Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/599

Rh the adjoining Costa Chica, where he occupied Jamiltepee, Amusgos, and other places. The Mizteca region alone remained true to the revolutionists, who found succor in its valleys and shelter in its labyrinth of fastnesses. Against them Álvarez now exerted himself. His lieutenant, Obeso, penetrated to Tlajiaco toward the end of April, and defeated the leader Herrera; but reënforced by Sesma, the latter gathered his men again on an adjoining hill, and inflicted, mainly with the aid of stones and bowlders, so severe a check upon the royalists that the spot became celebrated as the Cerro Encantado. Eager to avenge the disaster, Álvarez marched against them in person with a large force, and laid siege to Silacayoapan at the close of July; but was effectually repulsed, notably through a brilliant charge by Teran, whereupon he retired to Teposcolula, to remain in observation and guard the route for convoys from Mexico.

The centre of revolutionary operations had now shifted to Puebla and Vera Cruz, attracted partly by the resources of the tierras templada and caliente, and the rich prizes held out by the traffic between the gulf port and the capital, and partly by the strategic positions offered by the east range of the Sierra Madre, which stretches along the border between the two provinces and sends its branches into the central