UNDER CONSTRUCTION
[We join the story already in progress. The Aztecs have driven the Spanish out of Tenochtitlán.]
The Aztecs, convinced that the Spaniards would never return to Tenochtitlán, celebrated their
fiestas again in the traditional manner, and Cuitlahuac was elected king to succeed gun brother
Motecuhzoma. The Aztec kings were chosen by a council of four lords, representing the four
quarters, or phratries, into which the twenty clans of the city were evenly grouped. The council
attempted to choose the wisest and bravest man among the brothers, sons and nephews of the
previous ruler. Their choice of Cuitlahuac may have been influenced by the fact that he had
warned against allowing the Spaniards to enter Tenochtitlán (Chapter 7).
This period of normalcy was soon ended by the terrible plague that quickly spread through the
city. The plague seems to have been an epidemic of smallpox, which was previously unknown
among the Indians. One of its victims was the new king himself. Shortly afterward, the
Spaniards reappeared. They had rebuilt their army in Tlaxcala and marched to Tlacopan by
way of Tezcoco.
A number of indigenous documents describe the siege of the Aztec capital. We have chosen the
account given by Sahaguns native informants in the Codex Florentino.
(Everything below was written by Aztec writers.)</h2 When the Spaniards left Tenochtitlán, the
Aztecs thought they had departed for good and would never return. Therefore they repaired and
decorated the temple of their god, sweeping it clean and throwing out all the dirt and wreckage.
Then the eighth month arrived, and the Aztecs celebrated it as always. They adorned the
impersonators of the gods, all those who played the part of gods in the ceremonies, decking them
with necklaces and turquoise masks and dressing them in the sacred clothing. This clothing was
made of quetzal feathers, eagle feathers and yellow parrot feathers. The finery of the gods was in
the care of the great princes.
While the Spaniards were in Tlaxcala, a great plague broke out in Tenochtitlán. It began to
spread during the thirteenth month and lasted for seventy days, striking everywhere in the city and
killing a vast number of our people. Sores erupted in our faces, our breast, our bellies; we were
covered with agonizing sores from head to foot.
The illness was so dreadful that no one could walk or move. The sick were so utterly helpless
that they could only lie on their beds like corpses, unable to move their limbs or even their heads.
They could not lie face down or roll from one side to the other. If they did move their bodies,
they screamed with pain.
A great many died from this plague, and many others dies of hunger. They could not get up to
search for food, and everyone else was too sick to care for them, so they starved to death in their beds.
Some people came down with a milder form of the disease; they suffered less than the others and
made a good recovery. But they could not escape entirely. Their looks were ravaged, for
wherever a sore broke out, it gouged an ugly pockmark in the skin. And a few of the survivors
were left completely blind.
The first cases were reported in Cuatlan. By the time the danger was recognized, the plague was so well established that nothing could halt it, and eventually it spread all the way to Chalco. Then its virulence diminished considerably, though there were isolated cases for many months after. The first victims were stricken during the fiesta of Teotlecco, and the faces of our warriors were not clean and free of sores until the fiesta of Panquetzaliztli.
The Spaniards Return
And now the Spaniards came back again. They marched here by way of Texcoco, set up headquarters in Tlacopan and then divided their forces. Pedro de Alvarado was assigned the road to the Tlatelolco quarter as his personal responsibility, while Cortes himself took charge of the Coyoacan area and the road from Acachinanco to Tenochtitland proper. Cortes knew that the captain of Tenochtitland was extremely brave.
The first battle began outside Tlatelolco, either at the ash pits or at the place called the Point of the Alders, and then shifted to Nonhulaco. Our warriors put the enemy to flight ant not a single Aztec was killed. The Spaniards tried a second advance but our warriors attacked them from their boats, loosing such a storm of arrows that the Spaniards were forced to retreat again.
Cortes, however, set our for Acachinanco and reached his goal. He Moved his headquarters there,
just outside the city. Heavy fighting ensued, but the Aztecs could not dislodge them.
[SECTION MISSING - SEE PRINTED VERSION]
.
The Spaniards now joined all their forces into one unit and marched together as far as the Eagle
Gate, where they set up cannons they had brought with them. It was called the Eagle Gate
because it was decorated with an enormous eagle carved of stone. The eagle was flanked on one
side by a stone jaguar; on the other side there was a large honey bear, also of carved stone.
Two rows of tall columns led into the city from this gate. Some of the Aztecs hid behind the
columns when they saw the Spaniards and their guns; others climbed onto the roofs of the
communal houses. None of the warriors dared to show his face openly.
The Spaniards wasted no time as they loaded and fired the cannon. The smoke belched out in
black clouds that darkened the sky, as if night were falling. The warriors hidden behind columns
broke from cover and fled; those on the rooftops climbed down and ran after them. Then the
smoke cleared away, the Spaniards could not see a single Aztec.
Then the Spaniards brought forward the largest cannon and set it up on the sacrificial stone. The
priests of Huitzilopochtli immediately began to beat their great ritual drums from the top of the
pyramid. The deep throbbing of the drums resounded over the city, calling the warriors to defend
the shrine of their god. But two of the Spanish soldiers climbed the stairway to the temple
platform, cut the priests down with their swords and pitched them headlong over the brink.
The great captains and warriors who had been fighting from their canoes now returned and
landed. The canoes were paddled by the younger warriors and the recruits. As soon as the
warriors landed, they ran through the streets, hunting the enemy and shouting: "Mexicanos, come
fine them!"
The Spaniards, seeing that an attack was imminent, tightened their ranks and clenched the hilts of
their swords. The next moment, all was noise and confusion. The Aztecs charged into the plaza
from every direction, and the air was black with arrows and gunsmoke.
The battle was so furious that both sides had to pull back. The Aztecs withdrew to Xoloco to
catch their breath and dress their wounds, while the Spaniards retreated to their camp in
Acachinanco, abandoning the cannon they had set up on the sacrificial stone. Later the warriors
dragged this cannon to the edge of the canal and toppled it in. It sank at a place called the Stone Toad.
During this time the Aztecs took refuge in the Tlactelolco quarter. They deserted the
Tenochtitlán quarters all in one day, weeping and lamenting like women. Husbands searched for
their wives, and fathers carried their small children on their shoulders. Tears of grief and despair
streamed down their cheeks.
The Tlatelolcas, however, refused to give up. They raced into Tenochtitlán to continue the fight
and the Spaniards learned how brave they were. Pedro de Alvarado launched an attack against
the Point of the Alders, in the direction of Nonohualco, but his troops were shattered as if he had
sent them against a stone cliff. The battle was fought both of dry land and on the water, where
the Indians shot at the Spaniards from their shielded canoes. Alvarado was routed and had to
draw back to Tlacopan.
On the following day, two brigantines came up loaded with troops, and the Spaniards united all
their forces on the outskirts of Nonohualco. The soldiers in the brigantines came ashore and the
whole army marched onto the very heart of Tenochtitlán. Wherever they went, they found the
streets empty, with no Indians anywhere in sight.
Then the great captain Tzilacatzin arrived, bringing with him three large, round stones of the kind
used for building walls. He carried one of them in his hand; the other two hung from his shield.
When he hurled these stones at the Spaniards, they turned and fled the city.
Txilacatzins military rank was that of Otomi, and he clipped his hair in the style of the Otomies.
He scorned his enemies, Spaniards as well as Indians; they all shook with terror at the mere sight
of him.
When the Spaniards found out how dangerous he was, they tried desperately to kill him. They
attacked him with their swords and spears, fired at him with their crossbows and arquebuses, and
tried every other means they could think of to kill or cripple him. Therefore he wore various
disguises to prevent them from recognizing him.
Sometimes he wore his lip plug, his gold earrings and all the rest of his full regalia, but left his
head uncovered to show that he was an Otomi. At other times he wore only his cotton armor,
with a thin kerchief wrapped around his head. At still other times, he put on the finery of the
priests who cast the victims into the fire: a plumed headdress with the eagle symbol on its crest,
and gleaming gold bracelets on both arms, and circular bands of gleaming gold on ankles.
The Spaniards came back again the next say. They brought their ships to a point just off
Nonohualco, close to the place called the House of Mist. Their other troops arrived on foot,
along with the Tlaxcaltecas. As soon as they had formed ranks, they charged the Aztec warriors.
The heaviest fighting began when they entered Nonohualco. None of out enemies and none of
our warriors escaped harm. Everyone was wounded, and the toll of dead was grievous on both
sides. The struggle continued all day.
Only three captains never retreated. They were contemptuous of their enemies and gave no
though whatever to their safety. The first of these heroes was Tzoyectzin; the second,
Temoctzin; and the third, the great Tzilacatzin.
At last the Spaniards were too exhausted to keep fighting. After on final attempt to break the
Aztec ranks, they withdrew to their camp to rest and recover, with their allies trailing behind
them.