Hernán Cortés’ Turf-War Trap Against Fellow Spaniards

Around August, 1519, the conquistador Hernán Cortés went to the city of Cempoala to talk to his native allies about a fateful mission he was envisioning—to seek out the Aztec leader, Montezuma II. Giving the Spaniards a course in regional politics, the Cempoalans (who had been brought into rebellion against Montezuma by Cortés) suggested that the Spaniards enlist the aid of the Tlascalans, perhaps Montezuma’s greatest native foe at the time. Eager to start his journey, Hernan Cortés deputized a man named Juan Escalante to look after their newfound colony of Vera Cruz during his absence. With his intel gathered and his forces mustered, Cortés was ready to begin a new phase of his expedition. Yet, before he could set off, a message arrived from Vera Cruz with troubling information. A European ship had sailed past the colony, and despite the inhabitants of Vera Cruz making smoke signals, and waving red cloaks in the air to catch the attention of the ship, the sailors onboard pretended not to see them and refused to enter the colony’s harbor, instead dropping anchor at a location several miles away.

It was all bad news for Cortés. Various thoughts must have run through his head. Did the ship belong to a rival colonial power? Was it a crew of pirates or outlaws? Cortés did not have any reinforcements scheduled—in fact the governor he worked for wanted him arrested.

In response to the message, Cortés gathered around fifty of his swiftest men, leaving the rest behind in Cempoala, and quickly marched back to Vera Cruz, reaching the colony around nightfall. Upon arrival, there was little rest and no food for the weary travelers, as Cortés almost immediately set off with the same band of fifty men, this time heading for where the mysterious ship had anchored. While they marched, they happened to encounter four scouts who had been dropped off by the ship—these men, they found out, were not pirates, and neither were the scouts from rival kingdoms or empires. Instead, they were fellow Spanish explorers, sent to claim land in Mexico for the Spanish crown on behalf of the governor of Jamaica, Francisco de Garay. Despite them being on the same team, as it were, Hernán Cortés looked upon this new ship of Spaniards with hostility.

Cortés’s motivations in Mexico may have been for country and currency, but there was one more word beginning with ‘C’ that he likely prioritized before the rest—Cortés. This was his turf and he already did not want to share it with his boss in Cuba, much less the governor of Jamaica. Hernán Cortés arrested the four scouts and continued marching to where the rival ship was sighted.

Cortés eventually decided that his best course of action was to seize the ship. He brought the captured Spaniards to their rendezvous point and pressured them to signal their comrades on the ship to row ashore. The sailors, however, had seen Cortés’ forces, and wisely ignored the signals.

His first plan thwarted, Cortés masterminded a more subtle plot. He commandeered the clothes of his four prisoners and dressed four of his own men of similar sizes in the captives’ clothing. These disguised conquistadors were left at the rendezvous point, while Cortés led the rest of his band along the coastline back toward Vera Cruz, letting the sailors see their departure. As soon as Cortés was out of sight of the ship, however, he quickly marched his force back to a forested area near the men he had left behind, and he set up an ambush for the rival Spaniards. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, who was present for this subterfuge, wrote down his experiences during that odd night and morning:

“So four of our men remained behind dressed in the prisoners’ clothes, and the rest of us with Cortes hid in a wood till after midnight, when the moon had set and it was dark enough for us to creep down to the mouth of the creek. Here we concealed ourselves again, leaving only the four soldiers to be seen; and when dawn broke these four began to wave their cloaks at the ship, from which a boat with six sailors quickly put off. Two of these sailors jumped ashore to fill two pitchers with water, and we who were with Cortes remained in hiding, waiting for the others to land. However they stayed in the boat, and our four men who were disguised kept their faces hidden and pretended to be washing their hands. Then the crew of the boat shouted: ‘Come on board. What are you doing there? Why don’t you come?’ Then one of our men called back: ‘Come on shore, you’ll find there’s a well.’ As they did not recognize his voice the men in the boat rowed away, and though we went on calling no one answered us. We wanted to shoot at them with our muskets and crossbows, but Cortes would not let us” (The Conquest of New Spain, chapter 60).

As the rowboat escaped to the ship, Cortés awkwardly launched his trap and captured the two men who had come ashore to gather water. After spending the entire night on the coast without food, he had managed to only capture six of the rival explorers, and the ship was able to sail away. Hernán Cortés brought his prisoners back to Vera Cruz, and Francisco de Garay would continue to be a political rival in the region for years to come.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution

Sources:

• The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz, translated by J. M. Cohen. New York: Penguin Books, 1963.
• http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32474/32474-h/32474-h.htm#CHAPTER_CXXXIII 
• https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/garay-francisco-de-1523  

The Unflattering Mission Of The Conquistador, Heredia

Hernán Cortés, when he explored Yucatan and the Mexico region, was dead set on destroying native temples and replacing them with Christian altars. He did, however, use the native religion to his advantage whenever it suited his goals. 16th-century Spanish writers, such as the conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo, claimed that many of the natives believed the Spaniards were gods. Whether or not this debatable claim was fully accurate, Hernán Cortés and his comrades did reportedly try to associate themselves with the local pantheon of gods. This was particularly clear in an odd mission that Cortés gave to one unfortunate conquistador.

In 1519, just after the Spaniards had founded Vera Cruz, Hernán Cortés thought up an interesting scheme to boost the already sky-rocketing reputation of the conquistadors among the locals. He launched this plan when the Totonac people (Cortés’ allies who had recently rebelled against the Aztecs) asked for Spanish help against hostile warriors who were marauding around a nearby town. Cortés, indeed, agreed to aid the Totonacs, but his help came in a very odd form. He gave the chiefs a single old veteran conquistador, confidently assuring the allied chieftains that the one Spaniard had more than enough strength to demolish all of the marauders.

An aging Basque warrior by the name of Heredia was chosen for this mission. Unfortunately, his reason for selection was not very flattering. As Cortés wanted the conquistadors to be connotated with the local gods, Heredia reportedly was chosen solely because he resembled some of the idols and religious representations that the Spaniards had seen during their travels. The Spaniards, however, thought very little of the appearances of the native gods, often describing them as monstrous, hideous and ugly. Therefore, poor Heredia had the misfortune of being considered one of the ugliest men among Hernán Cortés’ expeditionary force.

Bernal Díaz del Castillo was a member of Cortés’ expedition and described Heredia as “an old Basque musketeer with a very ugly face covered with scars, a huge beard, and one blind eye. He was also lame in one leg” (The Conquest of New Spain, chapter 49). Before Heredia set off with his trusty musket, Cortes gave the gruff and tough veteran some instructions. Cortés reassured the man that he would not actually be fighting the reported marauders alone. Instead, Heredia’s true mission was to look intimidating and march with their Totonac allies to a nearby river. He was also told to continually fire his musket, so that those with him could hear the explosion of the shot, and see the flash of powder and the billowing gun smoke. Even if Heredia’s firearm did not impress the natives, Hernán Cortés was sure that the man’s appearance would leave a great impression. According to Bernal Díaz, Heredia was told directly by Cortés that “when they see your ugly face they’ll certainly take you for one of their idols” (The Conquest of New Spain, chapter 49).

Heredia was apparently a good sport and went along with the plan. Putting on his best impression of a god, the blind-eyed, lame-legged and well-aged warrior marched with a force of locals, firing occasional shots from his musket at nothing in particular.  Each blast, it was said, amazed the natives who were within earshot and eyesight of the man. When Heredia reached a nearby river, he began to loiter there by washing his hands in the stream and taking a drink of water. As was preplanned, a messenger from Cortés then arrived to halt the war party. In his message, Cortés claimed that, although Heredia could have done the job alone, Hernán Cortés had decided to show his dedication to the Totonac people by leading his whole army of conquistadors, in person, against the nearby marauders. According to Spanish sources, Cortés’ scheme worked and the Totonac people disseminated propaganda that claimed there was a god marching with their forces. Yet the Totonacs caught the Spaniards in a ruse of their own—when Cortés and his army reached the locations of the so-called marauders, he discovered no hostile forces, but instead found that his Totonac allies had led him to a long-hated rival city. Although some looting and pillaging occurred upon arrival, as soon as Cortés discovered the truth of the situation, he reportedly halted the assault and brokered a truce or alliance between the two enemy peoples.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (The conquistadors pray before entry to Tenochtitlan, painted by Margaret Duncan Coxhead, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz, translated by J. M. Cohen. New York: Penguin Books, 1963.
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hernan-Cortes
• http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32474/32474-h/32474-h.htm