Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/346

330 town. On the following day the royalists took possession of the hill without difficulty, and also routed a strong body of insurgents, estimated at 10,000 or 12,000, which assailed their rear; but all attempts to take the town were prevented by the ditch, which was filled with water and defended by well trained infantry under cover of the barricade. After nine hours' fighting, during which the troops suffered heavy loss, Empáran withdrew to Los Manzanillos, where his soldiers bivouacked, comfortless and disspirited.

When the dull morning came with its leaden, rain-charged sky, the royalist leader recognized the hopelessness of any further attempt against Zitácuaro. The ground on which they had fought on the preceding day was inundated and was, indeed, an impassable swamp. Lacking means of crossing the moat, and without provisions or ammunition, Empáran cursed in his heart the viceroy who had forced him forward against his better judgment. Retreat was the only course left; and mustering into line, he retired through the canon to Toluca, his force reduced one half. Here, prostrated by fatigue and exposure, the wound received on his head at the battle of Calderon