Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/444

428 credence, as systematic lying was a part of the governmental policy.

The president's brother, General Ramon Lopez Rayon, commanding the district of Tlalpujahua, had been no less active, often making excursions to the country lying between Querétaro and Mexico, or between the former and Valladolid. In one of those excursions he signally defeated an archroyalist captain named Maríano Ferrer at El Salitre, and took him prisoner. Immediately afterward he marched on Jerécuaro and took the place, together with two guns, a large number of muskets, ammunition, and nearly 100 prisoners, all of whom were conveyed to the hacienda of Tepustepec, where the president then was. Ferrer and five others were shot on the 4th of September. The rest joined Rayon's force, and a few of them who afterward deserted and were captured paid the penalty of the desertion with their lives. That same year Ramon Rayon attacked at San Juan del Rio 600 royalists, who were escorting a large herd of sheep and cattle bound to Mexico, dispersed them with some casualties, and captured the whole property.

Most favorable results were obtained in some quarters that will be given at length. They were in a great measure due to the spirit of union, unselfishness, and surbordination to their commanders shown by the officers and men. But in other parts, where rivalry, arising from personal ambition and leading to bickerings, divided counsels, and a wanton disregard of all superior authority existed, disappointments and disasters naturally followed.