It
certainly was a moment for that boldness on which success so often
depends, but Hidalgo at this critical stage took counsel from prudence
instead of daring, and, fearing the arrival of reinforcements to the
beaten army, withdrew his forces towards Queretaro--a weak and fatal
retrograde movement, as it proved.
The viceroy had another army advancing from the north, under the command
of Calleja, a skilful general. Meeting Hidalgo at Aculco on his march
towards Queretaro, he attacked him with such vigor that, after a hot
combat, the insurgents were utterly worsted, losing all their artillery
and many men. In fact, the whole loose-joined army fell to pieces at this
severe repulse, and Hidalgo was followed to Valladolid with an
insignificant remnant of his mighty host.
Calleja followed up his victory with a pursuit of Allende and a fierce
attack on him at Guanajuato, forcing him to abandon the city and retreat
to Zacatecas, which had proclaimed independence. Calleja, who had much of
the traditional Spanish cruelty, now sullied his triumph by a barbarous
retaliation upon the people of the city he had taken, who were most
savagely punished for their recent plundering outbreak.
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