292 REVERSES OF INSURGENTS MORELOS SHOT. 



character and resources rising with every new danger, difficulty or 

 loss. But the die was cast. Oaxaca was recaptured by the royal- 

 ists on the 28th of March, 1814. Miguel Bravo died at Puebla on 

 the scaffold ; Galeana fell in battle ; and the Congress was driven 

 from Chilpanzingo to the forest of Apatzingo, where, on the 22d 

 of October, 1814, it enacted the constitution which bears the name 

 of its wild birth-place. 



From this temporary refuge the insurgents resolved to cross the 

 country by rapid marches to Tehuacan in the province of Puebla, 

 where Mier y Teran had gathered a considerable force, which 

 Morelos imagined would become the nucleus of an overwhelming 

 army, as soon as he joined them. But his hopes were not destined 

 to be realized. He had advanced as far as Tesmaluca, when the 

 Indians of the village betrayed his slender forces to General 

 Concha, who fell upon them, on the 5th of November, 1815, in the 

 narrow gorge of a mountain road. The assault was from the rear : 

 so that Morelos, ordering Nocalas Bravo to hasten his march with 

 the main body of the army as an escort for the illstared congress, 

 resolved to fight the royalists until he placed the national legisla- 

 ture out of danger. " My life " — said he — "is of little conse- 

 quence, provided congress be saved : — my race was run when I 

 saw an independent government established ! " 



The brave soldier-priest, with fifty men, maintained the pass 

 against Concha, until only one trooper was left beside him. So 

 furious was his personal bearing, during this mortal conflict, that 

 the royalists feared to advance until he was bereft of all support. 

 When finally captured, he was stripped, chained, treated with the 

 most shameless cruelty, and carried back to Tesmaluca. Concha, 

 however, was less cruel than his men. He received the rebel 

 chief politely, and despatched him to the capital for trial. Crowds 

 of eager citizens flocked to see the celebrated partizan warrior who 

 had so long held the Spanish forces at bay. But his doom was 

 sealed ; and, on the 22d of December, 1815, Concha removed him 

 to the hospital of San Cristoval. After dining with the general, 

 and thanking him for his kindness, he walked to the rear of the 

 building, where, kneeling down, he bound a handkerchief over his 

 eyes and uttering the simple ejaculation, " Lord, if I have done 

 well, thou knowest it ; — if ill, to thy infinite mercy I commend my 

 sou l ? " — he gave the fatal signal to the soldiers who were drawn 

 up to shoot him. 



