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BATTLE AT LAS VACAS.

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the liberal side, had a party made up mostly of robbers and assassins, whose outrages were innumerable. Tlascala was a great sufferer. Carbajal's tyranny is said to have been insufferable, but no one dared oppose him.

Miramon, recovering his wonted activity, started in November for the interior. Many women of Morelia had asked him to free them from the constitutionalists.^[1] To oppose the liberal forces which, under Degollado, were marching on Querétaro, Miramon concentrated those of Velez and Mejía, and hurried on to that city, accompanied only by his aides-de-camp, and adopted the requisite measures to inflict another of his damaging blows on the enemy. Marching by the Celaya road he appeared before the liberal force in the afternoon of the 12th of November, and after rejecting at a conference Degollado's proposals to leave him the command in chief of the army, if he would swear to support the constitution of 1857, coupled with the agreement that a congress should be convoked to reform that code, he signally routed him in the morning of the 13th, at La Estancia de las Vacas, capturing thirty pieces of artillery, 500 stand of arms, amınunition, wagons, and 420 prisoners, among, whom were generals Santiago Tapia and José J. Alvarez, both wounded.^[2]

Degollado had in May given up the command for a time to bring supplies from abroad, which he landed in June or early in July at Tampico, and took at once to San Luis Potosí. Huerta had also received

↑ It was in August. Diario de Avisos, Aug. 25, 1859.
↑ Miramon told Degollado, on leaving him, that the liberals would be defeated before the expiration of twenty-four hours. The cannonading began at 7 o'clock. At 9 the liberals attacked the enemy's left flank, sustained by Mejía's brigade. The reactionists were likewise assailed on the right and in the centre, and being defeated at the latter point, were in danger of losing the battle, when Miramon made a simultaneous effort, commanding the centre in person, which turned the tide. Although the liberals fought desperately, it was all over at eleven o'clock. Doblado and Arteaga, with about 1,000 men, fled to Morelia, where new forces were raised. Degollado, arrived alone at Guanajuato, in the night of the 14th, and the next day started for San Luis Potosí, whither some of the scattered liberal troops found their way.

[1] It was in August. Diario de Avisos, Aug. 25, 1859.

[2] Miramon told Degollado, on leaving him, that the liberals would be defeated before the expiration of twenty-four hours. The cannonading began at 7 o'clock. At 9 the liberals attacked the enemy's left flank, sustained by Mejía's brigade. The reactionists were likewise assailed on the right and in the centre, and being defeated at the latter point, were in danger of losing the battle, when Miramon made a simultaneous effort, commanding the centre in person, which turned the tide. Although the liberals fought desperately, it was all over at eleven o'clock. Doblado and Arteaga, with about 1,000 men, fled to Morelia, where new forces were raised. Degollado, arrived alone at Guanajuato, in the night of the 14th, and the next day started for San Luis Potosí, whither some of the scattered liberal troops found their way.

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