The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, Volume VI

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TEXAS STATE LIBRARY

mained m the City (about two thousand ~en) did not exceed the number of Creoles who were ready to unite with the insurgents in case they made an attack. Under these circumstances the capture of the Capital would have been inevitable, if a skillful officer had attacked it vigorously. • A decisive blow at this particular crisis would have ended the contest and liberated the nation; but for some reason which has never been satisfactorily explained, Hidalgo, instead of attacking the city, began a sudden retirement toward Guanajuato. In his disorderly march he suddenly met Calleja who had just arrived from San Luis Potosi, greatly fatigued, with ten thousand men. The two armies met on the 7th of November at Aculeo, and after an obsti- nate battle of several hours, the disciplined troops routed the disor- ganized multitude, and the unfortunate Indians, surrounded and rushed upon in confusion, were assassinated in great numbers. Hidalgo with the rest of his army went to Guanajuato, and from there to Guada- lajara, leaving Allende with a small force in the former place. Calleja continued his march toward Guanajuato and met Allende near that city in a narrow passage at Marfil where they engaged in battle; but the latter, not being able to fight his adversary, retired towards Guad- alajara to join Hidalgo. In the meanwhile, Calleja entered Guana- juato, took possession of the place without opposition, gathered, ac- cording to certain reports, fourteen thousand men, women, and chil- dren in the public square and put them to death, taking this means of killing them, as the butcher of old Spain said, "in order to save his powder"-a horrible act for which the Government of Spain after- wards rewarded him by appointing him Viceroy in place of Venegas. on the 4th of March 1813. Notwithstanding the fact that Hidalgo's losses increased to nearly thirty thousand men, his army still approximated eighty thousand, and it had progressed some in organization and discipline. He reached Guadalajara on the 14th of November and was received with general enthusiasm. He determined to stand firni here and offer battle to the enemy. With this [purpose] in view he fortified the bridge at Cal- deron, about eleven miles from the city, where he decided that the action should take place. He had hope of making reparation for ~is former disasters. He made a speech to the army, telling the Indians the importance of not becoming disorganized as on former occasions. Satisfied with his preparations, he calmly awaited the anival of his adversary. :Meanwhile, Calleja, after remaining six weeks in Guana- juato and increasing his forces, began his march toward Guadalajara; and on the 16th of January, 1811, he reached the passage of the bridge at Calderon, where his opponent awaited him. On the following day a bloody battle took place which ended in the complete defeat and dis- persion of the independent forces. The Indians fled in all directions and were pursued and killed by the thousands. Among those killed in this battle was the Count of la Cadena, second in command in Calleja's army. In reward for this victory, this inhuman monster (Calleja) was made Count of Calderon by the Junta de Seville. Hidalgo succeeded in retiring with four thousand men to Saltillo where he put Rayon in command while he, Allende, Abasolo, and others, with a small escort, continued their march toward the Rio Grande with the object, so it is stated, of organizing an army in the Province

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