Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/547

Rh, less through the onslaught of a few hundred royalists than through his own waywardness, lack of skill and prudence in managing the defence, and alienating the devotion of his followers, whom he controlled greatly by fear, sustained by a passionate temperament and immense physical strength. The latter he was rather fond of displaying, both from vanity and a desire to impress people, and on the way to his place of execution he astonished the escort by knocking down a mule which had stepped on his foot.

Few regretted his loss. Immediately after the death of the Chito a revulsion of feeling became manifest in the rapid flow of adherents to the royalists, even by the intimate officers of the Villagranes, such as Casimiro Gomez, who had been prominent in raiding expeditions and outrages on Spaniards. He prudently negotiated for pardon at the head of nearly two thousand Indians, many of them armed with hand grenades for want of muskets. Captain Trejo came in earlier with 400 persons and 27,000 head of animals, and was confirmed in his position, yet subject to José Andauro, an Indian of Zimapan, who had zealously supported the cura Salgado in opposing the revolution. In less devoted districts the royalists are said to have acted with great severity to secure permanent submission.

The advantage gained by Ordoñez was followed up from the coast side by Argüelles and Gonzalez de la Vega, successively commandants at Tuxpan, who in