279
PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BUONAPARTE LAM:AR
want to fight him, and in spite of everything that 1\Iejia, Anaya, Arago and others could say or do, added to the intense desire of the soldiers, he allowed his adversary to retire to a small village and remain there peacefully until Quintanar came from l\I'exico to reinforce him with 2000 men. Certainly nothing could be less military than this. If Santa Anna had possessed the genius and strategy which have been attributed to him, he would have prevented the union of those two forces, for he well knew the movements of both and could very easily have intercepted Quintanar. The secret of all this was that Farfulla did not have confidence in himself. He found himself at the head of a larger force than he had ever commanded before, and he knew his own inability to command it on the battlefield against courageous and veteran officers like Bustamante, Arista and Duran, whom he knew to be more expert and valiant men than he. Santa Anna remained in the town of Zumpango, operating on the defensive until he discovered that Bustamante had sent Duran with a strong detachment to intercept and capture a convoy of money and clothes that was being sent to Santa Anna from Puebla. The latter ordered General Anaya to proceed immediately with 1000 men against Duran. These two officers encountered each other at Otumba on the 30th of November, and after a short conflict Anaya was completely routed and his troops dispersed. This event obliged Santa Anna and Bustamante to break up their respective camps and proceed to Puebla where they arrived almost simultaneously. Due to some of Santa Anna's confused movements Bustamante would have entered the City had the inhabitants of Puebla not received him with a terrible fire which prevented his entering the streets, and forced him to retire to San Juan Hill where the two belligerent forces commenced a fierce and bloody battle that was not won by either one side or the other, though Bustamante's side should have triumphed that day, if we consider the false and anti-military movements of his adversary. The battle was interrupted by nightfall and a heavy rain. Bustamante took advantage of the darkness to retire to Huchuesetoca [ ?] and from there to Cuau- titlan where he fortified himself and ·sent his wounded men. A_ great many of Bustamante's soldiers were wounded and killed by the ex- plosion of their own bombs. Such was Bustamante's last battle. It is known as the "Battle of the Posada Ranch" and it took place on the 12th of December 1832. On discovering that the people were everywhere against him, and see- ing that his forces were daily diminishing while those of his adversary were increasing, Bustamante proposed an armistice which was promptly entered into, and commissioners were appointed by both sides to dis- cuss and arrange the terms. Santa Anna's commissioners were Gen- erals Juan Pablo Anaya and Jose Maria J arero, and Bustamante's were .Antonio Gaona and Mariano Arista. The terms agreed upon were satisfactory to all of the leaders, . and shortly afterwards ·Santa Anna and Pedraza met at the Zavaleta hacienda and arranged a plan of per- manent peace which embraced the following proposals. First, that the armies of the Republic should maintain in all its purity the Federal Republic according to the Constitution of 1824; and second, that Pedraza should be received as the Constitutional President in accord-
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