The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2): Written by Himself Containing a True and Full Account of the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico and New Spain.Díaz del Castillo, Bernal
History
The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2): Written by Himself Containing a True and Full Account of the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico and New Spain.
Díaz del Castillo, Bernal
Mexico -- History -- Conquest, 1519-1540
I must again repeat, that the worst was, we had to keep ourselves so
close together in order not to run the danger of being cut off, which of
course greatly encumbered our movements. Nevertheless, we were obliged
to open our ranks to rescue the mare and Moron whom they were already
dragging off half dead. The mare we were obliged to relinquish, though
we managed to cut the girth asunder in order at least to save the
saddle. In this battle we had nine wounded. As for the enemy I believe
on this occasion we killed four of their chiefs. We pushed forward
shoulder to shoulder, and made considerable havoc with our swords. The
enemy retreated, carrying off the dead mare, which was subsequently cut
into pieces to be sent into every township of Tlascalla. As we
afterwards learnt, the horse's shoes, the Flanders hat, and the letter
we sent them, were brought as an offering to their idols. The mare
belonged to Juan Sedeño, who, on the previous day, was wounded in three
several places, and had, therefore, lent her to Moron. This Moron was a
capital horse soldier, and died a few days after; at least, I do not
remember to have seen him again after this battle.
We had fought for a good hour, and our firearms must have done
considerable destruction among the enemy who stood so crowded together.
Every man among us did his duty, and we fought away like brave warriors,
for in all truth we were placed in greater jeopardy this time than we
had ever been before. Numbers of the Indians lay dead on the field of
battle; among whom were eight of the principal chiefs, all sons of old
caziques, who dwelt together in the chief town of the country. At last
our enemies retreated in good order, which we were glad enough to see,
for we could scarcely stand any longer from over-fatigue, nor durst we
think of following the enemy. Add to which, the ground was greatly to
our disadvantage, partly on account of the number of straggling houses,
partly on account of a species of pits in which many of the inhabitants
dwelt. This battle was fought on the first two days of September, 1519,
near the village of Tehuacacinco, and we returned fervent thanks to God
for having rescued us from such great peril and for the victory we had
gained.
After the battle, we fell back to some temples, which were very high,
and large enough to serve us for castles. We dressed the wounds of our
men with the fat of Indians, as we had done on previous occasions. Five
of our horses were wounded, and fifteen men, of whom one subsequently
died. Upon this we took our suppers, and made a good meal off the number
of dogs and fowls which we found in the dwellings. Before, however, we
lay down to rest, we posted our sentinels, and continually patrolled
during the night: not before all these things were properly ordered did
we lie down, and slept till morning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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