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TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
CHAPTER XI. 'I'he Government lost no time in taking measures to attack the rebel. General }Ianuel Rincon with a division of three thousand men marched on Perote and encamped his troops at the l'\folino hacienda, a distance of two cannon shots from the fortress; but instead of storming the fort, he adopted the opposite policy of besieging the enemy in the hope, it is said, that after due deliberation, Santa Anna would abandon his under- taking and return to assume his duties. It is possible ·that in all of this he may have acted under the secret instructions of Victoria, or under the inspiration of a soul which hated to shed the blood of his fellow- citizens unnecessarily. Regardless of what may have caused his slQw- ness of movements and the bad order of his troops, those movements laid him open to the suspicion that he was either a coward or deceitful, and gave the enemy some advantage. Santa Anna, availing himself of his antagonist's mistake by taking the tortuous road that he had followed in order to avoid the fire from the fort, attacked part of the forces commanded by Colonel Unda, who, with five hundred men, oc- cupied the Acuatepec hacienda twelve miles from Rincon's headquar- ters. The attack, which was made at night, proved successful. The troops of the cowardly Unda on being surprised and defeated were dis- armed and scattered. The happy outcome of this nocturnal sortie encouraged Santa Anna to a remarkable degree. He was, however, compelled to operate on the defensive, and to confine his activities to light skirmishes of no im- portance. His main object was to maintain himself in his p(!sition until the revolution should spreatl throughout the nation; but the de- cree which the General Congress had issued against him declaring him, as well as all who should take part in his movements, outlaws, together with the failure which followed the attempts made by :Messrs. Vera- mendi, Zavala and others of less note to support him, had the effect of cooling the ardor of his followers for the time being and of prevent- ing the revolution from extending beyond the walls of the fortress. Seeing that his undertaking made no progress, realizing the danger of his situation, and fearing that the lack of resources would compel him to surrender, he accepted the suggestion of his officers and soldiers to leave the fort and try their fortunes in another place. He escaped in the night and took the road to Oajaca for the purpose of taking refuge in Guatemala in case his adventure should prove disastrous. His de- parture was accomplished without being observed by Rincon, who was so inert that he did not pursue him until the fourth day when Santa Anna had already reached San Andres Chalchicomula where he re- mained for two days exacting arbitrary contributions from the inhab- itants. He then continued on his way to 'l'ehuacan. At this place he gave himself over to all forms of dissipation, but principally to spending his time with a young woman who distin- guished herself by the facility with which she lavished favors, dis- pensing them equally to great and small from General to his Lieu- tenant. Regardless of the danger of his situation, he continued his riotous living until Rinc{m and Calderon arrived within eight miles of Tehuacan. Awakening then from his sleep and seeing himself in danger, he placed himself at the head of one hundred and fifty caYalry- men and departed in great haste for Oajaca, leaving the infantry in
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