The Last Aztec
Cempoala
Cortés sent scouts into the villages and encountered little resistance, so, emboldened, the Spanish visited the town of Cempoala, inhabited by Totonacs who were reluctant vassals of the Aztecs. They were terrified by the approach of the Spanish, on horseback and carrying unfamiliar weapons – some of the Totonac look-outs described the mounted soldiers as beasts with ‘two heads and six legs’.
The Totonacs tried to appease their gods with a bout of human sacrifice, and then greeted the Spanish as honoured guests. The latter were horrified by the trails of blood and severed limbs lying about, but Cortés was quick to seize the chance of an alliance. Promising to relieve them of the crushing taxes that the Aztecs levied on them, he recruited 1,500 Totonac warriors to his force.
Burning boats
He then announced to his men that they were to march across the mountains to the city of Tenochtitlan. Some were aghast and objected that the territory was too hostile, their numbers too small and they didn’t have enough provisions for the journey.
Cortés overruled them. He had no intention of turning back, even when he received an order from the governor of Cuba to return. Instead he burned all his ships to foil would-be deserters, and in August 1519, he led his men inland.
