Sandoval was appointed to lead the van, with two hundred infantry and twenty horsemen, assisted by Ordaz, Andrés de Tapia, and others. With him went fifty men under Captain Magarino to carry the bridge. They were pledged to remain at their post to the last, and were escorted by a select body of infantry and allies. For the middle were destined the baggage and treasure, the prisoners and the sick, under a large escort, supervised by Cortés himself, who, with Olid, Morla, Ávila, and other captains, and a special force of one hundred men, were to render aid where needed. The artillery was intrusted to two hundred and fifty Tlascaltecs and fifty soldiers, and the rear was placed in charge of Alvarado and Velazquez, with thirty horsemen and about one hundred adherents of Cortés, with most of the men of Narvaez. The allied forces, of whom a number appear to have returned home during the inaction of Montezuma's captivity, and who had suffered greatly during the siege, must still haye numbered nearly six thousand men, including carriers, distributed among the three divisions.[1] Among the prisoners Cortés enumerates the legitimate son of Montezuma, and two of his daughters, probably those bestowed on the general in marriage, King Cacama and his younger brother and successor, and several
- ↑ Bernal Diaz gives Sandoval 100 young unmarried soldiers, with Francisco de Acevedo, the dandy, Ordaz, Tapia, and eight or nine of Narvaez' men, captains on his staff. To Cortés he gives 50 men, and adds B. V. de Tapia to his staff. Hist. Verdad., 105. This author is contradictory, however. Herrera places Antonio de Quiñones as Sandoval's chief aid, and Olid and Ordaz in the rear. dec. ii. lib. x. cap. xi.; Gomara, Hist. Mex., 160; Cortés, Cartas, 134; Ramirez, Proceso contra Alvarado, 30 et seq.
from which the royal fifth had been set apart only at the last moment, but not apportioned. dec. v. cap. vi. Solis assumes that 700,000 pesos remained after the king's portion had been deducted. Hist, Mex., 174-5. One witness estimates that over 2,000,000 pesos were lost during that night, Cortés, Residencia, ii. 414. The Carta del Ejército reduces the loss to 400,000 pesos de oro. Another witness states that 300,000 castellanos remained when the soldiers were told to help themselves; afterward the general compelled them to surrender what had been thus given, only to keep it for himself. Cortés, Residencia, i. 241-2. Lo demás. . . .lo dimos y repartimos por los españoles para que lo sacasen,' says Cortés, Cartas, 135, which may be interpreted as either giving or intrusting. Whatever may have been left after the Spaniards had taken their loads was gleaned by the allies. Gomara, Hist. Mex., 159.
