Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/403

Rh all the silver bullion in Guanajuato, together with that left at Querétaro, and a large flock of sheep; mutton being very scarce in the capital. To the people dwelling in the towns of the Bajío this news was anything but pleasing, and petitions poured upon him not to leave them at the mercy of the insurgent marauders. On the other hand, Cruz, deeming his own province in danger, also requested García Conde not to start with the trains till Albino García was put out of the way. The latter having overcome the insurgent chiefs, Escandon, Rubi, Gonzalez, and others who had been acting too independently of him, had increased his own force and become more dangerous. Under the circumstances, García Conde delayed his departure and decided to combine a plan of operations with the comandante general of Nueva Galicia. The troops of this province since the opening of the year had been engaged in keeping at bay insurgent parties on the confines of Michoacan and Guanajuato; and if any of them set foot in Nueva Galicia territory they were forthwith destroyed. In these repeated encounters a number of notable guerrilla chiefs had perished, some of them killed in action, and some captured and shot.

Among the most noted royalist commanders, both for activity and severity, was Pedro Celestino Negrete. Haughty and inflexible, he never spoke of the insurgents without applying to them some blackening epithet, and not one that was captured by him escaped death. On the other hand, he did not spare his officers and men from hard work, though he looked