages which the enemy would have over us in such a strongly fortified city. Cortes, after questioning the man who had come from Tlacupa, despatched Ordas with 400 men, mostly armed with crossbows and muskets, and a few horse, to see what truth there was in his statement. He recommended him, however, to avoid, if possible, all hostilities, and to settle the affair amicably. Ordas had scarcely reached half-way down the causeway when he was met by a vast body of Mexicans, who, with those posted on the tops of the houses, attacked him so furiously that eight of his men were killed at the first onset, and most of them wounded, Ordas himself in three several places. He found it impossible to move on any further, and he therefore gradually retreated to our quarters. On his retreat he lost another excellent soldier named Lezcano, who had done wonders with his broadsword.

If the body of warriors was vast which had fallen upon Ordas, that which at the same instant attacked our quarters was by far more so; and so vigorously did they assail us with lances, arrows, and stones, that, in an instant, forty of our men were wounded, twelve of whom subsequently died. The numbers who attacked us in front, from behind, and from the tops of the houses, were so vast that Ordas was unable, for a length of time, to cut his way through. Our cannon, muskets, crossbows, and lances, did, certainly, great havoc among the enemy's ranks, who, in fact, rushed in upon our weapons; yet they continued the combat with the same fury, and closed their ranks more firmly, nor could we drive them back a single inch. It was only after a good deal of hard fighting that Diego and his men were able to regain our quarters, though with twenty-three soldiers less than when he had left it, and the rest all wounded: add to which, the enemy's numbers were every moment increasing; nor did they spare abusive language, calling us old women, ragged scoundrels, and such like beautiful names. But the loss we sustained at present was nothing to what we subsequently suffered. They even carried their audacity so far as to throw fire into our quarters, while one body attacked us in front and another from behind, so that we should soon have been suffocated by the flames and smoke if we had not succeeded in putting out the fire by throwing quantities of earth on it, and by pulling down the apartments from which the fire was spreading.

The combat continued the whole day until late at night, during which time they continued to throw such quantities of stones and lances into our quarters, that the place was literally covered with them. In the meantime we had to dress our wounds, to repair the damage done to our buildings, and get some rest till the next morning. As soon as day began to dawn, Cortes determined to sally out with the whole of his troops, including those of Narvaez and the cannon, either to beat the enemy out of the field altogether, or at least to give them a greater proof of our power than we had been able to do on the previous day. The Mexicans, it seemed, had also determined to do their utmost, and they not only fought with uncommon bravery but came in overwhelming numbers, so that every instant they poured in fresh men to the attack. Indeed ten thousand Trojan Hectors, and as many Rolands, would in vain have tried to break through the enemy's ranks! At this moment even, that battle is fresh in my memory; but no words can describe the unyielding stubbornness of the foe. All the volleys from our heavy guns and muskets were to no purpose; it was in vain we rushed forward upon them, and killed from thirty to forty of their numbers at a time; their ranks still remained firmly closed, while their courage seemed to increase with every loss. Whenever we did drive them back into the streets to some distance, they had merely retreated in order that we should follow them, and by so doing be drawn further away from our quarters, when they hoped more easily to surround us, and so render our escape impossible. And sure enough by these retrograde movements they invariably made the greatest destruction among our ranks. Neither did it avail us anything whenever we set fire to any of the houses; for, as I have above mentioned, it was only possible to pass from one house to another by means of wooden drawbridges. If the latter were drawn up we had to wade through deep water to gain another house. But our men suffered most from those of the enemy's troops who pelted them with stones and lances from the housetops. Indeed I cannot imagine how I thus coolly relate all that passed. Three or four of our men who had previously served in the Italian wars, swore over and over again that they had never witnessed such furious fighting, neither in the wars with the king of France, nor even in those with the grand Turk himself. Indeed it was no easy matter for us to retreat to our head-quarters, so desperately did they assail us under the most horrible sound of drums, pipes and trumpets, accompanied by the most obscene and abusive language. This day we lost ten or twelve men, and none of us escaped without a wound. We passed the night in deliberations and in preparing for another attack. We now resolved that after the lapse of two days as many of us as were healthy should sally out with two moving towers. These we had strongly put together of wood, and were so constructed, that under each of them twenty-five of our men could stand to move them along. These towers contained loopholes, from which our heavy guns could be fired; besides that there was space enough for a number of musketeers and crossbow-men. At the side of these towers marched a strong body of musketeers and crossbow-men, as also the whole of our horse, who were from time to time to charge the enemy at full gallop. The construction of these towers and the repairing of several small breaches which the enemy had made in our quarters, occupied us the whole of the following day, so that we could not sally out till the next.

The enemy, however, continued their attacks upon our quarters, not merely from ten or twelve, but from twenty different points at once; so that what with the constructing of the towers, repairing the breaches, and beating off our assailants who had fixed ladders to our quarters, we had enough to do. The whole of us, they cried out, were to be sacrificed to their gods, our hearts were to be torn from our bodies, the blood was to be drawn from our veins, and our arms and legs were to be eaten up at their festivals. The remaining parts of our bodies would be thrown to the tigers, lions and serpents, which they kept in cages; these had not been fed for these two days, in order that they might devour our flesh the more greedily. Our gold and other things would be their booty, and they told the Tlascallans they should be locked up in cages where they fattened people for their sacrifices. Only deliver us up our monarch Motecusuma, – added they with great vehemence; while their noise and their attacks continued through the whole night.

As soon as day had fully broken forth, we commended ourselves to the Almighty, and sallied out with our war-towers. This time again we killed a great number of the enemy; but with all our fighting we could not force them to yield ground, and if they had fought courageously the two previous days, they stood the more firm this time, and fought desperately. We however determined, if it were even to cost us all our lives, to push forward to the great temple of Huitzilopochtli. I will not detail the severe struggle we had against one house in particular, which was very strongly fortified, nor the critical position our horse were placed in. For whenever our cavalry galloped in upon the enemy's ranks, our horses were assailed by so many arrows, stones and lances, that they were immediately covered with wounds; while their riders, however courageously they fought, could make but little impression upon the foe. If they pushed further on, the Mexicans either jumped into the canals or into the lake, where the cavalry could not follow them, and where a whole forest of lances stared them in the face: equally fruitless were all our attempts to set fire to their houses, or pull them down, as they stood, in the midst of the water, and were connected to each other by drawbridges only. If at times we did succeed in firing a house, it took a whole day in burning down, nor did the fire spread, from the buildings being at too great distance from each other, and their being surrounded by water, so that all our efforts that way completely failed. At last we succeeded in fighting our way up to the foot of the great temple, but at that instant a body of above four thousand of the enemy rushed up the steps for its defence; besides that, other troops were already stationed on the top of this building, armed with long lances, stones and arrows. For a length of time the guns of our towers and the attacks of our cavalry could make no impression on the enemy, while our horses were scarcely able to step firmly on the smooth pavement of the court yards, but every moment slipped out and fell down. Though our cannon mowed down ten or fifteen of the enemy at a time, and a great many others were cut down by our sabres, yet their numbers were so vast that we could not beat them back, we therefore now determined to quit our towers, which were almost broken into pieces; and leaving them at the foot of the temple, we began fighting our way up the steps of the building.

Here Cortes displayed astonishing courage, though this, I may say, was never wanting in him. What a bloody and terrific conflict was this! The reader should have seen how we were covered with blood and wounds! Above forty of our men lay dead at our feet; but at last, with the aid of Providence, we succeeded in reaching the point where we had erected the image of the holy Virgin. It was, however, no longer there; for Motecusuma, as we subsequently learnt, had either, out of veneration or fear, taken it away, and put it carefully by. We now set fire to the Mexican idols, and part of the chapel was on this occasion burnt down, with Huitzilopochtli and Tetzcatlipuca. While we were occupied with this work, the battle on the platform continued without intermission; for here stood a number of priests, and more than three or four thousand of the principal Mexicans, who fell upon us with great fury, and even beat us back again down the steps of the temple. Nor was it these alone who here set upon us; but numbers of warriors also annoyed us from the landings and battlements of this building, so that we scarcely knew which way to turn our arms.

We had now made every possible exertion, and undergone the greatest perils. Our towers were smashed to pieces, the whole of us were covered with wounds, and forty-six of our men had been killed. We therefore determined to retreat to our quarters in the best way we could. But our position for the moment was not bettered by this step; for the Mexicans now fell upon us in terrific crowds both in our rear and in our flanks: it is impossible to imagine the sight unless one had seen it. Neither have I at all mentioned the numbers who attacked our quarters after we had sallied out, and the difficulty our men had who were left behind to prevent the enemy from setting fire to them. In this battle we took two chief papas prisoners, whom Cortes ordered to be kept in close custody.

I have seen many pictures among the Mexicans and Tlascallans which represented our storming this great temple. In their eye it was considered a piece of astonishing heroism. In these pictures they had not omitted to depict our killed, and how great numbers of us were wounded, with the blood streaming from our bodies. And indeed it was no trifling matter, after our towers had been destroyed, to storm this great building, and set fire to the idols, considering that it was defended so vigorously by large bodies of the enemy, both from the platform and from the landings, and by those who were stationed in the open space below.

The retreat to our quarters was no less perilous; and if the multitude through which we had to cut our way was vast, that in front of our quarters was no less so. We just arrived in time, for the enemy had already made breaches in the walls, and a good many had forced their way through them into the rooms. Our arrival certainly put a stop to their dangerous progress, but they did not discontinue, during the rest of the day and all night, to annoy us with their lances, stones, and arrows, under the most terrible yells. Notwithstanding all this, we had during the night to assist our wounded, to bury our dead, repair the breaches, and take repose for the next day's battle. We also held a council of war, to deliberate what mode of attack we should next adopt, that we might not sustain so great a loss of men; but every plan that was proposed seemed insufficient. To all our calamities was added the bad disposition of Narvaez's soldiers, who cursed Cortes, and even the governor of Cuba in every possible manner, who they said had torn them away from the delightful repose and security which they enjoyed on their respective farms, to be harassed to death in this country. These fellows seemed altogether to have lost their senses, and they lent a deaf ear to everything that was said to them.

After lengthened deliberations, we came to the determination of suing the Mexicans for peace, and asking their permission to quit the city. But daylight had scarcely broken forth when our quarters were again attacked at all points by innumerable bodies of the enemy. Their excessive fury in attack, their stubborn firmness, their desperate thrusts and yells, were all more terrific than on the previous days; while our cannon and other firearms seemed to make no impression on them.

In this moment of danger Cortes determined that Motecusuma should address the infuriated multitude from the top of the building, and desire them to stay hostilities, as we had determined to leave the city. When this offer was made known to Motecusuma in the name of Cortes, he is said to have exclaimed, in the height of grief, "Why does Malinche now turn to me? – to me, who am tired of life, and who could wish never again to hear his name mentioned, for it is he who has plunged me into all this misery!" Motecusuma obstinately refused to comply with Cortes' request, and is said to have further exclaimed, "I will neither see nor hear anything more of this man. I put no longer any faith in his deceitful words, his promises, and his specious lies."

Upon this father Olmedo and Oli went and spoke to him in the most affectionate terms, to persuade him to alter his determination. "Alas!" replied the monarch, "for all this, it is now too late. I am convinced that the Mexicans, whatever my wishes might be, will not grant any cessation of arms. They have already raised another cazique to the throne, and are fully determined that none of you shall leave this place alive. For myself, I am convinced you will every one of you meet with your death in this city."

In the end, however, Motecusuma was prevailed upon to accompany them. Under cover of a strong division of our troops he advanced to the battlements of our quarters, and began to address the Mexicans in the most affectionate manner, desiring them to put a stop to their hostilities, for the teules were going to leave the city. The instant the Mexican generals recognized their king they ordered their men to cease firing. Four of them advanced to a spot where they could easily discourse with the monarch; and thus, with tears in their eyes, they addressed him: "Alas! great king, your own misfortune, and that of your children and your relatives, afflicts us sorely. But we dare not hide from you that we have raised one of your cousins to the throne of this country."

Here they named the new monarch. It was the king of Iztapalapan, Cuitlahuatzin, and not Quauhtemoctzin, for he did not ascend the throne until two months after. "They were forced," continued they, "to prosecute the war, for they had promised their gods to do so, and had sworn to them not to desist until every one of the teules was killed. They had daily in vain prayed to their gods Huitzilopochtli and Tetzcatlipuca to deliver him out of the enemy's power, and they would hold him in greater veneration than before; and they hoped he would pardon their present conduct."

Several of our men had covered Motecusuma with their shields while he was addressing the enemy; but as the attack was now momentarily suspended, they were not so very particular in shielding his person. Unfortunately, the hostilities immediately again commenced, and before it could be prevented he was struck by an arrow, and three stones from a sling, by which he was wounded in the arm, leg, and in his head; so that the unhappy monarch was forced to be carried back to his apartment. We were immediately going to bandage up his wounds, and begged of him to take something strengthening; but he refused everything, and, contrary to all expectation, we soon heard that he had expired. Cortes, his officers, and all of us, shed tears for this unfortunate monarch; indeed many of our men, who had been in constant attendance on him, mourned for him as if they had lost a parent. Even father Olmedo himself, who never for a moment left his side, and who, notwithstanding all his efforts, had not been able to convert him to Christianity, could not refrain from shedding tears. And no one will feel surprised at this who knew what a very kind-hearted person Motecusuma was.

He was said to have reigned seventeen years up to the day of his death. Mexico never had a better monarch; and, with regard to his personal courage, he had fought three several duels respecting some disputed territory, and had each time come off victorious.