In
the final days of December, 1520, Hernan Cortes began his second march toward
the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan. Setting out from the land of his
allies, the Tlaxcalans, Hernan Cortes crossed mountainous terrain to reach the
city of Texcoco. There, he caused Aztec loyalists to flee the region and, in
the power vacuum that occurred, the Spaniards propped up a new dissident
faction in the city and recognized the faction’s chosen leader as the ruler of
Texcoco. With the cooperative Texcocan leader on his side, Hernan Cortes began
working on a makeshift port on the city’s lakeside shore from which he wished
to launch a blockade against Tenochtitlan. The Spaniards spent a twelve-day
span in the city, directing the locals to dredge the local canals and widen the
channels to accommodate ships.
After
enjoying the new year in Texcoco and spending several days overseeing canal
modifications, Hernan Cortes decided to move on from the city in order to
relieve his army’s burden on the farmlands of his newfound allies, and to
further consolidate power in the cities surrounding Tenochtitlan. Cortes
mobilized his army and marched for Iztapalapa, a city still loyal to
Tenochtitlan in the Aztec sphere of influence. Hernan Cortes’ movements were
not overlooked by the Aztec intelligence network, which had eyes and ears throughout
the lakeside cities that surrounded Tenochtitlan. Due to these spies, the
Aztecs were able to send thousands of reinforcements to Iztapalapa before the
Spaniards arrived. Together, the local city garrison and the reinforcements
took to the field to challenge Hernan Cortes’ army in battle—it was a poor
decision, for in a fair fight on the open ground, Cortes’ cavalry, crossbows,
firearms and artillery gave him an overwhelming advantage. The Aztecs, after
their forces were torn apart by such firepower, soon ended their attack and
decided to retreat to Iztapalapa. As the day was late and night was beginning
to fall, the Spaniards decided not to pursue. Instead, Cortes’ troops settled
down in some vacated houses near the lake.
Hernan
Cortes and his conquistadors suspected that a night attack was possibly
incoming and took precautions by setting up watchmen and sentinels. Forces from
Iztapalapa were indeed planning an attack, but it was not spears and arrows
that they planned to use in their assault. Instead, with their knowledge of the
canals and causeways that crisscrossed the region, the locals decided to let
Mother Nature take her own swipe at the Spaniards. During the night, saboteurs
from Iztapalapa went to work, and might have ended Hernan Cortes’ meteoric
campaign against the Aztecs then and there had it not been for the presence of
the Spanish-allied Tlaxcalans and Texcocans, who were wise to Aztec tactics. The
vital role of these native allies in detecting and warning the Spaniards of the
watery surprise that occurred that night near Iztapalapa was described by
Bernal Díaz del Castillo (c. 1492-1580), one of Cortes’ conquistadors. He
wrote:
“We
placed our sentinels and watchmen, we sent out patrols and scouts. But when we
were off our guard, such a flood of water swept through the town that if the
chiefs we had brought from Texcoco had not shouted to us to get out of the
houses as quickly as we could and make for dry land, we should have all been
drowned. For the enemy had emptied the fresh- and salt-water canals, and cut
through a causeway, which caused the level of the water to rise suddenly” (Conquest
of New Spain, volume 2, chapter 138).
Thanks
to the attentiveness of the Texcocans, Hernan Cortes’ army was saved, although
the water rolled in so quickly that a few people did indeed die. In addition to
the loss of life, the water ruined provisions being hauled along by Cortes’
army and it wetted much of the gunpowder that powered the Spanish firearms and
artillery. Furthermore, the flood made many of Cortes’ troops uncomfortable and
cold, impairing their sleep and mood. Hoping all of these contributing factors
would give them an advantage, the Aztecs launched a powerful attack on Hernan
Cortes as soon as dawn arrived. The Spaniards, with their soaked gunpowder, had
trouble fending off the attack. Nevertheless, they managed an orderly retreat
and fought their way back to Texcoco. Both sides were disappointed in the
battle—the Spaniards were embarrassed and humiliated over being forced to
retreat, whereas the Aztecs were distraught over their inability to inflict
more damage on the conquistadors during their vulnerable state after the
engineered flood.
Picture
Attribution: (Flood in the Darling by WC Piguenit (1836 - 1914), [Public
Domain] via Creative Commons).
Sources:
- The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz, translated by J. M. Cohen. New York: Penguin Books, 1963.
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