5 with a rich surcoat of featherwork; and a panache of beautiful plumes, gorgeously set in gold and precious stones, floated above his head. Rising above this, and attached to his back, between the shoulders, was a short staff bearing a golden net for a banner,- the singular, but customary, symbol of authority for an Aztec commander. The cacique, whose name was Cihuaca, was borne on a litter, and a to body of young warriors, whose gay and ornamented dresses showed them to be the flower of the Indian nobles, stood round as a guard of his person and the sacred emblem. 15 The eagle eye of Cortés no sooner fell on this personage, than it lighted up with triumph. Turning quickly round to the cavaliers at his side, among whom were Sandoval, Olid, Alvarado, and Avila, he 20 pointed out the chief, exclaiming, 'There is our mark! Follow and support me!' Then crying his war-cry, and striking his iron heel into his weary steed, he plunged headlong into the thickest of the press. 25 His enemies fell back, taken by surprise and daunted by the ferocity of the attack. Those who did not were pierced through with his lance, or borne down by the weight of his charger. The cavaliers fol- 30 lowed close in the rear. On they swept, with the fury of a thunderbolt, cleaving the solid ranks asunder, strewing their path with the dying and the dead, and bounding over every obstacle in their way. 35 In a few minutes they were in the presence of the Indian commander, and Cortés, overturning his supporters, sprang forward with the strength of a lion, and, striking him through with his lance, hurled 40 him to the ground. A young cavalier, Juan de Salamanca, who had kept close by his general's side, quickly dismounted and despatched the fallen chief. Then tearing away his banner, he presented it to 45 Cortés, as a trophy to which he had the best claim. It was all the work of a moment. The guard, overpowered by the suddenness of the onset, made little resistance, but, flying, communicated their own 50 panic to their comrades. The tidings of the loss soon spread over the field. The Indians, filled with consternation, now thought only of escape. In their blind terror, their numbers augmented their con- 55 fusion. They trampled on one another, fancying it was the enemy in their rear. The Spaniards and Tlascalans were not slow to avail themselves of the marvelous change in their affairs. Their fatigue, their wounds, hunger, thirst, all were forgotten in the eagerness for vengeance; and they followed up the flying foe, dealing death at every stroke, and taking ample retribution for all they had suffered in the bloody marshes of Mexico. Long did they pursue, till, the enemy having abandoned the field, they returned sated with slaughter to glean the booty which he had left. It was great, for the ground was covered with the bodies of chiefs, at whom the Spaniards, in obedience to the general's instructions, had particularly aimed; and their dresses displayed all the barbaric pomp of ornament, in which the Indian warrior delighted. When his men had thus indemnified themselves, in some degree, for their late reverses, Cortés called them again under their banners; and, after offering up a grateful acknowledgment to the Lord of Hosts for their miraculous preservation, they renewed their march across the now deserted valley. The sun was declining in the heavens, but, before the shades of evening had gathered around, they reached an Indian temple on an eminence, which afforded a strong and commodious position for the night. Such was the famous battle of Otompan,- or Otumba, as commonly called, from the Spanish corruption of the name. It was fought on the eighth of July, 1520. The whole amount of the Indian force is reckoned by Castilian writers at two hundred thousand! that of the slain at twenty thousand! Those who admit the first part of the estimate will find no difficulty in receiving the last. It is about as difficult to form an accurate calculation of the numbers of a disorderly savage multitude, as of the pebbles on the beach, or the scattered leaves in autumn. Yet it was, undoubtedly, one of the most remarkable victories ever achieved in the New World. And this, not merely on account of the disparity of the forces, but of their unequal condition. For the Indians were in all their strength, while the Christians were wasted by disease, famine, and long protracted sufferings; without cannon or fire-arms, and deficient in the military apparatus which had so often struck terror into their barbarian foe,—deficient even in the terrors of a victorious name. But they had discipline on their side, desperate resolve, and implicit confidence in their commander. That they should have triumphed against such odds furnishes an inference of the same kind as that established by the victories of the European over the semi-civilized hordes of Asia. carious chance that he was thrown in the way of the Spaniards. It is, indeed, one among many examples of the influence of fortune in determining the fate of military 5 operations. The star of Cortés was in the ascendant. Had it been otherwise, not a Spaniard would have survived that day to tell the bloody tale of the battle of Otumba. Yet even here all must not be referred to superior discipline and tactics. For the battle would certainly have been lost, had it not been for the fortunate death of the Indian general. And, although the selec- 10 tion of the victim may be called the result of calculation, yet it was by the most pre From History of the Conquest of EARLY AMERICAN LYRISTS JOSEPH HOPKINSON (1770-1842) | Let every clime to Freedom dear, Listen with a joyful ear. With equal skill, and godlike power, Firm, united, etc. Behold the chief who now commands, Firm, united, etc. (1798) FRANCIS SCOTT KEY (1779-1843) 30 35 40 45 The writer of the American national song was born in Frederick, Maryland, the son of a veteran of the Revolution. He was educated at St. Johns College, Annapolis, and, like Hopkinson, chose the law as his profession. In later years he removed to Washington, where he became district attorney. He was in no way connected with the army or navy and his being on board the ship of the enemy came about through an attempt to negotiate the release of a prisoner. The full story is told in the notes. Key's lyric, set to the music Anacreon in Heaven,' became instantly popular and it has now won recognition as the American national anthem. THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the clouds of the fight, And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave. (1814) JOHN PIERPONT (1785-1866) John Pierpont, grandfather of the financier, John Pierpont Morgan, a native of Connecticut, a graduate of Yale, and for twentysix years pastor of the Hollis Street Church, Boston, was for a generation numbered among the leading poets of America. His Airs of Palestine, 1816, sold three editions within two years, and it was long supposed that it held a secure place among the American classics, but with the rising of the new school of poetry which ruled the middle century he faded from view until to-day along with such other poets contemporaneously faas Charles Sprague and James Hillhouse and James G. Percival, he is read only by a few students of the history of American literature. His Warren's Address' was long a favorite with schoolboy orators. mous WARREN'S ADDRESS TO THE AMERICAN SOLDIERS STAND! the ground's your own, my braves! Hope ye mercy still? Fear ye foes who kill for hire? And, before you, see 25 Let their welcome be! In the God of battles trust! Be consigned so well, 5 ΤΟ 15 20 Richard Henry Dana, father of Richard Henry Dana, Junior, author of Two Years Before the Mast, was a native of Cambridge and a graduate of Harvard College. He was one of the earliest of the Boston group of writers to devote himself to literature as a profession. He was one of the editors of The North American Review when Bryant's Thanatopsis ' was accepted by that quarterly and published, and he was one of the earliest of American critics to recognize the new English school of poetry headed by Wordsworth and Coleridge. His critical articles, his Idle Man which was published in numbers, and his stories must be considered by the historian of American literature. His best known poem is The Buccaneer, 1827, very popular in its day but now almost wholly forgotten. |