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MEXICO IN 1827.
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forces; but his men, rendered desperate by the apparent hopelessness of their situation, invited him to lead them down into the plain, where they made so furious a charge upon the Spanish line, that, notwithstanding their immense superiority in point of numbers, Armiñān's troops were put to the rout, and sought safety in a precipitate flight. It is said that the use of buckshot, in lieu of balls, by the soldiers of Mina, contributed not a little to the panic, with which their opponents were struck; many of his men loaded their muskets with eighteen of these shot, and reserved their fire until they were within a few paces of the Royal ranks. Be this as it may, the dispersion was general; and although there was no pursuit, Arminan and his staff did not stop in their flight for many leagues from the field of battle: the cavalry was not heard of for four days. But on his side, Mina sustained a serious loss; eleven officers, and nineteen men were killed, and twenty six wounded, some so severely as to be unable to follow the march of the army. Nor did circumstances admit of his delaying, for a single day, his advance towards the Baxīo, where alone he could hope to increase the number of his adherents. While unsupported by the Insurgents, another such victory as that of Pĕŏtīllŏs, would have proved fatal to him. The division, therefore, moved forward on the morning of the 16th June. On the 18th it reached Pinos, a small mining town in the Intendancy of