THE TAJIN TOTONAC PART 1 — KELLY AND PALERM 



41 



bases of the insurgents during the blackest days, 73 

 Probably both factors are involved: on the one 

 hand, the terrain lends itself extremely well to an 

 army battling against superior forces; on the 

 other, Totonac loyalty to the leaders of the war 

 for Independence was unwavering. 



Fighting was harsh in Totonacapan. Papantla, 

 in insurgent hands, was recovered by the Span- 

 iards in 1813, to be taken again by the rebels the 

 following year. Once again, in rcyalist hands, 

 it was besieged by the rebel, Serafin Olarte, in 

 1819, and was partly burned. Again, about 1820, 

 Papantla became "the target of the rebels and of 

 the royalists" (Rivera 2:129). Misantla also 

 changed hands from time to time and was burned 

 in 1815, and again in 1817. Assuredly, this strife 

 was shared by other pueblos of the vicinity — 

 by Tecolutla, Nautla, Naolinco, and Colipa, for 

 example. 



Highland Totonacapan likewise was the scene 

 of bloody battles. In 1811, Zacatlan was occupied 

 by the insurgent chief, Osorno (Bustamante 

 1 : 253), and it served him as a practically invul- 

 nerable base, from which he organized expeditions 

 against Puebla, Huauchinango, Tulancingo, Pa- 

 chuca, and other nearby towns. 



The one insurgent center which was outright 

 Totonac — in population, in troops, and in lead- 

 ers — was Coxquihui, not far from Papantla. 

 From 1813 to 1820, this center managed to hold 

 off successive royalist expeditionary forces. Its 

 leader was the famous Totonac rebel, Serafin 

 Olarte, whose son, Mariano, continued in his 

 father's steps. 



OLARTE AND COXQUIHUI 



Serafin Olarte was a native of the Papantla 

 area. Even before the War for Independence, he 

 apparently enjoyed considerable prestige among 

 the Totonac, and through his exploits in battle 

 later became the undisputed military leader of 

 northern Totonacapan. In 1813, he instigated an 

 uprising in Coxquihui and managed to assemble a 

 force of three or four thousand with whose as- 

 sistance he held Coxquihui, defeating one after 

 the other, seven royalist forces sent against him. 



He assisted Guadalupe Victoria in taking Boquilla 

 de Piedra, on the coast, near the mouth of the Rio 

 Cazones, and in keeping this port open to receive 

 arms and ammunition from the United States and 

 from England. He held the royalist garrison in 

 Papantla constantly in check, cutting its com- 

 munications with the coast. He collaborated ac- 

 tively with Osorno, the rebel leader who held 

 Zacatlan. And he distinguished himself in the 

 battle of Tlaxcalantongo. At one time, "Serafin 

 Olarte was the only man still fighting for the 

 cause of Independence on the north coast of Vera- 

 cruz" (Olivo, p. 199). 



The exploits of Olarte and his Totonac forces 

 are genuinely outstanding, especially in view of 

 the fact that the majority of his troops appear to 

 have relied on the bow and arrow, the latter with 

 stone point (Olivo, p. 200; Nunez y Dominguez, 

 p. 54). Nevertheless, it would appear that the 

 Olartes, father and son, were not the only im- 

 portant leaders in northern Totonacapan, for 

 Rivera (2:126) mentions "hostilities in the area 

 of Coyusquihuy" and speaks specifically of Victor 

 del Angel, Venancio Angulo, Agustin Munoz, 

 Jose Santiago, Manuel Morales, as well as the two 

 Olartes "and others." 



In November of 1819, Serafin Olarte united all 

 his forces for an assault on Papantla. Beaten off 

 by the royalists, he withdrew to the hills, but lost 

 his life in a subsequent encounter. His body was 

 recovered by the Spaniards, and his head, nailed 

 to a pole, was exhibited at the Cruz chiquita, near 

 Papantla. 



The chief background for the drama of Olarte 

 and his Totonac was Coxquihui ; but by this term 

 we should not understand the small municipal unit 

 which bears that name today. In fact, the limits 

 given by Bustamante 74 coincide roughly with 

 those of nineteenth-century Totonacapan as a 

 whole. The same author pointed out the utility of 

 the terrain as a refuge and as a base for guerrilla 

 warfare, suggesting that the Mexicans bear this 

 in mind, in case of subsequent threats to independ- 

 ence. Not many years later, as a result of the 

 French invasion, Totonacapan again became an 

 asylum for Mexican patriots. 



M According to Lerdo de Tojnda (2 : 77-83), Naolinco, Misantla, 

 and Papantla several times were headquarters for the leaders of 

 the revolution. Rivera (1:345) makes similar statements and 

 adds explicity (2:44) that Misantla was a constant insurgent 

 asylum. 



" Coxquihui "es un terreno muy montafioso y lleno de bos- 

 ques . . . conflna por el Orlente con el Golfo de Mexico, y por el 

 Poniente con Mextitlan y Huasteca : esta rodeado de Oriente a 

 Poniente por dos rios, el de San Pedro y San Pablo al Norte, y el 

 de Nauhtla al Sur . . ." (Bustamante 5:42-43). 



