Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/161

Rh and hardy class, and the populace joined Hidalgo, and soon all the heights which commanded the alhóndiga were occupied. Soldiers of the Celaya regiment, armed with muskets, and a host of Indian slingers were posted on the cerro del Cuarto; a similar disposition was made on the cerro del Venado. The houses in front of the alhóndiga on the north side were filled with sharp-shooters, and swarms of Indians in the river bed broke stones for the slingers, others carrying them up the heights. Hidalgo, pistol in hand, at the head of about two thousand mounted men, among whom were the dragoons of the regiment de la Reina, hastened from point to point, encouraging his men, giving instructions, and making his dispositions for the assault.

At length the performance begins. Hidalgo's soldiers open fire on the besieged, while from the heights and house roofs a furious discharge of stones is rained down on the alhóndiga. Dense masses of Indians assault the barricades, and though the slaughter from the enemy's volleys, fired at close range into the compact mass, is terrific, it fails to repel the assailants. As the front ranks fall, others supply their places, pressed onward by those behind; and thus over the bodies of the dead and dying the contest rages uninterruptedly. For the besieged the position is terrible. The reports of the muskets, the hiss of bullets, the hoarse hum of the jagged stones as they whirl through the air and fall on the roof as from an emptying volcano is worse than the infernal din of Satan's enginery.

For half an hour the battle rages. The assailants show no intention of ceasing their efforts to storm the barricades. The carnage among the assailants is