Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/803

Rh men, he went at midnight, according to arrangements, to the intrenchments of Concepcion, there to receive the decoyed Spaniards, while Santa Anna awaited another detachment at the bulwark of Santiago.

From some cause, however, the force which ought to have been provided by Santa Anna had not arrived, and Echávarri found only the ordinary picket on the fortifications. But the Spaniards had already landed, and were entering the outer works. Echávarri's position was thus a very perilous one. The Spaniards pressed forward and a contest ensued. Velez was wounded by a pistol-shot, and three soldiers were bayoneted. Nothing saved Echávarri from death or capture but the careless procedure of the Spaniards, who had only sent forward a small portion of their force; observing which, Echávarri bravely charged and drove back the assailants. This had the effect of causing their comrades who were coming up to retire and take up a position behind the outer stockade. Meantime Santa Anna's aid, Castrillon, who had conducted the negotiations, and had come in the Spanish launch, provided for his own safety. Abandoning his dupes, he ran down the beach to the pier and reported to Lieutenant Eleuterio Mendez, in command of the cavalry picket of twenty-five dragoons stationed there, that Echávarri was either killed or taken prisoner, whereupon that officer went in all haste to the assistance of his superior. The Spaniards were then driven from their position and took to their boats. At the Santiago fortification the action, there more hotly contested, terminated with a similar result. Though a victory was thus gained by the Mexicans, Santa Anna's project of surprising Ulúa failed. But the affair was pregnant with disaster to Iturbide. as we shall presently see.