Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/625

Rh which he led them from one success to another. So conspicuous and dangerous an enemy, on the line between Valladolid and the capital, could not be quietly tolerated by the royalists, and Llano resolved to reduce the stronghold. An effort in this direction, in November 1814, had been frustrated by Ramon in so ingenious and able a manner as to gain him great applause. This served only to rouse the determination of Calleja. He ordered a fresh attack with forces swelled to three thousand by troops from Valladolid and Guanajuato, the latter under command of Iturbide as second to Llano. The insurgents numbered about six hundred

and fifty men, only partly armed, fully a third relying for weapons on stones and boulders. In the vicinity roamed also several insurgent leaders, prepared to harass the supply trains, while Torres and others had come from the adjoining provinces to fall upon the weakened royalist garrisons around. Their