Page:Young Folks History Of Mexico.pdf/416

410 from the seclusion of forest retreats, as well as from the midst of populous haciendas, the Indians and Creoles poured forth to join him. The day of vengeance had at last arrived! Three centuries of oppression had bequeathed to them its hatred of their foreign masters. The desire to avenge their wrongs, so long suppressed, now burst forth in uncontrollable fury.

They marched upon the noble city of Guanajuato, twenty thousand strong, armed only with sticks and staves, and with here and there a musket, but all animated with the same desire for the blood of their oppressors. Their war-cry was Death to the Guachupines! By this name they designated the Spaniards, the hated enslavers of their race. The Spaniards were attacked in the city of Guanajuato, and their stronghold fell before the savage fury of the Indians. For three days the insurgents rioted in murder and robbery. Their chief could not restrain them.

Then the warrior-priest set his forces in motion for the capital, for Mexico itself, and entered the valley in the last days of October with an army of near one hundred thousand men. Hidalgo met a Spanish army about twenty miles from the capital, attacked them with resistless fury and defeated them. When within fifteen miles of Mexico he halted, and, after a few days, commenced a retreat. There is little doubt that Hidalgo and his savage horde could have swept the valley and conquered the city had he but advanced instead of sounding a retreat. His prestige thenceforward was gone. The viceroy, Venagas, despatched General Calleja with an army of ten thousand men and a train of artillery in pursuit. He overtook them and gave battle, and though the Indians fought with unsurpassed bravery, the disciplined body of regular troops prevailed over the untrained masses. The Spanish troops were commanded by a fiend. Calleja marched upon