Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/315

Rh themselves by their bravery and abilities, and were selected by Morelos as his principal officers. There were three brothers of them, Juan José, Antonio, and Hermenegildo, and they proved devoted followers of Morelos, and greatly assisted him with men and arms.

From Aguacatillo, Morelos advanced against Acapulco, whither Captain Antonio Fuentes, comandante of Tecpan, had fled on the approach of the insurgents. Sending forward a detachment of 700 or 800 men under Córtes and Rafael Valdovinos to occupy the height of Veladero, which commands the port, they engaged on the 13th of November, 1810, with a force of 400, which Carreño, the governor of Acapulco, despatched against them under the command of Luis Calatayud. The affair took a some what ludicrous turn. Neither royalists nor revolutionists had ever been in action before, and after some desultory firing, both threw down their arms, turned simultaneously, and fled from the field. The dispersed royalists with others from Acapulco joined Morelos during the three following days to the number of 600.

Meanwhile, the rise of this new leader and the spread of the revolution southward caused the viceroy much uneasiness, the more so because all his best troops and officers were with Calleja and Cruz, and it was difficult for him to place in the field an adequate force. However, he ordered the Oajaca brigade to be got in readiness and the fifth coast division, under Captain Francisco Páris, to march against the insurgents. The first operations of Páris were successful. On the 1st of December he dispersed at the arroyo Moledor a body sent against him by Morelos, under Valdovinos, and succeeded in