Page:Vol 1 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/622

502 and seizing the sacred banner, presents it to the general as his rightful trophy. The accounts of this incident vary greatly. According to Bernal Diaz 'Cortes dió vn encuêtro co el cauallo al Capitẽ Mexicano, le hizo abatir su vàdera. . . .quiē siguiò al Capitan traia la vandera que aun no auia caido del encuentro que Cortes le diò, fue vn Juan de Salamanca, natural de Ontiueros, con vna buena yegua ouera, que le acabò de matar.' ''Hist. Verdad''., 108. The banner could not have fallen without the general. Gomara intimates that Cortés charged alone against the 'capitan general, y dio le dos lançadas, de que cayo y murio.' ''Hist. Mex''., 163. This is also substantially the view of Duran and Camargo. Herrera leaves the impression that Salamanca alone follows Cortés in the charge, and cuts off the head and banner of the commander after his chief had wounded and overthrown him. dec. ii. lib. x. cap. xiii. Torquemada, Clavigero, Prescott, and others, also assume that Cortés lances the generalissimo, but they let the cavalry follow. Sahagun, who obtained his information from participants that afterward became friars, merely states that Cortés and one other led the charge, which resulted in the overthrow of the general and his banner. ''Hist. Conq.'' (ed. 1840), 132. Cortés is still more reticent in saying: 'quiso Dios que murió una persona dellos, que debia ser tan principal, que con su muerte cesó toda aquella guerra.' Cartas, 139. The assumption that Cortés overthrew the commander with his lance rests chiefly on the fact that Cortés as leader of the charge receives credit for everything that happens. Writers also forget that the commander was carried aloft in a litter the better to observe the movements of the army. His burdened carriers would with greater likelihood have been overthrown by the horses or in the disorder created by their advance. This supposition is confirmed by Cortés' reference to the affair, wherein he gives credit to none for the act, his usual custom when some one else performed a noteworthy deed. He was seldom chary in giving credit to himself for achievements, as may be gathered alone from his account of the stay in Mexico City, which announces that he it was who tore down the idols, who captured the temple after another had failed to do so, who single-handed covered the retreat of his comrades on the Tlacopan causeway on the morning preceding the flight, and who with less than a score that 'dared stay with him' protected the retreat of the last remnant from the city. The supposition receives further support from the permission given by the emperor to Salamanca to add to his escutcheon the trophy taken from the commander. This implies that although the victory was due to Cortés he could not have inflicted the mortal wound. Salamanca became alcalde mayor of Goazacoalco. ''Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad''., 108, 111.

The welcome cry of Cortés electrified the whole Spanish line, while the warriors lately so triumphant stood stupefied with dismay. With the disappearance of the palladium their courage had fallen, while the Spanish soldiers, with the confidence and strength of joy, rushed from wing to wing upon them. The warriors wavered; then, with one more searching glance in the direction of the guiding emblem, they became convinced that their leader had indeed fallen. Consternation followed; the panic from the centre overtook the more distant, and valiantly