RETREAT OF THE PATRIOTS. 437 



destroyed by fire. The Junta took refuge at 

 El Real de Zultepec, thirty leagues W. of 

 Mexico. 



The patriot general Morelos, having de- 

 feated the royalists in several engagements, 

 and decisively at Tixtla on the 1 9th of Au- 

 gust 1811, laid siege to Acapulco, and with 

 the principal part of his army marched to- 

 wards Mexico. Different divisions of his 

 troops gained several advantages on his 

 march : he fortified Quautla Amilpas, which 

 Calleja attempted to storm on the 19th of 

 February ; but, after an engagement which 

 lasted six hours, was compelled to retreat 

 Calleja, however, laid siege to the town ; 

 and on the 27th of May, when the siege had 

 lasted seventy-five days, and provisions be- 

 gan to fail, Morelos and his troops evacua- 

 ted the town, taking with them nearly its 

 whole population : four thousand of the in- 

 habitants, however, fell victims in the skir- 

 mishes which ensued, the retreat being 



