HORRORS OF CIVIL WAR. 



423 



uniting with those of the latter state, had routed, with 

 great slaughter, the troops of Morazan stationed at Ta- 

 guzegalpa. The latter consisted of but four hundred 

 and fifty men, under the command of General Cabanes, 

 and the records of civil wars among Christian people 

 nowhere present a bloodier page. No quarter was giv- 

 en or asked. After the battle, fourteen officers were 

 shot in cold blood, and not a single prisoner lived as a 

 monument of mercy. Cabanes, fighting desperately, 

 escaped. Colonel Galindo, to whom I have before re- 

 ferred as having visited the ruins of Copan, known both 

 in this country and in Europe for his investigation of 

 the antiquities of that country, and to whom I had a let- 

 ter of introduction from Mr. Forsyth, was murdered. 

 After the battle, in attempting to escape, with two dra- 

 goons and a servant-boy, he passed through an Indian 

 village, was recognised, and they were all murdered 

 with machetes. A disgraceful quarrel ensued between 

 Quejanos and Ferrera, the leaders of the Nicaragua 

 and Honduras troops, for the paltry spoils ; and the for- 

 mer got Ferrera into his power, and for twenty-four 

 hours had him under sentence to be shot. Afterward 

 the matter was accommodated, and the Nicaraguans 

 returned to Leon in triumph, with three hundred and 

 fifty muskets, several stands of colours, and as a proof 

 of the way in which they had done their work, without 

 a single prisoner. 



At San Salvador there had been an ominous move- 

 ment. General Morazan had resigned his office of chief 

 of the state, retaining command of the army, and sent 

 his wife and family to Chili. The crisis was at hand ; 

 the notes of war sounded fearfully, and it was all im- 

 portant for the prosecution of my ultimate designs and 



