Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/701

Rh soldiers, gathering with sword and pike and musket; others to avoid being pushed headlong over the precipice, already red with gore, and resounding with the groans of the bruised and dying. Large numbers grasped at temporary relief within the fortress, only to find it entered from the rear, while flames burst forth in every direction, enfolding also the hospital, and roasting alive the inmates, a few crawling forth to meet a speedier death on royalist bayonets. And so the slaughter and the hunt continued throughout the night, till morning came to add fresh zest. Torres escaped with only a handful, his track marked by bodies of the slain, which by this time had swollen to about 500. Over 400 prisoners had been taken, besides as many women and a host of children; but in this instance the example set by Mina succeeded in exempting at least the rank and file from the death awarded to the chiefs. They were consigned to Mescala presidio; the women were sent home, with heads ignominiously shaven, to nurse with the growing locks a deep thirst for vengeance. The bulwark of the independence was razed.Among the executed captives were Col Noboa and Lieut-gen. Muñiz, known as the gunner, from his predilection for unwieldy artillery. He had lately accepted pardon, but was lured by Mina's fame to join the cause again. Arroyo was bayoneted. Liñan gives a list of 15 guns taken, and some material for ammunition, and makes no allusion to the sentinel call. The garrison proper had dwindled to about 1,000 men. Details in ''Gaz. de Mex.,'' 1818, ix. 162-86. See also preceding parts for reports on the progress of the siege. Torrente, ''Hist. Rev.,'' ii. 393-4, places the total royalist loss at 171 killed and about 350 wounded, and Liñan seeks to cover it by praising the valor of the garrison, and dwelling on the strength of Los Remedios. The besieging force appears to have swelled to fully 6,000 men. Bustamante, ''Cuad. Hist.,'' iv. 502, states that 273 men were sent to Mescala. Robinson, ii. 166, who denies that any ammunition was left, intimates that the women were outraged. A large number of decorations and promotions were given to the victors, with badges to all the men. See also Noticioso Gen., Oct. 1817 to Jan. 1818, passim.

The earliest and most complete account of Mina's expedition was issued in 1820 by an American merchant, William Davis Robinson. He rushed into print mainly to ventilate his ill-feeling against the Spanish government for financial wrongs and imprisonment inflicted upon him. The former came from mercantile operations with South America since 1799, the latter from joining in the expedition to Goazacoalco in 1816, under Teran, to whom he sold a lot of arms. For this transaction he was carried to Spain a prisoner, but escaped in the spring of 1819, while under parole, on hearing that he was about to be transported to the dungeons of Ceuta. He modestly consigns his own adventures and affairs to an introduction and an appendix, devoting the text mainly to Mina's expedition, for its interest and the apt illustration it affords to expose Spanish misrule and weakness. The story is preceded by