Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Makers of History Hernando Cortez BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT WITH ENGRAVINGS NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1901 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, by HARPER & BROTHERS in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. Copyright, 1884, by SUSAN ABBOT MEAD. PREFACE. The career of Hernando Cortez is one of the most wild and adventurous recorded in the annals of fact or fiction, and yet all the prominent events in his wondrous history are well authenticated. All _truth_ carries with itself an important moral. The writer, in this narrative, has simply attempted to give a vivid idea of the adventures of Cortez and his companions in the Conquest of Mexico. There are many inferences of vast moment to which the recital leads. These are so obvious that they need not be pointed out by the writer. A small portion of this volume has appeared in Harper's Magazine, in an article furnished by the writer upon the Conquest of Mexico. CONTENTS Chapter Page I. THE DISCOVERY OF MEXICO 13 II. EARLY LIFE OF CORTEZ 28 III. THE VOYAGE TO MEXICO 57 IV. FOUNDING A COLONY 84 V. THE TLASCALANS SUBJUGATED 117 VI. THE MARCH TO MEXICO 150 VII. THE METROPOLIS INVADED 184 VIII. BATTLE OF THE DISMAL NIGHT 214 IX. THE CAPITAL BESIEGED AND CAPTURED 246 X. THE CONQUEST CONSUMMATED 281 XI. THE EXPEDITION TO HONDURAS 305 XII. THE LAST DAYS OF CORTEZ 330 ENGRAVINGS. Page AMERICA DISCOVERED 16 CORTEZ TAKING LEAVE OF THE GOVERNOR 47 CUBA 52 THE FIRST MASS IN THE TEMPLES OF YUCATAN 61 FIRST CAVALRY CHARGE HEADED BY CORTEZ 73 INTERVIEW BETWEEN CORTEZ AND THE EMBASSADORS OF MONTEZUMA 94 ROUTE OF CORTEZ 105 DESTROYING THE IDOLS AT ZEMPOALLA 120 MASSACRE IN CHOLULA 161 FIRST VIEW OF THE MEXICAN CAPITAL 168 THE MEETING OF CORTEZ AND MONTEZUMA 177