Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/271

Rh as the ground allowed his doing so, joined his forces with those of Flon. He then caused his ten pieces of artillery to be collected on one point, and directed against the main battery of the insurgents. While these were playing vigorously upon the enemy at half musket shot, a general charge along the royalist line was ordered.

And now occurred an accident which overruled the power of battle, and held back the cause of independence, it may be, for eleven tedious and bloody years. A bomb from the well directed artillery of the royalists struck an ammunition wagon of the enemy, and a terrific explosion occurred, scattering the dead and dying in all directions. But this was not all. The ground at that season of the year was covered with a thick matting of dry grass, and this taking fire a fearful conflagration ensued. The wind blew full in the face of the revolutionists, and the fire spreading with awful rapidity, they were soon enveloped in dense clouds of smoke and roaring flames. Before the fiery blast they could not stand. Some fell asphyxiated; others were horribly burned. Flight was inevitable. The disorder caused by this catastrophe and the firm advance of the royalists, who were now encouraged by the presence and intrepid bearing of Calleja, struck panic