History of the Conquest of PeruPrescott, William Hickling
History
History of the Conquest of Peru
Prescott, William Hickling
Incas; Peru -- History -- Conquest, 1522-1548
Desperate Plan Of Pizarro--Atahuallpa Visits The Spaniards--
Horrible Massacre--The Inca A Prisoner--Conduct Of The Conquerors--
Splendid Promises Of The Inca--Death Of Huascar
1532
The clouds of the evening had passed away, and the sun rose bright on
the following morning, the most memorable epoch in the annals of Peru.
It was Saturday, the sixteenth of November, 1532. The loud cry of the
trumpet called the Spaniards to arms with the first streak of dawn; and
Pizarro, briefly acquainting them with the plan of the assault, made the
necessary dispositions.
The plaza, as mentioned in the preceding chapter, was defended on its
three sides by low ranges of buildings, consisting of spacious halls with
wide doors or vomitories opening into the square. In these halls he
stationed his cavalry in two divisions, one under his brother Hernando,
the other under De Soto. The infantry he placed in another of the
buildings, reserving twenty chosen men to act with himself as occasion
might require. Pedro de Candia, with a few soldiers and the artillery,--
comprehending under this imposing name two small pieces of ordnance,
called falconers,---he established in the fortress. All received orders to
wait at their posts till the arrival of the Inca. After his entrance into the
great square, they were still to remain under cover, withdrawn from
observation, till the signal was given by the discharge of a gun, when
they were to cry their war-cries, to rush out in a body from their covert,
and, putting the Peruvians to the sword, bear off the person of the Inca.
The arrangement of the immense halls, opening on a level with the plaza,
seemed to be contrived on purpose for a coup de theatre. Pizarro
particularly inculcated order and implicit obedience, that in the hurry of
the moment there should be no confusion. Everything depended on their
acting with concert, coolness, and celerity.1
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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