ARRIVAL OF MORAZAN. 



Ill 



or three hundred Indians, who fell back, closed up near 

 the porch of the Cathedral, and in a few moments all 

 fled, leaving the plaza, with all their ammunition, in the 

 possession of the assailants. Rivera Paz and Don Luis 

 Bartres, the chief and secretary of the state, were in the 

 plaza at the time, and but few other white citizens. Car- 

 rera did not want white soldiers, and would not permit 

 white men to be officers. Many young men had pre- 

 sented themselves in the plaza, and were told that 

 there were no arms. 



In the mean time, Carrera, strengthened by masses of 

 Indians from the villages around, attacked the division 

 on the heights of Calvario. Morazan, with the small 

 force left at San Juan de Dios, went to the assistance of 

 Cabanes. The battle lasted an hour and a half, fierce 

 and bloody, and fought hand to hand. Morazan lost 

 some of his best officers. Sanches was killed by Solero 

 Carrera, a brother of the general. Carrera and Mora- 

 zan met, and Carrera says that he cut Morazan's sad- 

 dle nearly in two. Morazan was routed, pursued so 

 closely that he could not take up his equipage, and hur- 

 ried on to the plaza, having lost three hundred mus- 

 kets, four hundred men killed, wounded, and prisoners, 

 and all his baggage. At ten o'clock his whole force 

 was penned up in the plaza, surrounded by an immense 

 mass of Indian soldiers, and fired upon from all the cor- 

 ners. Manning the parapets and stationing pickets on 

 the roofs of the houses, he kept up a galling fire in return. 



Pent up in this fearful position, Morazan had time to 

 reflect. But a year before he was received with ringing 

 of bells, firing of cannon, joyful acclamations, and dep- 

 utations of grateful citizens, as the only man who could 

 save them from Carrera and destruction. Among the 

 few white citizens in the plaza at the time of the entry 



