and three guns. Matamoros attacked the Cármen, which was soon taken, though hotly defended by the Spanish friars, particularly Friar Félix, one of the captains of Bishop Bergosa's ecclesiastical militia. Lieutenant-general Gonzalez Saravia sallied forth with the cavalry of European Spaniards to meet the independents that were coming in from all quarters, but his men quickly fled, leaving him alone, and he sought refuge in a house. The whole affair lasted but two hours.[1]
The city being thus taken, pillage and punishment followed, the houses and shops of the Spaniards receiving the chief attention. The convents as well as the effects deposited in them were, however, respected; but Morelos afterward took out everything belonging to the Spaniards, and applied it to the uses of his army. He also issued an edict commanding the surrender of all effects that had been concealed by Spaniards. Next those were looked after who were to die. Five hundred prisoners came with the city's capture, two hundred of whom were fine old Spaniards.[2] The notorious Régules Villasante was found in the Carmelite convent, hidden be hind some coffins. Among the royalist officers taken
- ↑ The main facts relating to the attack and capture of Oajaca have been taken from Morelos' own declarations at his trial. According to his statement, ‘se apoderaron de la ciudad despues de solo dos horas de fuego, en tales términos que á las dos de la tarde ya el declarante estaba en la Plaza Mayor, y á las tres comiendo en la Casa de un Europeo apellidado Gutierrez.' Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., v. 630; vi. 26-7. A minute account of the affair, and one that he obtained on the spot soon after its occurrence, is given by Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., ii. 206-26; Id., Elogio Morelos, 15-16; Mora, Rev. Mex., iv. 396-400; Alaman, Hist. Méj., iii. 320-4, 329; Ward's Mex., i. 201-2. Among the independents in the attack figured Manuel Félix Fernandez, who in after years gave up his name, assuming that of Guadalupe Victoria. He had thrown himself, full of enthusiasm, into a moat, intending to swim across it. Mier y Teran saw him floundering in the mire, but offered no assistance. When in later years he told Mier his intention of changing his name, the latter jocosely approved it, proposing that of Américo Triunfo, which made the other very angry, and brought ill feeling between them which afterward caused their country much misery. Alaman says he obtained this information from Mier himself. Hist. Méj., iii, 323; Mayer's Mex. Aztec., 291-2.
- ↑ Besides sixty pieces of artillery, 2,000 muskets, and a large quantity of ammunition.
