Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/318

302 on the 4th of April, to retire to las Cruces, which had been occupied by Fuentes. The viceroy, in disgust at Cosío's want of success, and perhaps of loyalty, being a Mexican, placed Fuentes in command. Again on the 30th of April and the 1st of May, Ávila successfully repelled an attack made by Fuentes, who fell back upon las Cruces and Aguacatillo, from which the insurgents had been compelled to withdraw.

In the mean time, Morelos, reëstablished in health, had returned; and finding his position on the Sabana no longer tenable, owing to the difficulty in obtaining provisions, which were intercepted by detachments of the enemy, he abandoned it on the 3d of May. Determined to extend the field of his operations, he left Ávila well fortified on the Veladero, and at the head of no more than 300 men marched toward Chilpancingo. With this small force Morelos entered upon a campaign which shook Spain's power in Mexico to its foundation. After a march attended with much labor and suffering, during which he overcame all resistance offered by the royalists, he entered Chilpancingo without opposition on the 24th of May, his forces being now increased to 600 men well provided with muskets and arms taken from the enemy. But he received still more important support from the Bravos, one of the first families of that city. These devoted patriots henceforth shared with the Galeanas the highest confidence of Morelos.

The royalist troops whom he had come in contact