Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/194

168 and well equipped: but a greater acquisition still was Don José Maria Mŏrēlŏs, Cura of Nŭcŭpētărŏ, an old college friend of Hidalgo, and one, of whose talents he was so well aware, that he immediately gave him a commission to command in chief on the whole South-Western line of coast. The confidence which Morelos showed in his own resources by accepting this commission, and setting out, accompanied only by five servants armed with old muskets, with a promise to take Acapulco within the year, is the more worthy of notice, as the event proved it to be well-founded. But as we shall have occasion hereafter to trace the progress of this extraordinary man, who proved one of the most distinguished characters of the Mexican Revolution, I must confine myself at present to Hidalgo.

On the 19th of October the army left Văllădŏlīd, and on the 28th, reached Tŏlūcă, a town within twelve leagues of the Capital.

Vĕnēgăs had found means to collect about 7000 men in, or near Mexico, whom he stationed, in the most advantageous manner, for the defence of the town, with the exception of a small corps of observation which he sent out, on the Tŏlūcă road, under the command of Colonel Trŭxīllŏ, assisted by Don Augustin Ĭtŭrbīdĕ, then a Lieutenant in the Spanish service. This corps was defeated by Hĭdālgŏ and Ăllēndĕ, on the 30th of October, at Lăs Crŭcēs, a pass in the chain of mountains which separates the valley of Mexico from that of Tŏlūcă, where